BYYB Forums

And thus the work proceeds;
the two tackles hoisting and lowering simultaneously;
both whale and windlass heaving, the heavers singing,
the blubber-room gentlemen coiling, the mates scarfing,
the ship straining, and all hands swearing occasionally,
by way of assuaging the general friction. —Herman Melville

Ahoy,
Our rail caps are beginning to look respectable enough for a photo or two. The monkey boards are evident now, and so is the raised bulwark. Our first attempt at a bulwark turned out rather pathetic. Something just did not look right.

"What?" you think the bulwark still does not look right? Well, wait until you read further and look at a photo or two."

Undoubtedly, you want to know about the kevel and hawse as well. Just be patient; these will later have their own postings. For now, let's just talk about the rail cap and bulwark, shall we? This is how things look on port.





Rather disgusting, isn't it? Well, I need to tell you that the wood should clean up rather nicely. In fact, Bill Olney will be coming over, and he and I will be working together.

No, I did not show Bill this photo. If I had, he might not have wanted to come by and help with the boat. He will not know he has been had until like yourself, he sees this photo.

In the meantime, though, let's take a look at starboard. The rail cap seems a bit more promising there. Here is a photo illustrating how the rail cap must follow at least three planes in its curvature.





We're far from done, but unlike port, we are far from being done in. In fact, we laminated in situ, using the hull itself as a form. When completed, the rail cap will have 5 laminates. Here is another photo, illustrating perhaps a bit better what we are trying to accomplish. What the photo does not capture, however, is the outside rounded overhang. Once finished, both sides of the rail cap will have a rounded overhang. After all, you do want the cap rail to look like a cap rail.






In fact, this photo shows the separate laminates with the one layer being maple; the others, mahogany. When completed the rail cap will have 5 separate laminates. Each laminate took about 3 hours to fit and glue in place. We wanted to have tight glue joints, and for the most part, that's what happened.

This last photo is again of port, but here you should be able to trace the actual sheer of the bulwark itself. When we first made our bulwarks, we mistakenly followed the sheer of the deck. That's not what you want to do. I learned that the hard way.

Paul Riccelli suggested that I raise the height of the bulwark, especially at bow and stern. His suggestion proved to be invaluable.
Fred Bingham in his book, Practical Yacht Joinery emphazies what Riccelli was saying:

Quote:Getting a fair sheer is something else! To sight properly, you'll have to stand off a good distance. You may have to climb up on a tall stepladder to bring your eye level with the sheer. Move the battens up or down a smidgen here and there until you get the lumps out. Call for another opinion. Go away for a day or two, and then take another squint.

Riccelli likewise suggested squinting. I can tell you I did a lot of squinting. From a woodworking perspective, the problem is that you must work up close and far at the same time. What looks great at 3 feet will look terrible at 30 feet. And yet, you must work from both distances simultaneously. You must also look at the bulwark sheer from every perspective— from the bow, from the stern, from admidships, from the deck, from the perspective of a dock.

Chappelle, Boatbuilding, states that low bulwarks are usually not much trouble, but he also cautions regarding the plank-sheer, "This is not an easy job for a beginner, and it is best to use a template for the job." I used several templates, one of which actually worked.





Once the bulwark and rail caps have been completed, we will begin work on the hawse and kevel. At least, that's our plan for now. In the meantime, Bill and I will do a lot of shaping and sanding. The curves that follow three planes have to be just right, or the boat will look awkward.

For the benefit of Dr. Charles Goodall, shaping the rail cap will be a matter of aesthetic geometry and algebraic bisecting lines. If Charles is like most of us, he has no idea about kevels, hawses and such like. I never understood how mathematics can be exact when you work with imaginary numbers and such like.

Fitting the caps on bulwarks is very difficult to do and have it "look" right. You appear to have done a fine job on the starboard side. The rolling bevel of the cap can drive a novice nuts in short order. It has driven many a pro to curse and drink heavily (though it may have just been a handy excuse). Great job Jim.

Mr. Chapelle was right (a man I actually knew), plank sheers are very difficult to get right. Even experienced designers play with these lines over and over until it works. I've sprung many a batten to get the sweetness of a sweep just so.

You figured it out Jim. You have to look at it from every angle, repeatedly, especially from well abeam (50' or more), make little adjustments, sleep on it, look some more, adjust it again, get second opinions, adjust it some more, eventually coming to a sweetness you can live with or one your tolerance level will permit.

Excellent effort Jim, now get back to work . . .

She's looking great Jim, I really like the Cap rails, look at all that mahogany it's gorgeous.

Brian.

Ahoy,

Thanks for the kind words. And most of all, thanks to Bill Olney who came by and unselfishly worked on the boat. There's nothing worse than sanding, and we sanded a lot.

Starboard looks rather good now. (The photo you see, of course, is of port. That's the crude side.) We still have some touch-up work to do on the starboard bulwark and we need to add the final laminate.

Bill and I worked out most of the lumps and dips. The transitions from one plane to the next look quite smooth now. Once we finish with starboard, we'll post a photo or two just to illustrate progress.

For now, though, it's New Year's Day, and we wish everyone the very best of the new year. Like you, we'll take the day off, maybe watch some football, maybe play some chess, or read a book. I rather like the quiet moments. Maybe that's why I became attracted to sailing.

Yes, I know that sailing can sometimes be more like a good barroom brawl, but I like to avoid barroom brawls whenever I can.

In fact, a barroom brawl and rough sailing share a number of elements such as the sucker punch, ambush, escalation of conflict, the hammer fist, knee and elbow strikes, mobility, and the finer points of staying out of jail.

Let me put it this way— there is good reason why sailors have historically called a 20-foot boom the widow maker. You'll understand the metaphor once you get smacked across the head. Add to excitement some disgusting BYYB rogues, and you can understand the need for sailing manuevers such as open handed blocking techniques, blow perceptions, and angle of attack drills.

The man-overboard drill is not just a safety manuever.

Jim:

I'm thinking of doing something similar on my Weekender for a toe rail set up on blocks (I trimmed the hull flush to the deck).

It appears to me that you took some strips of square(ish) stock and have laminated them. I'm looking at doing basically the same thing in large part because it will allow me to use short lengths of lumber I already have as well as simplifying the bending.

My main question for you is - To do this, did you first install one of the laminations then attach the others to it? Also, did you just cut the ends of the pieces square and butt join them?

Ahoy Andrew,

Yes, laminating a toe rail should work just fine.
Here's a summary of what we did, and maybe something similar will work for you as well. I rather think so.

As to laminating—
using short stock is fine;
sawing the ends square is exactly what you want to do;
butt joints is what we did.

The difficult part will be in following the sheer of the hull curvature.
Our initial laminate was 1/4 x 3/4. This gave us the flexibility we needed and a base to which we could attach the other layers. Our next three layers were closer to 7/16 thick (slightly above 3/8 ). We used thickened epoxy as an adhesive, laying down a thick base as a grout, a thinner base as side adhesive.

We temporarily clamped each laminate in place, working from bow to stern. Once everything was in place, we stood back to trace the curve by sight. Once we were satisfied, we went back to each laminate using C-clamps to pull in any gaps, and then we nailed a brad through the side of the laminate into the next layer.

We did not remove any of our clamps until the next day, except for the third tier of laminate. In our case, the bends in the third laminate were not near as pronounced.

____________________________

Sawing the laminates on a table saw is what we did, but as with any thin stock, sawing can be somewhat a dangerous step. We simply set our fence and then sawed our stock, making sure the stock remained against the fence. As we reached the end of the stock, we stood at the side of the saw and pulled the last 1/16 of the stock through the saw by hand. With the other hand, we used a push block to help stabilize the cut.

This approach, while easy to do, can be a little dangerous. The stock could bind, and pull your hand into the blade, but since the stock is thin, that may not be all that likely. Just be careful.

Another way to saw thin strips is to clamp a short plywood spacer to the table saw. That way the thin cut will fall to the outside of your blade. Just make your cut, position your stock on the table against the plywood spacer, move the fence, and make the next cut. Just make sure the plywood spacer is only 2 or 3 inches. You do not want to have the spacer so long that your stock could bind against the blade.

Looking forward to photos of your boat! Good luck.

Ahoy Paul,

Thanks for the encouraging words.

Paul, when it comes to kevels, kegs, and kayaks, I am very much open to suggestions. I have only seen a sketch of a kevel in a book.

From the sketch, it appears that the cast hawse is centered in the kevel.
My guess is that the horns of the kevel extended some 3 inches or so beyond the sides of the hawse.

The kevel looks to be through bolted to the hull with each horn being reinforced with a vertical wood spacer (thick stock).
The overall length of the kevel is probably about 18" or less. The stock around the kevel looks to be about 1" to 1 1/2" thick.
The stock for the kevel looks to be 6/4 or so. I might laminate for added strength.

I believe you mentioned a metal plate. Could you explain further?

I was thinking of using either hickory or white oak for the kevel.
In your opinion, would either of these two woods be OK.
Mahogany might look more decorative, but mahogany just doesn't have the strength.

Our hawses are rather small, but our boat is a relatively small craft, too.
Flange Dimension: 5 x 2-3/4"
Opening Dimension: 3-5/8 x 1-3/8"
Cutout: 4 x 1-3/4"
Bulwark Thickness: 2"

Paul, are these hawses thick enough to add a kevel?
When I bought them, I did not order the ones with cleats.
The cleats looked far too modern for the type of craft we were building.
I did not order the stainless steel ones either and for the same reason.
Do I need to modify the hawses so we can add kevels?

You can modify the hawse for a kevel, but really you don't need them and they are a hell raiser on feet, especially toes that wander by, absentmindedly. These were originally intended for handling heavy lines and rodes aboard ships. I'm talking heavy line, like 3" stuff, not the sissy diameter stuff you'll be using on your yacht.

The term kevel (also cavel) is often misused and associated with normal cleats, which it wasn't typically used as. A ships kevel was a big ass set of horns (a cleat looking thing), but stoutly attached and most often used in ground tackle arrangements.

It depends on how much hawse will be exposed after mounted to the boat. Those hawses appear to be about 1.5" deep (can accommodate a 1.5" thick hull). This depth must also include the wooden kevel (hence why they're made from steel or bronze). Send me an email of the hawse dimensions (or manufacture and model number) and the total thickness of your mounting location and we'll see if they'll work for you.

Hickory is a good wood, though not particularly rot resistant. White oak is fairly rot resistant, but doesn't have the interlocking grain and is prone to checking, when exposed. I always recommend live oak for this type of thing. Live oak is the densest of all North American woods and has an interlocking grain, making splitting very difficult. It has moderate rot resistance too (as good as white oak). There are other choices too. I have some lovely live oak in my yard waiting for me to find a use for it. Give me a yell and I'll cut you off a hunk or two.

The metal plate I mentioned was for a stand alone mounting. The hawse will serve as a backing in your application.

Most wooden kevels were selected from a natural roots, crooks or bent limbs. These will be the strongest and prettiest if finished natural.

Because of the small nature of those hawses, you may not have enough "meat" available for wooden horns, that would be strong enough for real work. The key will be the gap between the mounting holes and the hawse. This is where the wooden piece will want to break under load.

Hey Jim,

When are you going to put all of these wonderful pictures up in a central location?

I've been using them to woo my wife into the idea that we just HAVE to build a boat.

hehe

Dave G.

Excellent idea David. Maybe Jim can setup a "Barnacle portal" with the numerous photos and images of the build so far. Maybe this will get me the motivation to finish up a web site I sort of tinkered with last year with Jim's help.

This would be a great place to point folks looking for ideas, possibilities and inspiration.