Chine bLog - 1. My Projects

The 2007 Peace Canoe project - an index

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 04:31:20 +0100

I decided it might be helpful for folks that are coming to see info about my Peace Canoe, PEACE OF THE PUZZLE, to have a little better overview page for the project. Below, therefore, please find a list of all the related posts, along with the topics covered.

Walking the walk - a wooden boat (Peace Canoe) for Chine bLog! - Rationale for choosing to build this boat right now.
Beginning work on the Peace Canoe - Materials, making seats, and cutting the chine logs.
More on the Peace Canoe - scarfing sheer clamps and chine logs - Some pointers on scarfing the sheer clamps and chine logs, but please read this one in partnership with the entry below on issues I had.
The Peace Canoe progresses - have plywood, will start cuttin' - Cutting out plywood side panels and using butt-blocks to create the full panel length. Includes problems with the butt-block method.
The Peace Canoe gets seats and gets closer to full sides - Seat unit construction and fitting chine logs to stem and sternpost.
Building the Peace Canoe - time on the Moaning Chair - Problems in scarfing; problems with stems / sternpost bevels; repairing sheer clamps.
Back in business - the Peace Canoe - Fitting the bottom.
Structurally complete! The Peace Canoe gets a bottom - Pictures of the boat before final finishing.
Getting closer - ready to paint the Peace Canoe - Picture of the boat pre-painting.
And that's a wrap! The Peace Canoe is complete! - Pictures of the completed boat in the yard, with better close-ups that the ones below.
Successful christening and launch of the Peace Canoe! - pictures of the boat on the beach and underway.
Initial performance thoughts on the Peace Canoe - What is the Peace Canoe like as a boat?

I hope this series is fun and useful! Enjoy PEACE OF THE PUZZLE!

Successful christening and launch of the Peace Canoe!

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 21:36:00 +0200

Gorgeous October day here outside DC, a perfect day to be on the water. Gulls and an osprey wheeling about, gusty nor'wester keeping things clear and cool, the pleasant surroundings of Mason Neck State Park (map) - just the environment to christen and launch the Peace Canoe. So christen it we did (the kids helped), using the very nastiest champaign I could inadvertently pick up. She is now PEACE OF THE PUZZLE. Enjoy some pictures of her first outing (we were lucky enough to come upon some friendly kayakers, one of whom took our picture and was kind enough to send it).

Thank you to all who have read about PEACE OF THE PUZZLE's birth and provided encouragement along the way. It was a blast and I look forward to some great family adventures ahead!

Initial performance thoughts on the Peace Canoe

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 21:33:00 +0200

So we have a short paddle in PEACE OF THE PUZZLE under our belts now. I spent a couple months building it (a few have asked me for hours - I have no idea, but it was a good many) - aftre all that work, what is this boat like? Obviously I'll need much more time to assess, but some initial thoughts:

Strengths:

Appearance - The Peace Canoe is a pretty boat, no question about it, particularly in the water. We got compliments on and off the water, including things like "unusual," in a very complimentary sense. I expect we'll get noticed in this boat for the right reasons.
Stability - This boat will be a good family boat. I am fairly confident that one could have half the Rockettes do a kick-line on the starboard rail and she wouldn't go over. In more practical terms, this means a good boat for a family with young children (check) and a good boat for fishing (seems like a good idea).
Tracking - Of course being long and not very rockered, the boat seems to track pretty well.

Weaknesses:

Weight - The boat is a lot heavier than I expected it would be. It is basically unmanageable alone, and even my wife and I, two reasonably strong adults, had to work a bit to put it on the car.
Beam - The stability is a plus, but it comes from being quite beamy. With the sides flared as they are, the boat actually does not fit upside down on our standard car roof-rack. It rode OK right-side up, but I wasn't wildly comfortable with it like that. I will need to get some additional attachments, and it will be fine, but it isn't as car-topable as it might seem.
Freeboard - Maybe it is a function of the weight, but with four of us in the boat - and two of us are small children - the boat sat deeper in the water than I expected, leaving less freeboard than I might like for more open water. I had been planning on trips in the Bay and such, but I will be a bit more cautious for those ventures. This may be more of a true flatwater boat.

More as I learn more... In particular, I haven't gotten much of a feel for core paddling ability. The weight seems like a slowing factor, but we'll see.

And that's a wrap! The Peace Canoe is complete!

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 22:53:00 +0200

I have spent much of my free daylight hours over the last couple weeks putting paint on the Peace Canoe. Today, at about 10:30 AM local, I made some final touch-ups and called her done.

Obviously there are little things that make me cringe (that only I will likely notice, for the most part), but on the whole, I am pleased with the boat. If I do say so, the colors work well. I agonized a bit on this point, so it is good that the results are so positive.

Part of the reason the results are so good is that the design is a good one. I had moved the boat into the front yard to paint (we have an oak the rains acorns), and as I began to see the boat from a shallow angle on the port side, I began to fall in love with the sheer.

Well done, John Harris.

By the way, I wish I had moved to the front yard months ago. I have gotten tons of complements from folks walking by (we live on a main path to the local coffee shop), as well as several drive-bys (including a "Damn! Good job, sir!" from a dude in a utility van). It has been a thrill. Of course, if I had been working there earlier, there may have been more commentary on the work in progress ("yes, I DO know that that piece is cracked!!!")...

Getting closer - ready to paint the Peace Canoe

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 03:27:03 +0200

And after a couple weeks of planing and sanding and one final clean-up, she is ready to paint. Voila!

I have also chosen the colors, not an easy task for me. She will look something like this:

Now all is right in the world - my new plates

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 02:32:00 +0200

My wife is mortified, but I had to do it:

Structurally complete! The Peace Canoe gets a bottom

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 03:40:00 +0200

And then, after a final push, in the gathering twilight, the Peace Canoe had a bottom. And that, gentle readers, means she is structurally complete. Houston, we have a boat!

Just a whole lotta planning and sanding, plus a mother lode of plastic wood, and we will be cracking open a paint can or four!

Back in business - the Peace Canoe

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 03:19:00 +0200

At long last, I believe I have the sheer clamps replaced in a working manner. Man, oh man, was that an mistake that added time to the project! Just getting the broken ones off took several nights of careful digging for the nails with a tack-puller and cutting the goop with a utility knife. Exhausting and frustrating. But, I persevered. And now, I am ready to move forward!

So it looks pretty good. That there is a boat. So let's see... what next...

Continue reading "Back in business - the Peace Canoe"

Building the Peace Canoe - time on the Moaning Chair

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 03:55:09 +0200

At the beginning of Howard Chapelle's seminal tome Boatbuilding, there is a 4-page introduction in which Chapelle goes through the entire building process at a 10,000' level. After talking through getting out molds, cutting the rabbet, and installing deck beams, Chapelle devotes the final paragraph to a subject that one must assume is of equal importance to the others: the "moaning chair." He writes:

In every amateur boatbuilder's shop there should be a "moaning chair"; this should be a comfortable seat from which the boat can be easily seen and in which the builder can sit, smoke, chew, drink, or swear as the moment demands.

I raise this, obviously, because I have had to spend some time in my own "moaning chair" of late, and since I don't smoke or chew and had already had my nightly beer, it was swearing that was the business of the day.

You will notice two things in this recent picture. On the good news front, I finally have attached the seats to one side panel unit and then attached the other side panel unit to the opposite sides of the seats and brought both sides together at the stem and stern post. In doing that, I should have been working with completed side panel units, chine log and sheer clamp attached. So what are those clamps doing along the sheer, you may ask? Therein lies a tale...

Continue reading "Building the Peace Canoe - time on the Moaning Chair"

The Peace Canoe gets seats and gets closer to full sides

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 04:53:40 +0200

Voila, the seats are ready. I have been working on them at night or during glue cures, and they have come along well. Here is the middle one. The plans specify cut-outs on the ends of the seats; I added my own flavor of these cut-outs.

I have also installed both chine logs, and last night the bow and stern stems on one side. Here is my handiwork on the bevel for the chine logs meeting the stems, since I moved them inboard. It wasn't too bad to cut and my joints are close enough. I am ready to begin the process of attaching the seats to one side panel and then the other. Stay tuned...

The Peace Canoe progresses - have plywood, will start cuttin'

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 03:59:00 +0200

So I got the plywood, some good quality, from what I can tell, marine fir. That in hand, it was time to start getting big pieces together, starting with the sides.

The plans call for five 4x8 sheets of 1/4" plywood, 2 1/3 of which go into the sides. The Getting Started in Boats write-up assumes one has a nice, big, level area on which to do the layout. I was using our lawn, that leaves a bit to be desired in the "level" dept. To keep things in line, I used clamps to keep the sheets aligned while I plotted the side panels. I was blessed with a) having spline weights from my design dabbling and b) having a nice off-cut of 12' 1x that was a perfect batten. I had to pend a bunch of time and hands-and-knees with a straightedge and pencil, but I was able to get the sides out fairly easily.

Continue reading "The Peace Canoe progresses - have plywood, will start cuttin'"

More on the Peace Canoe - scarfing sheer clamps and chine logs

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 04:42:00 +0200

While I wait on the plywood I have been preparing the sheer clamps and chine logs, which I took out of 10' and 12' 1x. I thus have had to - and the write-up in Getting Started in Boats assumes this - scarf pieces together for these fore-and-aft members. I am not a very steady had with a hand-saw - though I finally bought a Japanese saw and am in heaven with it - so I developed this system where I find the angle, clamp a guide to the main piece, and cut along the guide. That has worked well.

I was worried about keeping the pieces of the joint from slipping around in the process. I decided I would reinforce the joint with nails anyway, so I decided to drive them just enough to provide a little bite to help hold the pieces. Bingo - pretty good joints, all.

Beginning work on the Peace Canoe

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 03:38:45 +0200

I have begun gathering the lumber and hardware for the Peace Canoe project. It is, by the way, AMAZINGLY difficult to find appropriate plywood. Even specialty places around here - and while we are not a maritime center here in DC, we aren't land-locked, either - seemed to have a hard time once "marine grade" entered the equation. Then the quotes that came back suggested that multiple people didn't know what they were talking about. The designer, Chesapeake Light Craft, actually sells Okoume for a pretty reasonable price (though I just can't bring myself to go there for this boat). I hope I don't regret the decision...

I did have pretty good luck with the other material. I managed to find - in Home Depot, no less - some straight, pretty clear pine that I am some way through turning into sheer clamps and chine logs. I also have turned out the seat supports.

Continue reading "Beginning work on the Peace Canoe"

Walking the walk - a wooden boat (Peace Canoe) for Chine bLog!

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 03:08:13 +0200

So here is the situation: as I have mentioned I have a family with small children. I get to go out in my kayak sometimes, but if we had our own boat, I would get out much more because it can be a family activity. Rentals are possible, but leave things to chance (availability) and limit expeditions to a few places. There wasn't much interesting on Craig's List, and I was having a hard time thinking about adding ANOTHER non-wooden boat to the family fleet. Buying a wooden one was too expensive and I don't have the room to build one I'd really want. T'was a conundrum.

What I needed was to find a easily built boat - meaning I could pull it off over short period of time in my back yard - that didn't seem bland or non-functional. I admit this was a tall order - I am a bit snobby on this front. Well, fate began to intervene recently in the form of the recent two issues of Getting Started in Boats, WoodenBoat's companion publication. Volume 3 of this new publication came a couple months ago showing the Peace Canoe, a design by John Harris of Chesapeake Light Craft. I admit - again - I dismissed it as another boat that was great for getting people started building, but wasn't, ahem, a "real" boat (yes, I will get over myself at some point). Volume 4 the arrived recently, just as I was chewing on the dilemma above. I looked again. I studied it a bit more. I started to like its lines. Lo and behold, it fit the bill.

Continue reading "Walking the walk - a wooden boat (Peace Canoe) for Chine bLog!"

"LiLo" - A 35' racer-cruiser

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 03:49:50 +0100

As I have mentioned in the past, I have been screwing around with boat design stuff for many years (with a big lull in there when I lost my way). My inaugural post on this blog talked about the class I took at the design class I took at the WoodenBoat School. There I designed "LiLo," a 35' LOA racer-cruiser in the Spirit of Tradition vein. Below you find some truly horrible digital renderings of my pencil sketches - really, the stations are parallel on paper! [please consider all copyrighted for now]

Continue reading ""LiLo" - A 35' racer-cruiser"

A recent project - a wooden kayak paddle

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 03:50:46 +0200

Here is a recent project of mine - a wooden kayak paddle. The shaft is white cedar and the blade is cherry, basswood, and walnut. I added the ferrule later. I love it - in addition to looking great, it is light and a good size for me.

I built it using plans from The Strip-Built Sea Kayak by Nick Shade. The plans are pretty good, though Nick has you build the paddle as a one-piece unit with a permanent feather. I would recommend NOT going this route. First of all, having a paddle you can break down is awfully convenient, especially when travelling with the whole family for a vacation. Second, Nick's method of creating this joint involves some sketchy table saw work, as far as I could tell (I ended up figuring it out with a band saw) and it isn't clear where exactly to attach the two pieces to make an even shaft. This fairly key piece is the one part that could be beefed up a bit. Again, however, don't bother. You can get carbon fiber ferrules from Chesapeake Light Craft that work great and are much easier to implement.

My first boat - a Gloucester Light Dory

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 04:26:00 +0200

I was 16 and she was a Gloucester Light Dory, which is just a gorgeous design. The lines are amazing and she was beautiful to row. I am particularly proud of the transom, which my dad helped me do with leftover mahogany and finish bright. Same with the breasthook.

Of course I was young and stupid and sold her a year later, something I regret greatly to this day. NEVER DO THIS! It kills me - especially knowing that the buyer left her to dry out and de-laminate (he even painted the brightwork!). Argh...

First recent project

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Fri, 16 Sep 2005 04:19:00 +0200

My first recent boatbuilding-type project was a canoe paddle for my daughter. It was her first birthday present. She's three now and may soon be ready for it.

It is a pretty simple - I just carved it out of a 1x6 - but it was my first jump back into this world after a long absence. More on that later...