Means of Seeing what the eye brings

The new dinghy is coming along nicely. Yesterday (day two), i fitted knees to the main deckbeam and the centreboard trunk, and finished epoxying the deckbeams into their permanent place. The knees are substantial pieces of iroco, an extremely tough tropical hardwood. All the knees came out of one piece of scrap; a salvaged deck chock from a large yacht’s liferaft. LIke the mahogany, this is a great find, and just the sort of wood i probably would never have “just laying around” anywhere else.
Also yesterday, i got the mast and bowsprit together. In a total departure from tradition, instead of building wooden spars (as i did for the Dink), i’m using salvaged windsurfer masts. We have a dozen or so of these around the yard, in one state of decay or another. Most of them suffer from delamination in the sun; over time, the outside layer of resin is baked off by the sun, leaving a fuzzy surface of glass fibres.
For my mast, i chose the best of the lot, an 18 foot bi-axial carbon/glass mast. i soaked the whole thing in straight West epoxy to seal in those evil little fibres, and after curing and sanding, primed it with white epoxy paint. i got the bowsprit out of another mast, this one a wound-fibre mast (stiffer, but not quite as strong overall). The latter mast will also provide me with a boom (yet to be made). The gaff will be in wood, which i’ve set aside.
Today, i got in the mast step, centerboard trunk collar, and bobstay U-bolt. The mast step is a 1″ thick plate of teak supporting a laminated mahogany cup which holds the base of the mast, all layed in thickened West epoxy. The step had to extra beefy for another reason: i’ve added a deck tie-rod. The rod (a turnbuckle, actually) ties the bottom of the main deckbeam to the top of the mast step. All the other standing rigging will be compressing the mast, and like a giant bow trying to shoot the mast through the bottom of the hull. That same rigging compresses the deck from side to side, flexing the hull. While definately overkill on such a small boat, the tie rod should really help with the overall “beefyness factor”.
i tried to get the centerboard trunk collar out of teak, but the short grain at the the ends of the trunk were splitting, so i gave in and laminated a 1 1/2″ thick collar from two pieces of 3/4″ marine plywood. So, the collar will have to be painted instead of varnished, but it’s still a vast improvement in both strength and esthetics over the thin fibreglass flange it replaces. The bobstay U-bolt was another compromise; i wanted to keep all the visible fittings in bronze, but after searching through boxes and boxes for a suitable fitting, i found none. Besides, the stem was already shaped at the waterline to receive a standard stainless Wichard fitting, of which we had plenty.
i cut out and laminated the major pieces of the rudder, and fabricated a bronze U-bolt for the stemhead fitting. i also managed to get two of the thumb cleats onto the bowsprit; that’s two down, six more to go! Fiddly little bits of teak that must be tapered and curved to fit the diminutive spars just so, but they look so much better than metal fittings! In the same vein, i counted up how many deadeyes i have yet to make, and have figured it at 18. 18!… it’s enough to make me consider lacing lanyards to shackles, or worse yet, caving in and buying tiny bronze turnbuckles!
Tomorrow, work on the rudder will continue, as well as the beginnings of the centerboard. i’m leaving off putting on the decking until the very last, as it makes it much easier to get at the inside of the hull forward. Still, i can hardly wait for that pasrt! Then, the sheer will really come together, and she’ll start to look like a proper boat, not just a skeleton

Yesterday i started the build-up of “the next sailing dinghy”. The Dink has been a good little boat around the harbour, but within definate limits. i’ve snapped the mast once, and fittings are under constant repair in order to keep up with the hard usage. Just as with the Enterprise this past summer, when the wind pipes up, i worry more about the integrity of the boat than my own safety.
Well, the new dinghy is going to be another story… The standing rigging plan calls for 2 fixed stays, two running stays, and four shrouds, plus bowsprit stays, all on a 9′ boat! Ridiculous it may well be, but as tough as i can make it.
The dinghy is of unknown make (i’m still researching). It’s 9 feet overall (somewhere around 13 when i’m done), with a great plumb stem, full bows, and sweet sheer. The hull is fibreglass, with a wide laminated mahogany sheerclamp and mahogany breasthook and quarterknees. Much of the existing woodwork has gone bad (bugs and rot), but the good bits are very good. The ‘glass centerboard trunk is flimsy at best, but a good leak-free foundation.
First, i’ve starting with the decking. The dinghy is originaly an open boat. Removing the center thwart (to make more room for sail-handing, lounging or sleeping) takes alot of stiffness out of the boat. To compensate for this, as well as add a sturdy mast partner, i’m decking the forward 1/3 of the boat over. Additionaly, the forward deck will keep alot of waves out of the boat.
Poking around in the back of the shop, James found an old fenderboard i could use for wood; a five-foot-long solid mahogany 2″x4″! Now, there’s three new curved mahogany deckbeams notched into the sheerclamp. The aftermost one is extra beefy, and supports the solid mahogany partner. Forward, i’ve put in a sizable Fir bitt/Samson post. The bitt is let into the most forward deck beam, and lagged down into the stock forward floatation chamber. The bitt will support all the aft thrust from the bowsprit, so it must be burly.
Today, i’m going to get started on the mast step, as well as the 6 or so hanging knees that lock the outboard ends of the deckbeams to the hull. After that, there’s backing blocks for the chainplates, then the entire skeleton comes back apart for sanding and sealing before permanent installation with epoxy.
i’ll be trying to borrow a camera to snap a few pics before the build gets too far ahead!

Just wrapping up reading John Guzzwell’s great book “Trekka: Round The World”. This is a book i’d heard of and seen many references made towards, but never actually had a chance to read myself. i wish i’d read it sooner!
The story sounds familiar; young dreamer scrapes a small boat together and sets off o’er the horizon. Not unlike “Dove”, eh? i was incredibly inspired by Robin Lee Graham’s story, as have many other “young dreamers” yearning for adventure. i’ve oft reccommended “Dove” to friends. Still, the book is certianly not without critics!
i got Kim to read it (i think other friends of hers are reccommended it to her as well), and she had some curious insights that got me to take another look at the book. Robin spends alot of pages carping about how tough it was, and of the many times at sea when he swore he’d never sail again, etc. Much of the book is taken up with escapades ashore; the sailing seemed portrayed as the horrible bits in between the good bits! Also, as another reader pointed out to me, while Robin was a hard worker, helpful, and possesed of some skill, his voyage was largely bankrolled by his parents (well, he was only 15 at departure!)
Overall, the impression that Kim had was that Robin really didn’t much enjoy the journey at all! Is it any coincidence that he moved to homestead in Colorado shortly after his return? Well, still a good book, worth the read, but losing lustre in my heart.

Guzzwell, on the other hand, paints an entirely different picture. A fine crafstman (a yacht joiner by trade), he built his boat Trekka behind a fish’n’chips shop in downtown Victoria, BC. i’ve seen the boat, a laurent Giles-designed 20’6″ yawl, on display inside the foyer of the Eatons department store in Victoria. It’s very difficult to convey just how small that is! When John crossed his outbound path off Hawaii in ’58, it was the smallest boat to do so, and he the first British citizen to complete a solo circumnavigation. One of my favourite passages from the book describes how, while far out at sea, he fondly recalls the winter months spent building Trekka in that unheated shed. i often wonder how i will look back on my times here when i too am a thousand miles out…
John delights in sailing and the sea. His happiest moments are at sea, far far offshore, drinking in the beauty and the solitude. In contrast to Robin, his landfalls are the times of greatest concern, and the bustling activities of shoreside life, while offering adventures of their own, seem to be nearly unwanted interuptions. He writes of friends, meetings, hikes, and landfalls as if they’ve fallen dryly from the pages of his logbooks, while heaping poetry, humour, and rare wit upon his open sea passages.
At 68, John designed and built himself a new wooden boat, Endangered Species (a ridiculously beautiful 30′ raceboat), with which he competed in the single-handed TransPac race. Now into his seventies, he is still a Puget Sound sailing fixture.
So, to all those i once urged to read “Dove”, now i urge to read this! i hope it inspires you…

Out in the Dink this past Saturday, former RBVIYC Commodore James Bridgewater called out to ask if i cared to go sailing the next day. Go sailing in the harbour and get invited sailing? Not bad!
A few Loyal West Endians refer to James as “Bilgewater”; rich, british, and a touch snobbish. Still, he knows a good hand when he sees one, eh? Not for the company but for the boat did i go. The boat, Tikitas, is a beautiful classic S&S-designed Nautor’s Swan 43. i had done a little work on the boat, interior woodwork and some deck hardware, so i knew the layout, but i was still itching for a sail.
Well, as it turns out, James had invited along some work friends and some girls he’d met on the beach; not a sailor among them. Everyone else sprawled out, drinks in hand, while i settled myself to sailing the beautiful beast. James claims the boat is “a bit much to single-hand”, but it didn’t seem too much of a bother for me while he went about serving drinks and chatting up ladies. Certianly, to get it really hustling along in racing trim, you’d need a bunch of folks, but i just couldn’t agree with his complaints for cruising.
The Swan 43 looks and sails like a much smaller boat. The visibility over the diminutive deckhouse in incredible, belieing an incredibly roomy interior with full standing headroom all the way forward, even under the long flush deck forward. Tikitas has long been one of my favourite local boats in the harbour, and snobbishness aside, it was a great day of sailing!