A portrait of "Boa Viagem"

This beautiful video about a restored traditional Portuguese river boat was a real eye opener for me. I just love to see a boat leaving an impression, being appreciated as a living, working piece of art. Lovely "Boa Viagem" and other small boats shown in the video are a piece of refined maritime art. The maritime tradition accumulated by the Portuguese on the Atlantic coast, has produced some impressively colorful and graceful vessels, indeed.

Happy New Year!

End of the Rainbow

Sometimes I`m tempted to think that I`m almost done with my boatbuilding project. Almost done meaning, that I could be finished as soon as April 2010.

However, when I think of all things I still have to do, and when I remember accounts from all other boatbuilding blogs that I follow, and all literature that I`ve read about boatbuilding, then I know, that I`m still a fair distance from being done. I`m not sure how far, but the launch date estimation towards the end of April seems to be fading away for good.

Four months only. That means 16 weekends! If I include some days of vacation, holidays…. Could be something between 25 to working days. Considering my average yield in terms of working hours, this could be, more or less, about, 125 to 150 working hours. Maybe achievable, but not realistic. To be honest, I sensed it somewhat unrealistic, and I am, frankly, not really worried about that. It was more like an ambitious target.

I`m saying this, considering that I will outsource the construction of the ama hull (not the decks).

On the other hand, I feel it is realistic to believe, that launching within 2010 is achievable. But it is only a feeling. Trying to put everything down on an activity- and time-plan doesn`t seem to help me much here either, in order to achieve an estimate of when I'll be able to launch my boat. At this point I find it extremely difficult to gauge how long things will take. Despite my by now accumulated experience. Some things come quick together, others slag. A sequence of un-suitable weather conditions weekends can make your timeplane look really dated. Also, the urge to detail things out, or improve the finishing. But never mind. I will get there eventually.

In time I'll find my own way between dreaming about happy sailing in the tropics, experimenting my boat on the water, versus working on the activity plans to get there.

I took the picture on top of this post a couple of days ago, in the small colonial town of Paraty. We spent very relaxing Christmas days there. The picture shows a yacht on anchor, with a beautiful rainbow in the backdrop. It is a clipper bowed schooner. Look closely and you will see that the rainbow paints the yacht in colours.

What would you find at the end of a rainbow? I hope you find lots of it in Year 2010!!!

Click on the picture, to get a nice view from what I dream to find there.

Sailing trough time and space in Ifaluk, Micronesia

Here is a nice video about traditional proa sailing in Ifaluk, a small isalnd in Micronesia. Narrated in German.

Gaia's Dream sailing

Santa Claus comming yet?

Merry Christmas to all. I hope Santa Claus brings you peace, love and health.

Year End Ballance

The year is ending and it is time for a general balance of the past activities of my Arpex Project, and an outlook into the next steps. Here the full benefit of keeping a blog comes into play. Calling it a Ship-Log would be more appropriate maybe. But anyway; A living and colorful history of all steps, is always readily at hand. To whom ever wants to check it out.

One year ago, in towards the end of 2008 things looked a bit gloomy around my boatbuilding project. Prospects for completion were not too good. I had just parted company with my contractor, who failed to deliver, and left me with a half finished hull. Actually, it was me who decided to part company, so it would be more precise to actually say that I left him, despite a half finished hull.

I managed to safely transport my hull to a new location, and around the end of the year I was gathering strength and resources to re-start building. I dedicated time to planning of next steps and to the selection and sourcing of the tools and know-how, that I would need to continue work on my own.

Despite a fairly long period of idle time, 3 months, I never actually declared the project stopped, nor did I ever consider stopping altogether. Not to speak of “giving up”. And so, I finally restarted in February 2009. I cannot say I was boosting confidence. I knew I had a difficult task to master. But I reminded that to master a long journey, one needs only to do the first step. And just never stop doing one step after the other. Cheesy, but true.

Lacking practical boatbuilding experience, I did my fair share of mistakes. Fortunately they occur less and less with time. But in total, I am proud of what I have achieved until now. The first major milestone, to finish laminating and fairing the hull has been done with a satisfactory result. At least I have received good appreciation of it from others.

Then came the turning of the hull, which was a tense chapter. But, with a little planning and help from friends the hull was turned safely. It was the opportunity during which I met Lucas, who who gave good, hands on help and advice.

Once the hull was turned I had to seal the inside of the hull with epoxy. That was hard work. Here again I have received decisive help from my old friend Ricco, and “new old friend” Jonas. Looking back I ask myself why we didn`t pre-coat all inner surfaces. Well,… I know why… never mind, long story, too far in the past. Not worth digging into.

Then the project came into real new-land – the construction of decks and cabin. Despite the lack of plans for these the constructions has been going on quite well. The construction is, actually, almost concluded. Decks are not glued yet since I consider it easier to do the finishing with better ventilation. And in the meanwhile I have decided to build the decks in Ply-Polystyrene sandwich. And this might take a little longer than thought.

But, all in all, the main hull is almost concluded. We will see how much “almost” is. In the meanwhile the ama will be constructed. I have decided to outsource this step. I have found a boatbuilder who has a suitable mould. This will provide me with a better ama than previously planned for.

The ama will be slightly longer and wider than initially planned. Giving more volume. It will also be round bottomed, and built out of a mould in glass and polyester resin. Since the ama is potentially a “wet” hull, not having wood here is a benefit.

I`m still deciding how the mast will be built. Wood or aluminum. I`m pending towards aluminum. The decision will be taken in Jaunary. All in all it looks like 2010 could see the conclusion of my construction project. And that would mark the beginning of a sailing project.

Sliding hatch

Despite a still rather miserable health condition, I made it out to the boatshed this weekend. No working was on the agenda, though. I went there just to pay João and inspect his work. Afterall it is Christmas, and we all need money in the pocket.

João has been producing the parts for the sliding hatch. And they are coming out nicely. I've bought a nice piece of wood for it. It is a piece of Peroba do Campo. A wood which one can not find for sale any more. Extinct... I certainly wouldn't buy it in a shop, and would not recommend it to anyone. Some shops still do trade with "exctinct", illegal wood. Unfortunately. This was a piece João had as a left over, in his workshop. Burried for years under a pile of scrap wood. Since it was there, I suppose it may just as well come to a noble use, instead of rott away with time. I pretend to leave it exposed as a varnished brightwood. Might give me some trouble to maintain it, but I don't care.

Who feels fine? Do you? I certainly don't!!! Maybe it is just fine that I'm building a boat. We all might need one. Unfortunately the fishing will be miserable, since there won't be to many left.

The end is near ... the year end...

I'm sitting at home, bored, curing a bad throat and slight fever. Should I twitter that?

... I think not. Actually the twitter bug didn't catch on me. I don't really see the point. Maybe I'm too visual. I like images. And besides, I think I'm busy enough with my bloging anyway.

I did open a twitter account though, to see what it is all about. I guess also to mark territory. But I abandoned it quickly. Every now and then, I'm utterly surprised, and amused, when I receive a message, telling me that another individual with a funny nickname I've never heard before, is following me on twitter. Why the hell would someone do that? Follow some unknown's scraps???

All these tools that are available to us these days through the internet, they do bring some new ways of thinking about information, about privacy. An article in the Wired Magazine heralded the end of privacy the other day. And, if you do step onto the internet once in a while, and most of us do (if you're reading this, anyway), then this is true.

No pain no gain

So, you think building a boat is easy? Then you should better re-evaluate you assessment. As a metter of fact, I can grant that it takes a lot of blood, sweat and tears. And did I mention elbow grease? All right, I'm not complaining. It is just how life goes: nothing comes for free. On the other hand, hard effort is usually rewarded.

I was rewarded this weekend, when my wife joined me for a visit, to inspect the to-be interior of Arpex. Made me forget the sweat spilled on Saturday...

Seu Jorge

This viedo is emblematic for the carreer of Seu Jorge. He for a period lived in the streets of Rio, and has by now become an internationally acclaimed artist. He played a marking a side rol in the movie "Life Aquatic".

Mau Piailug sailing a restored Micronesian Canoe

Free Radical

Nice proa, designed and built by James Brett, New Zealand. She sails nicely.

Enigma

Why is it, that I am attracted to the odd boats?

Look at this one, for example. It is the rather diminuitive Enigma. Its small size becomes evident in the pictures below. Being a self-rightning, flat bottomed, open boat, she displays only 12 feet (3,60m). It was the gorgeous doghouse, which rather looks like a hard-top, that got me. The rig looks interestingly simple too.

And also the owners boldness in even taking his parrots on his small cruises!

Cabin tower

At times, when the cabin structure first grew up from the deck level, I thought that it looked bulky and rather high-towering. It reminded me of the traditional transport boats from the Amazon region. Used for river transport their super-structures can be quite considerable.

But I followed the plans and the dimensions already tested in my models, and I'm now happy I did. It seems that the end result will look pleasing. At least to my eye. ... And it is well known that beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.

Arpex - Handmade

My dear sister, Lisa, gave me a cool new T-shirt. Of course I loved it.

Ama Hullform

The main hull of Arpex is a multi-chine. The ama is designed accordingly, as multichine, with a deep V forefoot, a broad stern, and a distinctive chine-edge in the centerline.

In the last couple of weeks I have made contact to someone who builds short, simple catamaran hulls form a mould. Interestingly, the same mould can be streched to 8 meters, and the resulting shell could well be used to make a very similar hull to work as my ama. It is similar in its dimensions (lenght, beam, resulting weight) of the originally designed hull, but with a round hullprofile. Actually a NACRA profile.

The price is reasonable. I would probabely pay slightly less or equal, by building it myself.
However, by outsourcing, I could speed up construction, reduce complexity, and have a
round bottom ama.

Which I think is a good thing, in order to improve maneuverability. The round
hullform will be less directionally stable than a chined hull. The chine and
directional stability is something I want on the main hull only, not the ama. I've
allways had problems with my deep V ama on my tacking outrigger canoe... Tacking
it sometimes required decided action.

At the moment I can see all but advantages in contracting the ama built. the only disadvantage I see, would be the slightly harder re-entry if the ama gets lifted off the water. But it is not intended to fly often anyway.

Below some other advantages I see:

- The hull would be all resin and fiber. No wood. Since the ama is, with water
ballast, likely to be a wet and humid environment (anchor and chain will be
stored here), it is better not to be built of wood and epoxi.

- The hull is wider, offering significantly more volume. I was already
considering my ama too slender, and meant to stetch it, and get more volume in.
The designed ama has a max beam of 40cm (@gunwhale), while the mould gets me to
60cm. Having more volume is equal to increasing stability. And safety, I think.
The relation between LWL/BWL is still 16 (8m/0,5m). The main hull has a reatio
of 14,5 (8,8m/0,6)

- The small, designed ama, is too small to get into. That makes maintenance or
even storage more difficult. The mould-ama would be just big enogh to crawl in.

Let there be light

A rainy and wet, humid day was used, to good measure, to open up the cabin windows. Measuring and marking them was a bit hairy, and I was a little insecure on just how big and generous I should make them. It is a question of pondering structural questions, visibility of the outside, insulation of the sun, impact resistance and so forth. Therefore I used an inner marking, so that I could evaluate after the first cut and eventually cut in a little more.

Turnes out that the inner marking comes pretti close to what I wanted. But I will probabaly cut them a little more on the inferior edge.

Ilha Grande Memories

Tell me? What's better than this? Cruising for a few days in a bay speckled with islands, with good company, and a few days worth of food and water.

Ilha Grande is pretty close to paradise, in my opinion. Balmy surrounding waters are benign. And pretty safe, offering simple navigation if you keep your eyes open. Just keep away from the odd semi-submerged rock. As you know: "Boats are not to be used on rocks".

I bumped into one once. A very humiliating feeling, I admit. Very embarassing. Indeed. On the other hand, it is also very educative. Having the chart available, at hand, is imperative. In general, the rocks are close to the steep shoreline. So, just keep of the rocks. Very few are isolated, but those you need to know where they are.

I bumped into mine while actually searching one of them, for some some snorkeling. The water was cristal clear, and a calm, sunny day, no wind, seemed like a perfect day for the adventure. But the rock was elusive, and after some searching, we gave up. Just when we turned the wheel away from where the presumed position, the rock jumped into the way.

Protected anchorages are allways close by. The ground is clean, white sand, in dephs between 2 to 15 meters. You choose. Plenty of deserted coves give you oportunity to admire the lush, virgin vegetation. The evening breeze brings spicy scents, and exotic sounds from the close shore.

Trimaran experience

An incredible video! Put it on full screen, lay back and relax, if you can.

Trimaran 60 pieds - Foncia - Alain Gautier
by Ettorival

Gaia's Dream ready for sea trials

Inigo has has just about finished his boat, and will be ready to do first sea trials next week. I agree with him; She is a beauty. And she looks promising too. I am curious to read about his experiences.

Take it Easy my Brother Charles

View From the Outside

The a long while ago I was asked, whether I would mind to have a post about my project on a befriended blog.

It was not the first time I was asked for permission for posting about Arpex. And in this case again, as usual, I don't mind being posted about. I find it very entertaining, actually.

Often the same person would ask me for information or/and pictures. And I have never seen any problem in that. I would usually send in the most recent picture, or any other I think is relevant.

But in this specific case, I was asked what title I wanted and which pictures should be chosen. This puzzled me quite strikingly. I had never considered the idea of influencing opinions in this way. What really interested me in the exchange, was reading and seeing someone else's view on my project. The selection of pictures is also a strong representation of what information is available and what is considered most representative.

A very narcisistic line of thought, of course. And that is not, usually, a strong tendence of mine. But, giving in to it, I was lured into the hypotetical elaboration an article about my project, written under a psedonym, or else, posted under someone else's name on a different blog.

If made truly, an thoroughly, in an artist's point of view, this would be the ultimate "step back", to take an observers position, and "view the object for the outside". Sounds simple, and it sometimes is. But more often than not this is a challenging proposition.

You'd need to try to free youself from all your pre-established opinions, prejudices, and leave only your critical, analyitical and aestetic capabilities for evaluation. Evaluate your own work, just as you would casually evaluate somebody elses. To allow yourself a second first impression. Is it really possible?

Not really, probably. And I never managed to even give it a try, to tackle the challenge with pen and paper in hand. But I might want to try, just for the fun of it.