Trailer Park

27 Aug 21: 

We built this 5x8 section of deck back in Florida, planning to use it as part of the new Sunfish Shack, then we added legs so we could put it in a PODS container and hide a Sunfish under it as part of our move.

Today we took the legs off and decided to use it as a temporary parking deck for SMEDLEY, with future plans to expand around it to make a seating area, maybe add a pergola and use it as a shaded spot to work on boats. We shimmed the deck up to be the same level as the floor of the Sunfish SHack, and added a ramp.

We are happy to report that all the boats are out of mud pits now, either in the Shack, on a deck, a sawhorse or on a trailer. One thing we had to check on SMEDLEY was to make sure that his bow was elevated enough to let water run to his deck drains. 

Here's the exciting video: https://youtu.be/rcJgkKSAuW0

Log of the Sunfish Shack.

Bridge Inspector

 26 Aug 21:

Skipper rolled by to test out the new bridge. First she rolled across on her John Deere E130 WILEY and later she towed SCOUT across.

Next she towed the Alcort Finishing Dolly and catboat strongback across to it's new spot on the garden shed slab.

Then some coreopsis appeared to anchor the bridge corners.

All the boats are slowly finding their parking spots.

The Bridge to Somewhere

 24 Aug 21:

We have a small drainage ditch running between our backyard and our excess acreage, we thought we'd build a scenic bridge across it so we can get out to a planned garden shed/mower storage/She Shed.

We looked online for some inspiration, a simple arched bridge caught our eye. We cut 4 stringers out of a 2x10 with a circular saw. I suppose it shouldn't still amaze me that you can cut a curve with a circular saw, seeing as I have a hard time cutting a straight line. The little Kobalt saw chewed through 4 boards and made a lot of sawdust.

The bridge is 6 feet wide, 12 feet long. Skipper set the stringers on 24 inch centers, then began planking with 2x6 lumber. I took photos. 

We cut 2 more stringers out of a 2x12 to make a toe rail. 

SCOUT supervised.

Sunfish Shack Parts and Service Windows

22 Aug 21:

Add a wall, then cut holes in it, then add 24x24 inch slider windows. One window got 1x4 PVC trim and we need to make a run for more trim for the other window. We think one window will be Parts, and one will be Service....or maybe hot dogs, popcorn and snow cones. 2 more windows to go on the port side so we have options. 

The windows will let in some light and will help with cross ventilation, should we ever decide to do a restoration or a new build in the Shack. We left the windows open, forgot, and of course it started to rain. We do have some gear stored in back that we'd rather not get wet, but hey, they're boats, and boat parts.

Log of the Mid Atlantic Sunfish Shack.

Skipper's Sailfish Hoist and Super Sailfish TRACKER

 17 Aug 21:

After draining TRACKER's bilge, Skipper towed the work dolly around to the Sunfish Shack. But first the John Deere E130 WILEY had a chat with an excavator, which was visiting the Mid Atlantic Station to extend our driveway.

Skipper never moved anything heavy in the theater without a block and tackle, so she designed a Sunfish/Sailfish hoist for us to use, utilizing nice bronze Alcort hardware and vintage Sunfish sheets. One end of the sheet snap shackles to a repurposed bridle eyestrap.

The sheet runs under the boat and then through a halyard block.

One end of the boat is lifted and the sheet gets tied off to a halyard cleat.

Voila! We have also found that it is easy to turn the boats over while they are in the hoist, a great side benefit.

Work dolly and caboat strongback departing the area.

Sunfish Hoist Video

Log of the Sunfish Shack.

Log of TRACKER.

Alcort Super Sailfish Drain

 16 Aug 21:

Alcort built the wooden Sailfish 14 Deluxe in the 1950s, 13' 9" long, to sell along with Super Sailfish that were no Deluxe and also the 11' 9" Sailfish, called the Sailfish 12 at the time . We had stored ours outside, under a Sunbrella cover for the last month or so, and found that rain had seeped into the hull. Water left inside the wooden Alcorts is what prevented them from becoming old, so we flipped our boat and drained about a cup of water out of the hull. We are not sure how the water got in, most likely it seeped in over time through a seam and once that area got wet it swelled and sealed, so only a little water got inside.

Through the years the drain plugs showed up in various spots, this boat had a plug on the stern and one on the forward side plank. The drain plug was originally bronze but at some point in this boat's life someone changed the stern plug over to a nylon style. Rather than fill in the enlarged hole we chose to just put in a new nylon plug. We are not fans of drain plugs that close to the water, but the water has to have a path to get out somewhere, and who knows, maybe it got in that way.

We gave TRACKER a bath and then I held up the bow while Skipper put some lumber and chocks under the forward section, to give the water more incentive to drain towards the stern. What water didn't drain out I sucked out with a Porter Cable cordless wet/dry vac, a handy piece of gear to have around.

Log of TRACKER.

Old Style Sunfish Rudder Tiller Stop

 17 Aug 21:

We had a question come in from a viewer whose old style Sunfish tiller was catching on the rudder assembly wing nut. After looking at his photo, we determined that he did not have an original shaped rudder blade, which would have had a little notch that acts as a stop for the downward travel of the tiller. Here are a few photos of what the notch in question looks like, for your viewing pleasure.

If your tiller is droopy, you can add a little rubber bumper, like Capn Jack did to one of our tillers.

And now you have more mostly useless knowledge to add to your brain housing group. 

You're welcome.

Cheers,

Clark and Skipper

3 Sides Up on the Sunfish Shack

 15 Aug 21:

Plenty of wall space for spare parts. And SCUPPERS.

Two 24x24 inch slider windows will go on the starboard side and two more on the port side, so Skipper can sell parts, hot dogs and prop wash out of them.

Our temporary storm jib being tested, we'll use it to keep sideways rain from filling up the wooden boats, until their Carriage House gets built. Then we'll have an open bow so we can keep an eye on the hooligans. And once we got all of the Sunfish off of the grass we were able to repurpose their rubber stall mats to go under the Catfish SMEDLEY, to keep grass from growing too tall there. Eventually we think a small party deck will go there, with a pergola and wisteria.

SCOUT tied up so she doesn't wander...she claimed ownership of the other rubber stall mats, better footing than the mud pit that was there. 

Log of the Sunfish Shack.

Sides for the Shack

 15 Aug 21:

The sides are up, LP Smartside with cedar texture, ready for paint.

The rains came before we got a picture of all the sides up, but the boats stayed nice and dry. More photos to come.

Log of the Sunfish Shack.

Shack Ramp

 10 Aug 21:

Log of the Sunfish Shack.

Sunfish Shack Decking

 09 Aug 21:

Skipper decreed that we would finish the deck for the Sunfish Shack before continuing with the roof. So fourteen 2x6x16 bits of pressure treated lumber later, the deck is finished. Might get a bit more roofing done early tomorrow, before the sun peeks over the pine trees, and get more ramp bits cut. A little grading of the yard will be needed as well.

ST. JACQUES and WAVE volunteered for static load testing of their new spots. 

Log of the Sunfish Shack.

Capn Jack's Birthday

08 Aug 21:

Capn Jack would've been 83 today, we think of him all the time and he is with us in Spirit as we play with our small boats....well, many of them were his small boats and canoes.  Starting in the late 1960s when he built the 16 foot Petrel sailboat ADRIENNE with Skipper's help, there has been a love of all things nautical in our family.

Skipper hung out watching the build, stealing shavings from wood planes and then she was pressed into service applying putty to screw holes with her little fingers. To this day we think she does not have fingerprints due to the abrasive nature of the putty, very convenient in her line of "pirating about."

Jack always had some boat part in his hands or on his shoulder, in this photo an old Lightning mast that has been our Casa's flagpole since 1995.

Jack and ONKAHYE in the 1980s

Skipper and Jack banditting the Navy Regatta with ONKAHYE in 1994...we're sure they one on handicapped times...

Happy Birthday Capn Jack! We'll see you in the shop or on the water.

Purlins, Straps and Screws

 05 Aug 21:

Worked on the new Sunfish Shack, today we added a few extra purlins (the horizontal 1x4s that the roof gets attached to). The basic spacing we chose for our low wind, low snow load area was 3 feet x 3 feet, and then we added a purlin under each end of each panel overlap, if there was not one already there. We added these purlins so we could drive the roof screws and not have the bare ends of screws poking out on the underside of the roof. All of the purlins are also attached to the rafters, and once we got everything mostly square we drove screws along the panels ridges over each purlin and along the rafter/purlin intersections.

Sunny today, the roof started to get a little warm just after Noon, 78F.

FYI the high roof point is the bow, lower roof is the stern. Started spacing rafters and adding purlins for the port side of the shack, still some adding and trimming of purlins to be done in this photo. In this photo you may notice that we made the starboard slip larger, we set the posts a little further apart so our widest trailer (CYANE's) can roll underneath the cover if needed.

The challenge when building a Shack and adding a metal roof is to try and get a square corner to work off of, for this shack we chose the starboard stern corner as our starting point and used a neon pink string run across the stern from starboard to port for as one alignment axis, and then used the stardboard edge of the first panel section as the other axis. There is a little bit of wiggle room for panel overlap and alignment but not much, we used the string and then the panels themselves to set the final lateral spacing of the rafters and fore and aft spacing, then tacked the rafters in place with tie straps. As we got a section or two of panels/rafters/purlins aligned we went back ad put the rest of the screws in the roof panels.

Ready for more purlins, straps and screws.

Log of the Sunfish Shack.