Proa days on "Freedom Child"

Freedom Child was a 37ft. Tacking Outrigger, which was sailed in the 70-ies, by his designer Russel Hawn, and also by Chris Doyle, author of the article "PROA DAYS on Freedom Child". The article makes interesting reading. It describes a short period when Chris Doyle sailed the boat on the Trinidad - Tobago regatta. A passage of about 100 miles, in the Caribean. Admittedly, it was a critical element in my decision to build Arpex.

Chris Doyle gives a lively account of how it was to sail this unconventional boat. Read a short passage below:

"From the start she was operated on the basis of complete anarchy. We never selected a skipper, but each did his own thing as he felt inclined. Although this is very much against the best nautical traditions, it worked well enough for us, and I only once remembered the helm being left for any period of time when no one wanted to take it. We put a 2' wide net alongside the rear cross-arm, so that it would be possible for someone to crawl out and sit on the outrigger, a suggestion that was met with derisive laughter from those who had actually experienced her wild ways. But in practice we found it wasn't so hard and riding the outrigger soon became our favourite job. Out there, and away from the hustle and bustle and the helmsman's mutterings, and the continuous straining of the sheetman, whose sole job was to ease and tighten the main according to how high the outrigger lifted, one could sit in quiet contentment, holding on for dear life, alternately flying and submarining as if riding a giant porpoise."

Find the complete article here.

Tubevision

I've picked this up on H2uhO...

Steel

Mr. Palmas, the club's Nautical Director, helped me today with getting the rudder shaft and tube construction started. He took me to a scrap dealer who had an immense selection of used stainless steel parts. A fun place, and I found myself quite entertained by just picking up parts and imagining uses for it.

Despite the distraction we found an 1 inch stainless steel bar and a suitable tube. I was considering to use 1''1/4 inch, but found that quite an overkill. So I used 1 inch, just as specified. We also purchased some plates to weld onto the shaft, to anchor it into the wooden rudder blade. In total almost 8kg of stainless for R$ 130 (=USD 65).

Mr. Palmas will help to assemble the whole thing.

The trip to the steel dealer took a while, and so I had little time for actual building. But I managed to mark the deck camber. To do the radiused markings, I used a technique described in the Gudgeon Brothers book; two, slightly angled battens, with a pencil attached at the lower edge. The angle between the battens will determine the camber, as the pencil slides along from side to side along the frame.

I had actually payed a CAD-Designer to add the camber, which was not included in the original plans. But as things go, the designed camber does not fit to the actual result of the construction. Just by half an inch, but still. It is just no good any more. So I found that this was the easiest method. This is, once again, one of those problems which appear during boatbuilding, which are described in my previous post, Measures.

Measures

Quite many details of the construction of Arpex are not given by the plans I've comissioned. Therefore, need to figure them out "in the flesh", as I go. The mast position is one of the critical measures that I need to decide upon now. I know where the mast needs to be positioned. But there is no exact measure, no big X marking the spot.

Sometimes I become anxious with the decisions I need to take and ponder the consequences of the different options. My approach to overcoming the anxiety is to keep the big picture in mind.

It is conforting to see that I'm not the only one going through these moments. It happens even with boatprojects based on detailed plans and construction instructions. I loved to read this text, Confessions of a Novice Boat Builder posted in the Duckworks Magazine, written by Paul Boyer.

SincePaul hits the nail on its head about the point I was going to write about, and since he writes much better than I, I took the liberty to post a small extract from the text:

"In contrast, I am quickly learning that boat building defies predictability. It is more of an art than a science, guided by eye and intuition as much as it is guided by tape measures and plans."

... and also...

"I’m watching my building process evolve. After just four months of work, I find myself spending more time looking at the boat, and less time staring a the plans. I try to think ahead and anticipate the implications of each cut. I dry fit parts and give myself some wiggle room when cutting, knowing that I can trim a deck that is too long or knock an inch off the keel once everything fits. And I am trying not to worry about tiny gaps and other small discrepancies. As someone told me recently, “that’s what epoxy is for.”"

If you plan on building a boat I recomment the reading of the article.

Looking at you

Estrutura do Leme III

Now al I need to do with the rudder structure is to glue the top piece, filet all joints and then fit the stainless steel tube. Which I hope to buy tomorrow - together with Mr. Palmas. Then the rudder itslef needs to be velded, glued and shaped.

Roomy

The other day I could not resist to lay in the floorboards and mock up a navigation table, in the inner-steering-position-to-be. As soon as the structure which will hold the decks and cabin is in place, the "gunwhales" which run through the cabin will be cut out. More or less as imagined, I think of the available space as a cosy, and fairly airy space. The image tempts me to draw a few ilustrations to see what is going to be built next, and how it is going to look like.

Now, instead of having one major taks at hand (like: "Fair the hull"), I have several smaller ones. But this is no reason for them being less important; I need to figure out the structure for the mast support. I need to build the aka attachment structure. I need to build the rudder (buy stainless steel tomorrow?). I need to think about the steering mechanisms. I need to finish the interior. ... and the list goes on.

Having focus spread towards several tasks, means that, "well", that focus is spread. Which is not good. So, as difficult as it is, I try to tackle one item at a time. But since epoxi work needs to be timed, and also implies waiting times for gluing, multitasking is finally inevitable.

Today I spent time thinking about the mast step. First, the mast position had to be determined according to the plans.

Bow section sealed

I've not been busy in the stern only, with the rudder structure. I have also laminated glass tape, from the inside, on the ply joints, in the bow section, and epoxi-sealed the whole thing.

As you can see in the pictue above, the central box beam which will receive the loads form the akas and shrouds is also in place. It looks pleny strong.

Estrutura do Leme II

I've been working firmly these days. It is satisfying to see the works advancing. I'm dog tired by the time I reach back home. Too tired to blog.

Slowly but steadily, the bare hull now being filled with its structures. Main transversal box beam, floors, rudder structure... next comes the mast step.

The plywood for the akas will also be bought and cut these days.

Progress

The structure for the rudder shaft is comming together. I will coat this compartment in epoxi befor gluing the upper plywood table. I also still need to cut and fit the upper solid-wood reinforcement.

Estrutura do Leme

This is the basic lay out for the rudder structure.

This is what I've cut and prepared today for gluing. Tomorrow I will still give that piece of solid wood some better shaping. And then I'll drench that thing in epoxi.

First cut were 2 pieces of 10mm plywood, to back up the hull bottom and strengthen the backbone (keel). This is still backed up with a second layer of 10mm ply.

Just a game... a good game

Brasil and USA met in the finals of the Confederation Cup, in South Africa. In a great game, Brasil beat the USA to a 3 x 2 score. Luiz Fabiano, Lúcio, Kaka, Robinho and the boys did a good job.

Tim Howard, the American goalkeeper, also did a great game, but had to admit defeat, like in the image above. The USA Team managed to get a lead of 0 x 2 in the first half, but had to then to give way, and couldn't avoid the ball hitting the net 3 times.

The Americans did a great game. Congratulations to them.

... Hey Joe; No hard feelings, I hope.

Rudder

I realized, that I need to concentrate on those tasks that I can not execute during the weekend. Like the rudder development with Mr. Palmas. He will give me the directions of where to buy the stainless parts, needed to build the rudder. After buying the material, he will help assembling it, with cutting and welding.

Beaming

The internal structure elements which will firmly attach the akas to the hull are now being built. I have laminated another piece of freijó wood (below) and cut the 10mm plywood which will make the arrangements to a bow beam across the boat (above). This structure will hold the forward aka and the shrouds.

I've had a good conversation with Mr. Palmas, about the rudder constrcution. He offered help to build the stainless steel rudder shaft and tube. I now need to make a drawing and buy the parts. Mr. Palma will help cutting and welding the parts. I will dedicate 2 days of the comming week to do this job.

On the router

The project is now going into a phase of interesting woodwork. First some structural elements need to be fitted in, and then the deck, cabin and akas... I was just about wondering what tools I would need to perform these tasks. A router would come in handy.

In a lucky providence, Jonas flew over to the USA, and kindly asked if he could bring a tool. That is a generous offer not to be rejected. And so Jonas brought a cool router which will be tremendously helpfull in the next few weeks.

... I need to learn how to work with it. Thanks Jonas. And by the way; yes it works. The Ryobi turns at 25'000 rpm. Which I found a lot. But, I know nothing about routers.

Aka attachments

The wheather is not good for epoxi work. It is cold and rainy. I will therefore concentrate on cutting and adjusting the wood for the internal reinforcements, for structurally significant elements.

Micheal Jackson

Yes, me too. Thriller was the first album I've bought.

Next steps comming up

The past few weeks have been tyring, work-wise. I'v had little time to think ahead and concentrate on what needs to be done on the boat construction. This has reflected on low productivity.

But now it is all different. I'm on vacation!!! I'll jump off the running train for two weeks. Yes, I will. I was not really believing that I could really leave my job for vacation. But I did. "Just do it". That is the key. My ambition it to achieve total chill out, and rest my head by tinking of something totally different.

Best next thing to think about, besides my wife, is the construction of Arpex. And the idea is to dedicate one week to the boat, and the next to the wife. Leave the best for last.

As for the construction, the target is to get all internal reinforcements installed, and all parts resined. Also to start building the deck stringers. This will take some thinking, development, and also interesting wood work. Everything should be ready for decking. Allthough, decking could be kept for the very end, since it is easily done. Not having the decks improves mobility inside the hull tremendously.

Visitors during the next week are welcome. Last Saturday I had the visit form Lucas. He came by when I was just getting tired from epoxi-ing...