Lapwing #4

[Joel B]

Tom

John was really cool about the whole thing and really proud of his boat.  I think we are going to our on it in the next couple of weeks.  He says he is planning another Baja trip in September. 

Here is his e-mail    sperry@biology.utah.edu

[Richard Whitney CS#70]

A bit more progress this weekend.  I have squared everything up and filleted and taped the joints between the bulkheads and the side seat sides.  This will firm up the structure to be ready to start laying strakes.

While the epoxy is drying I can do a little work on the steel sting guitar I am building (I can get away with the Titebond here)

[Richard Whitney CS#70]

I am doing some projects I would normally wait until later for.  One of these is making hatch channels.  This is something I did not do well on my CS17 - so I want to get it right this time.  The plans for these are excellent - but getting everything level and square takes some attention to detail (closer to guitar building then my usual boat building standard).

I drew up a template on a sheet of paper to sit everything on when doing the final glueing to make sure everything is square and level.

[Richard Whitney CS#70]

The other thing I have been doing is to set up the mast sections to fit together.  I am using a base and mid section as close to the dimensions and alloy as I could find.  The mast tips are second hand windsurfing mast bases - the mizzen is fibreglass (red) and the main is carbon/fibreglass (black).  I will prime everything and paint it white.  The next step is to attach sail track.

[Richard Whitney CS#70]

Hi Tom and Graham

I am planning ahead for when I start doing the strakes.  If I don't have a lot of mechanical clamps do you think it is worth the effort to cut a set of ply wood clamps like the ones you used Tom.  If so what dimensions would you recommend.  Thanks

Richard

[Tom Lathrop]

Richard,

Yes, these scrap clamps are a real asset to laying up the strakes.  I gave my clamps to Graham to do the kit Lapwing.  Hard to have too many.  Perhaps he will come on and give dimensions or photos but you can do this yourself from the plans cross section.  They were about 4 to 5 inches wide and of various lengths to work on the different width strakes.  The cutout is wide enough to fit over the lapped strakes, the stringer plus a gap to fit in a wedge.  Nothing critical and you can wait until you need them to figure this out.  After you do the garboard and second strake, the clamps needed are of shorter length.  There may be a photo of the clamps in use on  the old Lapwing thread.

[sscoville]

Richard, those aren't mahogany saw horses in your photos, are they? ;D

[Richard Whitney CS#70]

The saw horses are kwila - a tropical hard wood from Fiji used for decking timber here- when on special over the summer it is cheaper than pine (our cheapest timber here).  On of the down sides of it for anything other then decking is it bleeds and stains other wood around it.

[Richard Whitney CS#70]

A little more progress.  Have completed the centreboard and done most of the shaping on it.  Have also completed to of the hatch channels and the rudder is ready to glue up.

Last weekend I didn't get anything done - instead went sailing on the shortest day here.  It was cold and crisp but a lovely day with a 15 knot breeze.  Went out on a friends 26ft keelboat.  It was my job to roll my pants up to launch the tender off the beach (too cold to go swimming).

I am getting quotes for my sails this week as there is a little saving getting sails made in the winter when the sail makers are slow.  Tom - if you read this I would be interested in a rough idea of how much your sails were (just to check if it would be cheaper to source them through Graham)

[Tom Lathrop]

Richard,

Graham gets the sails in an unfinished state and does a couple of the final bits himself.  I don't remember how much mine cost.  I try not to remember some of that stuff.  You may get a better price from your local sources because of all the shipping charges in getting his sails to you.  You should ask him.

That lifting arm on the centerboard take a lot of load sometimes and needs to be very strong as well as the joint to the board.  As much as I dislike adding weight to a small sailboat, I am thinking about adding some ballast to my CB to make it sink.  Having the CB pop up when the hold down line is not fixed properly is annoying, especially if you don't notice it.

[Richard Whitney CS#70]

I have been working on masts, rudder, centerboard etc over the last couple of weekends.

I have etch primed the aluminum sections of the masts and riveted the mast track.  You can see I have used an aluminum section that has an internal track that takes oval slugs (which are attached to the sail).  It is impossible to get a conventional rivet gun to go inside the groove.  Luckily the place that sold me the track had a special fitting that went on the end of their pneumatic rivet gun and allowed me to come in at the end of a day and 'shoot' rivets using their gear.  So now both mast have the track (all on piece) in place and read to paint and put fittings on.

[John Turpin]

Beautiful work, Richard. Hopefully, my Lapwing plans will arrive next week.

[Howard]

Richard:

The only sure way I know of to get on the wrong side of an Australian or Kiwi is to suggest they might be British.  ;D

Over here, there remains some question about the character of Yankee's, usually expressed by someone living in one of the southern states. It's a heritage thing, leftover from a war somebody once fought, and reinforced every time someone from New York City visits the south.  :

[Tom Lathrop]

Not to worry Richard.  Most of us on both sides of the North/South line have gotten over the serious divisions of the past.  Some of the old angers still linger with die-hards on both sides.  As a Southerner, we are fortunate that the supporters of the union won that war.  The alternative is unthinkable.

My town and the area nearby have been inundated with transplants from other places, mainly NY and NJ.  Most of these folk are good neighbors even though we sometimes feel like the token southerners at parties.  The local definition of Yankee is them who live up yonder.  Damn Yankees are those who come down here.  G## Damn Yankees are those who move in.  All in fun Ray ;D ;D

[Richard Whitney CS#70]

Picked up sails today (a little cheaper to get them made in winter over here - hence getting them done now).  The main and mizzen are cream.  Exciting so get them.  Incentive to get on with the building.  Photos are of the stays'l and the mizzen.

Tom - I was curious on your foredeck you have some fairlead made of wood - do they just have 'hole' leading halyards etc aft or do you have sheaves in them?

[Tom Lathrop]

The fairleads have epoxy bushings.  I tinted the epoxy black for appearance as well as UV protection.  Holes are drilled to line up with axis of the lines.  I made them for both port as starboard for symmetry.  They were also to work with the coaming to deflect water over the deck away from the crew's backside.  So far, Lapwing has proven to be a pretty dry boat.

[Richard Whitney CS#70]

Took a leap of faith today (with some tuition from Graham and some reading) and cut my first strakes today.  Started with the Garboard which is fairly straight forward as it has a straight line along the keel.  The only bit I am unsure of is how to finish it off at the bow.

Graham had the measurement for strake 2 - so I am going to cut those, tack them in place and use them to work out how to finish off the bow end of the garboards.

Any hints or pictures Tom of where you garboards finished at the bow.  From your experience do you thing the strategy I am planing to use should work.

I have been playing around with a spiling board to take measurement off the boat.  Think I have the basic idea.  The is a picture below with the marks you make with a compass - you then put the spiling board on your flat stock and put the point of you compass on one of the arcs on your spiling board and draw and arc on your stock.  You then put the compass point on a different part of the arc on your spiling board and make another arc on your stock.  Where the two arcs cross on your stock corresponds to the point on the boat you were locating.

[Peter HK]

Hi Richard

You might find these links helpful:

http://barrettfaneuf.livejournal.com/3348.html#cutid1

http://barrettfaneuf.livejournal.com/3641.html

Different boat but a nice pictorial essay on lapstrake boatbuilding- especially spiling and gains.

(Barrett did a similar series when she built a Welsford Navigator a few years earlier)

Cheers

Peter HK

[Richard Whitney CS#70]

Thanks for that Peter

[Tom Lathrop]

Richard,

I don't think the way I built Lapwing translates directly to the kit build.  I will have to let Graham answer details.  I assume he is offering some detail of the strake layouts. 

I made my strakes by roughly cutting half panels to fit over the stringers of the mold.  Then I fitted both on the mold and clamped in place with the middle overlapped.  Then I laid a straight edge along the middle and drew a registration line on both parts so that they could be aligned with a scarf to fit on the boat.  After scarfing, the strake was fitted on the mold and trimmed to final shape.  I then cut the gain at the bow and installed the strake.  There are a few more steps but I think the kit goes together quite differently.