Stringer #1, bending her into place to dry fit. Starboard side.

                    

Stringer #1 and 2 installed. #1 (the middle stringer) we thought would be the easiest but we were way off. It set the position for the other two stringers so it had to be perfect and with it being our first attempt at bending a 40ft scarfed piece of wood over our heads it was a learning exercise!

Getting #3 into her notches. Completing the Starboard side.

Stringer #4, first one on the Port side and the middle stringer. Didn’t take as long as Starboard but still the middle stringer setting the alignment for the others means more care and finesse are needed.

                                      

#5 out of 6. (Left) Dry fitting. (Right) Notches cut.

Notches for #5 ready for Preservative and Tar

                  

All 6 stringers installed!

From inside the boat

            

All that is left now is to install the Cheeks and cut the Rabbet!

Garrett finished installing the Cheeks the other day (pictures to come) and has decided to cut the Rabbet as we go on with bottom planking in order to get planking sooner!

Going back up the hill now where Garrett should be putting the first planks on the bottom!!!!!! We thought this day would never come haha

-Ruthie

Ruth here:

“I can’t believe how many things have happened in the last month. I mostly take videos rather than pictures these days, since our YouTube channel has been growing, but I should remember that pictures are still worth a thousand words. I’ve been flipping through the film, as if I still used film…, and realized we’ve gotten a lot completed. I can’t believe Garrett failed to mention another huge thing that got checked off the list; cutting down the last of our trees for spars and such! Garrett’s brother Reid was in town and seemed like as good a time as any to wrangle them out of the forest. My camera died, however, I know very dramatic! Then my phone died so these are the only photos I captured…

The day before yesterday was really exciting! I’ve been waiting for this moment for awhile. We removed ALL the cross bracing from the frames. We have 7 deck beams, which is all of the full-length beams, up! We had to leave some of the top bracing on the frames to keep her ridged until we can install the carlins (cabin wall framing) and side-deck beams. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about (Mom) you will just have to wait and see. All will be revealed in time. We began the day thinking we had decided on a Pilot House and Flush Deck lay-out with a Focsle and we finished the day with changing everything and installing deck beams to accommodate a Center Cock-Pit with an Aft Cabin and Focsle layout… Garrett says it right, “We no longer make plans, we make ideas.” It’s the only way we can stay sane and keep everyone else from going crazy when we change our mind again. Sorry Fam! They’re used to it by now… Family – “Wait, I thought you were…?” Us – “Yeah, no… That was yesterday!”

High-tech center line

Now we can see what we are working with!

I love watching Garrett stare at the boat. I liken it to a mother watching the father smile down on their child. Knowing there is love there. This birth has been exhausting and tedious but when you can look at what you’ve done and still smile you know you are doing the right thing for you. At the end of the day I can’t help be proud of not only Garrett but myself too. I’m still here and I’m still smiling! Something about a man, his boat, and a dream.”

 

Hey everyone! Sorry for the long silence… We have have back to back visits from friends, and family lately. It was awesome to see everyone, and it was a welcome break from the boat! Unfortunately the last couple times I have tried to post something it wont let me upload pictures… Which is pretty lame because we have quite a few to share. Hopefully it will fix itself soon. Things like this seem to happen on this site fairly often, so we’ll see.

Anyway we have been crossing things off the list lately. We finished the stringers, cheeks, a few more deck beams, and we are ready to start planking the bottom! We have to do a supply run in portland to pick up some more fasteners and what not. Then we can start planking.  It’s about time to… The stringers took way longer than I expected, but hopefully we can make up some time and knock out this bottom planking! We have quite a bit of the deck framing done now as well, so once we finish the bottom it shouldn’t be to long before were laying the deck. We have decided to go with plywood for the deck. Most likely 2 layers of 3/8 AC /MDO or 3 layers of 1/4 luan then we’ll cover it with epoxy. Now I know there are some out there who will think were crazy for not using marine plywood, but the fact is people have been building decks out of regular exterior plywood for years. Sure marine ply is better, but we can’t afford it. The key is in taking the extra steps to protect the regular ply. Making sure you bed everything properly, and get a good protective coating on it. I have talked to people with decks built like this that are 10-20 years old ,and still going strong. That’s why I love Beuhler designs, and his overall philosophy on boat building. He’s not afraid to go against the grain, and promote an alternative view on boatbuilding even if it brings criticism from some. The fact is boats like this have been successfully working, and sailing in all conditions for years, and personally I like the workboat style. I have never been one for fancy, flashy things. I am quite content with wood, tar, and steel!

Well I will try the pictures again soon, and hopefully have a couple shots of bottom planking as well!

 

Have a good one!

Garrett & Ruth

Sorry for the wait!

 

Ta-da

 

Another milestone down! Topsides are completed! It was a great learning experience, but I am very happy to done with them… Now we can move on to bottom planking, and deck work. We have actually been squeezing a bit of deck work in the last couple weeks, and we have a couple beams already on. I figure we’ll work on the bottom and the deck at the same time. Mainly to keep me from getting bored. I apologize because once again we didn’t take great pictures before coming into town, but i’ll post what we have. It definitely makes it interesting keeping this stuff going while living in the sticks with no internet or reception. Although it gives us a good excuse to come into town, get a good coffee and relax while we bring things up to date. Anyway here are a few pictures of the progress!

 Pulling the 20ft bow plank into position.

 Pipe clamps were a must for these planks. (thanks Jim!)

 Kind of an awkward angle, but it’s the only picture we have so far of the topsides completed.

Better pictures should be on the way soon, but it feels amazing to have this stage of the build done! everything should be pretty simple after this, and progress should really start to fly! The plan is to have her all structurally built when we truck her ( hull, deck, cabin house, etc.) but save all the finish for the boatyard. I am really looking forward to that stage! Building the interior, and trimming everything inside and out with all the beautiful wood we’ve collected over the last year!

Well thats it for now. Have a good one!

 

Thanks everyone for the positive feedback! Hope you enjoy the video!

So as i’ve mentioned before we have many awesome neighbors in this small mountain community. With that being said it’s no surprise that one simple comment of ” yea I don’t know how the hell i’m gonna get that engine in the boat” while taking to a friend that stopped by, brought a massive boom truck to the property. In less than an hour our 630 pound diesel was plucked up and gently set inside the boat as if it were made of styrofoam. People are like that up snowden. Kind, generous, and more often than not they own heavy machinery! Thanks guy’s we would have had a hell of a time with it ourselves!

 So I was envisioning a regular sized truck with a little boom crane on it…. Not so much!

 The engine was like a a pebble to this thing.

 A couple slices with a knife… Sun roof! How quaint…

 Stoked!

 Now back to business.

 and she’s in!! Just blocked in place for now. I’ll make permanent mounts later.

Well another monumental task completed! Only a few odds and ends and we’ll start on bottom planking! We’re getting there!

Thats all for now.

Garrett & Ruth

Well there’s good and bad news to report… Bad news we have had some serious delays lately because of my back. Good news i’m back up and hobbling and so close to being done with the topsides! We are all the way down to the chine now, and only have several more pieces to fit. We have all of our lumber bought and planed, and can just keep chippin away. If weather cooperates I see us finishing the topsides this week! Needless to say we’re pretty stoked. It’s really exciting also knowing that the bottom planking should only take a fraction of the time on account of being cross planked.  On top of that just knowing that we are trucking the boat to a yard this fall really keeps us charging! Unfortunately I spaced on taking pictures before coming into town, but will follow up with some soon!

 

Without further adieu!

I managed to pull myself away from planking long enough to clean up and repaint the engine! She looks mighty sexy, and all went well aside from the spray can turned rocket that shot a volatile plume of red paint everywhere… We also stumbled upon a gold mine of clear fir when we were on a supply run in portland. The name of the company is Sustainable Northwest Woods I highly recommend them to anyone needing great quality fir at very reasonable prices. Not only were their prices great, but the staff was incredibly friendly and helpful! Check them out!  Sustainable Northwest Woods

These are very exciting days as they are the last days of topside planking! We are down to the last full run on the starboard side, and almost done with the 2nd to last run on the port. After that there are a couple runs from the bow that nib into the chine plank. Then all We have to do is spile the chine plank! I can practically taste the libations of the whiskey plank party!

 Lookin sexy!

 some of the beautiful fir from sustainable northwest woods fresh from the planer!

 planed down to planking thickness. Note all the saw dust!

We will be uploading the latest video as soon as I movie stops malfunctioning …

Thats all for now!