Archive for the 'problems' Category
Friday, July 18th, 2008
A change in process (or, small projects don’t make sense)
So with the toe rail plinth pretty much done, the tiller bumper roughed out, and the cabin sole in shambles, the starboard side sort of faired, the hull to deck joint needed its finishing round over and the aft scroll work needing its fairing, I came to the start realization that I was at the cross roads of a hundred tiny projects that are keeping me all over the place. The result is the feeling that I’m not getting anything done that’s really substantial. All to often I find myself mixing a tiny batch of fairing compound when I KNOW that the entire deck could use a coat or two. To compound my frustration I had this sudden urge to pry off all of my deadlights to see just how new portlights would look. An hour later with my head out the now empty deadlight I said “ok, time to change process”.
Luckily this coincided with lunch time so I grabbed a sandwich, a nice big sharpie, and the plywood portlight blanks I had cut out and drew out my plan of attack.
I drew everything up and then decided that 2 weeks per project, only that project would be a good pace. The breakdown is as follows:
- engine install and cabin sole
- sanding deck, patching holes, putting in portlights
- toerail install, sanding hull, sanding new deck joint
- bowsprit
8 weeks of work but it gets me into September ready for priming/painting and cabinet building for the winter. An aggressive schedule for sure, but I like it that way.
Wednesday, June 4th, 2008
Meet the stem head fitting
…or what’s left of it really. This lovely piece of corrosion used to be where everything met up at the tip of the boat. By the looks of it, when it was first made, the casting was just shy of 1/4″ thick but when I pulled it (and I do mean pulled it, the casting around the screws just cracked) it was more like a hair over 1/8″. So why did it still look like it was 1/4″ of an inch high? Simple, there was a hidden 1/8″ pile of aluminum oxide under it! It was like a perfect little pillow of white powder. When people ask me why I’m doing this to a “perfectly good boat”, I think I’ll just show them a picture of the steam head.
*note: I seem to have misplaced my the memory card of this stuff… I’ll find it…
Friday, September 28th, 2007
Karma sucks.
What happens when you spend your morning cutting tree limbs at 40 ft in the air with a chain saw? Simple, while unloading the limbs from the roof of your car at a recycling center you slip off the bumper, land funny and sprain your foot. What are the chances? Perfect freaking boat building weather and I sprain my foot! Even worse, tomorrow is the Poco Loco race (I have no idea why it’s called that…) with the Circuit Breaker Crew. Kind of hard to do mast with a bummed foot.
Monday, September 17th, 2007
Blame it on UPS
“What have you been doing on the boat Dave?” “Any new progress?” “You mean you haven’t done anything since you moved it? Why not?” Well, blame it on UPS. Almost 2 weeks ago I put in an order for 100 yards of 17 oz biax tapes to finish up that hull to deck joint problem once and for all so I could get on with something a bit more interesting. I also put in an order for 3 gallons of epoxy with 2 different hardeners for the project. The epoxy got here in record time but the tapes were a no-show. Read the rest of this entry »
Wednesday, September 12th, 2007
The road trip saga
You know you’re in for a haul when your favorite radio stations turn into religious talk or country pop stations with bouts of static in between. You reach for the seek dial and try to find a new station that’s more pleasing to the ear but you know that you’re going to change it again in about 80 miles. You plan your rest stops by the average gas prices of the state (i.e., avoid Connecticut). It was a long, long, long and eventful trip. [note: long story ahead, if you were looking for a quick read, look elsewhere but I think it’s a pretty good story] Read the rest of this entry »
Monday, September 10th, 2007
stood up
OK, take the image of the boat below, subtract the boat, and what your are left with is the object of my frustrated desire.
I called Morgan Marina today to order the stands and pay my boat yard bill and just when I thought it was all going to work out,
Me: Hi, I talked to you Friday about some boat stand. I wanted 5 of the SB-2 Brownell’s.
Marina: Right, we took a look at your boat and think that you only need SB-3’s [smaller size by 6 inches or so].
Me: I don’t think so but ok, how much for the SB-3’s?
Marina: $138 each
Me: Um, are you sure, you quoted me $128 for the larger SB-2’s
Marina: Maybe those were last year’s price.
Me: No I was there when you called up your distributer and and they quoted you a price.
Marina: Well maybe there’s a mistake we’ll have to call you back about that.
Crap, that’s all I have to say. Should have ordered them when I could, off to search the craigslist and classifieds.
Monday, September 10th, 2007
The “stand”
Boat stands are kind of like the SCUBA gear of a boat. Boats aren’t supposed to live on land, it’s just the wrong environment. The stands allow for the boat to live there for a short period of time (or a long one…). Just like you can’t go diving without your gear, you can’t store your boat without stands.
Sure I could try to make stands but the truth is that in the long run, wooden stands just aren’t going to cut it for a 2 year project. Over the years the boat is going to settle, I’m going to have to move the stands to paint, and the stands are going to have to be adjusted.
The stands that I like the best are made by a company called Brownell. The yard that Hobyn is in right now uses them and I like the way they are made. Brownell has a website and a distributers list, so as usual, let the price shopping begin.
- Distributer 1 : “sorry we don’t sell to the public”
- Distributer 2: “you need to have an account with us and to get an account you need to be a marine service provider.
- me: “I have a boat, and I do work on it, isn’t that service?”
- Distributer 2: “No
- Retailer 1: “Sure, we can get them to you next week for $147 plus shipping and NJ sales tax”
- Marina 2: “Ok, that comes to $159 per stand that they’ll probably get here in 2 days.
I guess Morgan Marina really did, have the best prices.
Tuesday, September 4th, 2007
ch-ch-ch-ch-changes…
Somehow I’m back where I was in May. Though this is a good thing, I really thought my boat moving days were done. Moving a boat is a pain in the ass. You have to clear it with the yard (who wants to just leave you were you are and have you pay money), find and hire a transporter, and then finally move the boat. The last time I did this it took 3 months to orchestrate. That’s 3 months to move a small sailboat less than 100 miles.
Anyway, Hobyn and I will be moving to the workshop of Jack Buzzi in Piscataway NJ, just spitting distance from the current location of Morgan Marina. So why the move? The move gives me access to a workshop 30 ft away (right now mine is a 45 minute drive north of the boat…), I can finally build a structure on top or around Hobyn that doesn’t look stupid and hit me in the head when I try to work (ditto to both on the current situation), and finally the move will save me money (at the rate things are going, I could easily spend $7000 in yard fees over the next 2 years… ouch). Truthfully this is more about the use of the workshop than anything else but money is always on the brain.
So it’s back to informing the boatyard of my move, finding a hauler, and moving the boat. Now if only I could find some cheap jack stands… anyone?
Friday, August 31st, 2007
the grisly alternative to rebuilding
Remember when I said that Hobyn’s only alternative was the crusher? Well I got to see this sad alternative first hand and up close the other day. Granted that victim was a cheaply cored power boat, but it was still amazing to see someone’s former pride and joy reduced to a 16 cubic yard trash container… All the yard did was position the boat on top of the container and use a back hoe to literally “punch” the boat in. It was like someone over stuffing a suitcase for vacation. You could almost feel the rest of the derelict boats at the yard shiver.
Monday, August 27th, 2007
Deck joint repair
Oh hull to deck joint, why were you so well made? Couldn’t you have been made with only a couple of bolts? 3″ on center sounds great and hold wonderfully, but when you are doing a rebuild, its a lot of work. And what about that inside tabbing? It was a great idea at the time and I’m sure it served for 2 or 3 decades, but eventually ice expansion rendered it useless. Now I have to pull it off with pliers and a chisel so I can service the bolts underneath. Oh cruelly well designed deck joint!
Sadly the joint has pretty much completely failed due to the death of the sealing mastic that Tartan used between the hull and deck segments. It was some sort of oi-based caulking so I’m going to have to remove it to fix the joint. What I really want to do though is to just seal the whole thing inside and out with fiberglass. My only issue is if I have to remove the bolts before glassing or if I could just do a rough grinding right over the bolts and gel coat and then just glass it all together. A big new wooden (ipe?) rub rail is going to cover the joint after it’s all glassed up so I doubt that it will have too much exposure. One the inside I’d do a tabbing job like Tartan’s original only with some heavy epoxy compatible matt or some biax. Any ideas?