Boat Plans Bruce Roberts | Santiago a hot day and were travelling tonight

Boat Plans Bruce Roberts

Today Howard and I have been walking the town looking at the sights, there are some very grand buildings, lots of parks and fountains.  

 Its a seriously hot day by my standards, probably around 35 deg C, and while the humidity is low its warmer than Im comfortable with.  Id have given a lot to be able to strip off and sit alongside these two, but that guy leaning on the pole in the background though that it might not be the best idea.

 One of the many ornate and imposing buildings here, theyre well lit up at night and this part of the city is well worth a walk just to see them.

 There is a park with walk and cycleway right through the city, it runs alongside the river below which is carrying the last of the summer melt from the mountains you can ( just, look hard and youll see them) see in the background.  

Weve changed some money, got packed up and checked out of the hostel BellaVista ( recommended by the way, good place if you like hostels) and are shortly off to catch the overnight bus to Porto Montt. That’s way south, about a 10 hour drive so we’ve booked on an up market bus with lay down seats and more space per passenger.  Yes it has a restroom!

 While walking the town we met some very nice gentlemen, mine is a policeman, Howards was sitting in what might have been a barbers shop.  While his friend was better dressed mine was a bit more active.

In the morning we’ll pick up a Chevy Spark rental, actually a Kia Picanto with a Chevy badge on it, and from there we drive to Punta  Arenas to do more toward the “expedition “  that will happen next Southern Summer.  We need to find storage,  sort things out with customs, find accommodation and check out things like launching and docking facilities for the boat. 

We’ve been told that the drive is something special, there will be pics!

Its really hot today, so I’m in the hostels upstairs courtyard where there is a little breeze, looking over toward the mountains and the cablecar that runs through the zoo.  We’ll check that out when we get back on 23^rd,  its not until 26^th that we fly out so there will be time to do some tourist things after the government things are done.

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Plywood Boat Plans Australia | I make my first bevel

Plywood Boat Plans Australia

I had to bevel the seat cleat on the transom for the rear seat. This is a harrowing proposition for me because, a: I do not know how to bevel things, and b: I do not want to screw this up too much because then nothing will fit. Fortunately, I had the mind to ask over at the Storer woodworking forum first, and basically, I take my hand plane to it and plane away. So thats what I did, and I successfully beveled my seat cleat the 4mm. PHEW! Not so bad! Of course, I say that now. Time to start learning how to keep my plane blade sharp. Heres a pic, but the cleat is not oriented in the correct position, worry not GIS fans!



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Pontoon Boat Plans Aluminum | Specificity ahead

Pontoon Boat Plans Aluminum

Time for a little cleaning up. I took care of a lot of little items that needed doing.

I went back to the kick-ass guys at Maine Coast Lumber and got hooked up with some more cedar, primarily for the chine logs, so I can just keep moving on assembly. I also picked up extra cedar just in case. This hopefully is my last cedar purchase, the stuff is getting pricey. I also picked up a good piece of cedar for the STEM. I bought many feet so I can have many attempts, this I feel, is going to suck.

I also bought:

pumps for the epoxy, dammit, I forgot with my initial order.

inspection ports for the bulkheads.

the sail, holy cow, I just had to press the buy button and be done with it.

Next up:

finish the top frame on the transom, which is out of Douglas Fir, which meant that I had the wood for it all along in the form of that long fir plank. Then, when the pumps come in I can glue and epoxy this piece all up.

frame the remaining bulkheads

glue together el bottom and el side-os. This will mean chine longs. I found a 17 foot long piece of cedar, but it was a weird dimension that was going to have to be ripped several times to make it the appropriate size. I have decided to scarf two 9 foot sections together. This will keep one side more uniform (less ripping) and it will teach me a new valuable skill. The scarf joint as spied by gimpslayer3000, but with cedar. This is going to be interesting, because it needs to come out tip-top. Sacramento GIS has built a scarfing jig, which is a fascinating idea, but Im really not interested in that, but it would probably be the best bet for the cleanest scarf. Im wondering about how precise I can get on my own...

and then at some point... the dreaded STEM.

Thats it for now, on the road again. Waiting patiently.

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Boat Plans Building | On the metaphorical road again heading for more small boat sailing adventures

Boat Plans Building

The brotherhood of the travelling boots.

Its occurred to me that the hikers boots that I’m wearing have been to seven different countries so far, they’re good friends the two of them, get along well even though they’re almost twins. One of course is a lefty and the other a righty but even so they seem able to co operate and generally arrive wherever it is that they’re going at about the same time.

I’m on my way again, this time to Chile,  will arrive in Santiago in about 18 hours.

Right now I’m sitting in Auckland International airport, within a few metres of the Percival Gull aircraft that Jean Batten flew from England to New Zealand in 1936, setting a number of aviation records on the way.  That flight took 11 days and 45 minutes to cover a bit more than 14000 miles. 

I’m going to be travelling in an aircraft that barely resembles that tiny single engined spruce and canvas plane.  In fact it would be no real problem to fit the “Gull” into the cargo hold of the big Boeing that I’ll be imprisoned within for the 13 ½ hour flight across the Southern Pacific Ocean. We’ll be travelling at around 590 nautical miles per hour, how different it is from Jean in her little light plane t125 mph.  I bet she didn’t complain about the cabin service in her tiny cockpit .

Jean Battens Percival Gull airplane, as I write this Im sitting about 2metres away from the wingtip on the left of the picture, its a graceful little thing, but a real reminder of how much aviation has progressed since then, remember too that Jean Batten was with us until 1982, so most of this amazing progress has happened within the space of a long lifetime.

This trip I’m making is by the way the longest uninterrupted stretch of ocean that there is north of the five great capes about twice the distance that it is across the North Atlantic from USA to UK.

Which brings me to why I’m travelling.  I’m to meet up with friend and co teacher Howard Rice, and we’re going to be setting up for the big voyage of exploration that he is undertaking next southern summer.

That voyage, in a modified SCAMP, all of 11 ft 11 in long ( 3.575M ) will leave from Punta Arenas in the Straights of Magellan, carry him out through the channels and straights into the Pacific where he’ll turn left, and head south toward Cape Horn.

That latter is not necessarily the objective of the voyage, but rounding “The Horn” is a possibility.  The real purpose of the voyage is to explore the least populated and most rugged coastline on the planet,  riven with steep sided fjords, many with glaciers at their heads, backed by mountains, many un named as yet, and battered by the incessant gale force winds of the Roaring 40s this is an extraordinary place, and one which Howard will be exploring, and documenting.

There will be cameras on the boat, as well as within his support crew back at Punta Arenas, there is already some video “in the can” and the intention is to make a comprehensive video of the voyage, a video which will be available to anyone wishing to see the grandeur of the wildest place on the planet from the viewpoint of a small boat sailor.

There is more on the boat and the voyage in Howards Facebook page here

https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=howard%20rices

Yes it costs by the way, and if you’d like to support this, check out the directors website here. http://www.below40south.com.  There is also a lot of information on the voyage there.

  Any donations would be very gratefully received, we’re covered for the actual filming but the production costs will be significant and even a small amount would help to get what will be one of the great small boat adventures out where people can share it.

So I’m sitting here in Auckland airport with several hours to wait until the big silver bird roars down the runway and turns out eastward over the sea.

Its not boring, I’m in a quiet corner upstairs, this is one of the better airports that I travel through, and I’m alongside a glass wall where I can watch the people flow like a gently stirred anthill.  It’s the arrivals area just below me, and there are friends, parents, siblings and visitors arriving, it’s heart warming watching the enthusiasm and emotion with which they are being welcomed.

But I’m going the other way, I’ll be among that crowd downstairs in 20 days.

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Plywood Boat Plans | Annie Hill update

Plywood Boat Plans

For background to this post refer to my post dated Oct 29th

I called in on Annie Hill today,  in part because I was in the area for an engineering job and wanted a break before I drove the 2 hours or so home, in part because she and her friend Marcus are always good to visit, and in part because I wanted to see how she is going with building her new ( junk rigged of course ) home .

Chopping a rebate in a floor timber, shes more accurate than I am, I do that with a multitool and fill the gaps with epoxy!

Bow view of Siblem, there is not a lot of indication of the real shape as yet, but it will come.

She’s got the bukheads made and stood up, the daggerboard cases built and the insides glassed, they’re stood up and fastened in place, and she’s working on the notching for the stringers and some additional floor timbers to take the keel bolts.

View from aft, there is another frame to add 500mm aft of what you can see, its the transom and the twin skegs mount between there and the bulkhead you can see, the cutout visible is the motor mount.  An outboard, inboard, so to speak. 

LOTS of space in that boat for a 26 footer. 

For Annie this is a learning process, her other builds will have been as a helper to a skilled builder so here she is, 60 years old and busy learning how to do it so she can have a little ship that’s truly her own. Go girl!

Her “Fantail” has been sold by the way, so now she’s really committed!

So why build a new boat? One, there is a lot of thin water around New Zealand, and when you live on a very small income, you need to moor in the places that no one else sees as valuable, that plus they’re often the really interesting places anyway. That plus this boat has been designed to suit her proportions,  she’ll be able to see over the cabin top out of the cockpit when sitting down for example.

Oh yes, and at 60 years old, looking to live on board for the rest of her days, she said “ I don’t want to die on a boat made of frozen snot” ( fiberglass as L Francis Herreshoff described it).

The boats name, at this stage anyway, is “Siblem” that’s an acronym for “Small is beautiful, less is more”.  She says that the name might change, but that’s very much the philosophy.

I helped for a little while, just a took a few shavings out of a rebate with a chisel, so I’m now a member of the “Siblem club!”  There arent many of us. Very exclusive you know!

In reality I’m priveledged.  I plan to visit every month or so, will keep you posted.

 One more thing, Marcus has a junk rigged, cabin version of a Portland Pudgy sailing lifeboat for sale, I should have pics in a few days ( reminder to Marcus, hear that Marcus!). If anyones interested in a cheap but very interesting mini mini cruiser give me a shout.  Shes in Whangarei New Zealand.

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Boat Plans Skiff | Annie Hill Voyaging on a small income revisited

Boat Plans Skiff

I called on Annie last week, shed sent me the email and pics below, and I had other reasons to go north to Whangarei where she is at the moment.  Shes taken over my friend Marcus Raimons shed, and is busy building a replacement for the deep keeled junk rigged conversion of a Raven 26 production yacht thats been her home for some years now.
She has enjoyed that little ship, there is much to like about it but as she says, for her lifestyle there is a lot of prime water in New Zealand that is shallow. That plus being able to run her up the beach for a bottom scrub or maintenance is a saving, and Annie is very good at "saving", she can live comfortably on less money than anyone I know.

Her new build is really interesting, Designed by David Tyler, ( I know the first name is right but might have to correct the surname, apologies David if I"ve not got it right.) with a lot of input from Annie its her dreamboat, the one that she wants to spend the rest of her life sailing and living on.

Its to be 26 ft long, she says thats the "magic number".   Has a big slab of steel under the centerline, that will add immensely to the strength of the boat as well as being ballast, has two housed bilgeboards which double as legs when the boats grounded, junk rig of course, an outboard mounted in between the twin rudders, those with their skegs being strong enough to act as  supports when the boats aground, and an interior scaled to suit Annies small frame.
 For scale note the Barbie doll and her comments.

By the way, I impressed upon her that her fans would be expecting a book out of this.

So without further ado, heres her email and the pics. Way to go Annie!

My inbox is overflowing --
and I undoubtedly owe you a reply to a letter you wrote me ages ago.  The trouble is, that its probably going to be quite some time until I get round to sending you that reply.  I do, however, have an excellent excuse: Ive started building myself a boat!  I have been assured by one who presumably knows me well, that I could reasonably be described as having lost my mind, but thats what happens when you turn 60!

I love Fantail, of course, but North Island is an area with lots of shallow water, and I want a boat that can take advantage of this.  In addition, Fantail is now 30 years old and I dont really want to be maintaining a boat of this era in another 15 years.  So Ive decided to build my perfect boat, which, hopefully, will see me out.  Below is an impression of the finished boat (although mine will be painted in different colours) and a photograph of the model that my friend, David, who designed the boat, and I made.  The blonde lady represents me: she is the right height in her high heels and including the topknot, but the rest of the proportions are a bit iffy!) David is helping me in the early stages, before sailing off over the horizon leaving me to carry on alone.  But I have heaps of supportive friends, here, so feel fairly confident that when I need a second pair of hands, there will be someone I can call on.

So please forgive my not being in touch, and forgive the fact that I probably wont be much of a correspondent for another year or so.  But once my little boat is launched, I promise Ill try and catch up again.

All the best

Annie

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