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Core Sound 15 #162 — Building the “Norma T”


PadrePoint

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I like to support Franks... it’s a good old time hardware store. You oughta see their back room; it’s a treasure. I’ve manage to get all kinds of weird things not available elsewhere. ?
I don’t buy much of their their big stuff, mostly parts or specific tools like a drill bit or tap.  I’m happy to drop 25 or 30 cents apiece for a few screws. 
https://frankshardware.doitbest.com/

 

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I love the name "Norma T".   Wonderful tribute to your Mom.  My sister passed 3 months ago.  She always said she wanted her ashes dropped from a plane over a lake.  Her ashes are watching over my S12 build.  I think she would love my modification of "from a sailboat" rather than a plane.

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J Cote,

I’ve enjoyed reading your thread and questions... helpful. 
PadrePoint, what paint type & color did you select? 
I used my brother-in-law’s suggestion of Interlux Brightside. I went with the Fire Red color.  (I just did not want to deal with two part paint.)

My mom became increasingly excited with our naming the boat after her and would frequently ask what I was doing on it each day.  She saw nothing (blind) so she needed to imagine what it looked like. She liked the image she had conjured up.  ?

 

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Week 12 — Day 50: Little Stuff but I’ll Launch Tomorrow 

 

Most everything is done on the boat and much of the rigging is set to receive sails. I added a couple center rollers to the trailer, started to make new mast cradles for trailering and storing, and did a variety of finish-up stuff, including a bit of paint touch-up.  The hatch covers were made to fit better and need to be painted again before installing them with hinges. 
 

AND, Tomorrow I will put the boat into the water without masts or sails (the sails are still in the 4-6 week pipeline.)  I will motor around with the “shiny new motor” that my mom bought for the Norma T and that will be quite satisfying, I’m sure.  I ordered a removable motor mount from Duckworks, but they are out of stock; perhaps a wait of 4-6 weeks. I will mount the Honda 2.3 hp to the transom on a couple padded pieces of 1/2 inch ply for now.  The registration numbers will be placed on the boat in the morning to make things legal (and I will pick up the required boating equipment.)
 

Tomorrow will give me a chance to begin figuring how best to launch from the trailer and place it back onto the trailer. I don’t know if I’ll need guide-ons for the sides but I’m guessing I will add them.  I’m just a few miles from a good sized lake/river... The Wisconsin River comes through Stevens Point and backs up about 15 miles from the dam.  This section of river provides plenty of interesting water for some easy cruising about. 
 

 

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My wife and daughter placed the registration numbers for me today. 

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I began making some beefier mast cradles than I’d made earlier (they’ll be finished up in a while... and I’ll make a third for the transom.)

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And now I’m set to take the Norma T for its first dip into water (the Wisconsin River in Stevens Point.)
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Success!!  ?

 

Today’s goals were to experience getting the boat off and back onto the trailer, what the boat is like on water, and how the motor moves the boat. (Next time, I’ll use the tiller/rudder with the motor to  let me sit in the middle of the boat.)  I was quite satisfied with everything today!

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(I don’t know if the little video works.)
 

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(For some reason, I CANNOT eliminate this duplicate photo from this post... so, it’s at the end.)

 

D9B3F952-1C95-46C8-B851-A7739F7DD523.jpeg

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  • 3 weeks later...

I did a lot of little things today.

 

First, my wife gave me a little shot of us motoring around the pond that is just down the block from us. 
FD3E97FF-6897-4276-BD1F-A6D5DE3345E2.png.d3389e4057e6c84fa6aa5dd15af8712c.png
 

FINALLY, the hatches are done.

I must admit, of all the tasks of this boat project,  the hatch rings and hatch covers were the most irritating and frustrating.  I found them hard to assemble and ended up with a couple permanent small errors... eventually getting them to fit together reasonably. My attempt to fiberglass the hatch covers was a total failure.  I decided to just tear off the glass, about the time it was just starting to harden, because it looked like such an awful glassing job (resulting in some substantial sanding to smooth things.for a restart.)  The covers always seemed to be in the way as they waited for coatings or installation.  As my final coat of paint was curing my knee bumped into my little saw-horse-like stand holding both hatch covers, knocking them to the floor. One only had a few paint dings but the other landed upside down in sawdust and sand, thus covering the hatch’s entire topside with “non-skid” materials. After exclaiming stuff ? for a bit, I just got to thinking, “ya know... it kinda figures... it’s a hatch cover.” 

They were repainted as needed and installed today with gasket material to make the underseat storage compartments water-tight... at least I THINK so. ?

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BFB5E084-2243-459B-B555-1B7948DD4A89.jpeg.df9bf39edc2dcb33a4244562d2c0b8d8.jpeg(I think the latches are more vertical than it appears in this image.)

 

With the turnbuckles placed, I put gasket material around the forward hatch ring making it water-tight as well. 
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I have all three mast holders coated with epoxy and varnish... and installed. They are holding the masts straight and firmly enough for road trailering (I will use some strong tie-downs at the holders.)

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The motor mount receive some reinforcement on the transom at the lower of the three anchor points. 
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I finished a tie-down system that firmly snugs the boat to the trailer. A couple ratchet/straps are attached to the removable tie-down board. 
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I started to install the oarlocks and will finish this soon. I don’t think I need them raised above the side-deck surface.

image.thumb.jpg.3c6677d8e52e721a5f97bbc7b9bc3ddf.jpg
 

I put a couple tarps into place to see how they fit over the masts and boat. (I need to use some tie-downs for the tarps when storing.)

image.thumb.jpg.31b6e2d59ce9a709e762e13794846e1a.jpg

 

The boat will live in this clear spot on the side of the house...and likely starting this week... then...image.thumb.jpg.68764ece0202ac3b8936f63b608112bd.jpg


image.thumb.jpg.2c6ed4e98ae57cc1bea4ffc573cda531.jpg
my wife can will be able to bring her car back into the garage. ?


Once I get the sails I can finish the rigging, place the B&B Yacht emblem onto each aft side, and learn what it is like to sail the Norma T. 
?

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I parked the Norma T in its new place alongside the house. The garage can now be put back together. Now I need to finish devising a way to adequately tie down the tarps while addressing the cautions raised in recent comments.  I also need to outsmart our chipmunks that always look for secret places to hide their seed and nut stashes. My shed is always a target. The 30 hp motor that was stored a few years in the area beside the house was filled with chipmunk treasures when I started working on it last year, even inside the exhaust housing.  I was impressed by the little critters’ capacity to get into stuff. In spite of the cleaning my son and I did on the motor, all kinds of seeds and acorns floated to the top of the water we used when attempting to start it. I will TRY to make Norma T impervious to chipmunks... yeah, right. 

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I will keep playing around with tie downs, seeking a combination that makes a good tent shape to keep rain (and water from my lawn’s sprinkler system) from pooling, that keeps the tarps off the sides of the boat (except the stainless rub rail,) and that provides enough ventilation.  I decided to take up PAR’s suggestion of using weights to hold things down... but what kind of weights?  I found 1 foot flat blocks (very cheap), drilled a hole in the middle, and ran a rope loop through the holes for anchoring points. When I decide the configuration I want to use that does the job and is quickly connected, I can sink the blocks enough to be flush to the ground.

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Like most of the sub-tasks of a project that are new to me (as in this big project and others that I’ve not done in the past) there is always a combination of “how am I going to do this step?”... to consideration of various ideas and creative solutions... to sometimes seeking my wife’s ideas (she comes up with great solutions sometimes)... to thinking of why some possibilities wouldn’t work well... to finally landing on an approach that usually works once I actually carry out the plan (with occasional mid-stream changes or innovations.)  It’s a combination of bewilderment, anxiety, creativity, frustration (with expressive words???), occasional setback, and satisfaction... usually it is the satisfaction that endures. 

 

*********************************************

 

The building of the CS15 from a full kit has been VERY satisfying for me. And, I met my goal of having a usable boat by the time of “Gramma Camp,” which starts tomorrow (our three grandkids join us... aged 7, 5, and 4.)  I don’t have sails yet (hopefully they will be made soon) but motoring around on the pond down the street or the Wisconsin River will be sufficient for this year‘s Gramma Camp. All my kids are looking forward to sailing the Norma T and the boat will be part of our family for many years. 
 

I state again the appreciation I have for the helpful guidance and support offered by Graham, Alan, and this forum.  The kit I purchased was expertly crafted, fairly priced, and it came together very well. I had everything I needed without excess stuff. I used a half gallon more epoxy than provided with the kit, but I call that being right on (I think having an extra half gallon of epoxy around will be very useful.)  I have and will continue to offer recommendations to people that they check out B&B Yachts if thinking about a boat-build project. 

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It was an all-day job to “convert” the garage back from its “workshop” months. It was great to have the space available to build my boat. 
 

Moved everything outside, put the tools and supplies away, found places for left-over wood (not very much), used the leaf-blower to blow off everything and shoot the dust out the door, laid out the car’s floor mat, and then set up the “stable” half of the garage for 3 electric bikes and 3 motorcycles. 
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3724E261-B2DE-4170-AE7F-169BCF25D33F.jpeg.b0549e0c80a722619c93d58f6147cb2d.jpeg

 

My wife’s car is finally back in it’s place. 
7BFBCD21-0DC8-46E6-9B94-691FC1C639FD.jpeg.9cb9b5cb267d2f7604c1373ebd72cae0.jpeg


Now... what to do???

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1 hour ago, PadrePoint said:

It was an all-day job to “convert” the garage back from its “workshop” months. It was great to have the space available to build my boat. 
 

Moved everything outside, put the tools and supplies away, found places for left-over wood (not very much), used the leaf-blower to blow off everything and shoot the dust out the door, laid out the car’s floor mat, and then set up the “stable” half of the garage for 3 electric bikes and 3 motorcycles. 
B8288420-215A-468F-B84E-39EED2360186.jpeg.573b80e40d8ee238bbf68b4e34d9e1f5.jpeg

 

3724E261-B2DE-4170-AE7F-169BCF25D33F.jpeg.b0549e0c80a722619c93d58f6147cb2d.jpeg

 

My wife’s car is finally back in it’s place. 
7BFBCD21-0DC8-46E6-9B94-691FC1C639FD.jpeg.9cb9b5cb267d2f7604c1373ebd72cae0.jpeg


Now... what to do???

Empty the garage out and start building the next one?

Cheers

Peter HK

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