More Snow

 29 Jan 22:

Two weekends in a row with snow, we may have moved too far North :) 2-3 inches, wet snow this time.

World Panel Boat Building Lumber

 29 Jan 22:

I took a road trip to World Panel in Windsor, NC to pick up materials for our Nutshell Pram project and a teak deck chair. World Panel specializes sawn lumber, plywood and composite materials suitable for the marine environment, with another store in Riviera Beach, FL. 

We first loaded a 5x10 sheet of 3/8th inch (9mm) okoume ply for use as a table top, another project. Surprisingly it didn't fit flat  in my 5x10 trailer, I found out it is cut a bit over size, I suppose to account for possible edge damage in transit. For the Nutshell we bought okume 4x8 plywood in 1/4 (6 mm), 3/8th (9 mm) and 3/4 inch (18 mm), a 13 foot piece of 1x8 mahogany, and a 20 foot long piece of 2x4 fir that they cut in half. 

The rough mahogany measures 1 inch thick, in lumber terms it is classed as 4/4 unfinished. If they were to surface all 4 sides (S4S) it would measure about 3/4 thickness and be labeled 4/4 S4S. It is sold in a variety of widths and they figure the price by "board foot." Hardwoods are sold by the board foot, which is a calculation of the wood volume in the board. A board foot indicates a volume quantity equal to a board 12 inches by 12 inches by 1 inch, or one-twelfth of a cubic foot. The board in the photo is 8.75 board feet at $8.95 per bf, it cashes out at $78.31. It will be used for the keel, rudder bits, gunwales and a few other places, and there will be quite a bit left over for other projects

Skipper also requested some teak to build a deck chair, and since I wasn't sure how much I needed I bought a little extra. We bought 43.50 board feet, way too much, maybe enough to make an entire patio set, At 27.50 per board foot, you do the math. 

Marine plywood is made with waterproof adhesive and the higher grades of plywood are rated by standards, in this case British Standard 1088 (BS1088). The untreated face veneers must have a solid surface without open defects. The okoume we bought is also a hardwood.

Compare to this lumber yard plywood made from fir, a softwood, which has a grainy surface and open defects. We bought this piece to make molds and lamination jigs for the Nutshell, it will be useful and economical for that.

Marine plywood will have more plies, our 6 mm and 9 mm have 5 plies and the 18 mm has 9. The odd number of plies helps reduce warping and deformation.

World Panel ships to many locations, and the folks are very knowledgeable and helpful.

FMI: World Panel

Flamingo Report

 28 Jan 22:

We are happy to report that the squirrels are off the hook, we found the flamingo's nose.

Mariner's Library Bookcase Number 2

28 Jan 22:

We finished the second bookcase for the library, cedar sides and pine shelves.

We also made a base for the shorter shelves we already had, which gave us another spot to store large archival boxes. Capn Jack's sextant got a special spot on the upper shelf cubby, and that will also be a good spot to store oversize magazines. More scraps were utilized to make a plans, patterns and chart holder. Now we need to alphabetize the collection, most of which is not seen here, and start populating the shelves. Once it is all sorted we might need to make another shelf to go on top.

Where's WALDO

28 Jan 22: 

We spotted our shop stool WALDO in the shop, helping with the bookcase project.

Shop Stool from Scraps

28 Jan 22: 

I was making a bookcase and screwed up the shelf measurement, too short, so after I sat in the moaning chair a bit I decided to take some of the scraps and make another shop stool. First we cut out the legs, braces and top using our patterns.

Then I cut out the handles..

...and the toe grab.

Screwed on the legs.

Attached the braces and the top.

She's in the paint shop, she'll get a Kilo signal flag paint scheme.

Drascombe Lugger Shroud Keeper Tip

22 Jan 22: 

The upper shroud swage ends on the mast band of our Drascombe Lugger can flip up and get jammed out of position in the process of raising the mast, very annoying. So we tied a 3mm waxed line through the swages to act as a keeper to keep them in place. The line has worked great.

Tidewater Snow

 22 Jan 22:

We got a little snow at the Mid Atlantic Station, around 6 inches. It was the first time Skipper had seen an snowplow.

One of the flamingos lost its nose, hopefully we'll find it when the snow melts or else we'll have to start interviewing the squirrels.

Paddle Paint

22 Jan 22:

Added more color to the Double Paddle, a stripe of TotalBoat Wet Edge Blue Glo White, applied with a 2 inch chip brush. Lines were taped with 3M Scotch 218 Fine Line tape, which leaves a clean edge.

Second coat drying. Our goal was to make the blade tips look like an airplane propeller tip, so no one walks into the prop arc :)

COLUMBIA's Tender

 22 Jan 22:

Here are a few photos of Herreshoff Yacht COLUMBIA's tender that we took at the Herreshoff Museum in 2019. She was built to meet the requirement that America's Cup yachts carry a lifeboat, so she has watertight compartment on both ends. She is built to the high Herreshoff standards and we imagine that she was also built as light as possible since she rode on COLUMBIA's deck. COLUMBIA was launched in 1899 for defense of the Cup, which she won handily against SHAMROCK. We are sure that the tender played a big role but are not sure if she had a name, so for now her call sign is DELICATO.

Here is COLUMBIA during the 1899 season, with DELICATO possibly on the pier foreground. Check the picture carefully, I think that is Skipper up in the sail loft. 

(Image credit: Herreshoff Museum. Herreshoff of Bristol. Bray and Pinheiro. p.90)

Cold White Sand

21 Jan 22:

We had some beautiful white sand drop from the sky, wait, why is it cold and wet? Hey Skipper, I don't think we're in Florida anymore...A little dusting of snow tonight, 6 inches forecast through early morning.

SCUPPERS had fun playing in the snow, then I broomed her off and rolled her back into the Carriage House. 

We set the anchor watch and called it a night. Skipper had fried chicken waiting for the crew.

Mariner's Library Bookcase

 21 Jan 22:

We had built in some bookcases at our previous station for our Mariner's Library, they were very nice, but they stayed in Florida. This time we decided to make them freestanding, so they can move with the Armada should another move ever happen. FWIW we are in our third "Forever Home."

Remember the clear white pine 1x12x8 boards we picked up a day before? After Skipper seized one for her bookcase, we cut out bits for the new bookcases. We cut the sides to 80 inches, which fits through most doorways vertically, and the sides are 12 inches "dimensional," which means the rough board started out 12 inches wide at the sawmill, but once all the faces were finished it measures about 11 1/2 inches. Thickness measures out at 3/4 inches. We set the shelf height at 16 inches, which is good for most of our flotsam and jetsam. Then screwed directly into the shelves from the sides with #10 silicone bronze wood screws, 1 1/2 inch length, piloted and counterbored with a combination Fuller bit. 

In some construction we add cleats below the shelves, in that application we can attach the cleat to the side and the shelf from inside, and that means no fasteners are visible on the outside of the case. That also means that more cutting is required of small pieces and a little space is lost internally. 

The new JIG/DOLLY/workbench worked out great as a construction table, imagine my delight and surprise when I realized that the workbench was also at just the right height to also act as a feed table! Today I set the saw perpendicular to the bench, 8 foot boards were manageable in th 12 foot wide shop. In the future I can make a tray for the workbench that the saw sits in and run boards parallel to the saw.

A few other considerations, 1) we added a back piece at the top and bottom to keep the bookcase square, I inset those pieces which claims 3/4 of an inch. A full back would add a lot of weight and use more material. Another option would be to set the backs on the outside, but that would set the bookcase out from the wall a bit. Since some of the shelves are open at the back, I wanted to use the closet wall as a back, lest some small book disappear into the void. 2) I also cut a small relief in the aft bottom of the sides to account for baseboards. 3) 3/4 inch pine spanned over 30 inches should hold the weight of books without the shelf sagging amidships, but if it does I can add small supports under the front and back edges of each shelf. 

We are going to leave the finish natural, but the white pine is easy to paint or stain or varnish. The new bookcase is now upstairs in the Library, with lots of books and photo albums on it, none of which seem to be marine related :) Guess we'll be making a few more...