Somethings Wrong Here

If youve read this blog a while youll know that I dont do wood.

Well, look at this, Ive successfully made something out of wood!

What is it?

Its one of these:-

On a woody theme.  The other day I got the dressing ferrels for the mushroom vents .  Here they are all varnished up and ready to fit.

Other jobs done today.  Another coat of paint in the water tank, permanent fixing of the domestic battery to inverter isolator, made a start on re-routing the generator exhaust (2m of 40mm wet exhaust at the local marina with discount £65.00 + £5.00 on fuel for the round trip. On line, £25 delivered tomorrow!)  I can wait a day. Ive also re-plumbed the water inlet for the generator.

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New Genset Frame

This is the new frame I have made to do 2 jobs. 1st job is to support the rear of the engine. Previously the 230v alternator body did this. The new 12v alternator isnt designed to do this

This doesnt look much but it took several hours of head scratching and trying different things. There was 2 main problems / considerations in the design. The 1st and most important was the maintain all the original parts so it could be put back to original. 2nd, I wanted it all to fit back in the original sound reducing box.  The other minor problems were to ensure access and use all the original bolts and the exhaust pipe route got in the way. The final consideration was to ensure the new alternator could be fitted and removed as the pad mount lugs are wider than the diameter.

The pads of the alternator will sit flat on spacers on top of the flats of the bottom angle irons and bolted through 

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Looking Forward to Cooler Times

After this record setting hot summer Im looking forward to some cooler times...

Not that I love to be cold, but I am really looking forward to the autumn show schedule coming up. Its relatively relaxed compared to the last few months.

The remainder of our schedule has us working relatively close to home.

 

 This year, weve traveled to New York City, Upstate New York, Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and a number of other places. Our dog Lucky, our cats Leon and Lenny and our goats, Isabella, Maggie and Vinnie have indicated that theyd prefer to have us close to home, at least for a little while.

Of course, a show schedule is never etched in stone; and its probable that someone will invite us to a show too good to pass up or someone will invite us to do a book signing. But its unlikely that well end up more than a few hundred miles from home this late in the year. Not that we dont love the atmosphere of shows and the many friends that we only see on the road, but weve spent quite a few hot days in our tent this year and our home is the Chesapeake Bay. Its a really beautiful place in the autumn.
 

Among the special things here is that we are on one of the great flyways of the U.S. Pretty soon the Ospreys will vanish and in their place there will be tens of thousands of Canada Geese.

A lot of people come to visit our region during the summer. As autumn arrives, things become very quiet, except for the sounds of nature. As the human population drops, nature comes out of its hiding places. The water becomes still for this short time before the Northwest winds of Winter come along.

We use this time to catch up on our backlog of model work and, of course, that next book. Its pretty much written already. With sixty some odd chapters so far, there is more than enough information to fill a few books, but of course, some of it is redundant, some of it is of greater or lesser relevance and the good stuff needs to be purified and organized. Then well have a lot of photos to take and drawings to make...

 

 

As much as I love to write, model making is the first order of business here. Weve got some great customers who have been very patient as we endeavor to make each of their boats into something worth the time that they have endured. Our current projects represent just about any kind of boat you can imagine. As we make each one we work to learn more so that we can make the next one better. Of the things that Ive learned over 50 years of model making, I think that this is one of the more important ones.

We have three confirmed appearances coming up before the holiday season. As you read them, remember its not too early to be thinking about Christmas shopping, especially for the person that seems to have everything, or the person that likes to “tinker”...

 

On Saturday, October 6^th we will be signing books and answering your questions about model making at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, Maryland during Patuxent River Appreciation Days. We will be there from 2-4 pm. Come get a personally signed copy of “Fundamentals of Model Boat Building” for yourself, or a loved one. When you get to the museum, find the Schiffer Publishing tent, where we will be among a lot of really great books. For more about the festival go to http://pradinc.org

 

We will be at “The Waterfowl Festival” in Easton, Maryland from Friday, November 9^ththru Sunday November 11^th at the Emporium, located at the Easton Middle School in Easton Maryland. If you dont know about “The Waterfowl Festival”, lets just say that not only does anybody who is anybody in the region that is in the waterfowl art business come to this show, but youll even find some who come from other continents to be in this show. We will have our full display, offering our models, demonstrating model making techniques and signing our book “Fundamentals of Model Boat Building” http://www.waterfowlfestival.org

On Black Friday, November 23^rd(The day after Thanksgiving) and Saturday November 24^th, we will be at one of our favorite shows, The Deborah Foundation Decoy and Art Festival in Chincoteague, Virginia. While not a huge show, the sixty, or so, Carvers, Artists, Photographers, Model makers and other artisans represent some of the most creative and talented people that I know. Chincoteague has long been recognized as a center for fine wildlife art and artisanry, especially when it comes to “bird carving”. We wont be the only Schiffer authors there; Bill Veasey, the famous waterfowl carver and teacher will be there. Others may come, as well. One of the great secrets, in this land of “Mistie of Chincoteague” is that during the show, the Assoteague Wildife Refuge opens seven miles of road that is closed to the public the rest of the year, where you will see things you didnt know existed. Find out more here: http://www.chincoteaguechamber.com

We love meeting our customers. If you happen to have one of our books that isnt signed, come see us, lets talk model-making, and well be happy to sign your copy.

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California Drought and Flood

This is yet another California drought post, this one featuring a book by two women who know what they are talking about, that is, the climate of California since the last ice age.
The idea behind studying the earths past climate is that we might be able to see patterns that could help us predict climate in the future.  Unfortunately, climate is capricious and the best that climate studies can do is to give us a smorgasbord of options.  Our options for California are periods of benign climate interspersed with droughts and floods.  California has been in a benign, wetter than usual period for about 150 years.  That period may now be ending.  The entire culture and economy of present day California has been built on top of the expectation that the past 150 years are whats normal for the climate of California.  Sure there isnt enough water in southern California to support large scale agriculture and cities, but with dams and aqueducts, water has been brought from elsewhere to make life in southern California possible.  Northern California fares a little better than the south but cities in Central California, like those that rim San Francisco bay have to import their water from out of the area.
The truth of the situation is that California does not have enough water to support a population of 39 million people indefinitely.  It has enough water if the climate is sufficiently wet.  But it isnt always.  There have been droughts that have lasted for 500 years, from AD 900 to AD 1400 for instance, much longer than California has existed as a state. The present culture of California could not exist in such a climate. Indian cultures have existed in all these varying climates but they were never as dense as the present population.  They were also not as settled and had a better sense of climate variability than the people who built the present day California.
For example, the Central Valley of California where some large part of the produce sold in the US is grown floods periodically.  The Indians tended not to build permanent settlements there.  They moved there when floods were not imminent and moved to higher ground when storms were likely.  The current culture on the other hand has built cities and farms in this flood plain that gets flooded in excess of ten feet every hundred years or so. The last great flood happened in 1862.  A flood of this magnitude happening today would destroy a good deal of housing and farms and also displace 6 million people.  It would also very likely drown much of the infrastructure that brings water to Los Angeles, San Francisco and other coastal cities.
So perhaps drought is not even the worst threat to California.  Drought is a threat to agriculture in California but then agriculture in California was never a good idea unless one is comfortable with the idea that it might only be a temporary arrangement.

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Another Groundhog Day

I have had a a bit of a problem with the magnolia paint on the side of the boat and to a lesser extent on the blue parts.

The magnolia was worst affected. After a few months I notice the surface had dulled.  On closer inspection it could be seen that a multitude of tiny lumps that looked like micro blistering but wasnt as this is caused by moisture and under a magnifying glass there was no hole in the lumps.

This is magnolia but poor light

So I DAd the side with some 400 grit and the tops came off the lumps without damaging the rest of the surface.  I then polished it up with Tcut and left it a while to see if it would re-appear.  After a few weeks decided it was time to get it resprayed. 

So after watching the weather for a while I decided today and tomorrow were probably going to be the last opportunity this year what with light and damp and wind and temperature.  

Jerry turned up bright and early and on we cracked with prepping the magnolia sides.  He did the big stuff I did the small hand areas and the masking.

The blue will be finished tomorrow.  All this week I have been applying 2pac primer with a small foam roller to avoid mess.  I am very surprised how good its gone on and its nice and thick so will be good for rubbing down.  Fingers crossed for and accurate weather forecast.

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Fly me to the moon

I sometimes wonder how I got it in my head to build a boat and sail around the planet. Sure, people do it, but those people have carpentry and sailing skills. I don’t. I had never used power tools and was on a sailboat once. I might as well have announced to my friends and family that I wanted to build a backyard rocket ship and go to the moon.

I suppose the dream was born as a form of escapism several summers ago when I spent three months confined to the administrative wing of a hospital in South India. I was still in college, scrambling to keep up with the Joneses--academic style. After a particularly difficult school year, I found myself researching cervical cancer among women in Tamil Nadu. I had arrived in the city of Madurai via Thailand and Cambodia, refreshed from backpacking alone through Buddhist temples. 

My second day at the hospital was a Saturday, so I left the hospital grounds to enjoy a lovely afternoon playing cricket on the banks of the Vaigai River with some schoolboys. When I returned, the hospital staff was distraught, "Where has Madam been!?!?!" I later found out I had been summoned by The Chairman, and when his staff could not produce me, he was quite miffed. In India, it is really not good to piss off your boss. I was thereafter banned from leaving the hospital, except when accompanied by a male hospital employee (on his terms). My visions  of exploring South India in my time off vanished and I spent most of my free time in my bedroom, with an attendant sleeping across my door jam so I wouldnt make a run for it. All of my playful attempts at escaping the hospital on the weekend were foiled and I sunk into a sort of daze– surfing the net at night and reading through endless medical records during the day. I day dreamed about my time in Cambodia and Thailand, and about the time I would have in Indonesia– my last stop before returning home for school in the fall.

During my nights of internet crawling, I stumbled upon Joshua Slocums Sailing Alone Around the World and was soon reading works by Tania Aebi, John Guzwell, James Baldwin, and Annie Hill. Though the fascination with voyaging under sail began as a relief from the rather unpleasant aspects of not being able to go where I pleased, the idea stuck. Some of the most  intensely gratifying and beautiful moments of my life were spent traveling and I realized that voyaging could be a way to attain a permanently mobile lifestyle without having to spend decades of my life working to afford it. 

I returned to the U.S. and my college days progressed as haze of studying, research, and stress. As graduation neared, I found myself unbelievably unhappy. There I was-- I had accomplished everything I set out to do and more, was in the running for some internationally prestigious scholarships– but I was sad and frightened. During my years of work and self-involvement, I had lost sight of what was important to me and was headed straight for a rat-race lifestyle. I realized that if I didnt change course then and there, I would not find joy. So, I buried graduate and medical school (for now) and packed up my tiny car with all of my belongings and drove South, way on down to the Rio Grande where I rented a little house on a ranch and began teaching Physics at the local high school.

The new neighbors

The new front yard

It was here, on the dusty edge of the Rio Grande Valley, in a place that at times resembles a grim Spaghetti Western, that I found the derring-do I needed to begin. This blog will chronicle the wooden boat building process and serve to help me celebrate the small successes. Perhaps down the road it can serve as a resource for others who are wanting to do something similar, but are just as inexperienced as I am now. Im looking forward to this journey. Along the way, I hope to build lasting relationships within a like-minded community, gain some practical skills and self-sufficiency, and live the life Ive imagined.

The new porch

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You Sure it Will Make it out of the Basement

Before totally committing to building a boat in the basement, one needs some kind of proof its not going to be Noahs ark waiting for the basement to flood to get some use. While the tape measure said it would make it out...I wasnt sure that I wasnt another idiot building a big project that was stuck in the basement. I have to make a slight turn at the top of the stairs to clear the kitchen cabinets, so its not a straight shot out of the top of the stairwell.

My first plan was to temporarily set up the frames, transom, stem and keel and then fashion some temporary plywood sheers and take the clamped together skeleton on a trial run. But my son Bill said maybe a tricked up 4x8 sheet of plywood would suffice. Not wanting to remove frames from my set-up form it sounded like a good idea. So some temporary plywood strips were used to simulate the shape of the shears, traced onto scrap plywood and cut to shape. These were screwed to the stem and breasthook assembly which was screwed/clamped to a 4x8. The stem and various bar clamps were used to simulate full beam width of the boat and depth of the boat. The trial run into the stairwell and out at the top went with no issues. I took some clearance measurements at the tight spots and I have some room for more length, beam, and depth....but not enough to change plans to a bigger boat and start all over!

The kitchen in the background was a major project of a few years back. My son and I built all the cabinets, doors, drawers, etc. Maybe it will be another blog someday.

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“Worlds Best Ship Modeling Magazine”

...is what it says on the cover. Theres a simple reason. It is. The information, covered in exquisite detail, is vast and comprehensive and is provided by some of the best ship modelers in the world. “Seaways Ships in Scale” lives up to the description.

 

 

Its a bit daunting to think that our little book was to face the scrutiny of anyone affiliated with this great publication. In fact, the reviewer of our book was none other than Kurt Van Dahm, President of The Nautical Research Guild, which is responsible for what I believe to be the worlds greatest collection of information of interest to ship modelers. Weve had a link from our website to theirs for many years. They have information about vessels, information about techniques, information about where to obtain plans, information about where to find supplies, information about maritime libraries, information about professional model making services and much more. See the link below to check out The Nautical Research Guild.

In our career of writing about model making, this is really our moment of truth. The moment when the best of your peers say yay or nay. Weve had several reviews that have been nothing but positive up until now, for which I am extremely grateful, but these guys...

I approached my first look at the review of “Fundamentals...” with some trepidation. Initially, I was concerned, because the table of contents had modified our books name to “Fundamentals of Modeling Marine Boats”. Uh-oh!

When I got to page 72, my moment of... well... concern... all of a sudden became one of great satisfaction.

I think that when you see this sample of the superlatives youll understand what I mean:

“This approach enables them to thoroughly explain aspects of modeling that are often skipped over in other books”, “In my opinion they hit the mark with this book”, “The way even basic information is presented opened my eyes and taught me a few things”, “very clear photographs”, “Some of the drawings are done in a full color computer generated manner for showing the various hull sections or lifts that provide a very clean and easily understood drawing”, “The book goes into great detail”, “provides a real learning tool”, “provides some great examples”, “The thinking like a model maker theme is referred to throughout the book which I found to be very appropriate as this is one of the most important skills a model maker can and must learn”, “the authors provide a logical sequence”, “provide very good, basic information”, “How to interpret and understand mechanical drawings is covered very well”, “presented in a very clear and understandable manner”, “providing thorough descriptions and examples”, “Again, they used a very basic presentation to make a very good explanation of a fundamental skill that one must thoroughly understand”, “a point that more writers should make”, “will provide a very clear understanding of the various lines and measurements one sees on a set of drawings”, The authors provide some of the best photographs illustrating the lift building method that I have ever seen and their explanation of the process will leave the novice scratch builder with few if any questions about the process”.

Mr. Van Dahm did provide one criticism: He felt that the order of some of the chapters were not in the sequence that he would have chosen, but stated: “That said, the usefulness of this book is not diminished by the arrangement and should not make it any less attractive or useful to the intended audience.” I wrote to him and explained why I chose the order of the chapters in question and he responded that their order made perfect sense, given our intended goals.

He concludes his review with this:

“This is a book that I think belongs in the library of every novice to intermediate scratch modeler and those modelers who are considering scratch building. The authors have made this book very understandable to those who have held off because of unanswered questions or who have found it hard to grasp the information from other books. The reading and study of this book would be good preparation to help in understanding some of the more advanced texts on the subject.”

This is what the Worlds Best Ship Modeling Magazine said.              Im happy.

 

 

 

 

For a signed copy of our book, "Fundamentals of Model Boat Building" please go to http://intothings.com/fundamentals.html.

 

(If the font looks funny please let me know. I have seen some funny looking font sizes with the advent of  IE10...)

 

To explore the vast information available from The Nautical Research Guild go to http://www.thenrg.org/

 

To learn more about Seaways Ships in Scale go to

http://www.seaways.com/

 

 

 

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10 Simple Steps to a Boat Frame

When I read other boat building blogs, Im always a little embarrassed for myself. Other builders shops are so clean, their joints so perfect, the tools shiny and brand-name. You wont find much of that over here on Building Luna. As mentioned earlier, I have a rather down home (see Urban Dictionary) boat building style. I still feel pretty unsophisticated in the world of boat builders.

On the bright side, I guess I dont allow myself to feel intimidated by all the builders doing stuff the "proper way." This isnt rocket science. Take, for example, the frame I built on Monday (the last one!!):

Step 1: This here is the frame building table-- just plywood underlay screwed to an IKEA platform bed frame that my mattress used to be on. The mattress has been on my bedroom floor for the duration of frame construction-- the likely cause of my many intimate encounters with insects over the past 6 months (see Giant Millipede Incident of 2012)

Step 2: Draw in the frames using measurements from the table of  offsets. Note roof tar, sawdust, and regular dirt dust. 

Step 3: Screw some blocks to the table at your frame lines to butt the frames up against. Most plans are drawn to the outside of the planking.  These blocks are the width of my planking so I dont have to worry about that detail while assembling the frame. 

Step 4: Get frame lumber. I milled the 2 x 4s needed for the frames out of this gorgeous 8/4 rough rift sawn white oak that I snagged for cheap in Austin. 

Step 5: Cut the frame lumber. The angles at the butts are easily taken from the lines drawn on the table. Note from the picture in Step 2 that the bevels on the frames are sawed before assembly. I took these angles from the lines plan. While they are probably "shallower" than what Ill need, itll make beveling the standing frames less of a pain.

Step 6: Soak the joints that will not be glued with copper napthanate.

Step 7:  While I do make some effort to get the joints to fit nicely, Its not important to me to get them perfect where no one will see them. I smear them with roof tar.

The poor boat builders dolphinite. $27 for a 5 gallon bucket.

Step 8: Smoosh the butt joints together and liberally apply a waterproof adhesive where the gusset will go.

Step 9: Temporarily screw on the gussets while the glue dries (the screws will later be replaced with bolts).

Step 10: Screw on some temporary cross-braces to make sure the frame maintains its  shape until the planking goes on. Done!

Actually, this probably wasnt the best frame to document here on the blog. Its construction was a bit atypical. Normally, gussets go on front and back side of the frame . Initially, they get clamped on and holes are drilled through the whole thing for bolts. Then everything gets diassembled, and glue is applied to the gussets. Finally, the whole thing is bolted together and cinched tight. Still pretty easy peasy.

The frame shown above is different from the norm because the floor at this particular station is high enough that it will serve as the gussett on the back side of the frame. I temporarily screwed on the front-side gusset until the frame gets clamped to the floor, then Ill drill for bolts when I know exactly where the floor will hit the frame.

Cant wait to add it to Lunas growing body!

After I finished building the last frame, I marked all of the frame gussets where the chine notches need to be cut with a handsaw.

Im hoping to convince Ramon to make this job part of his daily workout.

Its nice to know that even the professionals sometimes make do with what they have.

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Another Nice Weekend On The Boat

We had the pleasure of Sue and Vic on our boat on Saturday night after having a shopping trip into Ely for essential supplies for all and a nice pub lunch together.

Sunday was a bit of harder work. I painted some more of the roof and the concrete on our mooring was well overgrown having not been cut back for some years would be my guess.  So I dug it out.  You can see how much has been retrieved by looking at the dark stained area.

This is actually our mooring but for the time being the higher bank a bit further along suits us fine.

 Its handy for getting onto the roof and is a bit shielded

Oh, and the moorings on the other side of the river are part of a marina and the fees there are 3 x what we pay. 

 

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Lounge Ceiling

I have finished putting up the lounge and kitchen ceiling and additional lights over the hob.  It was touch and go as weather or not I would have enough material.  I did a calculation before I ordered.  Due to the cost of it I didnt want any over.  Looks like I failed ;-)

It was this and the end trimmings

This is the finished ceiling.  It has a light oak grain imprinted in the paneling and its a cellular construction.  Its made for outside cladding so is fairly tough compared to the products you can get in B&Q etc.  It cuts well with a sharp saw but will splinter with a blunt one.  All my engineered products are cut using a Triple Tip TCT saw blade.

Nice and tidy up top, not so below!

Oh well thats just me, Ive always been the same.

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Every June On The Weekend Of Fathers Day

there is a show in St. Michaels, Maryland, that to me, is special in a way unlike any other that I know of. Let me say that Ive been to a lot of shows over the years. Its formal name is "The 26th Annual Antique & Classic Boat Festival/The Arts at Navy Point".

Feel free to print this poster and show it off

It is one of the grandest expositions of fine old mahogany and chrome boats in the country: it is, in fact, the largest show of the type in the Mid-Atlantic region. Its location, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, is a setting that is perfect for the shows many aspects. Being on the Miles River, which connects directly to the Chesapeake Bay, stately motoryachts come from many parts of the East Coast. Many boats simply cross the Bay from the Western Shore or come up or down the Bay from various Eastern Shore locations. Boats arrive on trailers from all over the US and often from Canada, as well. There are runabouts, utilities, race boats, cruisers, launches and virtually everything that you can imagine in between. Because these boats are in competition for best restoration to original condition, they are all in "Bristol" shape and when you see 120 to 130 of them together, its quite a sight.

There are several Antique & Classic Boat Festivals throughout the US and Canada and I think that they are all worth checking out. We attend a number of such shows each year and they all have their strengths. What I like about St. Michaels is that there is a type of synergy that has developed over the shows 26 year history. In particular, and for reasons that Im not sure that I understand, it has had a good relationship with the arts. Having been among the first vendors that were part of the show, many years ago, I remember that the first group had a number of artists in it. Some of them still do this show, almost 20 years later.

???

Talk about use of "Style"

While I dont understand how it began, this connection between the boats and the arts has grown in a very natural way and the two worlds compliment each other amazingly well. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that the boats, most of which were designed to be stylish in their times, and which are in such pristine condition are art in and of themselves. Making old and worn boats young again is an art form in no uncertain terms. Understanding how to do research, learning about history, and applying techniques of woodworking, metalworking, finishing, graphics, etc. are all types of multi-media art and artisanry.

I often hear people say how beautiful the St. Michaels show is. That it is balanced and makes people feel good. There are a lot of reasons for that. There is a lot to do and a lot to see and the people are friendly. Again, the Museums grounds are beautiful in mid-June when the weather is "just right". I
think it looks better with lots of beautiful boats all over the place. ...and if you havent been to St. Michaels, it really is a great place to be.

Everyone has a reason for liking boats, or not; art or not, and what I see in this may seem like a figment of my imagination to you. I have no problem with that. I will say that you should come to this show and think about what Im saying here and see what you think for yourself. Even if you think Im crazy, there are a lot of other things to see and do at the show. Whatever you like, Im willing to bet that you will love something about this show.

The 26th Annual Antique & Classic Boat Festival / The Arts at Navy Point

For a list of this years artists and vendors go to http://intothings.com/boatshow/vendors.html

For more show information, or to register a boat go to http://www.chesapeakebayacbs.org/

For information about the town of St. Michaels go to http://www.stmichaelsmd.org/

For Accomodations during the show go to http://tourtalbot.org/accommodations.asp

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