Kurt Hughes Daycharter 36

Hmmmmm. hey thanks yo barnacle I like that idea. I could probably use the leftover cUtoff sections from the original tube stock. just cut them in half lengthwise and trim to fit. Somewhere on here I read about some all aluminum rivets ( Without the steel shafts) so no galvanics to worry about then. I could then rivet them up in place on the boat.

Sam Sam, I meant I could easily do either option... Skinny down the metal plate or parge in some goo

 

A few more photos now here showing how it will basically look.

Soon I will be tuning in to the tramps and ground tackle layout, and would appreciate all input.

I plan to make the tramps from some rolls of 2" webbing that can be bought online from Cargo Control .http://www.uscargocontrol.com/Webbing I would like to weave them into a diagonal pattern. The 3/4 inch pvc pipes that are glassed into the inner shear lines of the hulls , the main crossbeam, and the aft face of the bow beam (yet to be done in the photos), will all get scalloped cutouts on 4 inch centers (with two inch straps), and a then a stainless or fiberglass rod will be inserted into the ends, running full length. The webbing will wrap around the rod and then go off in a diagonal direction. That is the theory anyway, I haven't worked it out on paper yet. I think for chafe guard I may be able to get some sleeve webbing the same dia., cut short lengths an inch or so long and reeve the strap through them at all the turns. Or not. ....The biggest question yet to be figured out is how to attach the straps to the compression tubes. They are 5"OD. I may wind up circling round the tubes with the strap, and then weaving in yet another rod and cinching it up close to the tubes, which will make the tramp plane out in the center of the tubes running fore and aft. This needs to be figured out before I set the heights of the tubes permanently... a matter of shaping the aluminum ears and positioning the holes for the pins. Has anybody done it that way?

Maybe I'd better save the ground tackle subject for later. ANd I have some other questions too, like how best to set up a soft terminal at the chainplates on the bow beam for the spreader wire running athwartships, instead of putting a stainless bushing in the hole with a shackle. All this inserting stainless bushings into aluminum plate makes me nervous. Seems best to avoid it if possible.

Oh and then there is the ladder...

 

https://billboardtarps.myshopify.com/collections/odd-sizes

16 oz cloth cheap.^

 

Webbing link

Sorry not cargo central,
Here is the link
http://www.uscargocontrol.com/Webbing

 

Compression Tubes cont

This weekend the comp tubes went together. I had some pieces welded to the ears that would accept the rivets. This week I plan to drill and pin them all into permanent place.

I have been distracted by my day job for the last two weeks, but the worst of it is now past. The pressure is on to meet the Oct. splash schedule, but I think I can manage it. It has become kind of a joke really, since I have failed to meet so many other deadlines... but this time it is different.

really

 

Steering gear update

I finally have connected all the pieces. Tiller to post and quadrant, quadrant to connecting lines to blocks on harken track, track car to connecting tubes, connecting tubes to tiller head.

The connecting tubes have structural epoxy bog in the ends, with 1/4 inch threaded ss rods inserted. On one the end of the threaded rods there is a ss yoke with 1/4 inch clevis to connect it to the tiller head. It is essentially now just a big turnbuckle on that end.
The other end of the rod has a custom ss insert built from plate that has a hole for the (tiny little) 3/16 clevis on the harken car.

Well, as predicted, the rod would not move far enough fwd when rudder is fully kicked up, so I had to get out the sawsall and do some major cutting into the aft bulkhead, which left an ugly a** hole in the back of my beautiful, carefully crafted, sugar scoop transom thing. The pics show the beginnings of the re-fill and sculpted layup that is now necessary to make it all beautiful again. I don't know.

At least the thing works. The rudders turn, almost 180 degrees, and they kick up all the way and the rods move back and forth with the helm. The holes in the sides of the rudder trunk will get a dowel that will act as a "fuseable link" in event of grounding etc, and they double as a support, for when the rudder is pulled up out of the water. I'm "stoked".

I wasted a few hours trying to cut out some bearing washers for the rudders (1.8" ID), out of 316 plate 3/16" thick, and tore up two hole saws and made some new sore spots on the hands. Finally I took them to a machinist who cut them out with a plasma cutter. They fit perfect now, and bear on my homemade washer from the delrin cutting board.

The rudder/hull gap now needs just a little tweak with some final fairing and I am ready for paint (I hope). I offer all this up to the world for inspection and commentary, especially from those with experience in this kind of fabrication. Since much of this steering system has been a higgling process of trial and error, I won't be surprised if more errors occur after launch. Maybe some input here can prevent that.

Thanks

 

Tender Update

Dave Gerr's nester. Except it doesn't nest. I decided to make it all in one piece to save on weight and hassle. I may name it "caddywhampus" because it is, just a little bit. One frame came out of alignment at the planking stage and I didn't catch it in time. I was in too big of a hurry. (Note to self : don't be an a**hole. slow down and check your work before you glass it all up six ways to Sunday.)
Any way, I think i'll be real proud of her. Two rowing stations, maybe three, with oak dowels for thole pins secured with 3/8 line to the insides of the planks. Seats are three inch pink panther foam sandwiched and bagged with 4mm okume.

 

I hate to keep boring everybody with these steering details. I have to say since these shots were taken the thing LOOKS a whole lot better with a coat of paint on everything, but some of the picture is not as rosy as presented in the last post.

The rudder turns fine without the crossarm hooked up, but when connected, the angle of turn is much more limited. Note the tiller photo from the top. That's it. That is hard over. Worrying about kickup ability for a rudder that is angled at any wider angle than what is shown here is just a waste of time, at least with this kind of setup. The physical limitation of the quadrant (tiller head) and the tiller arm simply wont allow any more turn than the angle shown. So be it. I was not able to see this limitation until actually hooking it up.

The rudders will kick up independently, and there will be SOME steerage ability left in the other rudder, but exactly how much I haven't verified. It depends on the height above vertical that the rudder has kicked. If I pull one blade all the way out of the water so that the post is nearly horizontal, It wont allow any turn at all. This is difficult to explain but easy to see and understand in person. As the vertical angle of the axis of rudder post rotation changes, the angle of attachment to the crossarm changes along with it, to the point that there is no leverage at all.

The epoxy bog set inside the tube trick seems to work fine, but I am concerned about the size of the clevis on the Harken track. There is no way to change it without up-sizing the whole track/car arrangement. Mucho dinero. The other thing is the 1/4 inch threaded rod on the other end. It is prone to bending stress, especially when rudder is all the way kicked up. I may upsize it to 3/8 and use a rod end ball type joint instead of the yoke arrangement. (see photo). A pain, but not too late in the game to alter it.

Comments and advice appreciated.

 

I've found that in anything other than extreme maneuvers, the rudders don't need to be turned a great deal. This is on a 40ft cruising cat we recently acquired... Rudders look similar to yours. The twin engines do most of the work during maneuvers anyway. Will you have twin engines on yours?

During normal sailing, the rudder angles hardly move at all for effective steerage, and the faster you go the less it needs... Most boats can't kick them up unless the rudders are straight anyway... End of the day, it's only you that has to be happy with it...

 

hey Groper, I have two 9.8 tohatsus that I am sure will do a great job in the marina or when motoring. no worries there. my biggest concern is kicking a rudder when barreling along on a broad reach and not having enough steerage to round up... Course if you are aground anyway, you still probably cant round up and strain the hell out of the rig. best I guess to just be aware of that danger and govern yourself accordingly.

The other thing is when in irons, it may be better if I could get more angle out of the rudder, so she would back her sterns to weather easier as I back wind the headsail. the motors will be clear of the water, and I sure don't want to have to be dependant on them to get moving again. I don't know . it may not matter.

 

I can envision your dilemma. In normal position the yoke on top of the rudder is perpendicular to the rudder shaft axis. With the rudder kicked up it is in line with the shaft and of course then there is no axis on which to turn.

The yokes pivot to get out of the way and allow the rudder to kick up. If the yokes were turned 180 degrees (pointing aft) and solidly attached to the rudder, so they didn't pivot, they would still allow the rudder to kick up and still be able to turn when the rudder was kicked up. Is that possible?

The tiller will work opposite unless you re-arrange that hookup, but that might be OK, having the boat turn the way the tiller aims. It might take getting used to.

The cross arm tube clearance holes in the hull would probably have to be re-worked, but that would be easy.

Are you still going for a Columbus Day launch?

 

Sam Sam, that is just brilliant! Thank you. Thank you. How do you SEE this stuff??

I guess I will leave it be for now, and see how it works as is. Or at least experiment with it some more and see just how much steerage I would have with the blade only partially kicked. I guess if the boat is aground it wont matter anyway, so the rudder only needs to kick back to the angle so that the blade tip is the same distance from the waterline as the deepest part of the keel. Ill try and figure that out this week.

Columbus day is almost here isn't it? I haven't picked out an actual day, but I hope to get it in around that time. weather has held me up on the paint, and I have ONE tohatsu in hand and the other on order.. that's a long story.. anyway the launch is dependant on that delivery, and there is nothing I can do about it at this point. The plan is still to launch in Oct., do some more fit out and head to Florida for mast and sails. My wife has a reunion in Cocoa on Thanksgiving and we hope to be there with the boat for that. Needless to say we are pretty excited. It is getting pretty intense.

 

The Dismantling

I have a low boy trailer coming in on Saturday to transport everything to the waters edge. Everything is going pretty smoothly at this point. I found a couple of places on the edge of the bridge deck that had some water ingress. not too bad, but If I had to do it again I would make those edges BULLETPROOF, with some kind of banding to isolate the balsa, and then glass over the whole thing. They are pretty heavy and it is easy to gouge or crack the edges, and that is all it takes to let water in.
Everything else looks OK. I was paranoid that it might not come apart, but I had plenty of plastic sheet in there to keep anything from sticking.

 

Congrats Charley!

 

Splash! The End of the Beginning

All I can say is there is a lot of sweat equity in this boat besides mine. We had a crowd of helpers of all stripes. It was great fun. I will always be thankful to every one who gave support.

The splash was basically the nautical equivalent of an old fashioned "barn raising". Everything went pretty smooth! We re-assembled on the beach, using "come-alongs", "jimmy sticks" horses, blocking, two liter soda bottles etc. When push came to shove, we padded the transoms with carpet and pillows and pushed her to the crest of the hill by the waters edge, and then rocking back and forth we pushed by hand, and she rolled down a path paved with osb, bottles, fenders and lord knows what else. My wife Christened her the "Spirit of St. Simons" with a bottle of Blue Moon, and after getting everything hooked up we drank the rest and motored up the river to a temporary dock. We will fit her out there for the trip south. We have a date in Cocoa Florida in mid November for stepping the mast and sails etc.

So this is the "end of the beginning" Many details to sort out yet. When I get time I will do a final post on this thread. I hope others have found something useful here.