Cloud Cap marine

New location

2011-06-29T08:30:00.001-07:00

If you have ended up at this page, please come to the new website, with all the projects and far better functionality.

Time for a change

2009-09-09T09:47:00.000-07:00

I have decided to free myself from the constraints of the Blogger format and switch to a standalone website. Please change your links to:

http://www.amateurboatbuilding.com/CloudCap/

Come have a look!

E

S P A C E

2009-06-19T16:09:00.001-07:00

Thanks to a really soft mortgaging market and remarkable timing, we managed to put together one of those dream refi rates and loosen up a couple bucks. In return, 24 x 36 feet of storage goodness. This is slowing down the beginning of the Clipper project, but its a necessary slowdown to make building more efficient.

Due to roots and frost heaves, we ended up getting a sidewalk at the same time:

Posts set and getting the floor leveled:

Day three, concrete down, trusses up.

Note the difference in height. Im keeping the shop low for now to reduce the square footage I need to heat in winter. We will see how it works out building such a large boat with low overhead (7' door). The outer garage area will be 12' ceilings and an 11' door which should be gravy if the bigger boat needs headroom for things like hardtops and windshield installation:

What a nice day to work...

Can't wait to get the shop cleaned out of all of the storable goods and get to WORK!

Initial mockups

2009-06-07T10:01:00.001-07:00

Started the mock up process the past couple of days between tasks and other obligations. Its terribly pleasant to have a project to work on, but one that isn't tied to deadlines or other time-sensitive criteria.

Using a little cheap lauan plywood, its fast to throw together a clampable/screwable setup which gives a reasonable representation.

Im thinking its still a hair stubby, might need a little lengthening for visual balance. The V berth should have good headroom for sitting on the bunks or on the honey pot with this 12" configuration forward, 19" aft. The windshield will need the side panels cut off and a new, curved setup installed to make the lines work. Piece of cake, right?

E

A stray followed me home...

2009-06-03T10:57:00.000-07:00

I was horribly torn. I love scratch building, but with the economy what it is, the best price point for a given vessel is a good idea. Couple that with the "green" aspect of finishing something that already exists (less waste, less shipping costs, fixed expenses built in, etc), and a GREAT price worked out through months of negotiating, results in a 6 hr drive home from Hood River.

Looks dimunitive, right?

At a full 2 feet taller than the truck, she's a little wind-prone and takes some gas to haul!

What we have here is a 1994 Clippercraft Mk 1. 1994 EZ loader trailer, 1994 Volvo 3.0GL 4 cyl IO with the SX outdrive. Purchased initally in 1994, the first owner had intentions of picking her up, finishing the boat, and enjoying it. A decade later, he passed away, and it was sold to another gentleman with the same aspirations. There it sat for another few years, untouched.

Plans are starting to come together for a 23' sportfisher, rigged up for salmon and halibut fishing, with the outside potential for albacore fishing once she is bulletproof.

Lots of work to be done, from top to bottom there is something everywhere that needs attention...

Very, very close

2009-05-07T19:04:00.000-07:00

Its been a long and trying spring. This project has lagged on and on, never seeming to really come together. Building boats has many phases, but remodeling basically has two, dirty and clean. Couple that with a VERY tidy wife, and you end up with a need to get the project done. Working an additional 30-40 hrs a week on the kitchen outside of the regular job seemed to do the trick, as we are getting extremely close to finished.

As you can see, what a disaster. Though, notably, convenient to access! There seems to be just as many dishes as clamps, cups as tape measures, and ubiquitous sawdust.

What a difference a couple months of full time labor can make!

It is a little hard to remember where things are now, since you can't immediately see them.

We have managed to work this project for roughly 1/10th the cost of an average kitchen remodel using veneer, granite tile instead of full thickness solid surface countertops, purchasing (and storing for 2 years) a faucet at a discount, managing costs on the project, and doing all of the labor ourselves. Yes, hundreds of hours were invested, but it saved huge amounts of cash. I think most can agree that time seems to be more plentiful than money nowadays.

It also happens to be an exquisite day here in Nine Mile Falls, so I did the remodel/view shot as well:

Lastly for the truly committed readers that are woodworking buffs, this is what happens when you order up curly maple from a reputable source that enjoys grading wood:

Stay tuned, and by that I mean within the next week or two there will be a new project filling the blog week by week. The boat in question is in the works, so don't get too far from your computer!

E

Reasons why boats don't get built

2009-02-26T13:58:00.000-08:00

There has been a large hiatus in posting. You noticed eh?

Sometimes in the life of a boat builder, certain things get in the way of boat building. Deciding on a plan, maybe an economic downturn, sometimes the weather. It has been a two season long conspiracy against me to have another project in the garage. On the bright side, parking the truck out of the weather and avoiding scraping the windshield has been an unforeseen perk.

One other portion of the Here-comes-the-next-boat parade is keeping the wife happy. She puts up with my building and playing with amazing endurance. I am constantly bouncing ideas off of her as far as what we should have next, what we can afford, how we can sell this or do that to make the next project happen. She tolerates that better than anyone could hope for, and I Love her for that. In order to keep that tenuous balance in tact, however, there needs to be some give and take.

After all of my boat play, it's her turn. She decided we needed a kitchen remodel. In light of that, out came the sanders, prepping the cabinets, and painting. After everything was prepped over 3 days, followed by a week of painting 3 coats of interior goodness on all the cabinets, something went amiss. I returned home from work to her saying "Yeah, this is going to be fine this year, but it's going to need to be redone".

...

.........................

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Mind you, when I return home from work, it can be a plethora of moods I bring with me. It all depends on whether our beloved Zonies were kind and kept the nighttime noise to a dull roar, or if it has been utter lunacy and I haven't slept in 28 hours. This particular morning I had a grand total of 3 hrs of sleep via 3 1 hr naps.

"We are only doing this once..."

So the project changed, considerably.

Now we have begun the process of reprepping the boxes on the cabinets. The worm turned and now the plan is to reface the existing boxes with maple veneer. The doors are being custom built by myself and a friend Derek ( http://wolcottcustomwoodworks.com ), as he has the tools, the skills, and the patience to lead me through the ins and outs of building square things. The countertops were ousted completely, in favor of something more contemporary and durable.

This, my dear reader, is where you see some ACTUAL progress. The countertops have been laid as of this very afternoon. Thankfully...

Here is the post-tearout phase, where the plywood substrate was laid, 3/4" sanded fir because I didn't have the heart to use CDX:

Boatbuilders, this is the last familiar process you will see.

Next, I had the opportunity to work with Wonderboard. Concrete wrapped in fiberglass mesh, it is a very strange beast. When detained in the fiberglass cocoon, it is resilient, flexible, and durable. If the glass is cut, it falls apart, is brittle, and tends to be relatively unfriendly. It does, however go on quickly using some adhesive and a fantastic little tool I received as a gift. Ever used a roto-hammer? Pretty snazzy to say the least. It will beat a screw through just about anything, so long as you have enough phillips bits.

Snazzy you say?

Lastly, after much ado with a rental tile saw from Home Despot, the many tiles were reduced to a relative bundle. We couldn't afford to go the solid-surface route (who really has $4000 for custom countertops?), but for about 1/10th of that price, you can purchase granite floor tile in 12x12 or 18x18 sizes. We were out the door with those, custom ordered with a new sink, for FAR less cash.

After all of the excitement cutting, prepping, recutting, cutting (cussing?) again, and quite a bit of dry fitting, the tiles were stuck down today.

It wasn't horrible, but it definitely lacks perfection. Regardless, SWMBO is happy, so we progress.

Here is a photo of an unfinished cabinet door. Note the panels are maple ply, but the rails and stiles are custom ordered curly maple, some very nice stock purchased from Mr. Wolcott.

Even poorly lit and unfinished, you can see the depth of the curl.

The rest of the curly stock has arrived, so it will be milled accordingly as soon as the grouting and sink are done on the countertops. Then a short vacation, and veneer, then the last of the doors, and we are done.

Now about those boat plans......

E

What next?

2008-12-04T18:51:00.000-08:00

Well this is where we try to make a decision or two. Dory project? Dead. In the current economic situation, what's the point of building a boat that matches every single criteria which my beater sled already has? Eh, maybe someday.

Big projects:

Bieker Boats of Seattle has designed a boat which made a big deal over at Power Boatbuilder magazine. She's slim, light, long, and very efficient. Most appropriately, her name is Shearwater:

Stats:

LOA: 25 ft (7.6 m)
Max Beam: 7’-3” (2.2 m)
Displacement, Max: 4,000# (1,814 kg)
Displacement, Lightship: 2,019# (918 kg)
Engine: Yamaha F60
Fuel Capacity: 34 gal
Max Speed, 1/2 load: 22 knots
Cruising Speed: 13-17 knots
Range at Cruising Speed: 170 nm
Potable Water: 30 gal
Ballast Tank Capacity: 76 gal (652# s.w.)

I love her lean lines, her light weight for towing behind the little pickup (toyota tacoma), and those insanely high speeds for such a small motor on a 25 foot boat. 60hp? In the words of Mary, "That's just nuts".

Anticipating a start point next year sometime, Im hoping a designer somewhere decides to make her available as a set of plans. Ive been picking on Jacques Mertens over at Bateau.com to make it happen, so here's to holding our breath.

More timely, however, is the possible collaboration of a small tugboat from Glen-L. I have built a Tubby Tug in the past:

This time, however, a good close personal friend and amazing woodworker will be called in for the tough stuff. To be used as a showcase, the tug will be shown regionally and potentially put up for sale for interested parties. I will be building the hull, and Derek will be building and detailing the cabin.

Derek's woodwork is absolutely amazing, it can be seen at:

http://www.wolcottcustomwoodworks.com/

Please have a look, and feel free to talk with him about any woodworking products or projects.

As always, input is greatly appreciated!

E

Delinquent

2008-11-16T11:15:00.000-08:00

So yeah, its been a hectic fall. Croatia, Montenegro, pay back a bunch of shifts at work, work a few extra for later in the year, then Mexico. Back from Mexico and headed to Oregon for crabbing, I can't get anything done in a timely fashion.

Oxford

Well after finding a few extra minutes on our return, she's received 4 coats of Epifanes Rapidclear varnish and 3 poorly applied coats of Off White Interlux Brightsides paint. I had a serious struggle with contamination that wasn't alleviated until the third coat.

Be diligent about cleaning the boat and cognizant of what may or may not be on the hull before paint prep. I had her take the boat out for a row before we left, and managed to get some petroleum or oily contamination on the hull. This made fisheyes EVERYWHERE even after a distilled mineral spirits cleaning. The first coat was an abortion. Much sanding was required, followed by more cleaning, more paint, and substantially fewer, but still present fisheyes. The third coat I managed to get the hull completely clean, so she laid on like I remembered. I did use a little bit of penetrol to improve flowability, and it was an immense benefit.

One of my culprits of the fisheyes happened to be the webbing I used in the cradles. A material electricians use called "mule tape", it is a flat 1/2" webbing that has huge strength for its size. Unfortunately, its also apparently covered in some sort of wax or oily lubricant to aid in sliding through pipe chases, etc. Ah well, lesson learned.

Here she is on the cradles, having been rowed the day before:

Other than a little tidying up, she's essentially finished. Couple of hatches need to be added, and a little paint and varnish refinishing are due at the onset of warm weather next spring ( 70 degrees is so much more pleasant to work in...).

I am currently working on another small Dave Beede designed Summerbreeze that's been messed with a little, to use as a shoreside workboat and dink to get to the sled when the lake is down. It was a quick and dirty build of scrap wood, which so far has a new-product cost of $0.

The PC dory project has been shelved in light of the current financial situation. I can't figure out a reason to get rid of the little beater Hewescraft River Runner I traded for last year. Considering that my PC dory plans were going to be essentially the same size, performance, weight, trailerability, etc of the boat I have, why spend the money and the resources to replace it, right?

Plus, it's horrible looking, and tough as nails:

So we are on to the next idea, a 23-25' express cruiser to replace Cloud Cap in the future, which will be a 10-12 month usable boat, instead of summer-only.

Stay tuned, its developing as we speak, and I will be going through some of the plans on hand.

E

Back from Croatia

2008-10-08T10:15:00.000-07:00

After a nice long hiatus, we have returned. If you get the chance to visit the Adriatic coast, DO IT...

Oxford

Just before we left, I tidied up the first few coats of varnish (went with the rapidclear stuff from Epifanes, because it goes on fast, no sanding, and I had a can laying around), peeled off the tape, and took her outside to have a look at the finish.

I think it turned out with a nice amount of depth and really pulled the grain out of the areas surrounding knots. Here is a closer shot of the retainer blocks specified in the plans:

I used a little cedar that was laying around, and I wasn't impressed. I think its going to require some good fir or maybe mahogany to hold the feet down and not split out.

And since the boat is sitting outside, its a sunny day, and we are leaving the country the following morning, why not cram the skeg in really quickly and have a go?

I have noticed the boat doesn't hobby-horse nearly as bad as the Thames did, that extra few feet seem to really help. The ends are very fine, so there isn't a ton of reserve buoyancy, and this seems to make her very smooth going over bigger waves. Definitely not a big rough water boat, but she handled a little chop just fine. One boat went by throwing a footish tall wake, which it rode over with aplomb.

Today, once it warms up a little, I will go out and tape up the varnished areas to lay on paint. Off white she says, so off white it is.

Why did I build this boat? I think this sums it up perfectly:

E

Honeydo list COMPLETE!

2008-09-03T20:17:00.000-07:00

Looks like I have the current honey-do list 100% finished for the first time in two years! Very exciting stuff, the flooring is all in, the table is made, all bathroom remodel projects are done, it's quite spectacular.

Here is the finished product:

The lumber met the sander after a thorough pressure washing, knocked the splinters off of it, and did a little surface management. SWMBO is very excited about the finished product, as am I. It definitely isn't something that will be stolen, as it weighs in at about 200lbs for the table and 50 lbs a piece for the benches. It feels SOLID. If anyone is interested in a replica or something similar, just contact me via email or by posting here at the blog.

The Ox is going to be the big priority over the weekend and into next week. Hoping to get the finish work dialed by next weekend, and if the rigger ever shows up, it will be a quick two pad install and time to row. SWMBO will be getting in on the finish work this time, she's going to be in charge of varnishing all of that brightwork.

There is a dory down in Oregon that might help fast forward the dory project. More very soon.

E

Reclaimed dining table

2008-09-02T21:16:00.000-07:00

SWMBO finally got her wish and had me finish a non-boat-related project today. I guess finish wouldn't be the ideal word to describe it, as there is still some finish work to do sanding and such, but at least it's whole.

First, you find a local kid looking to tear down a grain elevator filled with old fir. This wood is all nice fir from back when someone could get excellent lumber at a fair price. Most is rough sawn. We then cut and reassemble pieces in the fashion of a tabletop:

Heck, we are making a table, why not make some benches at the same time?

The tabletop is 3x8, the supporting members are 2x6. A beautiful part of this lumber is that not only are they rough sawn, but they are actual full thickness! No planed thickness reduction, so the timbers are still nice and beefy.

Take a few more pieces, build some legs on everything:

Don't forget to add some feet to the bench legs to keep them from tipping over. Obviously its going to be a challenge to tip over a bench that weighs an honest 50 lbs, but you never can be too careful.

This project was a blast, as it took only a couple days, and was disgustingly simple. Just a few ring nails here and there, some galvanized lag screws, a crappy $50 table saw and a nice circular saw. Reclaimed furniture is some of the most ecologically friendly construction out there, saving quality timber from the burn pile and preventing new trees from being cut.

I would consider building another as the source for the wood still exists and a little commercial furniture enterprise might not be a bad idea given the economy nowadays. Any income is better than no income.

DORY

There is still very little progress on the dory project, as I am trying to find out more info on the boats in the fleet. Specifically the assembly of the sawn frames. I can't figure out what I want to do in that realm, considering the design is best suited to lapped sawn frames, but gussets are easy and fast, but leave some extra places for water to get trapped. Any input is appreciated.

E

Offgassing

2008-08-28T21:08:00.000-07:00

So first we headed out to the Buoy 10 fishery at the mouth of the Columbia near Astoria Or. Fishing was excellent! I love this place, but be prepared for combat fishing, as MANY people fish out here.

Coho here are BIG, comparable to a Chinook:

When we returned from picking up 50+ lbs of salmon per guy, it was time to get back to work.

OXFORD

All of the preliminary wood fairing is finished, and epoxy was the excitement today. SWMBO put her best foot forward on this, running the tipping brush (roller cut lengthwise and held with pliers). Roll some on, tip it down.

This really brought out the beauty of the structure of the wood, especially around the knots:

The temps eeked up a little bit after we got the sticky stuff down, which allowed some offgassing. This is where the expansion of gases trapped in the wood slide through the surface and create bubbles in the epoxy. This can be mitigated by doing your epoxy work midday or at the warmest part of the day, or by controlling the temp in your shop. Today it was a balmy 76F, so not like it was epically hot.

Here is a perfect picture of the off gassing bubbles:

It isn't anything we builder's cant mitigate, however. Just knock the bubble down with a finger, or if it has cured, a scraper, knife, or piece of sand paper. This will cause a small blemish, but since we are early on, there will be fairing occurring later and will be hidden with more layers of epoxy.

Ordered the rigger from www.clcboats.com a few days ago. Great people to work with as they are prompt to respond to questions and have very competitive prices. They are even having their oar supplier do a custom blade and handle for me (Dreher adjustable handles and a set of Apex Hatchet blades). I decided on the RowWing thanks to the help of Chesapeake Rowing and their expertise. Very good experience there as well, and they happen to be the supplier of CLC. Go get your goods from CLC if you can, it works out best for both of the businesses.

This is going to be one helluva sweet setup for SWMBO, I think she will be happy with it.

E

Splashy splash

2008-08-15T18:03:00.000-07:00

Wonderful day outside, while I sit here at work. 100 degrees, blisteringly hot here in the Inland Northwest (you know, it used to be the Inland Empire until California chose to abscond with our beloved moniker, like so many other wonderful things up here). Looks like two more days of it. I guess we should all soak it in, because the sun keeps going down earlier every night, and I have this sneaking suspicion that fall might sneak up on us faster than I thought.

Did I mention my first Powder magazine for the year showed up?

Hey, turns out that chisel really is sharp!

OXFORD

Shes turning out little by little. The complete splashboard setup is finished as far as assembly goes. It takes some patience as far as fitting, because most is by eye, and the measurements provided are pretty stinkin accurate. There just happens to be a period of an hour where you fiddle with this and that to make it all line up.

Neat little trick I have been messing with on this boat is 5 minute epoxy. Whip up a little batch of this stuff, and you have perfect little tack welds to hold pieces in place while you get the real epoxy and filler built. Saves tape and time, as well as the frustration of a part of the project falling to pieces while you wait for a solid cure.

If you look closely in the image, you can see where the two forward pieces are mated with 5 minute to keep the V shape, while the rest was just held in place while gluing up with filled epoxy:

I like this, and intend to use the hell out of the 5 minutes stuff on projects to come.

Why don't we just have a look at the finished product of the splashboards, since we are looking at photos:

Ahh, now we all feel better.

I think Sunday will see exactly zero work accomplished. Monday is weed spraying day, back to the station Tuesday, more weed abatement Wednesday. I might get some work done eventually, but I can't seem to get the massive blocks of free time I had with the Cloud Cap project.

I hope to give you all more to entertain yourselves with by wednesday, but we will have to see, now won't we...

E

Hotness makes for slowness

2008-08-13T15:24:00.000-07:00

When it gets over 90, and you have two boats tied to the dock, do you stay and work on projects?

Its been warm, so we have been playing more than working here. Neighbor's kid is in town, so we are being drafted regularly to help out with flagging. Isn't that a shame. Even after all this, there is still progress on the Ox.

OXFORD

She's received half of the splashwell protection, and I used the excess filler to fill the holes from the screws. This will make handy little epoxy nails, hard chunks of epoxy through the deck and into the existing screw holes in the sheer clamps below. Light AND strong...

Closer look, and as of late the clamp collection is getting much larger. this is less than 1/3 of the available clamps. One clamp at a time, every trip to the store...

Also, here is a shot of the bow joint. I had a little seepage when I glued it up initially, and did a pretty lackadaisical (read half-assed) job of cleaning it up. I ground it down with the plane a bit, and a sanding block, then pulled a little filler over it. Should do the trick, the sander will be the taddle tail

Nothing new to report on the dory, its still in the air.

E

Finally the heat returns

2008-08-04T13:34:00.000-07:00

So they decided to put me through a few extra shifts this week.

Ive been at work 92 of the last 120 hrs (thats 5 days for the web design folks), so progress has ground to a halt on the Oxford. Add a saturday party with 100 guests on the horizon, and we keep pretty busy around here.

Oxford

As she stands today:

Our friend the Oxford has a welded and faired skeg today, as well as the decks assembled and the rough fairing done. You can see that we opted for the screw-only program, relying on the epoxy to do the work and save 3 lbs of silicon bronze annular ring nails. Anything for a pound. It was quick work that I had been dreading, but SWMBO made an appearance in the shop and did a smashing job of helping get the decks on the boat. Two people is definitely the key for this project, no question there. Screws had to be very close together to hold the decks in a fair alignment with no hooeys. Have about a pound of drywall screws on hand for this step.

Check out the camber:

Im impressed. John Harris over at CLC did a nice job of making a sheet boat look like more than a box. Very nice indeed.

Its going to hit 95+ this week. Plans are to stay in the water as much as possible, with little work sessions morning and evening. You, my faithful reader, will be abreast of the situation as changes happen.

E

Dory draw-ring

2008-07-30T15:24:00.001-07:00

So I spent a little time out in the garage puttering, but the time was spent without a camera. Go figure...

Oxford

Oxford has been decked fore and aft, planed smooth, and is awaiting some epoxy. The splashboards are cut and prepped, they just need final fitting and gluing up. Pretty little thing, that Oxford. Im pretty impressed with the lines.

I haven't noted yet that my Oxford (I should say hers, right?) is a MODIFIED Oxford, one that John Harris over at CLC stated would work, but that it is going to be extremely lightweight and not as tough as the original scantlings. Being that the boat lives in its own use area, not to be cartopped or run aground, I felt it would be able to handle the changes.

The list includes:

3mm bilge panels, replacing the 4mm
3.25oz "surfboard" fiberglass laminated to the exterior
Single layer of 6oz tape on the interior, reducing one extra layer.
No nails, all connections are epoxy-only

This has produced a VERY light boat. I haven't put it on the scale yet, but she's hopefully going to pop at less than 35 lbs hull weight. Coupled with the 15lb Oarmaster III rig that I should buy today, we are hoping to be in the drink at 50lbs, or roughly the weight of a sea kayak of 17'. Its a hope, we will see how successful it is

Pacific City Dory

For the past week I've been pimping the Oregon Coots messabout group to help collect info on PC dories for me to help the project. I have sat down and looked at my lines, the modified ones, and pondered on the boat. Looks like she will be around 17'3" or so, and hopefully a cockpit depth of 26", just above the knees for ease of hauling pots and working over the gunnels. Plans are still including buiding her on fir frames with fir chine logs and gunnels, but I have to locate a fir board source first, which is proving somewhat difficult.

Thas where we are at today!

E

Full circle

2008-07-26T16:19:00.000-07:00

Well here we are again, my faithful readers. The beginning, after the end. Cloud Cap came to a glorious finish, and spawned a complete new site, filled with the spiralling, contorting babble that spills forth after I have been left to my own devices. This blog, however, will continue in a different way from buildingnina. Instead of focusing on one boat, we will instead focus on the current project at hand, and taste testing of the future ahead.

Currently in the shop, SWMBO's Oxford rowing shell is being stubborn and not giving forth any progress. Temps in the 90's are severely hampering all attempts to be done, so each project is completed at a snails pace.

This is the skeg cutout:

Stunning eh? Of course there was a little chisel work afterwards, but Im at the station, so don't expect miracles of photo posting. Hopefully, with any luck, the epoxy inside cured up and is holding the fir 1x in place right at this very instant. That concluded the interior portion of the boat, and Im anxiously awaiting the decks being placed and nailed on.

The bigger matter is that funny little drawing on the right. Im attempting to put together a Pacific City dory. Any information on the boats, plans, photos of the interior or construction, or other info would be greatly appreciated!

That's all, but only for now.

E