So Cold, and yet So Hot!

Merry Xmas, Happy New Year blah blah blah.... Thankfully my xmas was pretty fun this year, despite my sister yelling at her children in my ear repeatedly. Does it mean I'm getting old when I cringe at the sound of loud noises? Ok, I don't cringe at the sound of loud noises, just my sister. Perhaps that is a separate issue. But X-mas was good, I played with the little princess and enjoyed myself immensely. The food and the beer/wine were also good. A very special shout out to my brother-in-law for placing a shot of JD in front of me without having to ask for it. He knew I needed it. He's a smart man.

So, onto the boat... my apologies for the lack of updates. It has been a busy end of the year with traveling, skiing, working, and general shenanigans. The cold also seriously hampers my ability to work efficiently as epoxy is supposed to have temperatures near 50 to cure properly. I have a mini shop set up in my study to apply epoxy clear coats and since that room gets to about 98 degrees, the epoxy cures in just a couple of hours. Of course, I can't exactly bring the whole boat it, so any structural work has to have lamps set up with plastic draped over to hold the heat in. Surprisingly, a 60 watt light bulb will heat a small area to well over 60 degrees inside a sheet of plastic.

That being said, the interior floorboards have all cut, routed, and varnished and look pretty good in my opinion. The downside is that brass screws suck. They strip repeatedly, and often snap off in the middle making it damn near impossible to get the lower half out of the wood without ripping it apart. However, they don't rust either. I ruined more than a few, which sucks because brass screws cost about 4x as much as regular screws. But you can see how good the floorboards look now that they are installed. I'm not sure it'll be that comfortable to sleep on, but a good foam pad or air mattress should do the trick. Another reason for the length of time between updates is due to how long the floorboards took. I began cutting them around Thanksgiving, but didn't get the final coat of varnish on them until just before X-mas. Of course, they have 3 coats of varnish on top and two on the bottom.

The next step was to cut out the seats, and footwell pieces. If I had been designing this boat I probably would have made the footwell about 6 inches wider and the seats each 3 inches narrower, but I guess my feet are doomed to spend the life of my boat wedged in that footwell while I'm under sail. Oh well. The other notable accomplishment of late was to install the centerboard pendant sheave and shims. I will include a picture of this soon, but basically it is the little roller that the rope which lowers and raises the centerboard slides on. The shims are epoxied around the sheave to keep the rope from jumping off. It seems pretty effective actually. I also purchased some removable access hatches to cover the gaping holes in the centerboard trunk. Again, I will take a picture once they are installed in the next few days.

Tomorrow, I will be applying a final coat of paint to the footwell sides and bottom and hopefully epoxying them in place. Here's a few pics of the seats resting in place (they aren't glued down yet) but you can see how nice the floorboards turned out. I also modified the original layout of the floorboards. The lacewood at my local store was pretty warped and not available in good widths for making 3" wide boards, so I trimmed mine to 2.5". I had to use an extra board on either side but I thought it gave my boat a touch of originality.

Finally, I am working on some boat names now that it is 2010. I am still hoping to have the christening sometime in May, but it may be June or July in reality. Comments or suggestions for boat names are welcome... Right now I'm thinking about:

Ataraxia

Preferably in Greek:

Ἀταραξία

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...