We rip out the old dinky bulwarks and get the sexy black locust stantions in for the proper ships bulwarks of Garrett’s dream:

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This has been one messy project! We’ve managed to get tar everywhere and even a little on the boat. Now to clarify, the tar is purely to bed the sheathing planks not to be our bottom protection. This is where the next step in the sheathing process comes in: planning and sanding everything down to bare wood.

 

 

 

We matched the port side to starboard and have every plank up except for where the boat stands are. As you can see on the starboard side Garrett’s already started to plane the planks.

BEFORE            AFTER

While Garrett’s planning and sanding I’m filling the one million screw holes with thickened epoxy. Once all holes are covered and the wood sanded down we’ll be ready for real bottom paint. We are thinking, with the help of other’s thoughts, that we’ll do a coat or two of thinned bottom paint to penetrate the planks then finish with 3 to 4 coats of full strength anti-fouling bottom paint.

Before that painting can happen we have to have the yard move the stands. We have about 20 planks on each side still to do.

This has been one hell of a job…especially on Garrett’s back. What good timing!!! For a chiropractor to appear. One nice thing about people knowing where we are is getting to meet all of our followers. We’ve met boatbuilders, doctors, world travelers, new boat owners, and people who know nothing about boats but love to watch Garrett and I work. I, for one, had no idea how many people would be interested in our little-big project! Thank you to all of you for your support. It has been extremely positive and heart warming. Both Garrett and I have never been attached to the internet world so I apologize that we’re often late in responding back to you but I try my best to write back and keep you informed when I can. We are working so hard and are so so close to launching this endeavor. Bottom paint is right around the corner and the water only a little further!

!Number 36 y’all!

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This is one of those projects that isn’t hard it just takes time….and tar

We’ve completed the starboard side. It took about 3 weeks. 60ish planks below the chine and about another 14 long planks from the waterline to the chine.

There was a minor pause to cut more material but to Garrett’s surprise the lumber is going a lot further than he thought. I wish we counted how many 2×10’s it took to do the starboard side but I’m guessing it was between 10 and 12 boards because Garrett was able to get 6 planks out of a single board. He ripped them length wise into 3 inch pieces then in half to get a 3×3/4 plank.

We had a little yard fun trying to guess how many planks it would take to get from the aft stand to the transom. It’s only fitting the captain won…

…or was it rigged

It was 21 planks from that last stand back. We’ll continue onto the port side and complete that then fill the screw holes and plane everything down before having the yard move the stands over. We might even paint a square of bottom paint where they’ll move the stands to so we don’t have to have them move them again.

p.s. Notice the chainplates have they’re first bolts!!! That means color is coming 😀

Thank you Simon!!!! It was so freaking awesome to have you, Melly, and Champ aboard.

We teamed up with Rolf again, this time for the chainplates. We had the chainplates bent out of stock mild steel flat bar with Van Bebber but we needed to weld on the bit that the bolt securing the dead eyes to the chainplates attaches to.

Garrett got to pull out this bad boy, a horizontal bandsaw. I don’t know much about these machines but it cut through the steel like nothing. It was easier than slicing hard cheddar at work. The blade, with water running continuously, basically laid on the steel and made a perfectly straight cut.

<——-  BEFORE

 

 

 

 

 

 

AFTER ———–>

 

 

We have two chainplates per side per mast, that makes eight total. The mizzen chainplates are a little smaller at, I believe, 2 inches and the main chainplates are slightly larger, again Garrett will correct me but I believe, 2.5 inches wide.

After Garrett cut each of the pieces to be welded out of bar stock inch and a quarter, Rolf used the old iron lady to bore the 1/2 inch hole we decided on to accept a half inch bolt to hold up the rigging. I do believe I heard a “bore-ing” joke escape Rolf’s mouth. But for me, I loved watching that beautiful faded green machine spin out product. I’m sure years and years and years from now I’d be equally bored…pun intended 😉

There’s something entrancing about watching something do what it does so well. Just like a violinist with instrument in hand or a bartender sliding drinks to thirsty customers. Sure it has its moments of frustration and we all don’t want to get out of bed everyday with a smile but this is a piece of history. Rolf’s told me the story but alas it’s a blank but I do know she’s older than Rolf, so there you go.

So, Rolf drilled, cleaned, and rounded than threw it to Garret (literally) and he spun the bored tube on this cool sander thingy (technical term) and presto! With the rust blasted away it looks like we went to West Marine and paid $50ea. when in reality we found a 2 foot bar in a salvage yard for 8 bucks, so $1 per fitting. I like those numbers.

Next step was to weld all 8 pieces to their respected chainplate. Babies for the mizzen and biggies for main.

 

 

Rolf tacked the pieces in place then turned Garrett and I loose to weld the rest!

 

 

 

Garrett and I have found

our new hobby. Although

Garrett learned quick that

he has to remember to eat

something! Shaky hands

makes for a grueling mastery of welding.

 

 

 

 

 

Wicked fun!

A great 3 hour work day! Next is to start positioning them on the hull. If you don’t remember, I know I haven’t forgotten, this is when Garrett says I can paint the hull!!!! He just wants to get the first holes drilled while he can still see the fasteners in the planking. The rest of the work on the chainplates thereafter can happen after we are in the water. We’ll have to create the metal straps that go around the lower dead eye which then attaches, by bolt, to the pieces we just welded onto the chainplates. Then we’ll have to make the dead eyes of course, and then the rigging which it still TBD but Garrett’s really contemplating kevlar rigging worm/parcel/and served. Our neighbor and buddy is doing that on his Aries 32 and we’ve been helping/watching the process and it seems super sweet but more on that at a later date. I gotta get home and make some dinner!
Cheers!
~Ruthie

New episode!!!!! I’m starting to get this whole video thing…2 weeks almost on the dot! I hope you like it, it’s a near 25 minutes so grab something cold 😉

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Armor plating, also known as sheathing, has been our life for the last two weeks. We started at the waterline Saturday before last and we are blasting through it. We’ve now sheathed almost to the transom. Our goals have been waterline down then from boat stand to boat stand, day by day. This is day one:

The Young Salt and the Tar Queen

Getting the first three planks on took the longest as we had to test fit then permanently tar and screw them in; setting the flow for the rest of the planks down to the chine. Now that I think about it I don’t know if I can call this day one… Days prior to this we had to sort and transport all the good pieces of fir to the boat from their storage place at my parents then plane and mill those boards into 3 inch by 3/4 strips of sheathing planks.

You’re probably asking yourself why…? Why sheathing? What’s the purpose? Is that necessary?

We debated the same questions.

So the purpose: sheathing is essentially double planking an already beefy hull but the true purpose beyond extra strength and basically making the boat bulletproof is it is a sacrificial layer. Meaning worms, icebergs, pilings, partially sunk shipping containers, you name it could attack the sheathing leaving the main planking safe or at least keep us from leaking/sinking until we can repair damage. Most importantly, meaning Garrett’s number one concern, is the protection from worms. We plan to sail to the tropics. Lush beautiful crystal clear blue water but we’re not the only ones that thrive there; teredo worms love it too. Interesting fact about marine worms is that they tend, when eating wood, to stay in one plank zig zagging back and forth up and down. This makes having a sacrificial layer distanced from your structural planking with heaps of tar a wonderful piece of mind that your home will be safe and its integrity held.

And is it necessary: Is building a boat?…

We’ve come this far why not a little further into insanity?

Day two Garrett set a big goal, sheath all the way to the chine before days end. Garrett and I did ok, getting two full runs up by about 5 leaving only 2ish runs left to reach the chine. But we were pooped! Thanks to our amazing neighbor who cranked up the

sea shanty tunes and kicked our butts into gear for a final push. With his help and every minute of daylight

we achieved that goal.

 

…We really wore Swab out!

The following day was a video making day for me and a trimming day for Garrett.

We’re really happy with how the sheathing is coming. Garrett just hates the sticky… It’s going to be so great when it’s complete and a huge mental ease for Garrett knowing it’s below us. Speaking of below us, so presently it is gravel but she is a boat and one day she’ll float! This project is the last major one before launching day. After the sheathing is finished we’ll be ready to slap some bottom paint on her and wheel her to the ramp. A few odds and ends remain but no more cabin modifications or holes–I probably shouldn’t say that out loud—good thing I just wrote it 😉

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Garrett made the templates long ago, while we were still in the middle of the cabin remodel, and ultimately decided to let someone else bend the chainplates into shape. With the advice from Rolf, He and Garrett went to Van Bebber in Petaluma.

Since the steel we are using is pretty beefy it was wise to go to an industrial place that was made to manipulate metal. The added benefit to taking it someplace else to have done was that it freed Garrett up for other projects in the meantime.

We got the call that our order was ready and ran out to grab our chainplates earlier this week!

Garrett was really excited to test fit them against the hull and channels and see just how close Van Bebber was able to get them to the templates he made. The plates were spot on!

 

 

They’re not done yet but now we are ready to drill the holes for the fasteners and weld the tube to receive the bolt for the dead eyes. Instead of turnbuckles we are going the traditional route. We still have so much locust (which we used for the bulwark stantions) left to turn out some beautiful proper dead eyes. With Rolf’s help he and Garrett will make the metal wrapping to go around the dead eyes and lock into the chainplates. So first, we will have to customize the chainplate before installing onto the boat…which means I still have to wait to paint the hull…but it won’t be long now! Stay tuned. Things are about to get real sexy