Wednesday, June 29, 2011
New location
If you have ended up at this page, please come to the new website, with all the projects and far better functionality.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Time for a change
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
http://www.amateurboatbuilding.com/CloudCap/
Come have a look!
E
Friday, June 19, 2009
S P A C E
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!
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!
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Initial mockups
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
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
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
A stray followed me home...
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...
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...
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Very, very close
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
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
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Reasons why boats don't get built
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".
...
.........................
..............................................
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
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".
...
.........................
..............................................
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
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