Craft A Craft Details

Peel & Stick solar
2008-05-15 19:45:40
Only available for commercial applications right now, but these would be just perfect for the roof of my boat. No pains mounting them, just stick them on. There is a video here of an installation being performed. The company also does have some residential solutions... I have to believe this stuff will continue to grow. ...

Robot Sailboats
2008-05-13 03:56:56
A couple of articles covering a competition to have a sailboat cross the Atlanta autonomously. Interesting, although I would rather go along for the ride, myself :-) A sailing robot to cross the Atlantic Pinta the robot sailing boat takes on Atlantic challenge The Microtransat Challenge ...

Chine tape
2008-05-13 03:44:23
I got so involved in processing all my pictures yesterday I forgot to mention that I also put fiberglass tape down one of the chine seams. Plans specify two layers of the bottom cloth on the chines and I decided to put the tape over the seam and then cloth the entire bottom as the second layer. Seemed to go on nicely and smooth out well. Tonight I got home late, but there was enough light left to run out and take a look... finished out very nicely. Looks like I got it all well wetted out, and it is really stuck on there. Glad to see it bonded so nicely. That will add a lot of strength and impact resistance to that joint, I believe. ...

Outer keel started
2008-05-12 04:45:57
After morning services and Mother's Day lunch with my wife and son, we got into some boat work. Ran by the orange box (Home Depot) and picked up some 1x6 pine boards to rip for the outer keel. I still find it odd that it's cheaper to buy 1x6 instead of 1x3. It just seems to me that they could get smaller boards from smaller, cheaper trees, but I guess it doesn't work that way. Georgia had some pretty bad storms during the night last night (tornado's, severe thunderstorms, etc.) We didn't have any real damage, but the high winds neatly removed the plastic from my shed. Since it's easier to work that way, and it's not due for any rain to speak of for several days, I just left it off. The winds this afternoon would have removed it again anyhow. One side effect is that you can see the entire boat at once. I makes it bigger :-) Got some pictures while we had the opportunity. Dane got busy removing some of the "clamping" screws down the centerline so that we could plane it off level and get ...

Happy Mother's Day
2008-05-12 04:28:12
Just a quick note to wish all of our Mom's a "Happy Mother's Day". And if you still have your mother, please reach out and give her a big hug (even if its only a phone call). I'm blessed to have a great mother, mother-in-law, and wife (who is mother of our child). And they all support me with my boat building! All-in-all it doesn't get much better than that. ...

One Year
2008-05-11 05:20:06
Well, one year ago today I ordered the plans and considered things "started" on my build. I figure I'm withing a month or two (worst case) of being able to roll the hull. Not as far along as I wanted to be, but we'll take what we can get. My original 'schedule' had me finishing the hull last September, but various family and health issues kept that from happening. My overall plan was for 2-3 years. Hopefully I can make that. Regardless of delays, its still great fun (most of the time) and things have really seemed to be progressing of late. Today we were having a family discussion on hull colors :-) ...

N/S Savannah
2008-05-10 04:50:59
Picture from Wikipedia Our friends over at GCaptain had a blurb about the N/S Savannah - the world's first nuclear powered merchant ship. It was an interesting article and a good update on the ship. Wikipedia also has a fairly up-to-date entry on the vessel. I find this ship interesting from a couple of viewpoints... in this modern day of high and climbing oil prices, maybe its time to be considering some more of these ships? More personally to me, I toured the ship in Charleston, SC and the Patriot's Point museum many years ago. When I returned a few years later, it wasn't there. There was no mention of where it went or what happened to it. It was as if it had never been there and I really began to wonder what I was dreaming up. I finally found it had been moved, but kind of lost track. It's somehow neat to me to hear that it is being cleaned up and refurbished (minus the propulsion system) and that its on the National Historic Register and will be kept for historical reasons. ...

Biodiesel Boat Circumnavigates Globe
2008-05-09 04:40:05
An interesting alternative fuel design that is "out there" now. I have some doubts about some of the biodiesel stuff from an economic and environmental viewpoint (should we be burning food for fuel???), but depending on how it's made, it might be ok. Regardless of that, it certainly works. This 100% biodiesel-powered, 78 ft wave-piercing trimaran aims to set an around-the-world speed record while maintaining a net zero carbon footprint. The Earthrace left Sagunto, Spain, on April 27, and has already made excellent time across the Atlantic, landing in Panama just 8 days later. Read the rest here... (including a video). You can also check out the Earthrace site for info. We first covered this boat with a link to this National Geographic spread back in December. ...

Kudo's to U.S. Composites!
2008-05-09 03:57:00
It's always a pleasure to have something good to write about a vendor you deal with. Excellent customer service can mean so much these days. If you recall, I ordered some more epoxy from U.S. Composites the other day. Well, when it arrived last Friday I was busy and didn't get around to opening it. Sunday evening I opened the box and found that the gallon of resin had sprung a leak. The jug itself was leaking (split a seam I think)... the lid was still tight and well sealed (plug, screw on lid and tape). The entire shipment was sealed in a heavy plastic bag that had contained the spill, although everything else was fairly well covered in goo. One nice thing was that most of the small stuff (fiberglass roller, pumps) were in their own bags, so they were ok. Well, now I had a rather expensive mess. I called them Monday morning and was promptly greeted with apologies and offers to send replacement containers for any that were too messy to use. Absolutely no question about sending a repla ...

Concrete Ships on TV
2008-05-08 03:26:16
We've pointed out the Concrete Ships web site before. Checking back by their page I see that the host has been interviewed and will be featured on an upcoming History Channel show. If these fascinating ships interest you, it might be worth a watch. Concrete Ships on the History Channel: The TV show Weird US will be featuring a segment on the history of concrete ships. I was interviewed for this episode, which reruns Wednesday, July 19 at 5:00pm. ...

Shipwrecks & Sea Disasters
2008-05-08 03:22:05
For a little of the opposite extreme of our usual build type articles, here's another in our series of abandoned and derelict craft. Somehow these can often be hauntingly beautiful. Check out this Shipwrecks & Sea Disasters collection. ...

MacNaughton Group Yacht Design and Design School
2008-05-07 04:29:27
Another designer that I have followed extensively and drooled over. Mr. MacNaughton has a large collection of sail and power designs available as plans. He also does custom design work. Of special note to those budding designers, MacNaughton operates a well respected (and affordable) correspondence yacht design school. I may still do that someday... If you recall my fascination with dutch barges and canal boats... I was sorely tempted to have his Eventide design finished for me. Again, maybe someday. Related Links: * General list of MacNaughton resources * Design Catalog Page * Dutch Barge links ...

Free Software for Boaters article
2008-05-06 17:56:15
Just to toot my own horn a little, I have an article on Free Software for Boaters (with lots of links and resources) over on Mad Mariner as the "lead article" today. Covers software for everyday life (word processing, graphics, etc.) that you might not be aware of that is available for free or very little cost that compares well with many of the commercial offerings. Limited time trial subscriptions are available for no cost, so you can try them out! For full disclosure, I write some paid articles (obviously) for Mad Mariner™. ...

Building Shop at Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center
2008-05-05 00:38:34
I wanted to point out the recent comment "Dory Building Shop at Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center" which has some links to some interesting classic wood boatbuilding still happening in Gloucester. Joey has a nice little blog going here. Not strictly boatbuilding, be definitely related to the sea and the lifestyle. GoodMorningGloucester My View of Life on the Dock GoodMorningGloucester is the spawn of a messageboard thread on CapeAnnOnline The thread started as a daily photo essay of life on the docks and family photos but as it got longer and longer I realized that a blog is a much better way to organize and share. CapeAnnOnline has been my local go-to website and will continue to be but we will post our pics and if I think I have something interesting to say I may share it here. For some great seascapes and boat pics, make sure and check out the CapeAnnOnline reference. ...

Henley 18 Slipper Launch - Electric Power
2008-05-05 00:26:51
This is a great looking "classic" styled yacht that incorporates some great, new technology. Powered by a Whisper XT electric motor and even incorporating a linear actuator for steering, its a study of old and new. The hull was built with a commercially available composite panel and then a traditional deck covering the top. Make sure and watch the "time lapse" build video at the top... all-in-all a very interesting build. The Henley 18 is a marriage of a classic English river launch design with state of the art composite construction and propulsion. She was launched in early November 2007 at Crescent Lake in Maine. The design is based on the Henley 18 designed by Paul Fisher BSc. AMRINA of Selway Fisher UK ...

Bow picture
2008-05-04 04:42:12
Between rain showers, the office calling, visiting my dad in the hospital, a sick child and working more on the floor, boat work didn't happen today. We have a children's program at church tomorrow that I'm running lights for, so I probably won't get to do anything then either, but I did take a second and run out and take a picture of the work I've done trimming up the hull sides. We're ready to start preparing for the outer keel and moving to new phases of construction now. The floor in the house is looking good though! ...

New Ocean Current Discovered
2008-05-03 22:24:47
Think there's nothing new under (or over) the sea? Well, maybe it's not new, but we're certainly still learning about the sea (and probably will be for a LONG time to come). Even more special to me since Georgia Tech is my alma mater. ScienceDaily (May 2, 2008) â€” Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have discovered a new climate pattern called the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation. This new pattern explains, for the first time, changes in the water that are important in helping commercial fishermen understand fluctuations in the fish stock. Theyâ€™re also finding that as the temperature of the Earth is warming, large fluctuations in these factors could help climatologists predict how the oceans will respond in a warmer world. Read the rest for details, graphs, etc. ...

George Buehler Yacht Design and Diesel Ducks
2008-05-03 03:26:19
George Buehler Yacht Design was probably the starting point for my boat-building research. The Backyard Boatbuilding mailing list has a large following of extremely knowledgeable and helpful builders. It was started around a book by George Buehler named Backyard Boatbuilding. Mr. Buehler is a proponent of what I term "rough and ready" boatbuilding. Fine woodworking and high quality are fine, but some parts can be built from locally available "lumberyard" wood and common materials. He "over specifies" some of this frames, etc. to ensure high strength, and the boats that have been built to his plans seem to have been quite successful. Recently, Mr. Buehler's Diesel Duck series of designs have become quite popular (including one of the boats winning the 2007 "People's Choice" award from Passagemaker Magazine's Trawlerfest). Many are being built in steel, although the plans are available for wood or steel construction. Some versions are licensed to only be built at Seahorse Marine. Those d ...

Revisiting some old friends
2008-05-02 02:43:19
Just an "intro" note to let you know that I intend to be revisiting some of our old friend/designers that I covered a year and more ago. Now that Craft A Craft is coming up on it's second birthday, I think some of our newer readers will appreciate a pointer to some of these resources, and for our old timers, don't tune out... there have been several updates and new plans available by many of the designers. Now that I'm hot and heavy into actually building a boat, I have spent much less time exploring available designs and various offerings that designers are making available. That doesn't mean that I haven't been keeping tabs on some interesting additions, but have spent much less time (and made many fewer postings). This will give us a little more catchup and a bit more return to "plans and building" type posts for a time. Please toss in suggestions, requests or comments. ...

Fighting The Small Boat Threat
2008-05-01 04:48:56
Today, Mad Marinerâ„¢ has another article discussing some of the threats posed by small boats to national security, along with some of the actions being taken to guard against these threats. Regardless of your opinion about the threat or the response, if you are boating in the U.S. (or even near U.S. flagged ships) you should stay aware of the precautions being taken so that you can make sure and not be mistaken for a "bad guy". For full disclosure, I write some paid articles for Mad Marinerâ„¢. ...

Epoxy order
2008-04-30 03:32:52
Forgot to mention that I also ordered more epoxy and supporting supplies today... I have a fair amount of the U.S. Composites epoxy left, but have ran out of Cabosil and also wanted to get an epoxy "roller" for smoothing in some of the fiberglass tape, etc. A friend needed some epoxy for a boat he's repairing, so I ordered for us both and lumped it in one shipment. I ordered the larger "4 gallon" size of cabosil... some for my friend and most for me. That may be WAY overkill, but its much cheaper in bulk. We'll see how much I use. I bet I use it somewhere :-) ...

Triming
2008-04-30 02:40:32
Got home at a decent hour (twice in a week! Hope my boss doesn't read this :-)) and got to trim hull bottom some more. And guess what... I finished! Got both sides of the bow done and all. That part went MUCH faster than the first time. I think it was a case of knowing how to do it this time (plus new, sharp blades on the planer). At least they were sharp until I hit a few screws I missed removing before I got there. Anyway, I got all the hull panels trimmed to shape. Took a few minutes and started marking the centerline to fit the external keel. I have to mark a strip 2" wide right down the centerline and plane it flat and start on the keel next. Time = 1.5 hours ...

Homeland Security and Boaters
2008-04-29 19:25:09
Navagear has a post that might be of interest to our US based readers (and potential visitors to the US). The Department of Homeland Security has been meeting with the boating "community" and is formulating plans for more boating oversite and ways for boaters to report potential security issues, etc. All-in-all I don't know how I feel about it, but Navagear has some good commentary and a beginning discussion over there that you might want to follow (or jump in to). ...

Trim and Cramp
2008-04-29 03:19:45
After a little yard work (including a flat tire on the mower) I got to spend a while trimming up the hull bottom flush with the side panels. Again, when you get stuff flushed up, it really changes the looks. It probably doesn't show in the picture that much, but it really looks boatlike. I think the thing would actually float for a while (just a few small holes left). I learned a couple of critical boatbuilding facts tonight. The first involves pockets on your shirts. I always wear a shirt with pockets because I have to have my pen and pocket screwdriver handy. Well, if you are planing and cutting above your chest level, you would be amazed how much sawdust you catch in your pocket :-) The other big learning experience of the evening involved working more than your muscles anticipate. I got one side of the hull trimmed within about 8' of the bow and the other side I got 10' plus at the aft end finished. I was getting tired, so packed up and called it quits. On the way into the house I ...

Putting down sole
2008-04-27 04:26:33
Doesn't it look nice? No, that's not really on the boat (I wish)... part of the day was taken up putting down some of the Bruce laminate wood flooring in our hallway. Looks pretty well so far, I think. (had to buy Bruce brand, given the name :-)) Nothing appropriate for use in the boat, but I think we'll enjoy it in the house. After doing that for a while, I did get out and get to work on the boat for an hour or so... got the last of the second layer of the hull on! I am so relieved to have that done. Lots of patching, trimming, fairing and other work to do on it, but its all on there! The starboard side second layer came out better than the port, just like the first layer. One would think they would match, but... ...

NavQuest - Marine Navigation Made Easyâ„¢
2008-04-25 04:41:41
Billed as the "Home of Online Marine Trip Planning" this is an interesting site with various boating, scuba and even user uploaded videos and photos. They have lots of navigation "stuff" with interactive charts and other resources that are worth a look. Its not a full navigation suite, but for some route planning and dreaming, it might be just the thing. ...

8 more inches to go
2008-04-24 04:36:22
On one side, anyhow. Stopped by the orange box (Home Depot), grabbed some screws and stuff, and got another couple of strips of hull bottom on one side. only 8 more inches to go.I really thought that the second layer would be easier than the first with the entire first layer to screw to, etc., but so far it has been much harder. Somehow getting the two layers to fit together tightly requires a lot more twisting and bending to get all the wood lined up. The stress on the panels has been pretty high.Add to that one of them I "rough measured", cut and started fastening down. Did you know that if something goes around a curve it takes more length than the straight path? I did... too bad I didn't take it into account when I measured it. I start fastening it and as it followed the curve of the bow, it was coming up short at the keel end. Had to take that off and redo it.Made progress, but honestly it was just one of those frustrating evenings.Money = $20.93 + $1.47 (tax) = $22.40Time = 1.5 h ...

Lemon Pudding Cakes with Raspberry Sauce
2008-04-23 03:18:45
I don't normally post links to recipes, but our friends at the J. & E. Riggin put this up the other day on their blog and it just sounds so good! ...

Pepi sold - NOT!
2008-04-23 03:07:34
Well, Warren and Robin of the Pepi didn't sell the boat after all, but are moving on with their cruise and waiting for their new boat.If you are looking for a great, proven Great Loop boat, given them a ring. ...

More skin and curves
2008-04-21 03:43:33
After morning worship and a quick run to Walmart to procure a bicycle for Dane, it was another good afternoon of hull skinning. Got several more sections on, and actually got a couple of pictures!Note that just to the right of the ladder you can see where the second layer of hull bottom ends (right now). The other side I wound up getting one more strip on after evening service, so it goes a bit farther forward.And here's the required "head on" view... I don't konw why, but of the shots I can get in its current position, this looks most "boatlike" to me. ...

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