Random thoughts and rants on boat design, boat building, and other boat bits for those in the 99%...
Something needful regarding methane, Shrinkflation is today's word, and in the "Like I don't have enough scary shit to keep me up at night" department...
I've been following the Rosie G build for a while and it's nice to see it all coming together.
More about the design and build can be found at Red Dog Yachts.
Listening to Jimi Hendrix
So it goes...
A worthwhile read on forgiveness, depressing Mahi Mahi news, and in the "If you haven't been paying attention" department...
IDB Marine, makers of the popular Mojito design have come out with a new version which they deem to be eco-responsible. They make a lot of sense. The Mojito Virgin 888 is a sensible approach to building a boat that is better then the same old same construction.
By the way the virtual tour of the Mojito is well worth checking out as it's a lot better than most.
Listening to Niki J Crawford
So it goes...
Just plain insanity, an astute observation, and in the "About that guy who fucks everything up for all of us" department...
A friend asked me the other day about the idea of "open source" boat plans and it's been on my mind for the last couple of days.
There was an interesting steel boat design, the Yago 31, that was presented as an open source/free plan a while back (Duckworks also has something on the Yago 31). In my mind at least, it was not really an open source design but simply just a free plan which is not quite the same thing.
Sadly, the Yago project appears to have disappeared into that internet void where good things disappear.
Anyway, what would a real open source sailboat design really be?
For me, the most important thing about open source is that to a great extent, it is reliant on user input. The problem with user input is that it can easily morph into the hellish landscape of "design by committee" and that's the kiss of death of good design in most cases, or stasis at best.
The trick for an open source sailboat design is not to design a boat but to design the parameters of the boat.
For example, an open source Cruiser 30, might be a list of parameters which would include the overall boat dimensions, scantlings, sail area, ballast, and required foils. This would leave the choice of materials, construction, interior, rig, and systems for the users to input their design ideas. Not unlike the Mini 6.5 Transat boats.
Just a table of offsets and required scantlings.
That's a lot of freedom...
The results could be really interesting. You could develop that Cruiser 30 for a progressive version of ferro construction with leeboards, a furling lug rig, and an interior design that is perfect for a couple. While at the same time, someone else is doing a hull based on hemp and bamboo ply panels built using vacuum infusion but constructed as a normal stitch and glue boat. Or, in my current thinking, combining the Cutts and Case double planking method to use home-built lumber using jute...
The possibilities are just about endless.
Certainly worth thinking about.
Listening to Beverly Crusher
So it goes...
An important read, a point well made, and in the "Why isn't this idiot not in an orange jumpsuit already?"...
So, I've been pricing out a build of a KD860 Open and, at first glance, it's a fairly depressing exercise. Nothing makes a forty year old classic plastic sailboat in need of an extreme refit look affordable like the cost of 60 odd sheets of marine ply and the epoxy and glass to cover it with.
Then again, the first budget for a new boat is always daunting and as Hunter S. Thompson said...
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."
Still, I do have a cunning plan.
Listening to Making Movies
So it goes...
Some good news on the plastic front in California, a gallery of shame, and in the "Sick on so many levels" department...
In terms of building a Tortoise, I've adapted it to plain old stitch and glue which is as fast to build and only a kiss more expensive. The last change I've made in the design is swapping out the lengthwise thwart as it takes up too much room in my opinion and the traditional thwarts seem to work better in my experience while adding some needful reinforcement to the hull sides.
For the current build, I'll be doing the Tortoise rather than the long Tortoise as we just don't need the added room and the smaller Tortoise in nesting mode fits into a 4' X 4' space.
I'll try and remember to take some pictures of the build while I'm doing it.
Listening to a favorite Beach Boys song
So it goes...
A shitload of fertilizer information, regarding the current La Nina situation, and a performance of note...
A very smart way to build a plywood boat.
Listening to some 80th birthday coverage
So it goes...
A book on AI I think I need to read, why the word "concerning" makes me nervous, and in the "It's about time to nail these these jerks to the wall" department...
I just noticed that RAKA has a newish website with higher prices.
Yeah, prices on everything just keep going up and it's getting harder and harder to build a boat on a workingman's budget.
It's a depressing state of affairs.
Luckily, old classic and not so classic boats still abound while the cost of buying and refitting an elderly boat is still within the reach of someone on a very tight budget. Albeit, a task akin to swimming upstream against a strong current with your hands tied behind your back.
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| A $400 boat on CraigsList |
Things really do need to change.
Listening to an interesting cover
So it goes...
A rather harsh reality, some depressing NASA data, and in the "Not your normal subway buskers" department...
Boxes are pretty simple to make and if you can't build a box, you're in some serious tyro territory.
Sure, you can make them a bit more complicated (dovetail joints, for instance) but with modern adhesives that's more of an aesthetic decision rather than a needful one.
Butt joints and modern adhesives work just fine.
Back when I was doing interiors on the Bruce Bingham Flicka design, the interior assembly took three days. Add another couple of days to make the interior kit and we're talking a week of labor.
I expect that if you hired a guy to do about the same amount of work in your kitchen at home, you'd think a week would be excessive.
For home builders, as opposed to folks who cobble boats for a paycheck, the amount of time things take seems to adapt to the time available. While a production worker can build a nav table and surrounding shelves and suchlike in a day, the home builder can take months or even longer to build what is essentially just a few boxes. Add an inset compass rose to the table and it can take years.
Sure, there are any number of tricks one can use to make building boat interiors easier, as well as less expensive. In my case, I let Fred Bingham do most of my thinking for me. I've never come across a problem that "Practical Yacht Joinery" did not have an answer for.
But, I can hear you saying...
"Boats have curves and shapes that make it nearly impossible to make boat furniture!"
...and yes, dear reader, you'd be right that boats have shapes that confound even the most bespoke carpenter square. Luckily for us, there are inexpensive tools available that make even the most audacious compound curves fast and easy to deal with.
Having the right tools is a big help, but the real game changer is getting to know just how much labor goes into making that drawer or similar contrivance and adapting your work habits to exclude time spent on other stuff.
Listening to Ganstagrass
So it goes...
EBM with a question that I've been asking myself lately, not the news you want to hear, and in the "Climate change just keeps on giving" department...
For awhile now I find myself being somewhat put off with the amount of plastic that's found itself into my life. Not only is my life besieged by needless plastic packaging but it seems that just about everything is based on plastic parts.
Hell, most of the lures in my fishing gear are plastic (more about that soonish over on Fishing Under Sail).
Yeah, and then there's the amount of plastic in my boat building materials locker, in spite of trying to use more earth friendly resins, goops, and materials. Even so, the bottom line still seems to say they're, at best, just less bad than other alternatives. Sure plastic derived from vegetable sources are better than those based on oil but in the end they're all just plastics.
There's got to be a better way and I'll be working on some alternatives in upcoming posts.
Listening to the Sinseers
So it goes...
A good point being made, Steve Earle making sense on CNN, and in the "To serve and protect themselves" department...
Here's an interesting link to an article about building boats that use bio-based resin, recycled PET cores, and bamboo fiber to achieve a "Less dirty" boat in terms of ecological impact.
Listening to Arcade Fire
So it goes...
The problem with an oil-centric economy, a very good point, and in the "Now I'm really scared" department...
Yesterday, while perusing a book for interior structure ideas, I realized that my copy of Fred Bingham's "Practical Yacht Joinery" is over forty-years old and still being used on a regular basis. It's somewhat tattered but talk about a good investment.
George Buehler's "Backyard Boatbuilding" and Reuel Parker's "The New Cold-Molded Boatbuilding" are almost as old and still get used all the time. In fact, I just realized that I actually used Buehler's book so much I wore out a copy and had to replace it so it's not quite as old but you get the idea.
Another two books that get heavy use aboard is Dan Spurr's "Upgrading the Cruising Sailboat" and Bruce Bingham's "The Sailor's Sketchbook" which have solved any number of problems as well as improved my life afloat in many and varied ways.
I've a lot of other books as well but all of these are the ones I reach for whenever I have a problem or just need of an idea or inspiration.
I mention this as folks keep writing me and telling me to watch this or that YouTube video of some tyro with nary a clue where boat work is concerned commit boat butchery and mayhem in a bid for a Patreon payout. While, I'll admit, it's often entertaining to watch folks go all FUBAR spending copious money on projects that will just need to be redone later it's a piss poor way to learn how to fix up a boat.
Considering how much pain and suffering could be avoided by reading a couple of books you'd think some folks might just do the book ting.
Listening to a favorite Buffalo Springfield cover
So it goes...
It's World Water Day, some current Covid news, and an apt point...
Reading my new copy of Professional BoatBuilder I see there's a great review of a small portable CNC robot/machine that's pretty affordable as such things go (a kiss less than $4k).
It's really pretty cool.
The thing is, I've been thinking quite a lot about CNC use in boat building these days. It has a whole lot of advantages but I've yet to find it applicable to building dinghies or the sort of boat building that I do where it makes economic sense. That said, CNC would make a lot of sense for someone selling lots of kits or a production yard where they make a lot of boats.
It's really just all about scale.
l do have one issue where boat designs is concerned. I've noticed that some designers are moving towards designing for CNC. Recently I found an instance where someone selling a boat plan for CNC only which I find just a little bit worrisome.
As cool as CNC is, unless done on a large scale, it adds cost I'd rather not pay. Add in the fact that I've never found lofting and cutting out various boat parts difficult or problematic. Considering the speeds attained by most all of the CNC cutters for small shops that I've seen, a guy lofting and then cutting with a router or jig saw can kick some CNC ass in the speed department.
Not that I'm a Luddite or anything close but I worry that far too often we tend to throw the baby out with the bathwater when new tech gets brought into the mix. Then again, I'd be lying if I said I was not going to keep an eye on future developments of the Goliath system.
Listening to some covers of note
So it goes...
Some needful information, little steps, and in the "When Dazzle is not quite enough for your boat's paint scheme" department...
I recently came across this three-dimensional fiberglass material and I'm kinda excited. You might say they had me with this sentence : "Since only a minimal amount of resin is needed, resin waste through over-saturation is a thing of the past".
I'll be trying to get my hands on enough of this stuff to build a dinghy to see how it works in practice. Anyone in the Netherlands that knows anything about the product please drop me a line.
Listening to Los Bitchos
So it goes...
A like mind, more on banning books, and from the "Beating my head against the bulkhead" files...
I get quite a bit of mail asking why I don't talk more about production boats of the newer variety. The simple answer is I have very little interest in boats I can't actually afford.
However, as in all things, there are some exceptions. I do have a keen interest where design innovation and new construction methods are concerned. Especially when the innovation and boat building aspects are compatible to older production boats and designs.
The reason I'm so interested in the various French RM Yachts is because they are the cutting edge where small shipyards and innovative plywood construction meet. While I can't afford to buy an RM 1070+ I most certainly can liberate a few great ideas by studying the design, how it's built, and rigged.
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| Some seriously pretty plywood. |
You'd be surprised how many details from RM Yachts and the new Dufour 32 just might wind up as part of a 1969 CAL 34.
By the way, for a great blog post on the Dufour 32 you might want to check out Interesting Sailboats (a most excellent resource).
Listening to Johnny Franco
So it goes...
Something that may cause you to punch a bulkhead, a good point, and in the "I predict a looming teacher shortage soon come" department...
Professional BoatBuilder has an awesome article in the new Feb/March issue entitled Going Mobile which describes putting a commercial wood shop into an 8' x 13' trailer.
Just think about that for a moment or two.
One idea I've had for quite a while was to build a modified Teardrop trailer into a mini-boat shop/in a box sort of thing. A small trailer not unlike the Carapate would be a great starting point.
Listening to a whole lot of Adam Schlesinger coverage
So it goes...
This had me knocking my head against a bulkhead, the current trend in school health practices, and in the "Just another asshole" department...
I'm not a huge fan of building kit boats as the added cost of a "kit" seldom seems to save that much in terms of labor. Sure, those CNC cut panels are nifty but I find that the lofting and cutting of wood is pretty easy and (dare I say it?) enjoyable.
Then again, if someone found a way to make the epoxy and glass work part of boat building superfluous I'd certainly consider changing my mind.
The one good point about boat building kits is not so much their labor saving but simply the fact that the idea of a boat in a box is a very attractive concept. Chasing down all of the required materials these days is a royal pain in the ass so at least there's that advantage.
Listening to Boz Scaggs
So it goes...
My kind of cat, regarding someone I admire, and in the "The importance of a reality based world" department...
It would appear that most folks these days, when confronted with a problem or issue with their boat, tend to go to their favorite forum or YouTube. Now, I've gone on record about my feelings for most forums and while advice freely given is, more often than not, worth exactly what you're paying for it.
That said I do, every so often, visit a particular forum from time to time simply because the advice is so entertaining in its silliness and general lack knowledge purveyed.
YouTube is actually a lot better and there are a lot of excellent bits of video telling you how to do or fix stuff on sailboats. On the other hand, it's best to realize that for every one good bit of video there are a dozen or so that are just clueless.
For me I tend to find my best avenue of problem solving or good ideas is to be in books.
Books work and happen to be an excellent investment. I've lost track of the number of times I've used Brion Toss's "The Riggers Apprentice", Fred Bingham's "Practical Yacht Joinery", Bruce Binghams "The Sailors Sketchbook", Dynamite Payson's "Build the New Instant Boats", and Dan Spurr's "Spurr's Guide to Upgrading Your Cruising Sailboat". I've never kept track of how much money those various books have saved me but it would be a substantial amount far exceeding the cost paid for them.
There are a bunch more books I could list but those are the ones that I still use on a regular basis and have had the most impact where fixing up an old boat are concerned.
Listening to Drinking Boys And Girls Choir
So it goes...
Regarding the high cost of hamburger, yet another COVID cure you may want to avoid, and in the "Remind me to never eat out in Ohio" department...
I'll go on record and say that I've always liked Dudley Dix designs. Partly because he actually understands boat building (which is surprisingly rare in designers) and partly because, every once in a while he surprises me.
Like this design.
It's a design that fills a need/niche and it does so incredibly well. What impresses me the most is that it is just the sort of design most designers would avoid like the plague as being just too different.
Face it, designers are seldom rewarded for coming up with boats that do not fall into the same old same vein.
As soon as I came across this design I realized that this was a boat that would work just as well in the day charter business down here in the Caribbean as well as opening up a market that is now mostly cattlemarans and and power boats doing the "three hour tour" two step.
The design could also be used for various pursuits outside the day charter trade as its open form allows it to be just about anything you'd want to do. For example as someone who has been part of the Caribbean film community for longer than I care to admit the first thing I thought of when I saw this design is what a great camera boat it would make with the added advantage of when not working on films or commercials it could still earn it's keep fishing, day charter, or being a dive boat between gigs.
I keep hearing about "working sail" making a comeback but Fast Eddy is the sort of working sail that makes real sense where niche markets and needs are the design brief.
While I've never been a big fan of steel or alloy boat building the lapstrake method used on Fast Eddy makes all kinds of sense and has me rethinking aluminum.
You can find more about Fast Eddy on the Dix website and blog which is well worth checking out.
Listening to Attic Lights
So it goes...
An excellent riff on a Paul Simon song, a very good point, and in the "Made a list and checked it twice" department...
It's Boxing Day and in some ways it's my favorite day of the plethora of days in the Holidaze season. Mainly, because it's not about buying stuff, but in giving.
This morning, someone pointed out to me that on the Duckworks facebook site, a post was deleted and the member banned because they had posted something about the impact of Typhoon Odette on fishermen and commercial boats.
Eden Lida Canning asked a question
There are thousands of small fishing boats destroyed here in Southern Leyte. Additionally there are many dive boats totally destroyed belonging to our friends. My husband is an aid worker and was a member of this group for 2 years. He is also a customer of Duckworks. Why did one of your moderators block him from this group for showing the devistation here in Maasin City? We have lost our restaurant, but he chose to show other's damage instead. Is there no compassion here. His was the only post here on Typhoon Rai and yoi deleted it and blocked him.8 Comments
Michael Khan LeeThat doesn’t sound right . Admin! What’s up?Jack McDanielI have compassion for your situation and wish you the best. However, is this really the group for disaster / humanitarian relief? The admin is simply moderating as he should to keep on point for the group. Thou should not criticize or judge . It is his group. Move on.
________________
Somewhat uplifting, a very good cause that could use your support, and a cartoon too close of the mark for comfort....
A longish time ago, I had something of a burning bush moment while building a boat. It was not something someone said or a cunning plan. It was just a simple question I asked myself...
Is this actually essential to this boat?
Which, I’ll admit, is a fairly simple question. But it got me thinking about what defined essential and nonessential where building or refitting is concerned.
For instance, a couple of boats over from my boat was a cold-molded sloop that was only partially planked and still needed a couple of courses of veneer before being glassed. That being the case, I wondered just why the builder was working on an inlaid compass rose for the chart table before the interior fit-out was even a thing. Just for the record, I’ll go public and say that while I think inlaid woodwork is a very cool addition to a boat, it is never an essential part of a boat.
Most boat plans or production boats show or come with all the essential bits. My usual way of building a boat is that if it’s in the plans, you can consider it to be indispensable. The same goes for the design of a boat while doing a re-fit, as what’s designed in should mostly be essential.
Where it gets iffy is where the designer has left important bits to the whim of whoever is building or refitting the boat. Frankly, there is a special place in hell for designers who do not design in systems. Raceways for wiring, places to put the needed instruments, and stowage of propane bottles. Better yet, it would be no bad thing for designers to include provisions for dinghy stowage and sensible locations for solar panels in their plans.
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t have a clue what you think is essential for your boat. I go with the idea that simpler is always better than complicated. Not that I’m against progress and realize that I should always build in space for potential additions to systems in the future. This includes things like building in extra space and large enough wiring races to add instruments when needful. Not having to resort to tearing the boat apart to run a couple of cables.
Sure, there are many non-essential bits that make a boat livable or a home. The trick is not to let them get in the way of actually building or re-fitting your boat. Consider it essential to plan for them in the overall scheme of things but avoid getting caught in the compass rose zone.
Listening to an albums worth of Neil Young coverage
So it goes...
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