Let the dreaming begin!

This guy just came in the mail.

1,000 routes from the South Seas to the Arctic!

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Love Him or Not Book Review

 

Capt. Larry Simns has probably had some effect on your life if you are in any part of the seafood industry, if you like to fish, if you are concerned with water quality, if you love to eat seafood, if you live or work near the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed, are a politician in the Maryland State House, or for a variety of other reasons. If you dont know his name, or the only thing that you do know about him is his name, then you should read this book.

In the newly released The Best of Times on The Chesapeake Bay, An Account of a Rock Hall Waterman, Capt. Larry Simns (the n is silent), and co-author Robert L. Rich, Jr. tell the story of how he grew up in the small harbor town of Rock Hall on Marylands Eastern Shore. He began his education in seafood harvesting at six years old, he went through brutal but valuable apprenticeship with seasoned and unforgiving Captains in his teens and he grew to become a respected Captain and seafood business owner in young adulthood. He recounts how he reluctantly found his voice as he began his rise within local groups of watermen to become a legendary advocate for them and the Chesapeake Bay in response to critical declines in seafood populations in the early 1970s. In his 40 years as President of the Maryland Watermens Association, he was not only recognized for his work by professionals with interests in the fisheries from Maine to Alaska and the Gulf Coast, he also worked with Senators, Governors and U.S. Presidents.

If you spend any time with a waterman,it would be difficult not to notice that theirs are very tough jobs. Many of our neighbors start their day at 3:00am. They work when its 20 degrees outside. They work when its 100 degrees outside. The brutal apprenticeship that Capt. Larry went through was important for learning to live in an environment that might be idyllic one moment and potentially deadly the next. There are some very exciting moments in the book. In fact, Capt. Larry went through more than one situation where he almost didnt survive.

 

He clearly explains how various finfish, oysters and crabs were harvested, having experience with pretty much every method used. He explains how "The Bay" changed after Hurricane Agnes. A resulting drop in seafood harvests coincided. Other factors including pollution from other sources led him to the chain of events that made him the powerful advocate he is. He discusses how he worked with others from various disciplines including biologists, environmentalists, and others to create policies that were not always popular. An amazing journey for a waterman from Rock Hall, Maryland.

 

Theres a whole lot more here and I highly recommend this book. Most of the chapters are brief, but full of information. It provides an education about the Chesapeake Bay, Eastern Shore life, the history of its watermen, issues surrounding its protection and much more. One gets the sense that, knowing he wont be around forever, he would like for this book to help pass critical information to those for whom stewardship of the Chesapeake and the life within it will pass. We should pay attention.

 

For more information go to: 

http://www.thebestoftimesonthechesapeakebay.com/

Book Details

The Best of Times on The Chesapeake Bay, An Account of a Rock Hall Waterman

Lived by Captain Lawrence William Simns
Written by Robert L. Rich, Jr.
Illustrated by Ann Crane Harlan.

ISBN: 9780764342776Soft Cover 288 Pages 42 illustrations

 

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New Batteries

The new batteries arrived today.  What with holiday season and the need to have these made to order has meant a 6 week wait.

The new set have some additional features.  The principle requirement was to have a system that would evacuate the hydrogen that builds up when the batteries are charging. I certainly dont want another episode like before.

The system sold to me also has the added benefit of auto topping up.

So this how the new setup looks.

The vertical tube on the left is the venting tube. This connected nicely to the existing vent.

The vertical tube on the right links by a snap connector with a one way valve to a pressurised bottle.

This is filled with de-ionised water and is pressurised by the built in hand pump.  There is a small paddle wheel that goes round to show when water is going in.  When this stops the system is topped up.  The cells cant be overfilled as each cap has a float valve.

No lid will be require as the terminals are all insulated.  I still have the put the proper output cables on but these need to have terminals crimped on and will be done tomorrow.

The good news is the charging side of the inverter didnt suffer any damage and is working fine.

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Joining Plywood Jigsaw or Puzzle Joints

I apologise for my long gap between posts, life has been very full for awhile.

Jigsaw joints have become a popular method for joining 8ft plywood lengths into the long panels needed for building most boats. It is an easy process for those who are building from a kit but it is impractical for most people building from scratch. If building from plans or from patterns then you will have to make every cut by hand using a jigsaw and the accuracy necessary for a close-fitting jigsaw joint is just not possible to achieve.

For those who have not seen a jigsaw joint, the form is exactly the same as the interlocking curves of a jigsaw puzzle, except that the interlocking curves are laid out in a straight line rather than in a grid pattern. This forms a very accurate and secure junction between the two parts, unable to slide apart and needing no clamps, while the glue sets.

Jigsaw joint configuration.

The two parts have glue applied to the bonding surfaces, then they are laid on waxed paper or plastic to prevent adhesion to the surface below, aligned properly then a rubber mallet is used to force the fingers of the upper part down into those of the lower part. Care must, of course, be taken to ensure that the surfaces of the assembled joint are perfectly flush or there will be a permanent deflection at that point. The photos below, courtesy of Chesapeake Light Craft, show the joint before and after joining.

Applying glue to the bonding surfaces

Cleaning up the completed jigsaw joint

Tight joints as described above assume that you will assemble them on a large table or a workshop floor before moving the panel to the boat. This is OK for dinghies or for professional builders who have enough space and the staff to manhandle large panels from the shop to the boat and to position and clamp them accurately, all after applying glue to the framing of the hull and to the panel, trying to get it into exactly the right position first go so that it doesnt slide on that slippery glue and spread it everywhere except in the joint where it is needed, then clamp it accurately so that it can finally be fastened. You get the picture, of enormous potential for disaster.

For amateurs building bigger boats it is just not practical to assemble the panels before installation. Panels 8ft long are very convenient for one person to handle, without having to call on the wife, kids and neighbours to help with the task. I built the structures and interior of my Didi 38 "Black Cat" entirely single-handed. There was not a single piece of timber in that boat that I was not able to carry and set up without any assistance. But I made scarph joints by hand and I glued them in position.

Building with jigsaw joints and gluing the joints in position requires a slightly different approach. It is not practical to hammer a tight joint into place with a rubber mallet. The stringers and other supporting timbers are springy and will bounce away when hit, making it difficult to get the fingers properly flush. Another factor is that of longitudinal alignment accuracy. If the first piece is slightly out of longitudinal alignment on the framing then the accuracy of the jigsaw joint will force the other pieces to continue that misalignment. An error of 1mm on the first of 4 panels will grow to an error of 4mm by the end of the 4th piece.

The way to get around this is to machine in some tolerance into the joint. When the jigsaw joint curves are added to the CAD drawing of the panel, the curves are used to break the panels into the pieces that will fit onto 8ft sheets of plywood. Then the jigsaw curves must be offset into each panel by 50% of the tolerance that is decided upon. This means that each piece is minutely shorter than the designed length and the fingers of the joints are minutely slimmer. The result is a joint that can be easily pushed into place without hammering and which also has a small amount of wiggle room to allow for correction of minor installation misalignments.

This more loose joint may need a temporary doubler on the back between stringers so that small screws can be used to pull the fingers flush if the panel is curved at that point. Dont forget to use a waxed paper or plastic bond-breaker to prevent adhesion of the doubler to the panel.

After the glue has set you can use a belt sander to clean up the surface for a nice finish and a joint that will disappear in the painted boat.

For info on our boat designs, please visit http://dixdesign.com/ and http://dudleydix.blogspot.com/.

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The Lightship Chesapeake

Its always nice when someone posts photos of your work on the web, especially when they have expertise about the boat in question. This is a model of a lightship that we did back in the mid - 90s. The research involved taught me a lot about  the history and work of lightships in the United States over the last few centuries. These ships were used, not only in coastal waters, but within the Great Lakes. Almost every lightship station had a succession of different vessels as technologies improved. Lightships were different from each other and varied in size. Prior to being the "Chesapeake", this lightship was the "Fenwick". If I recall correctly, it came off of the ways in Charleston, S.C. in 1928. Its sister ship, LV117, on station as the "Nantucket", sunk when the "Olympic", sister ship to the "Titanic" hit her on a foggy day in 1934, killing several crew. It was dangerous and, as I understand it, very boring work. All of the lightships have been replaced now by "Super Buoys". http://www.lightshipmodeler.iwarp.com/custom3.html

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Floor Laying

Earlier in the week I did some finishing work on the sliding hatch.  More on that later.

Over the last few days I have started fitting the flooring.  We have chosen laminate flooring as it is very durable, attractive, stable, and easy to replace in time.  Modern Laminate is IMO better than real wood in appearance.  The one we have chosen for the lounge is a thicker than normal.  Its 12mm not the normal 6-8mm and a good textured surface with enough grip for our aged dog.  I have used a 5mm HD foam underlay for a bit of extra insulation, it also has a foil layer supposedly to reflect heat back up.

Before

After

This is a far as I go for the time being.  The rest will be laid once the boat is afloat.  I need access under the floor to add ballast to trim the boat.

Of course in the kitchen nothing other than Sicilian Slate could be used.  OK, its expensive but boy does it look good especially now its oiled.

Before

After

Other jobs done are some work in the bedroom on the ceiling and making the steps to the bow doors, and dressing the stern entrace to the boat.

You will notice all the wires. Im redoing this as I wernt happy with the appearence.

In fact I have a lot of small jobs on the go, but noting complete enough to be blog worthy ATM.

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Lappy Working

My laptop is now up and running again so I can upload some pictures.  The  iPad is good but theres no easy way of directly getting camera pictures on to it to blog.

I have been working on the kitchen fitting and made some temporary stairs.  Fitting the kitchen has been pretty straight forward accept for turning the corners of course.

Port side

Starboard side

Theres also another 2 units to go along from the side panel which forms the side for the integrated washing machine.  The cooker will be opposite the stairs and then another curved end unit to form the walk through.

All the domestic water service is now installed accept for the final connections to the taps and appliances.  The 25-40psi pump I have installed under a kitchen unit. 

Yes I can easily get it out again! 

 Kitchen sink unit

I am really pleased with the stairs I made using the calculator a while back see here they have worked out perfectly in fact.

Temporary steps. The final ones will use the same stringer

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