Building Molly - an amateur's view.

Hmm, some of you might know that I'm building a scaled down version of "Laura", a NY Bay Sloop from Chapelle's American Small Sailing Craft. The lines of Laura were taken off the original in 1867 by a dutchman. Laura is a good-looking work-boat with a bigger sail-area than is normal. It isn't a full-on Sandbagger, but more in between the two - at least when we talk about the sail-area. The hull, well, the sandbagger's hulls were the same, until the huge ones came about. "Annie" springs to mind.

Anyways, I don't know if this thread is too much, but I figure if I write what I have been up to and so forth, and you guys chime in if you feel like it, it will turn out to be an interesting thread.

I found myself a place to build my boat the other day. It's in a basement, so I have been spending the days trying to make a building plan as to when it should and can be lifted up. Should I go for making the building frames and keel etc, then lift it all upstairs. Then set it up and go for that? I don't know. I hope that won't be necessary, as that will put a wee bit too much pressure on me to finish sooner rather than later. I don't want that. I want to be able to build it so I am satisfied with it.

________________________________________________________

Just as I was shopping for a few tools, wood, and converting the offsets to metric and the like, I have just been giving a work assignment that more or less put the whole thing on hold for three weeks - until the 12th of March.

Now, I'm not going to take that lying down, so my plan is to see if I can make the building platform, and draw out the lines in this period anyways. Then I should be able to do some sawing by then.

Here's to hoping.

I will update this when I have more.

Andre.

 

Man, I was stupid yesterday, my knees and back are aching!

I bought the plywood for the floor yesterday. Connected them together and begun lofting.

I first made the baseline with a chalk line, then the vertical baseline (F.P). and the stations. Then I did the waterlines.

It was hideously cold. I was freezing my bum off. And I only had a pint of coffee, which by now had been halfed and the remaining half where cold.

Anyways, even though I had brought "all the tools", I found out I had forgotten to bring a hammer (Gees, can I really build a boat with a memory like that!?).

Well, I borrowed one and drew the sheer, adding 40mm to it's height.

After that I began drawing the rabbet, which I somehow had calculated wrongly, I discovered. I had to recalculate the entire rabbit, while cold and tired. Double and triple checking it. Anyways, at 11.30 PM I called it a day. Sore knees, aching back from trying not to sit on my knees anymore, really called for going home. Ten hours of lofting is enough for day one, methinks.

I packed my shyte together, turned off the lights, and went upstairs to get out, only to find out that the bloke that had been upstairs had forgotten I was in the basement, so I couldn't get out. I spent half an hour trying to find a way out, and finally found a small 20X20 inch window in a shaft not much bigger. I crawled out through there, only to loose the keys to my home, from that (it fell into a hole (one of those "road wells)), so I had to swing by my gf to pick up her keys.

All in all a very good day. And I found myself actually enjoying lofting!


Anyways, I'm making myself some knee pads today - no more days of sore knees.

 

IF you wonder why I can do this while working - I was so lucky that I could off-set the work too

 

Seems like you are having a good time
We have had minus 20 degrees here.

 

Yikes! THat is cold! Here we only had about -5.


Update:

I made a mistake yesterday. Or, at least I'm sure I did. Because the stem is backwards-swepped, whereas the actual line of planking at the stem is forward swepped, I think I have taken the line from a wrong place, when I begun making the cross sections/ (or whatever the lines are called when it's viewed "from the front").

Anyways, I properly have to make some corrections to that when I get out there tonight, fourtunately I used measuring sticks, so it shouldn't be too hard to check.


A little curiosum: In "the shop", there's a cat. Her name is "Maya" and she's really weird. She likes to sit on your shoulder/around your neck, even when walking around, and if you sit on your knees, she'll either lie on your calfs, jump on your back to lie there, or try to lie on your thighs. She's cute though. I have asked around, and the guy who usually feeds it hasn't been around for days, so I'm bringing some food today.

 

Going to slip a few unnecessaries in here 'Bagger', Good to see you have an animal ("Maya") to help out, they are good company and save you from going completely stark staring mad when the whole lot goes wrong! It all goes 'titsup' you retire to the 'worrychair' (you have got one of these essential pieces of equipment haven't you?) park yer bum, the cat leaps on your lap (good job it aint a horse) scratch it behind the ear make a fuss of it and life kinda gets back to normal! true, honest!

The Other thing that worrys me is how you going to get it (the boat) out of that basement? and just as important once out how do you get it to the water? can you get a crane into the area (that may not be as easy as you think - a twonty tonne crane sounds big but remember it will only lift twenty tonne in a tight radius around the centre point of the crane! If you want to lift the damn thing over a house to get to the street your maybe talking an eighty tonne or more! can you get that into the street (that police chappie may not be to happy! when you clog up the main road for several hours!!!) And of course BIG machines cost BIG MONEY!!

Actually you've probably thought of this but it can't do any damage reminding you can it??

Good luck with the project, it sounds fun!

 

Thanks, Wally - it _is_ fun, methinks

I don't have a worry-chair yet – I have to make do with some "europaller" (no idea what those things are called in english, but it's the sort of things that get's lifted with forklifts ...). That will have to do for now. Heck, I don't even have a work-table yet

Trying to KISS, perhaps a bit too much, though ..

I'm not going to build the boat in its entirety in the basement. I have checked, and the "manholes" in the floor isn't big enough to get it through that, so I have struck a deal with the guy that runs the shop, that I can come up when the planking is to be done. So, in reality I will do the lofting, the building frames, and saw/route the planks, make the stem/keel, then carry the lot upstairs, including the lofting-floor, and then reconnect it all, and go from there.

I don't worry too much about it getting in the water, or even out of the shop. It's a small boat, some would call it a dinghy, and in the ceiling of the shop, there are three of those sliding cranes. and from the ports to the water, there's a stretch of asfalt approximately 6 metres wide, then the boat is in the canals of copenhagen. With no bridge to get under to get it out in open water, I might add.

Even if I can't get it lifted, for some odd reasons, there's actually a small place about hundred metres down the road where you could slide it in from.

Pretty good odds, methinks.

_____________________________________________________

I'm sad to say I didn't get anything done today. THe reason is I had forgotten I had promised to go look on cameras with my gf. She ended up buying the rolls-royce of pocket cameras, the Leica D-Lux 2. Hopefully I can get her to take some pictures of the "process", and perhaps, in time I can borrow it, so I can take lots and lots of pictures.

Am I envious of her purchase? Nah, not much. No. Not a chance. Nope. Nada. Can't speak. Damn. Perhaps a tiny bit. Slightly more. Yeah a little. Well, quite a lot, frankly

 

So prefabricated in the cellar and then out to the big world to build it! Sounds good to me, all the bits inside in comfort? then outside in the summer! Still needs a bit of a cover though, nothing worse than trying to work with half a tonne of rain trying to get down the back of your shirt! A roof is definately favourable!

Also nice to see your GF has a good quality camera with which to take many photes of you working on the project! this has several advantages: She can take the photos whilst you do the job/have the fun, any photos that go wrong, it's her camera so her fault! It keeps little girly fingers out of the way of big chisels and the like, keeps her fingers out of everything else too! neat!

See you CAN convince yourself that you don't need that lovely camera - yet!!!

 

Hehe, indeed, Wally! What I save on other purchases I can spend on the boat

I have a small correction, though - the "upstairs" shop is still inside, so no worries about the rain there.
_______________

I just came home from there. What do I need to do, with regards to drawing the lines? Well, I need to draw the buttocks (or whatever those lines are called), four of them. And I need to draw the top of the transom, cambered as it should be. Then, "all" I need is to draw everything once again to take the thickness of the planking into account.

It's a small boat, but I'm still surprised I am this far with the lofting so soon. I thought it would take me another two weeks before I was where I am. I love this thing.

 

great fun good luck it seem u know whatcha doin.....

 

Thanks, Welly

Haha, I hope so

Nah, seriously, though. I never knew it was this much fun. Had I known I would have been doing this a long time ago.

––––

I remembered today that I need to draw a "top baseline" as I will be planking it upside down (seems easier to me).

I'll update later today, after I have been out there.

Have a great day, everyone

 

Well, yet another annoying post from the danish "dude":
Today I'm in Århus.

I did everything I should, I only need to make up for the planking thickness of two stations.

I wanted to buy the mahogany yesterday, but they closed too early.

I decided I would try a place everyone recommended, so I gave them a call.

Turns out they're bloody expensive, even though I don't need much.

Prices in Denmark are priced per cubic metre (one cubic metre is about just over 264 gallons).

Now, the place I had decided to buy from from the get go, charges per cubic metre of Khaya-mahogany DKK 11.250(including 25% VAT), equal to 1800US. I only need about one fifth of that, though.

Now, if you thought that was expensive, then you're in for a shock - as I said, I called the place everyone goes to, and wanted me to go to as well. A plce called Walther Jessen. For a cubic metre of Khaya mahogany they feel so good that they demand DKK 21.250 per cubic metre. That is the equivalent of 3.400U$. Seriously, that is way too much, imo.

Anyways, I have a "date" with the wood pusher at the first place this friday morning. I will buy from him.

It's a bit farther away, but I'm saving almost half by buying it from him.

 

Hallo Danish Bagger..no update from your project:?:

 

I'm so sorry - real life are so annoying. It seems to be haunting me everywhere I go


Anyway, I went to see the man about the wood, but he didn't have time for me, and was rather rude. Told to come back the next day.

Because of the pricing I had to go back, and as luck would have it, he asked me if I wanted it without a bill, thus saving 20% (we have a 25% sales tax here). Pretty good deal, if I must say so myself.

I had it transported to the boat place, and I have sawn about half of it into 9 millimetre (just a bit over 1/3 inch) X 50 millimetre/2 inches. A bit wide, but the bead and cove is yet to be made.

I already built the building frames from timber. Planed them down beforehand, and by hand. Assembled them with small pieces, planed them by hand once again, and let them lie for a few days to see if they went "weird" in shape.

They did, and after planing a few of them down once again, only to have them twist again, I gave up and will now buy some MDF because of stability, when I get some money in a week's time.

When I do get some money, besides the MDF, I will be buying the following:

A small hand plane (one of those low-angle palm-jobs) and a few chisels - both will be used to "adjust" the mdf, because the side where I have drawn upon should be the one where the planks lie to.

Some silicon bronze screws (propably from oemfasteners, but I have to pay tolls and so forth to get it into Europe, so I'm not too sure yet).

Two router bits to make the bead and coves on the planks.

Epoxy - I think I will go for the 1kg/2.2lbs package to begin with, because I need to make me a stem and keel and internal stem (the shoe will be fitted afterwards and is not necessary until the planks are all on.

Right now I'm considering buying some larch (I can get a board 23ft/7 metres long, meaning I can make the entire keel, and perhaps shoe, plus the stem (both the internal and external) from a single piece of board, sawn up lengthwise and epoxied together to keep the shape.

As you can see I'm in a limbo (right word?) at the moment, but I have a plan, and I'm pretty sure it will work.



So far ...



Andre

 

I forgot to mention that I have finally received the drawings from the Smithsonian. They're huge, and I ordered two - one for "reference" and one so I could have an untouched one.

They were all, in all, with airmail 30U$. However, I had to pay the equivalent of 20U$ just to have my bank make a checque.