We got an email from a gent wanting to know if we had a pattern for a Drascombe Dabber tiller. As it turns out we did. Fortunately we took time to take a few measurements and trace out paper patterns of the rudder, tiller, oars, centerboard and a few other bits...mast, mizzen mast, bowsprit, bumpkin.
Sometimes we make plywood templates or wood shapes, for the Dabber we took the time to make a centerboard pattern and wood shape for the bowsprit.
Wandering around the Carriage House, worked on the mizzen for our Grumman 17 Scout and took care of a few other items, not all planned or in an expected sequence. When we get distracted by multiple small or large jobs while on the way to do what we first set out to do, for instance today it was to work on the mizzen spars for SCOUT, we call that "yak shaving." As an example, when I pulled out the spars today, I noticed the cork board behind the work bench. That got me to thinking about the catboat that we are designing, and I thought, hey, I can move this cork board real quick to a more accessible area before I start on the spars. So the work bench got rolled out away from the wall, and I saw that the border had fallen off the cork board. Should I fix that or just put the board in the new spot by screwing the frame to the studs? Tried screwing the frame, that didn't work. Take the board back down. Skipper said fix it. I tried putting screws in the corners to hold the frame, which required me to pull out 2 drills, different bits and a hardware box. That didn't work because the particle board frame just crumbled where the screws went in. So I went to find some gaff tape to just tape the corners, that worked.
Next I had to move a couple of tool trolleys to get to the new spot of the cork board and Skipper said, "Hey did you cut yourself?" She said it looked like there was blood on my elbow, I looked around and noticed drips of red on the floor, on my shorts, but it wasn't blood, it was paint. Followed the drips and saw where a bag of red paint had been punctured by a nail when I moved it to a new spot, out of the way of the cork board. So I got the paint wipes, Skipper cleaned up my elbow,and I got rid of the bag and cleaned a little where it dripped, but it added some patina. I have a new set of Shop Shorts now. Finally got the cork board moved to the new spot and hey, an hour and a half later, we're finally working on the mizzen spars.
The issue with the mizzen spars was that the boomkin was too short. The mast was also right close to being too short. So we bought a longer closet rod to become the new mast, and planned to move the old mast to be the new boomkin. The spars are held together by a Sunfish spar interlocking bolt. The old bolt was stripped so I pulled out the Alcort parts box to find a new piece. Here's the bolt, with the boomkin installed upside down. I noticed that later...
Some of the flotsam and jetsam that accumulated during yak shaving.
Hey did we mention that the cork board got moved?
Mizzen bent onto the new mast.
You know I just remembered, I originally went out to the carriage house to shoot a short video about our line whipping kit!
Back to the canoe, I wandered back to the house to find the Grumman Sail Rig Instructions. They're for a Gunter Rig but there are other tidbits in there that are helpful, like where to place the leeboard spreader.
That'll get us started, might need adjusting because we have a mizzen added to the fray. Still looking for the metal rudder adapter, if anyone has one to send our way please post a comment below.
Adjusted the angles of the boomkin, it ties to the stern to keep it fixed, and Skipper will adjust the sheet like she does on the Lugger. Poor Skipper, all she wanted was a gaff sail for running downwind, and she would steer with the paddle. But we knew The Usual Visitors might get a laugh out of all of the extra bits we are adding. Not sure if SCOUT finds it amusing though.
Starting to get a little busy. Rudder control line, mizzen sheet....supposed to be another 8 foot long rudder lifting line back there somewhere as well...
Rudder goes about here.
TLAR
With those yaks shaved, we turned our attention back to the catboat. Laid down a baseline for lofting, marked out 1 foot increments out to 16 feet, actually I first marked out 11 foot 2 inch increments and then realized I goofed that up...too much math...called it a day.
Took SCOUT out this morning with just the gaff main and a kayak paddle, winds 4-6 mph. Paddled upwind for about 20 minutes then raised the gaff. Turned and ran downwind, sat midships and steered with the paddle, gybed and even got through a tack with the help of the paddle. We could hold a beam reach without losing too much ground.
Rigged the mizzen.
Canoe with a boomkin!
Mizzen sheet jam cleat with a fairlead.
We went with the free footed mizzen and boomkin so we can furl the mizzen easily.
Skipper's leeboard design, repurposed Sunfish rudder and gudgeon. She'll be able to control it from the stern seat.
Clark's leeboard design, variant of a Sunfish daggerboard. We'll try them out one at a time and see which one we like.
Put the grommets in the mizzen, #1 on the luff and #2s on the head, tack and clew. Spaced the luff grommets 12 inches apart. Supplies purchased from Sailrite, and we used our new #2 spur grommet die set, with the 3 lb mallet it only takes 2-3 hits to set them. And yes, we can see now how the spur grommet anvil and hammer are concave a bit to properly set the spur grommet, whereas the plain grommet dies set faces are a little flatter. Another feature we like on die sets are the brands that have long handles, less chance to hit our hand.
We made a 12 square foot mizzen for our Grumman 17 SCOUT, to help balance the gaff main. Cut it out of some fine painter's drop cloth, 6 foot luff, 4 feet on the foot with a 6 degree rise, which matches the rise on the gaff.
Marked the seam allowance.
Cut some corner reinforcement patches.
Too much air conditioning inside, let's move outside where heat index is 95F! Time to make the stern thwart, Spoiler Alert, here is what it looks like uninstalled once we were done, we just decided how to cut the next piece and what size to make it as we went along.
Cut one pine thwart to sit on top of the gunwale and one to notch just inside of it. Drilled 4 holes for 1/4 inch carriage bolts with washered wing nuts. Marked a 1 1/2 inch hole amidships, 3/4 inch forward of the aft face. Drilled a 1/2 inch pilot hole for the jigsaw blade and cut out the hole.
Cut two 12 inch side pieces and beveled the top edge so they would drop vertical and barely touch the sides. Then cut the angled bottom thwart, screwed together with deck screws. Once that thwart was assembled we installed it and dropped in the 1 1/2 inch mast (8 foot closet rod from Lowes), which tilted forward because of the angle of the thwart on the aft rise of the canoe. Used a diamond tile file to ease out the lower forward edge and aft upper edge of the mast hole, until the hole was oblong enough for the mast to be set plumb vertical. Then we leveled the canoe port to starboard, dropped in the mast and, set it plumb and vertical, and marked the bottom thwart for a hole on the top face. Took the thwart out and brought it in the carriage house to transfer that top marking to the bottom face. I could have disassembled it but I didn't want things to get misaligned during reassembly. This is a picture of the stern thwart upside down, we found the port-starboard center of the bottom thwart and transferred fore and aft measurement of aft face of mast. The positioned mast on those marks to draw a circle.
There is not much open room behind the stern seat and the stern deck, about 6 inches, so early on I sat on the seat with the thwart installed to see if the mast would be in the way. The mast was okay but the forward edge of the thwart was too close to the seat. So I took a pencil and traced a cutout for butt clearance.
Reinstalled everything to check visual sight lines, vertical and plumb with the gaff main.
SCOUT got to bunk over with ZIP, WINNIE, WAVE and MARGARET ROSE.
We have a lot of new parts on the Dabber, so we thought we'd take them over to Capn Jack so he could inspect them. I planned to grab the bumpkin and bowsprit and Skipper said "Why don't we take the whole boat!." Hooked VICTORY up to BLUEBELL and headed across the bridge.
We rigged the boat minus the bumpkin, worked on that later. I've been told that the gaff halyard and jib halyard run through the holes in the mast thwart, so here that is.
Skipper and Capn Jack supervised.
Tied things down, this is how we'd hit the road.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt7CKOzhxG0&t=7s
VICTORY passed mid restoration inspection and we were cleared to continue. Once we were home we cut the opening for the mizzen mast. I leveleled the boat port to starboard, then started a small cut but cut too far forward and to starboard. I ended up cutting a shim out of teak to finish out the hole. Epoxied the shim into place using Pettit Flexpoxy.
