I Have a Big Deck... (ok, it's not that big)

In case no one has noticed I am wholeheartedly amused by inappropriate sexual innuendo. Deal with it. As you may or may not have been able to guess, I have been fitting the interior deck of the boat over the holiday weekend. I purchased some extremely expensive lacewood a week or so ago and realized upon returning home that a large portion of it was unusable either due to cracks or warping in the wood. However I devised a crude and dangerous yet effective method of putting a straight edge on the wood thereby allowing the decking to look somewhat professional.

The key is to start with a similar length of wood that you already know has a straight edge on it and run it along with the warped wood through the table saw using the straight edge against the fence of the table saw. Clamp the rear of the two pieces of wood together until just before you hit the table and you're good to go. Just don't stand directly behind the pieces of wood as you rip them through the saw. The blade can and will shoot them back directly at your groin if you aren't careful. Thankfully I do not speak from experience here, I just know better. This whole operation is much easier to do without the safety guard and pawls on the table saw by the way. In fact, I hate the safety guard altogether. Just pay extra attention while using your saw if you have no safety measures. Girls don't like guys with no fingers. (However guys like girls with no arms apparently.... She has no arms! Long story...)

So upon finishing the sanding of the interior of the boat (and experiencing early symptoms of Carpal Tunnel due to using my sander for so long) I painted the interior of the boat with 2 coats of primer this week and began fitting the floorboards. They looked pretty crude and unexciting at first until I used the router to put a nice rounded edge on them. I must say that a router is the coolest tool I think I own. It can make such a difference between a professional and an amateur job with a bare minimum of effort. Take a look at the pictures of the floorboards that have been fitted so far...

You'll notice the two breakout sections on either side of the centerboard trunk, they are access ports to access the bilge and either store extra gear and/or ballast. I'm thinking of adding another smaller one towards the aft. Mainly because this seems like a great spot to store potable water on longer journeys should I ever feel the need to take one ;)

I'm also having my roommate design a power supply system for the boat so I won't have to worry about plugging in and charging a battery on shore. But that will come later...

Cheerio...

Still Thirsty...

Missing the SEA...

One of the things I have come to realize in the last 4 or so years of my life is how much I enjoy the ocean, it took an amazing trip with friends to Greece and the help of a very nice albeit pain in my ass girl to help teach me that. The combination of such things has been in part the impetus for building my own boat. However, you may have noticed that SEA was in all caps. The title of this post is in fact not about the ocean, but about Seattle. A place I visited for the first time last weekend and have to be honest I kind of fell in love with it. There are many reasons for this, but at the top of that list are the fact that some amazing mountains (Mt. Rainier) and the ocean (Puget Sound) are literally within minutes of downtown. I have a few commitments to attend to over the next few months but upon completion of my boat (and my lease) I may very well pack up and get the hell out of Boston. I'm sick of the crappy winters and crappier skiing anyway. Oh, and the other reason in case you were wondering is that the moment I landed in Seattle all of my problems in Boston seemed as far away as they actually were. Of course, the time I had while I was there helped... as did the hot cougar... but that's another story. ;)

Lots of pics to share today too!

So working from top to bottom, this is looking down into the bow compartment of the lower hull. You'll notice the strips of heavier fiberglass fabric backing up the bow stem and seams just in case I decide to ram someone I don't like out on the water. This compartment will soon get painted, filled with flotation foam and sealed off ne'r to be seen again (hopefully). Next you can see the stern and following that the bow of the boat. The discolorations are just epoxy filling the holes and gaps from stitching the boat together. They've since been sanded down nice and smooth. And the last two photos are the entire lower hull after fiberglassing was completed on the interior. This was a major pain in the ass and I'm glad it's done. I have since almost completed sanding the entire interior including feathering all the edges of the fiberglass perfectly smooth. Since they are the interior of the cuddy where I'll be sleeping I wanted this area to look as perfect as possible.

Over the next few days I plan to go purchase the interior floor decking and am still undecided as to what type of wood to use. My first choice is Lacewood because of it's distinct grain, shimmering qualities, and because I built my thesis project out of it. That is this weekend's project along with finishing the sanding, priming, and painting the entire interior of the boat. The progress is palpable!

I'm thirsty.

I'm Joining the LDS (sort of)

So, the lower hull has essentially been built. The filleting is done albeit messily, but I have come up with an ingenious way of sanding down all the fillets and corners to a smooth and perfect finish. A Dremel tool with a couple of flap wheel sanding bits. It produces a LOT of dust, so much so that I think my respirator is now saturated and I need new filters (it's not a good thing when your throat feels dry after sanding). As a matter of fact I think it's actually quite toxic. Whatever, my liver will give out far before the rest of me. The upside is my fillets are nice and smooth and I can begin glassing the interior hull. The enclosed picture shows what the in progress glassing looks like. Essentially, I'm saturating the fiberglass cloth with epoxy to the bottom of the hull and the bulkhead all the while keeping the fabric perfectly smooth along every surface. This is actually not as hard as it sounds. If you start in the center of an edge of the fabric and work your way from there progressively the fabric smooths out pretty easily. I'm about half done so far. Hopefully by midweek next week when I leave for Seattle I'll be done all of the coats of interior epoxy and ready to fit the floorboards upon my return. Here's the picture:

On another note: does anyone know if it's worth trying to be friends with an ex? That's a hell of a topic change I realize but I have been toiling for the last month if it's worth doing. Obviously I still care for her (I wouldn't be bitching otherwise now would I?) but I always feel horrible after talking to her no matter how the conversation went. I suppose I shouldn't complain, I wanted to break up with her first (shortly after we got together in fact) and in the end I did get exactly what I wanted. I just didn't plan to actually end up having long lasting feelings for her. My fault I suppose for being a misogynistic hopeless romantic. It always amuses me when someone says that love is supposed to be easy. Is it ever? Anything worth doing is never easy. So then why fall in love and stay with one person if it's supposed to be easy?

I should've been a Mormon (for the polygamy, not the no drinking) Ok, I should've been a jack mormon...

I Hate Filleting

Filleting is one of the most miserable experiences I have ever had in my life. I might even be willing to put it on par with having to carry on a civil conversation with an ex. You always start out thinking it will be nice and neat, but it always ends up messy. Always. So you might as well just do it drunk, make the mess, and worry about clean up later.

Speaking of clean up, does anyone have a good suggestion for sanding corners? Especially the acute angled corners along the bulkheads? I am not looking forward to this. I haven't taken any pictures of the fillets themselves yet, they're too abominable to show anyone as of yet. They are very functional, just ugly. I plan to finish the filleting and start glassing the bottom of the boat this week. Hopefully I can get a fair amount done because the weather seems like it will be fairly warm all week.

More to follow soon...

In Search of Natural Entropy...

So, with one of the last few naturally occurring entropic days of the year I decided to take advantage and "tack weld" the boat together using the "fast" hardener in my epoxy mix rather than the "slow" hardener I had been using until now. First off, the faster stuff is awesome. Granted it is slightly more manageable due to lower temps but I like knowing that my chemical reactions are occurring at a pace where I can see the immediate results. (Patience has never been a strong suit of mine) The other reason I like it so much is that it is slightly more reliable at the lower ambient temperatures I will sadly be experiencing over the next 6 months. I am hoping this will not have a catastrophic effect upon completion of the boat. Thoughts? I have included a pic below that shows the entire lower hull assembled and ready for filleting. I have already done the tack welding step and will complete the fillets over the weekend. I'll be honest, I am absolutely petrified of removing the wire stitches tomorrow once the tack welds have cured. I keep having the horrific reoccurring waking dream where the entire boat and all it's seams pop apart just as the last wire stitch is removed. I made sure the fillets at the bow were extra wide just to assuage any fears of mine. They have not been assuaged as of yet.

On a more personal note, I am thinking of getting a puppy. I'm leaning towards a beagle but I'm still torn over whether or not I will have enough time to properly care for it. The biggest reason I want one is so I can have a companion while sailing and just in general. My friends that live around here don't really give a shit, and frankly a dog will be about a 1000 times more loyal than a girl. I could make a witty comment now about how women and entropy could be equated but I will save that for a night when I'm feeling a little more bitter... Chicks blow...

Now... back to my delicious Chocolate Stout!

My Apologies

Sorry to all my fan(s) who have been waiting patiently for updates on the boat building progress. I'm fairly certain only one person reads this, or at least he is the only one who mentions reading it! Well, rest assured just because I haven't been updating this blog it does not mean I haven't been making progress. I had to wait for my landlord to move some snowplow blades out of the garage about a week ago but in that week the progress has been significant. I gotta be honest I don't really have anything exciting to say about life other than I am wholly disappointed in the attractive lesbian that I know after having met her girlfriend for the first time. I mean, it's cool that they're lesbians and all, but that doesn't mean the girlfriend has to be an anti-social bitch. I mean, she wasn't a butch lesbian or anything so in theory she could still be cool. I guess I'm just pissed off that an attractive blonde girl is going to waste by dating an annoying anti-social chick. I feel as though the blonde is still capable of being saved...

Anyway, onto the boat. So once the snowplow blades were moved out of the garage I put the cradle together and immediately began assembling the bottom of the hull. After more than a few puncture wounds and scratches, along with some spilled DNA, the hull began to take shape. The most interesting part of putting together a boat hull is stitching together the tip of the bow; this is done using your hands to tighten the wires while squeezing the panels together with your inner thighs. Needless to say, I have a large quantity of scratches and bruises on my inner thighs. Not really the place I expected to injure myself in this process. Now that the hull is together there are sharp pieces of heavy gauge wire protruding all over the place on the boat. My ultimate fear is that I will catch one of these wires in the eye while crawling underneath the boat.

That being said I am doing my best to haul ass and get all the bulkheads in as soon as possible so I can low down all the epoxy fillets this week while the weather is warm for one last time. Yup, that's about it for now. Enjoy the pics...

Been Busy....

Ok ok ok, first off my apologies for not posting something more recently. I have been rather busy with work b/c apparently for no apparent reason the beer industry gets quite busy this time of year. I have absolutely no idea why. The other reason for a lack of blog posts recently is that there has not been much progress on the boat worthy of any pictures. This is not to say there hasn't been progress but still. As you can see by the photo above I have taken the time to cut out most of the bulkheads including the most complicated one you see above. I also have the cradle constructed and I am just about ready to begin assembling the hull. Then the real pictorial progress will begin! Sadly, after this weekend I will be even more busy with work. But the upside is my busy weekends will involve Octoberfests in Boston and Vermont. (read: lots of work buts lots of drinking) and some extra pay for working the festivals. Oh darn.

Other than that not much else exciting going on in my life. At least nothing more than having money extorted from me, but that's a story for when I care enough to bitch about it more. I should probably care about that one more but nothing that people do surprises me anymore. I suppose it's a good thing to be cynical sometimes. At least you're never disappointed in people when you're expectations are already at the bottom of the barrel.

I need a drink.

I Think I Might Have Lead Poisoning

So, I have accomplished quite a bit recently. Including casting the lead ingot into the centerboard and ballast into the keel. I sourced my lead by visiting the shadier (i.e. non-corporate) tire dealers in the local area. The funny thing is I didn't have to pay for it at all! Of course I did barter for it, but beer is a powerful bartering tool ;) Oh beer, what can't you do?

So, used my tiny but uber-powerful backpacking stove and a small old pan with a spout to melt down the lead, and a slotted spoon to remove the steel clips from the tire weights once melted. A pretty simple process actually. That backpacker stove melted the lead in a matter of a couple minutes! It also smoked profusely whilst burning off all the dirt and such, and I'm sure it smelled bad (I couldn't smell it seeing as I had a respirator on) But it does make me slightly concerned seeing as that I have several neighbors in close proximity to my house (think in terms of feet) and they all seem to be old people or small children. Whatever, I'll chalk it up to having slight sociopathic tendencies.

The other part of melted lead which caused me concern was that I decided I ought to learn what the potential symptoms of lead poisoning are just in case I notice myself acting strange. I have listed them below for your convenience:

Behavioral symptoms in adults

• Irritability
• Unexplained changes in mood or personality
• Changes in sleep patterns
• Inability to concentrate
• Memory loss

Neurological symptoms (caused by effects of lead on the nervous system)

• Poor coordination
• Weakness in hands and feet
• Headaches
• Seizures
• Paralysis
• Coma

So now I know. The problem is that each and every one of these symptoms can quite readily be found in my normal course of life anyway. (Ok, maybe not the last three... but if I ever experience those symptoms I'm kinda fucked regardless) As for the rest, based on my current social life and my propensity to consume large quantities of alcohol... I may already have lead poisoning. I'll let you know if I experience any of those final three symptoms... if I can. ;) (Or worse, you will see an abrupt end to this blog if any of my neighbors have these symptoms, oops)

Anyway, back to the boat. The centerboard ingot was cast and I have begun glassing it. And finally, you can see almost the entire keel assembled. (It looks like part of a boat at least, right?) It's only missing the aft lead ballast and the keelson. Hopefully I can get that finished by the time I head to NYC for Labor Daybor... After the weekend it's on to the big time, I have to build the cradle and start scarfing the hull panels together. Then the boat will really begin to take shape!

If Only I Had Some Vicks VapoRub...

So, is it a bad thing when you're hands feel like they're vibrating 2 hours after you're done using an oscillating sander? I'm pretty sure I've lost blood flow in my hands today and collapsed a few capillaries. However, the centerboard is taking shape after sanding away for more than 2 hours on it. I'm pretty sure my neighbors hate me, but they need to suck it up b/c I have many many more hours of boatbuilding to go. I must say though, using the epoxy to create a leading and trailing edge on the board is a pretty cool idea. It will now stand up to many underwater hazards in it's hopefully long life. Next step is to find some lead, melt it down and pour it in that hole. The centerboard trunk is essentially done too, I'll finish sanding that down and rout down the sharp edges that will be part of the cockpit upon completion tomorrow afternoon. I also need to start epoxying the keel together tomorrow. Hopefully I can get the keel blocking right so the keel isn't twisted.

On another note, I have decided I love my respirator. I feel like Darth Vader in that thing. I can literally hear the funky breathing sounds as the positive and negative pressure valves release with each breath. I'm thinking this should be part of a disturbing halloween costume somehow. Hmm, how can I rig a respirator to supply alcohol to my mouth? Thoughts? Also, at the suggestion of my roommate, I will now use this apparatus to clean my bathroom (I do share my bathroom with a stinky mexican after all) It's probably not a good idea to inhale as many noxious Tilex vapors as I have in my lifetime anyway. I also want to use a public toilet with it on, pull it off as I'm walking out and say to an incoming user, "Good Luck!"

Oh, and if you understand the title of this post then you understand my sordid past ;)

"Those Who Understand History, Are Condemned to Watch Other Idiots Repeat It"

Therefore, I officially label myself an idiot. I am absolutely no good at judging how much epoxy to use at a given instance, especially in hot weather. See... epoxy is a funny material, it acts in the exact opposite way you would think a strong adhesive would act. Most glues when spread thin tend to dry quicker than if they were a solid blob of goo. Epoxy reacts in the exact opposite manor. A big thick mass (as in a mixing cup) will actually cure much more rapidly than a thin film spread across a large surface area. Oh, and when it's a thick mass it generates lots of heat. You can see what happened to my mixing cup in the above photo. Apparently thickened epoxy doesn't agree with polyethylene. On a more progressive note, all the pieces for the keel are now cut out. I would have epoxied more pieces together today but I ran out of clamps. I need more clamps. Lots more. Oh well, it will be a fairly simple thing to do after work during the week. I also hope to get the centerboard shaped and the full keel assembled and ready for the lead pours next weekend. Hopefully I'll have pictures that actually look like they came from a real boat soon!

I Like Sex and Boats (not Candy)...

I got a fairly late start today because I decided I would go out last night. It wasn't really a thrilling night but it wasn't the bar's fault. There were plenty of cute girls but they were showing The Doors on tv with the closed captioning on. I was entirely too distracted by how fucked up Jim Morrison was. Eventually I got bored of the random girls blatantly showing off cleavage to attract attention. (The friend I was with likes to point out that female humans evolved and grew breasts to turn men on during sex since humans are one of the few species to copulate face-to-face. Most animals do it from behind. I wonder if there is a correlation between being an ass man vs. a boob man and their preferred sexual position?)

Anyway... back to boatbuilding; as I said before I didn't get much done, but I did cut out the pieces for the centerboard and the keelson. I tried to be a badass and cut out a puzzle joint to join the halves of the keelson. I am in fact, not a badass. But regardless with enough thickened epoxy slathered all over the place I'm sure I'll be fine. I clamped the hell out of it for curing, and I'm sure it's nothing a sander won't clean up. I'm thinking I'll go with scarf joints from here on out after all. I layered on a second coat of epoxy onto the centerboard trunk, only one more to go! And I'm excited to get started on shaping the centerboard. Once I have some free time during the week I'll probably apply the last coat of epoxy on the trunk and epoxy the two halves of the centerboard together, I'm guessing that should be fairly quick and easy as an after work task...

Let's Build a Boat!

So... boatbuilding began in earnest this morning upon my return from the local marine supply shop for some epoxy and epoxy tools/safety equipment. I must say, my geographic location has been a blessing for undertaking this project. I have read about a few other people's projects who have to have supplies shipped to them in bulk from a great distance away, and I feel very very fortunate to have a myriad of marine supply shops as well as marine plywood suppliers in the greater Boston area. I can literally buy supplies as I need them avoiding any large lump sum payments (a key factor to allow me to finish such a project). The biggest x-factor I thought was going to be acquiring the okoume plywood. After some brief web research I discovered Boulter Plywood, all of 1 mile from my house. Anyway, onto the boatbuilding.

I started with cutting out the pieces for the centerboard trunk and sanding them down to the exact size, it was pretty fun getting started I had to admit. I then milled down a nice solid piece of mahogany I had laying around into the noseblock. It's probably about 1/16th of an inch shorter than it's supposed to be but I assume I can get away with that. (Apparently the guide marks on my table saw are off by 1/16th on an inch. A good fact to know upfront) Another exciting revelation was the joy of using a block plane. You can see by the mess I made in the last photo that I decided to forego ripping off a large chunk with the table saw (it does still scare me after all) and went after that chunk of wood with zeal with the block plane. Serious fun. My father had a block plane when I was a kid but it was a piece of crap, I bought a new one and that thing is a thing of beauty in action. Apparently I am amused by simple things.

Lastly, I laid down the first coat of epoxy and glass fabric on the insides of the centerboard trunk before calling it a day. I found working with the epoxy to be much easier than I had expected, and with disposable gloves clean up was easy. (I chose this as my last step of the day b/c I figured sawdust floating around the work area and landing on curing epoxy would not be desirable.) Tomorrow is going to be an easy day I think, just cutting out more pieces and applying another coat of epoxy onto the trunk. There's no turning back now...

Gotta Have a Place to Work!

Well, if I'm going to seriously undertake this project I realized I needed a place to work... Well, you can see from the photo above what an afternoon's efforts achieved a couple weeks ago. Based on this experience I must say I am encouraged that my woodworking and architectural skills have not completely disappeared. Glad to know my brain still functions on some basic level. I have since acquired a plethora of additional tools as well, including a 10" table saw that absolutely scares the shit out of me. I grew up using my father's radial arm saw and frankly I was about 16 by the time he let me near it. (With his knowledge) The most threatening power tool I have used since is a very nice power drill I bought in college, not exactly a life threatening tool unless serious misused. (I'm pretty sure Jeffrey Dahmer used to kill people with a drill, not exactly the most useful piece of knowledge but I'm willing to bet that qualifies as "misuse")

Anyway... I'm kind of hoping I still have all my fingers and no additional scars by the end of this project. Somehow I doubt I'll be that lucky...

The Avenging Amateur...

Ok first off, a little about me... I'm a 30 year old living just outside Boston who is quite frankly sick of drunken nights and weekends with the same old people and looking for a new adventure. That being said, I have always been interested in sailing and I have always wanted my own sailboat. I never thought I could afford one however, and as much as I would still like a 60' Beneteau let's be honest it really isn't in my price range to own one. I stumbled across the Chesapeake Light Craft website (Please note shameless plug) not too long ago and really liked the idea of building my own. I thought that I would enjoy it so much more if it were born of my own sweat and tears (let's hope more sweat than tears) And winters in Boston can be pretty miserable so I figured a good project would keep me busy. The reason I chose to build the Pocketship is because it really was everything I was looking for without being too expensive. I can easily store it in my garage while being built and after completion, trailer it around New England and beyond with my horrendously underpowered car, and build it piece by piece avoiding any large lump sum investments. Oh, and it will keep me from being a drunk waste product. Ok, well the drunk part is true at least. Hopefully... (I do work for a prominent local brewery after all)

The other more important reason I decided to undertake this adventure was to regain my childish enthusiasms with constructing something by my own two hands. Too often in modern society we as a culture are addicted to the grab and go lifestyle. I look back in envy at the age of the pioneers who simply built something if they needed it. Need a wagon? Build one. Need a house? Build one. Need a boat? Build one. You get the idea. I will admit I have never built a boat before, nor have I ever built anything of this magnitude. An ex-girlfriend of mine recently lambasted my idea of building a boat and saying she doubts it will even float. I suppose she's right, there is that chance. (She's also my ex and likely finds it her duty to disagree with anything I say or do) Her point I'm assuming is that building something which requires a skill is something best left to the experts. But I am excited about this amateur pursuit. I acquiesce to my humility in that I know very little about boat building, but in my mind there is no better way to learn, than to do. I'm quite sure I will be in more than one situation where I will be uncertain as to how to proceed, ignorant even in fact. However, in doing so I will be obliged to figure out new skills and techniques. A historian named Daniel Boorstin once mused, "in the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are very few." Another favorite quote happens to be, "The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge." I make no claim of knowing what I'm getting myself into, which conveniently happens to be precisely what makes it exciting.