Masts, spars & oars

Whilst the plans suggested aluminium masts and spars we decided to try and maintain the boat's tradional look by making wooden spars and masts. Weight considerations meant hollow construction but we also wanted a tapered mast too. We decided on the 'birdsmouth' design using interlocking pieces of tapered douglas fir. Calculating the correct dimensions was made easy by using two little pieces of free software from the section on 'shareware for boat design' located on the web page of http://www.carlsondesign.com/ . Rounding the masts seemed to produce enough shavings to keep a pet shop in business for a year!

The spars (yard, sprit booms and boomkin) were made out of solid wood. We decided on rectangular cross section for the main sprit boom just for ease of construction and fixing of cleats.

Everything was finished off again with Deks Olje.

Paul made all four double handed oars (I think I was away at the time - again) and made a beautiful job of them especially with a decorative insert of purple heart into the blades. The picture shows Anne, his wife, putting the finishing touch to them.

Tiller

Early on in the construction of the boat we had decided that we would have the tiller going over the transom rather than through it mainly because of concerns over possible fouling with the top of the outboard. Now was the time to start work on a design of the tiller using a simple mock up of scrap pieces of ply to get the general shape.

Once that was worked out we made a form that could be used to shape the glued laminates of ash and mahogany (decorative strips). After gluing, the final cutting to shape was done on the band saw, and then lots of work with plane, spokeshave and sandpaper to achieve the finished product. Paul used his wood turning skills to produce a button for the end of the tiller shaft.

Cockpit sole and other items

December 08

I mentioned before that we had been given just enough teak to complete the cockpit sole. Now came the 'sticky' job of caulking. After careful cleaning with degreasing agent we used SABA primer and caulk to do the job and the best masking tape we could find. It was messy, but effective. A week or so later the joints were ready for final sanding and then oiling (using Deks Olje again). We then started putting on some of the fixings such as hatches, cleats and fairleads, thinking about rigging and trailer design, sourcing rope, blocks and tackle and finally arranging for a marine surveyor to come and do a detailed survey for insurance and valuation purposes. Thankfully this last hurdle was passed with flying colours.

modifications

There were quite a few modifications we made as we went along some of which I have already alluded to. Most involved what we saw as 'strengthening'. Hopefully we haven't made the boat too heavy or too stiff. I've listed some of them below in case they should be of any use to others.

Frame #2 : doubled in thickness as we felt that there would be enormous pressures in this area because of all the twists in stringers and planks.

Frame #6a : doubled in thickness - all that outboard vibration transmitted through this frame. Also added doublers on the port side to match the starboard side.

Transom & rudder: transom doubled in thickness ; added knees to strengthen the joint between the transom and the bottom board ; also decided we'd take the tiller over the top of the transom rather than through it due to concern over possible fouling with the outboard (It will involve an interesting laminated shape. The rudder design was altered with that in mind).

Bunkflats : greater framework support underneath to make the floor stiffer

Centreboard : added an aft uphaul and a front roller for the pulley uphaul (pulley attached to a larger and stronger mast step).

Side deck : added 9mm doublers underneath between each frame, including over the transom.

Foredeck : added a 9mm doubler at the 'bunkflat' end (for any belaying pins we might want to have).

So far we have enjoyed nearly every minute of the build project and we have a boat we can be proud of. We sincerely hope that the launch date will not be too far off, certainly by early spring 2009. See you there. It will be the River Severn at Upton upon Severn.

We are looking forward to trying out the yawl rig (it will be a first for both of us) and getting to know the boat in a variety of weather conditions. We'll probably do the first sailing trials on Lake Bala in North Wales before taking it out into coastal waters. See you there too!

Finally, a thankyou to John Welsford for a well thought out and lovely looking boat. We are going to enjoy it.

Paul & Anne, Alan & Sheila

plans on auto cad

Right at the outset of building we came across a few errors on the plans which caused us to wonder what was correct and what wasn't. We checked and double checked as we went along but perhaps it was our inexperience in boat building that was part of the problem or else our ability to read plans or a bit of both.

However, we needed to be re-assured without running to the JWforum every 5 minutes or endlessly e mailing John. There were other little things too. For example - when measuring distances say, between frames - was it the aft face, the forward face or the mid point ? Did the frame dimensions allow for bevels or were they the finished maximum size? Perhaps it didn't matter - a 'Backyard Boat Builder' ought to just get on with it.

Our real difficulties were the the centreboard fitting the centreboard case, the position of the yawl mast step and the exact position of the 'notch' in the stem girder. The last straw was when we had to cut off about 100mm off the centreboard to make it fit the already completed case.

Fortunately my brother in law Jeff took the plans away and put much of it on autocad for our personal benefit. He spent hours and hours doing it but what a difference! We could see the exact dimensions of every part and felt very reassured. It would have been good to have started with his drawings.

final painting and naming the boat

Oct - Nov 2008 : Some of September and most of October was down time as far I was concerned. I had to "languish" in France for 6 weeks doing a couple of house sits in the Vosges and Bordeaux. Truly, its a hard life.

Whilst I had been away, Paul & Anne had done all the painting of the underneath and we were ready then for the final turn-over. It was the same easy turning over process as before, but now the boat rested on its skeg on thick foam Qtherm insulation pads at floor level.

Prior to final painting and turnover we added two additional 'bilge runners' to protect the bottom board near its junction with the lowest strake. These teak strips (1200mm long x 20mm wide x 25mm deep) were 'topped' with a 12mm half round brass strip. Time will tell if they prove any good or whether they cause too much drag. We had found them indispensible on our previous Shearwaters.

Finally we sikaflexed and screwed on a 3mm stainless steel band to the skeg from the stem u-bolt to the transom.

Now began the last 'painting' phase - we were ready to coat all the oak trim with Deks Olje D1 and D2. After that it would be adding all the fittings.

Some time previously we had come to a final conclusion over the name of the boat. My old boat had been called "The Idler" (possible a reference to my indolence) and Paul & Anne's boat had been called "Fiddler". Anne came up with the simple suggestion of amalgamating the two and so "Idle Fiddler" is the name it will be baptised with. Paul's sister Sarah is carving the name on a piece of oak.

the skeg keel and the preparation of the the undersides

Aug - Sep 2008 : the repeat process of filling and endless sanding saw us through the rest of July and early most of August. We then added an oak skeg which, aft of the cb case, had to be laminated to achieve the required dimensions ie about from about 30mm at the cb case to 150mm deep at the transom. This was screwed (from the sole) and epoxied in with a significant strengthening epoxy fillet.

We epoxied the bottom board and the lower two strakes using 150g cloth as recommended by JW.