Thumbs Up For Customer Services

First heres the roof with the tape removed and the surplus grit swept off.  The weather didnt behave so it still needs painting. Oh well next time.

The photo of the mushroom vent surrounds wasnt very good on the last blog so I took some in daylight.

So on to customer services.

Ive been having a few teething troubles now the boat is being used in the real world.  First the Central Heating boiler has been problematic for a while now.  It failed last week and gave the error code for a faulty thermistor.  I was kinda pleased that something had been signalled.  A phone call to Mikuni and as usual their first class customer service had one send out FOC for replacement.  Its my guess / hope this has been the problem all along and the unit will perform as it should for years to come.

The other issue that came to the fore was the generator & inverter charger not being happy with each other.  Sometimes the charger would charge other time it wouldnt until this week it just wouldnt even try.  Also when the electric oven was on with the generator running last week and the charger on the charger would drop in and out which is not right, the generator should make up the load but the Victron controls all mains coming in so it has to be set right.

A call to Victron in Holland to discuss it with service / support started on a trail of investigation.  First I had to plug it in to shore power to see if it would charge on shore power.  Sure enough it did.

When I bought the inverter kit I decided to get the PC interface so the parameters of the Victron could be read and reset and altered without using the fiddily dip switch option.  The software and drivers were downloaded from Victron then another call to Victron and I was talked through some alterations to the default settings and hey presto everything is talking and working together. Thaks very much to customer support at Victron.

Heres a couple of screen shots of the control.  The data displays in real time.

These 2 panels show input voltage which in this case is the generator, the amps being drawn in this case by the charger, the charge voltage, chargeing amperage, the mains frequency and the mains ripple, or how clean the supply is.

Theres a whole load of other information which to be honest I have no idea about, but I think on balance the PC interface was well worth the money as I will use it to monitor things in future.  Im so impressed I have ordered the PC interface that goes into the battery monitor which can store nearly a months worth of data on what the batteries have been going through.

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New Gas Main

After discovering Id installed the gas main wrong by using soldered joints I had to re do it.  This involved a bit of cosmetic damage to get at the old one to remove it and replace with the new.  This will be fixed in due course.

So now all joints are made with compression fittings and all joints are available for inspection and adjustment if necessary.

Well you get the idea.  I have done the soapy water test which it passed and the Mk1 nose test and at the weekend I will be borrowing a manometer to do a drop test.  And for full belt and braces I have booked a gas safe inspection as well.

I finally got around to fitting the gas struts to lift the bed.  

And finally an Ahh! moment out of the window today.

15 goslings!

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DIY Non skid Surfaces for Plywood Boats

"Slippery when wet." How often dont we see that on notices and signs along footpaths, in shopping malls and in other places where a surface is too smooth to allow a good grip and could become dangerous?

Boats are also such places, with the additional factors of regularly being wet right where you need to be and also jumping around in reaction to wind and waves. Despite that, it is a common problem that a boat has inadequate texture on the deck or other walking surface to allow a good grip for deck shoes or bare feet.

Of course, maximum grip will come from maximum texture, or the roughest surface. However, people also sit on these surfaces and the roughest surfaces are the toughest on clothing and also on bare skin. The trick is to come up with a surface that allows secure footing on a wet and heaving deck but will not wear through the seat of your pants or skin your elbows and knees. Add to that the need for it to be applied by an amateur builder, not break the budget and to be attractive in appearance (or at least to not detract from the aesthetics of the boat) and you have a fairly difficult set of requirements to satisfy.

I have had mixed results from the various methods that I have used over the past 40 years of building my own boats. I will run through them and give the successes and failures of each of them.

In the 70s and 80s I used a rather nice non-skid deck paint that was made by a UK (I think) paint company under the trade name "Helmsman". It had a fine grit that was soft on clothing and skin yet gave reasonable grip. Problem was that the colour faded badly and it did wear down, so it needed to be redone very year or two. It was a really good product that seems to no longer be available.

In about 1975 I saw a very attractive deck finish done by a friend of mine on a plywood Cobra catamaran that he was building. He used a simple open-weave petticoat lace and bedded it into the first coat of paint on the deck, then painted over it. It added some non-skid properties that were adequate for the particular boat, which would be sailed sitting on deck or trapezing on the gunwale. It would not have been good enough for a deck that was to be walked on when wet in big seas.

That set me thinking on how to increase the non skid properties of this method, when building my first big boat. My solution was to buy woven polypropylene tree netting. The one that was available to me in South Africa had a honeycomb-shape mesh of about 20x30mm (3/4"x1 1/4"). The strands were also woven from fine strands of polyethylene and were about 2mm thick with a woven texture. I bedded it down into the second coat of epoxy on my deck surfaces, laying it in panels that I marked off with masking tape. Once that coat of epoxy had cured I cut through the strands along the panel edges, removed the offcuts and tape then applied another two  coats of epoxy. The resulting surface was very effective for grip but rather harsh. It was tough on clothing and skin so I  sanded the rough spots off it. With the roughness removed and the deck painted with polyurethane paint, some of the grip had gone, so I painted over it with the Helmsman paint mentioned above. The final result was extremely good grip but the honeycomb pattern could be uncomfortable to lie on.

While effective, this netting method is very time-consuming because of the need to pull the netting so that it has an attractive appearance, with the cells of uniform shape and in straight lines. The netting can also lift off the epoxy in places before it hardens, so I had to return to each panel repeatedly as the epoxy started to set, running a steel roller over the netting to press it down into the epoxy until it stayed there.

Many boats have non-skid surfaces done with paint, with a grit of some sort sprinkled onto the first layer while it is wet, then finished with an extra layer or two of paint applied over the top. The grit is usually fine river sand, which has round grains to give nice grip without being sharp. Beach sand tends to have sharp corners that make it very harsh, so is not suitable.

For my Paper Jet I used a non-skid paint additive that is available from International Paints. You can adjust the texture by using more or less of the additive. The additive grains are clear, so can be added to varnish also. While suitable for dinghies, the finish is too fine for larger boats, not providing enough grip for safety on a heeled and heaving deck with waves washing over.

For my Didi 38 "Black Cat" I used a variation of the grit method. Instead of grit, I sprinkled coarse Epsom salts onto the wet paint. When it had dried, I painted another coat or two of paint over the salts. After a few days the paint was hard enough to be lightly sanded, to expose the tops of the grains. Once opened up, the salt grains are rinsed out by rain or spraying with a hose, which leaves little craters. The texture of the surface can be adjusted by light sanding to create as much grip as you want. You can also choose the desired texture with the amount of salt that is sprinkled. For good ocean-going grip the salt crystals should almost totally cover the first coat of paint.

This last method was the best of all that I have used. The texture is formed into the finishing coats of paint so slight wear on the texture doesnt wear through the colour. The grit can be Epsom salts, course table salt or even sugar. Basically anything that will dissolve in water and rinse out of the craters will work. I wouldnt recommend the sugar option because there is likely to be a sticky residue on and around the boat for awhile, attracting ants and other insects.

You can also go the route of gluing textured sheeting onto the deck. There are cork-based deck materials that give excellent grip and are available in a range of colours. They are fairly soft, so easy on bare feet but can wear quickly if constantly chafed by a rope that crosses over a cambered deck or cabin roof.  There are also imitation teak products that can be glued down either in sheets or in plank form. They do a very close impression of teak decking and require little maintenance.

For localised spots that require more grip than elsewhere, for example on the top of a bowsprit, a good solution is self-adhesive strips that are much  like very coarse sandpaper. These strips can be painted to blend into the deck. They give very secure footing but can be harsh on your skin if you choose to sit there naked. That is good reason to reserve this method for the "must have grip" dangerous spots on the boat.

Of all of these methods, my all-time favourite is the Epsom salts method. It is versatile because you can set the level of grip yourself and it has the big advantage that some wearing of the texture doesnt make the deck look tired by exposing base layers of a different colour.

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Building the templates for the frames

I decided to make templates from the plans for most of the parts in the frames. Using the carbon paper, lines were traced onto material to make the templates. The actual frame pieces were then rough cut, stacked together with double backed tape, the templates double-back taped to the pieces and a trimming router bit with guide bearing used to cut multiple pieces at the same time. In the corners where 1/4" plywood gussets were used, 4 indenticle parts were made at the same time.

With African Mohogany purchased from Armstrong Millworks in Highland Michigan and Okoume plywood purchased at Public Lumber in Detroit, the frame build got started. The same layout board was used as an assembly jig. Blocks were screwed down to locate frame members so that epoxy gluing, screwing and or nailing could be done while maintaining alignments.

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Quilting Techniques for Amateur Boatbuilders

Most of us learn boatbuilding techniques and tricks as boys, from our fathers. Michael Vermeersch, builder the Didi 950 prototype, sent me this tip that he learned from his mother. Her hobby was quilting, a pastime that I had never considered to bear any relationship to building boats.

The methods that quilters use to cut through multiple layers of fabrics can be useful for cutting fibreglass fabrics.

The Didi 950 has a structural grid in the bottom of the hull, to carry mast, rigging and keel loads. This grid is an egg-crate layout of plywood members comprising backbone and transverse framing that interlock with each other and are encapsulated in multiple layers of fibreglass. Covering these members involves cutting many pieces of fibreglass fabric to odd shapes and for multiple layers. Mike recognised this as being very similar to what his mother used to do when practicing her hobby.

Quilters rotary cutter and cutting board, with glass fabric and template.

In Mikes own words. "The cutter has a replaceable sharp steel wheel.  The mat has a "self healing " rubber surface that the wheel can penetrate for a clean cut.  This setup is typically used by quilters who need to cut a large number of precise fabric pieces.

I tried it with the 25 oz glass tape as well as the 12 oz 0/90 cloth.  It seems to work well.  There are repetitive pieces in the structural grid.  I made patterns out of rosin paper (used under hardwood flooring, available at Lowes and cheap).  I then stacked layers of the 12 oz and cut multiple pieces in one shot.

It worked with up to 4 layers of 12 oz, probably would work with more.  It leaves a cleaner edge with less unraveling than a shears or scissors.  Since the cutter rolls it doesnt pull strands like a knife."

Having myself cut many yards of fibreglass fabrics and mats, I have experience of the difficulties in getting nice clean edges that dont unravel or drag out of shape. Following this technique from the ladies might make all the difference to the neatness of your glasswork.

To see more about all of our designs, visit http://dixdesign.com/

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Building Stocks for Wooden Boats

There are a few ways to construct building stocks for building a wooden boat but most are variations on the basic method that I will show here. These photos have been sent to me by Fred Grimminck, who has previously built our Didi Mini and is now building the bigger sister, the Didi 950. This is a boat that is designed to fit into the Classe 950 Rule. It is a radius chine plywood boat with hard chine in the topsides.

Freds building stocks, or beds, are on short posts that are fastened to the concrete slab in his workshop. If he were building off earth then the posts would be extended down into the ground about 300-400mm and set in concrete to make them stable. Other than that, the rest of the configuration would be the same.

Click on photos to enlarge, to see detail.

Didi 950 building stocks looking aft.

Didi 950 building stocks looking forward.

Rails and transverse braces are bolted to the posts. It is good to set the rails accurately so that they can be used as an accurate reference at any stage during construction. That means setting them so that the tops of rails and transverse braces are level, with the centrepoints of the transverse braces on centreline and the rails identically positioned each side of centreline. If any bulkheads will be attached to transverse braces then those transverses need to be set up at 90 degrees to the centreline, which will happen automatically if the two sides of the beds are identical. The centreline string on the beds can be seen in the photos above, providing a good reference for checking accuracy.

Transom doubler being set up on beds.

The photo above is of the transom doubler being set up on legs that are bolted to the aft transverse brace. If the transom will not have doublers on the inside then the transom itself would be in this position. This attachment is done in the same way as a bulkhead except that the bulkhead legs are generally bolted to the rails instead of a transverse brace. If you zoom in on the photo you can see the small piece of steel angle that Fred has used to fasten the post at bottom right to the concrete slab. The angle is bolted to the leg and to the slab. This must be done for all of the posts.

A secure and accurate set of building stocks is the foundation for an accurate build. Another essential to get this right is for the waterline and centreline to be accurately drawn onto every bulkhead. These lines will be used in setting up the bulkheads themselves and also many times during construction to set up joinery, engine alignment etc.

Didi 950 bulkheads being set up on beds.

 Fred is working forward from the transom in setting up the bulkheads but you can work from either end. I normally set up the forward bulkhead first, then work aft. This is because the forward bulkhead may extend below the top of the stocks and need to be either clear of the front transverse brace or attached directly to that transverse.

In Freds photo above, the bulkhead closest to the camera is at the front of the cockpit, so forms the aft end of the cabin and serves as a good example. Each bulkhead must be set up accurately in all directions for the hull to be built to the shape intended by the designer. It must be at the correct location fore/aft, laterally and vertically. It must also be square to the centreline and it must be vertical both fore/aft and laterally.

Correct position fore/aft is done by measurement from the first bulkhead that is set up. Check it also against the distance to the previous bulkhead because this will highlight previous errors that may have been missed.

Correct position laterally is done by means of a plumb bob hung from a line above the stocks that is exactly over the centreline of the stocks. In a building this line can be attached to the ends of the building. If outside it will need posts to be set up beyond the ends of the hull and the line strung between them. The plumb bob is visible in the photos above.

With the plumb bob hanging from this line you have three checks that can be made on each bulkhead. They are lateral position of the bulkhead, vertical alignment of the bulkhead face against the plumb bob string and vertical alignment of the centreline drawn on the face of the bulkhead. This last one is a basic check that one end of the bulkhead is not lower than the other end but is a check only, not the place to set it up accurately.

Correct position vertically can be done with a waterlevel, which is a whole subject of its own and best dealt with in a separate post. An alternative and quicker method is to use a land surveyors theodolite or a laser level that can be set up beyond one end and to one side of the beds, with a clear view of the whole length of the beds. Use this to horizontally align the waterline marked on each bulkhead so that both ends are at the same level and all bulkheads are aligned to that same level.

When each bulkhead has been correctly set up, bolt it to the support legs and brace the legs to prevent movement. Once all bulkheads are aligned and secured, you will be ready to start adding longitudinal structure.

A few things about this process should be noted.

1. Wood is a living material, it changes dimensions with variations in humidity and temperature. If you set up a bulkhead on a dry day and a week later you set up the next bulkhead on a humid day, you will find that the dimensions may have changed by a millimetre or two. Work as accurately as you can but dont sweat over these minor changes. If you do, you will chase yourself around correcting and recorrecting whenever the weather changes. Just accept the changes and move on. Constructing the stocks from steel will stabilise them from changes due to humidity but not temperature. If you are like me, you like to work with wood and really dont like working with steel, so you will stick with wood for the stocks as well.
2. Dont attach the legs to the stocks or to the bulkheads with wood screws, through-bolt them or use lag screws. Each bulkhead will not weigh a lot when you set it up but by the time that you have added backbone, stringers, sheer clamps, hull skin and possibly even built much of the interior, your wood screws may be bending or even sheering off under the load.
3. A solid foundation to build your hull is the principle to aim for. Use diagonal bracing to keep everything at correct relative positions and angles.
4. You need to be able to get through between the structures of the building stocks and the hull as it takes shape. You need access at many positions along the hull, not just aft under the transom. That needs the longitudinal rails of the stocks to either be hard against the slab or lifted enough to slide under. I recommend lifting them enough to slide under, which is easy by grabbing the rail with both hands and swinging your body through. If the rails are on the ground you need to hang onto the sheer clamp or some other structure to swing through and you will likely suffer numerous bruises to your back from impact with the rail during the course of the hull construction.

To see more about our designs and buildign methods, please visit http://dixdesign.com/.

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Water Levels for Boatbuilding

In my recent post about building stocks for wooden boats I mentioned using a water level for getting things aligned on the building stocks but I didnt explain how it works.

A water level is the most basic of measuring instruments and is very easy to use. Properly used it is very accurate but there are some principles that need to be taken into account in order to achieve that accuracy. If you ignore them then you can work on blindly assuming accuracy that is not really there.

A water level works on the basic principle that water will always find its own level; it will flow from where the surface of the water is highest to where it is lowest, until the two are equal. It is a simple tube with water inside it, open at the ends so that atmospheric pressure can push down on the exposed surfaces. It can be done with a simple length of clear plastic tubing, or it can be an ordinary garden hose with a length of clear plastic tube attached at each end so that you can see the level of the water.You will need about 500mm (20") of empty tube above the water level, to prevent water from running out one end when moving the tube from one bulkhead to the next.

To get two equal-level points on any structure, place the tube against the structure both at your reference mark and where you want to place the new mark. Raise or lower the tube at your reference mark until the water surface inside the tube is exactly at the level of the reference point. At the other end of the tube, draw a mark on the structure exactly in line with the surface of the water inside the tube. Ideally it needs two people working together, with one at each end of the tube to make fine adjustments to get the reference level correct but it can be done by one person if the tube ends are secured against the structure.

You can use this when setting up a bulkhead so that it is level across the boat. First, the bulkhead must have the waterline drawn accurately on the face, which should be done on the workshop floor when drawing the bulkhead for cutting. Position the bulkhead on its legs with clamps, with the centre of the bulkhead at the centrepoint of the building stocks. Position your water level so that the water is at the level of the waterline at one end. Raise or lower the other end of the bulkhead until the marked waterline is exactly at the level of the water in the tube. Check the transverse alignment of the bulkhead on the stocks with a plumb line attached to the centreline string above your building stocks, as described in my previous post about building stocks for wooden boats. Similarly, use the water level to set up other bulkheads at the same level as the first one.

Simple isnt it? But, it has potentials for error that you must take into account, or your new mark will not be accurately placed.

1. Dont use a tube that is smaller than about 12mm (1/2") diameter. The smaller the diameter the slower it will be to react to adjustments in level, due to friction of the water against the wall of the tube. The larger the tube, the more easily the water will flow and the faster it will react. The large tube also has more water surface exposed to atmospheric pressure, helping to speed the reaction. A tube of 16-20mm (5/8-3/4") diameter is ideal.
2. Dont use a tube that is excessively long. Ideally it will be long enough to reach the most distant point to be marked, with a bit extra to allow the tube to lie on the ground. Any additional length increases the friction in the tube due to increased surface area. It also allows the tube to lie in loops that will slow the movement of the water and possibly trap air to form airlocks. An airlock can stop movement of the water almost completely.
3. Purge all air bubbles out of the tube before you start. Air bubbles will affect the accuracy of your readings and will slow the movement of the water inside the tube. The smaller the tube, the more that it will be adversely affected by air bubbles.
4. Try to do your work in fairly stable conditions, so that the tube and water are not heating up and affecting the readings. Warm water will flow more easily than cold water and a warm tube will expand in diameter, holding more water. You dont want the tube to be moving between sunshine and shade because the expansion/contraction of the tube and water are likely to affect accuracy. This is particularly important if you are using a dark-coloured garden hose with clear plastic ends because the hose and water will expand considerably in sunlight.
5. Dont be in a rush to mark your new reference line. It takes a few moments for the water to find its level before you can make your mark. It will first surge up and down a few times before it stops. This is when you will see the importance of a tube that is not too small because it is possible for the friction inside a small tube to overcome the atmospheric pressure and give inaccuracy of 20mm (3/4") or more for awhile before it very slowly equalises.
6. Flick the tube with your fingernails before assuming that it has found its final level. The shock waves running through the water will help it to stabilise at the correct level.
7. Dont do this work in windy conditions. Wind blowing over either or both of the open tube ends will exert a venturi effect and change the readings. The air flowing across the mouth of the tube forms a vacuum inside the tube. That sucks the water up the tube, so the level will be higher at that end than the other. Even if the wind is blowing over both ends, it must be exactly the same speed over both ends at all times to have no effect, a very unlikely situation. If you must work in the wind, make sure that both ends of the tube are well sheltered from the wind. If the wind is strong then just dont do it because wind blowing over a bulkhead will cause high pressure on one side and low pressure on the other, so you will be unsure of the accuracy of your readings.
8. Tie a length of string to each end of your tube. Between readings, tie the strings to something at about the same level as your reference line. This will prevent the tube from dropping down and emptying some of the water unexpectedly.
9. When you have one bulkhead that is accurately set up and secured so that it cannot move in any direction, use that first bulkhead as your point of reference for the waterline when setting up all of the other bulkheads. Dont move the reference point to any other bulkhead because you could end up with a cumulative error, which is minimised by always working with the same origin as reference.
10. Buy or make some tight-fitting  bungs to plug the ends of the tube. It does not matter whether they are rubber, plastic or wood, but they should be non-porous. Use them to keep the water inside the tube when not in use.

I have no images of water levels of my own but Roy McBride of CKD Boats kindly supplied the images below, with permission to use them. His company is my agent in South Africa and supplier of plywood kits for many of our designs.

Two water level tubes. The one at left is discoloured by age but still usable. A simple plastic tube and water.

Both ends plugged with bungs to keep the water in.

This illustrates the principle. The tops of the lower two pieces of tape are level with the top of the water at opposite ends of the tube, so they are level with each other. Here they are close together but they could be 10m apart without any loss of accuracy.

Close-up of the tube and water surface.

 Thank you Roy and  CKD Boats for allowing the use of your photos.
 
To see our range of boat designs, for both amateur and professional builders, please go to http://dixdesign.com/.

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Need to find something special for the Holidays

If you are looking for serious Holiday gifts, for others (or even for yourself), I hope you’ll hang around long enough to read this...

As authors of a book that includes much common sense, but also some pretty specialized information, weve been particularly pleased, not just at the number of favorable reviews that weve gotten, but about where some of those reviews have come from.

When I used to play music for a living, the older and wiser musicians would remind me "Dont listen to the hecklers; theyre probably drunk." They also followed that statement with "Dont get too high on the compliments; theyre probably drunk. These are good words of wisdom for anyone trying to keep their assessment of the opinions of others in check. The same guys would also point someone out in the audience and say "If that guy says you did well, it means something", referring to someone that had been in the business for many years. Of course, "that guy" might put you in your place just as quickly; maybe more often.

We wrote our book for all levels of model makers. That is to say that it provides fundamental information that can teach anyone to learn the art of model making and it also has a significant amount of information that can add to any master model makers skill set. There are a number of areas of focus including; learning the art of "scratch building"; concepts and techniques for improving your ability to "see" your subject in order to better represent it in your model; understanding shapes, spatial concepts, drawings and how to measure boats accurately; different ways to build and display models; tools; materials; construction theories and much more.

Its got 160 pages, 264 photos, and 94 drawings and it took 4 years to write. Those photos were culled from thousands; the drawings from hundreds and the fifty some odd original chapters were focused down to twenty. It was quite a bit of work and, as with the playing of music, when you put your work out in public for others to judge, you want to know what they think... ...what they really think.

At shows and book signings, we’ve received positive compliments from all sorts of people and its been very gratifying. We dont always know who among them knows what, but we certainly know, from some of the serious conversations that weve had, that among them have been some very knowledgeable model makers. Unfortunately, those conversations are gone to the wind...

With our book, as when I was a musician, we wait for “that guy”, who is known for their expertise, and whose words can be relied upon to “mean something”. Because we believe in the quality of our book and want confirmation that we succeeded at doing what we intended, it means a great deal to us when “that guy” speaks up. It also helps us as we write our next book.

When you know who “that guy” is, you know that what they say can help guide you, especially if the subject is one that you don’t yet know much about or in the case where you are looking for a gift for someone else. We have now heard from a number of “those guys” and it is probable, if you happen to be reading this, that you are well aware of one and likely more of those we’ve chosen to list here:

As you read note not only what is said, but who is saying it. They are people who know what they are talking about:

From the November 2011 issue of The Waterman’s Gazette, a trade publication of the Maryland Watermen’s Association. The Watermen that work on deadrise and other types of workboats in the Maryland waters of the Chesapeake Bay rely on the “Gazette“. Watermen have no problem telling you what they think; good or bad. The review says some very nice things, referring to how model boat builders and enthusiasts“, both “professional” and “hobbyist” will benefit and “can apply the principles learned for design techniques and theories to other models they want to build” and concluding with “it’s well worth the price”. Believe me, Watermen know value.

Tom Holmes, noted expert and restorer of classic Century boats and President of The Century Boat Club, wrote in The Thoroughbred, a magazine published by The Century Boat Club, “their attention to detail is awesome” and “their chapters on Understanding Lines Drawings and How to Measure a Boat are very instructive for club members tackling a restoration job, especially a basket case. Their approach to problem solving is fundamental to a boat restorer especially if you are not simply copying , but need to scratch build boat parts. You will learn many skills and approaches to boat building from reading this book.”

Good Old Boat Magazine, well read by many for years said among many nice things: “My learning curve would have been much less steep if Fundamentals of Model Boat Building had been available.” and “I looked at this book from the perspective of a fellow model boat builder and found the explanations and terminology easy to follow. With that in mind, I asked my husband, who is a sailor, but not a model builder, to look it over and he told me it’s a fascinating read.”

Fine Woodworking Magazine, respected by woodworkers the world over; in addition to awarding our book as a prize, included this in their assessment: “This seems like a pretty intense book, but if you want to build model boats, this book will show you how to do it all.”
 

As of this time, all of the reviews that we have seen have been very positive and we are very pleased and proud to recommend our book to you, or your loved ones. There are many others and I will be happy to give you the sources so you can read their complete reviews. Just email me at johninto@intothings.com

That said, I want to know all opinions, whether you are a novice or a master, whether your opinion is full of praise or full of criticisms. We have yet to see a negative review, not that we would look forward to it, but we really want to know of all honest opinions. We really want to know what you think. Take a look for yourself!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

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Preparing For The Next Chapter

In a little over 6 weeks Avalon will be lifted out of UK waters, loaded on a truck and driven to Nieuwpoort in Belgium to start the next leg of the adventure.  

This was always our dream and her purpose. She was conceived and built with the sole intention of being our cruising home on the waters of Europe.

We have loved our time on the Gt. Ouse and at Ely especially and I very much consider Ely my second home with the friends and acquaintances we have made there.  It would be easy to stay, too easy.  With this in mind we have decided to continue to keep our mooring there even though we wont be there just in case!

How could we not?

This is just an easy 10 minute walk into Ely city centre.  The Chathreal can be seen in the background.

This is a panoramic shot from the roof of the boat.

The other picture is from the railway bridge on the right of the picture.

The next few blogs will be about the preparations of Avalon to comply with  EU waters and to equip Avalon with kit to better navigate bigger waterways   On this point there is (for my non EU readers) supposed to be a level playing field for all EU members in that a UK boat should be accepted in say France or Belgium or in fact any EU member state.  But NO!  each EU state can make it difficult to do things in another EU state.  So much for harmonisation!  I guess full harmonisation would mean 1000s of paperpusher and jobsworth jobs would go and so add to the unemployment figures.  Cynical Moi?

After this I will start a new blog with the help of Deb which will chronicle our journeys in Europe.  We both hope you will join us and follow our ramblings. This will be more of a Travel Blog than a Technical Blog. But check back as there will be boaty stuff as well I feel sure ;-).

Thanks for following so far.

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Making Keel Cooling For A Friend

A very good friend of mine had a new engine fitted recently.  The boat was an ex hire boat and only had a 35hp engine which is fairly normal for a hire fleet boat. The hire companies do this deliberately as they want to control the speed the boat can achieve and they probably govern the engine as well.

The beauty of these boats is they can be bought for very reasonable price, they come well equipped with quality fittings to stand the riggers of hire and the hulls are well built.

So the internal skin tank was set up for a 35hp engine, a fact the professional boat company installing the new 52hp engine somehow overlooked?  Hmm?! IMO the first thing to work out when fitting an engine is how to cool it.  If you cant cool it you cant run it.  Well you can but so long as you dont call up all the horses or want to destroy it. 

The problem only manifested itself when Sue needed to punch against the flow on the Thames, which of course needed more horses than poodling on a canal which she had been doing since the new install.

There were 2 options to solve this, another internal skin tank linked to the original which would require the engine bay to be cleared of things like the errr! engine!  The other option an external skin tank, or keel cooling which is really what a skin tank is requiring just 2 holes made and welded in the hull.  No engine removal and just a few hours work in a dry dock.

Theres a well regarded formula for working out the cooling area / engine hp.  Its HP divided by 4, so a 52hp engine needs 13sq/ft of surface area.  The most compact way of doing this is with tube, in this case 80 x 40 box section which gives 1sq/ft of surface area every 16" of length.  To further compact this a serpentine patten is the norm.

This is it.

So this is what I came up with and made for Sue & Vic.  See the links below as she takes up the story on her blog.  Read backwards from here:-  Sadly I wasnt able to fit it for her, but the local floating dry dock did a great job.

If you like boating blogs, you will love Sues.  Hers is constantly ranked in the top 10 UK boating blogs, its has a great balance of travelogue, opinion, and lifestyle showing the good and not shy of speaking about the not so good. Always punctuated with great photos and on the sidebars masses of excellent links, tutorials and resources as well as a massive list of fellow boater blogs.

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Getting ready for the chine

      My little brother came in yesterday, and he, Ramon, and I spent the afternoon at the boat shop ripping 8"x2" rough-sawn oak into 8"x1" halves with my cheap little Harbor Freight table saw. Ill be using these for the chine lamination after running them through the thickness planer. 
      Lots of time on this build has been spent trying to morph the wood I have into the wood I want. First, for the keel I bought construction-grade Southern yellow pine which promptly warped. Ramon and I used all manner of clamp configurations to get that stuff to laminate up into semi-straight pieces. Then, I milled the frame lumber from rough sawn white oak. Ripping the full oak pieces thickness-wise has been our toughest challenge yet. My table saw doesnt quite cut through half of the 8" width so we today we ran the pieces through on each side three times so we wouldnt blow a fuse (though we did manage switch the breaker multiple times anyway) and then ran a Sawzall down the middle to finally split the thing. Overall, though, we had a great day and worked off the beer and sushi from last night.

Boatbuilding in Hindsight:
1. Pay the little bit extra to have the wood milled.
2. Get a bandsaw.
3. Id really like to have some nicer power tools for the next build, but I certainly dont regret going with the cheap stuff the first time around (particularly because my shop is so exposed to the elements).

Here the frames are squared and braced from the outside. Ill add bracing on the inside before laminating the chine, then remove the exterior bracing to install the stringers.

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