Summer is cooking!

Rediviva’s name is on a piece of paper sitting upon a US Coast Guard desk mixed in a stack of documents awaiting an officer’s glance. Who knows how tall this stack is? If it’s a messy or neat stack? But! She is on her way to becoming a legitimized recreational vessel. An ‘exploration unknown traveler to carry her salty gypsy crew to distant shores’ vessel; as we like to call her. The paper reads:

Owner: Garrett and Ruth Jolly

Builder: Garrett and Ruth Jolly

So in the meantime since we have “3-4 months,” so they say,of time to kill we’ll push our funds to the limit and keep working. More epoxy, CreoCoat, Primer, Rust-Oleum, PL Premium, and bolts but thankfully no lumber!

Every single bung hole is now filled!

(Epoxy mixed with sawdust)

With the summer heat ablaze and the shed removed the decks were starting to get pretty toasty! The original plan, which may still happen in the future, was to plank the deck with fir strips (gluing not screwing) but running short on patience, time, and money we’ve pressed forward and painted the decks instead for right now. Painting allowed us to protect the decks quick from the brutal UV, the wood doesn’t mind too much but the epoxy on the other hand…

We used a coarse textured deck-over paint first, then 2 coats of primer and sand, with the consistency just right we are ready for the almond color oil-based finish paint. Good and cheap ol’ Rust-Oleum brand.

While I tackled the rest of the bungs and Hoffa covered the deck Garrett has been checking off all the small crucial details. Planing down any high points in the bottom planking, finish fastening the transom to the stern knee, companion way hatch measurements, ordering materials, and most importantly determining the waterline. We’ll be using CeroCoat as a base layer of protection for the bottom planking. Cruising in tropical waters is absolutely in our future so the concern of worms and other wood munching sea creatures is real. Creosote being so incredibly poisonous made it a top pick for coating the underbelly of boats for many years this is also its downside. Today there’s an alternative called CeroCoat, some of the more harmful poison removed, still fights off the hungry teredos and is purchasable.

This product will never touch the water just soak into the wood and act as a barrier under the primer and anti-fouling bottom paint. The jury is still out on colors for the boat. The idea for red topsides on Rediviva still sounds super sexy! After the decks get their second coat of almond the bulwarks are up next. Moving on to bulwarks marks the transition from the priority list to secondary list of to-do’s before transport. No wasted time around this shipyard

All our love,

Rediviva Crew

When Rediviva was first unveiled we had to give her a full green makeover to protect her hull from the outside world.

As if the property were not already a spot that slowed traffic down now we hear the squeak of brakes halting cars; the sound of our neighbors realizing we’ve been building a boat this whole time!

It’s actually been several weeks in the process of taking down the shed. First we had to move our whole lumber yard outside. Rebuilding level stands separate from the shed walls. It’s crazy how much wood one can accumulate in 2 years time!

Then our masts had to relocate since the rack was also partially built into the shed (saving on material) 

Thankfully the masts have dried significantly over the last year and the three of us were able to man-handle them over to their new home.

Layer by layer we pealed back her many tarps.

It’s crazy to remember Garrett and I raised the shed on our own two March’s ago. Taking it down we had extra hands. Thanks to Hoffa and also my brother, Sam, showed up and Luke, my filming stand in, always does an excellent job documenting!

The 5 of us teared it down.

It surprisingly took only 3 hours to remove all the frames of the shed.

(compared to the week it took us to put it up)

Garrett and myself were on deck. Unscrewing the ridge-poll and walking the frames towards the bow to lay them down. Hoffa on starboard and Sam to port they hammered away at the shed’s feet and cross bracing stabilizing the legs as we dismantled it piece by piece.

Until it was gone!

And we were left with our mighty ship standing there. In the open. For the first time able to see her from every angle. We walked to the road for the view. All of a sudden she appears almost small, left out in the wide open. Trying to imagine a sea of blue instead of green.

Needless to say our captain was stoked!

Next up:

• More bung filling
• More wood preservative
• Painting the primer on the hull
• and the Bulwarks!

Cheers!

~Ruthie

We didn’t ever expect to purchase so much plywood or utilize epoxy as much as we have while building our wooden sailboat but it turns out to be a vital money and time saver. Garrett’s done his best to stick to his guns but even a stubborn man has to overcome one want to meet another. We were, literally, right on the edge of planking the hull in plywood, making it a composite hull, if it weren’t for one last effort to find quality lumber to traditionally plank. We decided at that moment we were driving into town to find planking stock, whether that was discovering a new listing on craigslist (fat chance) or settling and heading into Portland to Mr. Plywood! Unexpectedly, a true sign, a post on craigslist for clear old growth vertical grain douglas fir at a price we could afford. So that Thursday in December we never made it to Mr. Plywood. May 8^th, however, a Monday, we took advantage of this great source. This day we purchased 9 sheets to form the middle layer of the cabin top after being happy with the material we acquired for the main deck last September.

We have quite the crown in the cabin so it took both Hoffa and I to sit on either end while Garrett fastened each sheet down to the Port Orford planking.

The pieces went on quick. If we hadn’t run out of screws we probably would have finished the puzzle of sheets in a day.

The top turned out to be so solid we’ve decided there’s no need for a second layer of ply. (The extra layer of plywood was overkill anyway, thicker than Buehler’s plans even called for) After a very scientific “frolic” test confirmed the deck’s rigidity of course. If you’d like to check out the test you can visit our Patreon page to view our findings on film!

Once we were in the groove we were unstoppable. We portioned the cabin ceiling in 3 stages. Day one started working from the port side of the companion way out. This ended up taking a few days but we found our rhythm soon enough.

Practically finished stage 2, working from the starboard side of the companion way out, in one full day!

Stage 3 left the center of the deck to be filled in. In this stage we also decided the placement of the main salon hatch.

 Garrett worked hard on deck fastening each strip down and trimming them to the shape of the cabin while Hoffa and I were outside the shed diligently rounding the corners of every plank and planning down any burns left behind by the table saw.

We were lucky enough to find a few really nice days. Even managing to earn ourselves a little sunburn! God, that felt good. We forgot how quick we move when the sun is shining. I think all three of us thrive off of solar energy.

Without any ports in the side walls it’s a little hard to capture on film exactly how beautiful the cedar looks from down below. We all stared up for a very long time that day. All that was left was to find just the right piece to fill in the ceiling “spine.” Garrett pulled out a wonderful piece of fir, surprisingly one we picked up from Home Depot, with a mix of grain from VG to flat sawn. We’re thinking we’ll stain the “spine plank” a little darker to closer match the western red beams.

Next up is laying down plywood and more glassing! It’s been really nice getting to mix in a bit of finish work with the raw construction of the boat. It means we are getting that much closer to completing the dream and living out the next from the water!

Cheers All!

Thanks for following 🙂

~Ruthie

The day has arrived to unearth the Port Orford Cedar. Buried under scrap Douglas Fir and various pieces of Black Locust the creamy yellow soft wood was hibernating. Waiting for its purpose to be revealed.

Technically the cabin roof will be constructed with 5 layers of material. Layer #1, where the Port Orford comes in, is 1.5in by .75in for esthetics down below. Layers #2 and 3 will be from .25in exterior ply. Layer #4 will be the fiberglass. Finally, layer #5 for      esthetics on deck we’ll use .25in Douglas Fir strips to appear traditional.                     (Sorry to be redundant for some of you consistent followers)

Setting the table saw to 1.5in to rip the 2bys down.

Double check with a test plank.

Then pass over to Hoffa and I to plane any saw burns away and sand the corners round for finish.

All too often the table saw gets a little overwhelmed and bogs down forcing Garrett to wait it out.

Setting the strips atop the cabin beams to get a feel for how it’s all going to come together.

We worked into the evening until our Captain returned from a quick run into town. He brought gifts of hearty veggies and steak including libations of wine. Not a bad way to cap off an awesome day of boatbuilding!

The home stretch to finishing the cabin really makes me feel closer to the boat, to Rediviva. It’s near the point where she starts to become a home. On our previous boats the way we ran the ship was Garrett took care of everything above deck and I made sure everything down below was safe and stowed. Garrett’s in charge of the boat as a sailing vessel and I’m in charge of the boat as a home. Seeing the companionway framing is, for me, the first step towards the doorway into life aboard Rediviva. It gives me goosebumps!

The original main mast support block, from the split-cabin layout, was still able to be utilized. Garrett had to make a slight adjustment on the forward face to fit it to the way the beams placed out.

Currently, Garrett is working on the trim for the forward and aft walls of the cabin house. These pieces are a bit wider to create a bigger surface area for the roof. Once installed next is ripping into, finally, the Port Orford Cedar!  Which will be laid before the plywood roof so from the inside you’ll see planking. It’s going to smell amazing and hopefully help deter bugs and mold when we’re traveling through the tropics. This cedar was found on a random Craigslist look-see about a year ago. We scored and got over 800 linear feet for about 87 cents a board foot. We’ve been saving it for just the right use.

Garrett sits atop the bow of his mighty vessel. Breakfast in one hand, coffee in the other, building book resting upon his lap. His persistence is impeccable. It still baffles me how, after 2 long years, Garrett’s determination is continuously ablaze. No matter how much the time frustrates him, no matter how much the weather works against him, no matter how much Rediviva requires of him he remains strong. I am proud.

More times than not (we need to remind ourselves) things go so right. The 7 cabin beams are in and they look incredible! Imagine, the wind is cooking outside but coffee is robustifying down below. You chill and wait on the settee gazing upward, staring at the varnished western red beams above your head still feeling the tie to terra firma and the warmth of the aroma. Oh yeah, it’s gunna be good!