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Action Tiger builds sailboat. With epoxy!


Action Tiger

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I know what it means! It means....it means...it means...dang, I don't know what it means either. But mine is bigger, longer, better than yours.

 

I've got some good news, and some bad news. Bad news, Summer Breeze is going to her new home. But good news, Summer Breeze is going to her new home. Now i can afford another project. Whadaya think I outa build?

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I’m devastated and relieved. And still coming! :)

 

Honestly, build a duck punt. They are hilarious fun. Big old canoey thing, but you can sail it.

Couple sheets of 6mm ply and an optimist rig. The foils are the steering oar.

 

Good for quick trips, small enough to wrassle, big enough for you and your Dearest together, and lots of room for turkles. You can row or paddle them.

 

You can build it with fillets or chines and frames, so any itch can be scratched, build wise.

 

Me? We’re building a flattie skiff (to take the dog, she likes her primary stability, and at 130 pounds, we need to respect where her weight goes in a boat:)) and three pirogues, one as a gift for a kid we know and got hooked on boats.

Then we’re going to go camp in the slough with them. Kid fun.

 

After that, I GOTTA get my wife’s Sneakeasy fixed up and running, or she’ll get mad. Luckily she likes the punts a bunch. :)

 

Peace,

Robert

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Or if you would prefer a powerboat make sure it is a 2-stroke because they're light, simple and easy to handle.  I just stumbled across this one and even though it is 4hp it only takes two people to lift it. :)

An added advantage of building a boat for a motor like this is that you won't be tempted to car-top it.ChapmanSuperPup.thumb.jpg.8154c83b1baf5dd25372bf44ee7809c8.jpg

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2 hours ago, Ken_Potts said:

Or if you would prefer a powerboat make sure it is a 2-stroke because they're light, simple and easy to handle.  I just stumbled across this one and even though it is 4hp it only takes two people to lift it. :)

An added advantage of building a boat for a motor like this is that you won't be tempted to car-top it.ChapmanSuperPup.thumb.jpg.8154c83b1baf5dd25372bf44ee7809c8.jpg

Oh,  I am INSANELY jealous. If I had that, I’d put it in a sterwheeler and disappear up some swampy arm of the Delta for weeks at a go...

Details, man, details! Please. :)

 

Peace,

Robert

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   That engine would probably feel quite at home on the Delta.  It's a 4-1/4 HP Chapman Super Pup, maybe from the 20's.  It came from a little boat that was used to fish for whitebait on a nearby estuary.  The engine was removed recently (in the last year, I think) because the owner decided to re-power with an outboard.  It's in running condition and it came with all the necessary parts. Not shown in the picture are the exhaust or the drive assembly which includes the original clutch, lever and bracket, the S/S prop shaft, the necessary bearings for the shaft and last but not least, the 12.5" bronze 3-bladed prop.  I didn't mention the gearbox because there isn't one.  It's a direct drive.

   I'm partial to a stern-wheeler myself (or even better, a side-wheeler) but I'll probably stick with the original prop when the engine eventually gets put into the boat that Chick is about to build for me (Thanks, Chick!) :)

   I like that the method of reversing the boat involves slowing the motor down until it is just about to stop and then grabbing the magneto and twisting it into another position so the engine will bounce off the compression stroke and run backwards.  Transmissions are for sissies! :)

   I'll post a couple of more pictures of the parts if you like but probably not today.  We've got the remnants of a cyclone going over so it's a bit wet outside at the moment.

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   Mister Wiki tells me that the propeller showed up in a marine context in 1775 (Turtle), but I think it was almost a hundred years before the propeller was more common than the stern wheel or side wheel.  There were a number of reasons that the prop became prominent but the most influential was probably cheap petroleum (read that "excess horsepower").

   Although I have a soft spot in my heart for the (arguably) more energy-efficient side wheeler, I realize that the stern wheelers had practical advantages in a rolling sea or in a river with a lot of debris.  I just like a side wheeler. :)

   I've read that the most successful blockade runners in the civil war were side wheelers due to their speed (efficiency) and quiet (at least in the case of a feathering wheel).  A paddle wheel of either type wouldn't long survive first contact with the enemy, though, and wasn't it about 1865 when props overtook wheels in popularity?  Props are nicely protected from enemy fire by being entirely below the waterline and the increasing power of engines at the time would ease the pain of less-efficient propulsion.  I don't know if it's correct but it sounds sensible to me.

   Either way, sign me up for Tiger's stern-wheel Delta force! :) I've been on a few steam-powered stern wheelers and the combination of silent engine and the swish swish swish of the wheel is a lovely thing (as is the Delta).  Not that my new (old) two-stroke motor will be silent - I'm a little anxious about how this motor is going to sound with the exhaust hooked up (with no exhaust it's like death-by-fireworks).  I'm hoping for something like "tuk-tuk-tuk-tuk-tuk-tuk" instead of "BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG" :) If it's too loud I'll have to pass it along to someone who will love it for what it is.

   Sorry for my rambling, but it's still raining (ex-cyclone) and we're smack in the middle of the dry season (I should be on the boat but I'm typing instead).  The dog is quite bored, too, as she's too precious to walk in close proximity to precipitation.  Actually, the rain was well-timed to stop a bush fire that was dropping ashes on our house (and threatening the homes of others ~20-30k from here).  We weren't in danger but there are likely some people up in the hills who are breathing a sigh of relief with this unusually North-Carolina-Like summer weather.

   As soon as the rain stops I'm going sailing.

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Dang Tiger, why doncha build a few more boats? You are one ambitious feller! I do hope you can find time to make the trip over! I should talk. I've gotta renovate the 18 ft. Starcraft aluminum boat that I bought as a family boat last summer. Build a one place canoe to mess about in. A small "super dink" type boat to run my 1947 10 hp Mercury on. And, of coarse, my mini-cruiser. Oh, yeah. I have plans for a B&B Catspaw dink that would be fun to mess about in on one of the closer, but smaller, lakes around here.

 

Ken, I'd have to figure a way to attach that to an outboard "leg". Something within me just couldn't have an inboard with me in my little boat.

 

Here is kinda what I have in mind for my mountain mini-cruiser. I like the general idea, but couldn't live with the vertical sides and generally ugly hull shape. The construction methods indicated in the plan are pretty poor, too. (I printed off the free plans a few months ago.) I'd like to get started when it warms up in the spring---but I gotta convince Miss Debbie that we really NEED this boat. This will be the first non B&B boat that I've  built in MANY years!  http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/14/designs/searover/index.htm#.Wly3_3lOnIU

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Man.

 

Ken, I would LOVE to talk paddlewheelers with you. We can even get into feathering wheels and independent drive (side or sternwheel). We can talk about how easy the drivelines are to build (hard to build a good prop at home for most) and maintain, and how superior they are in shallow, weed-choked water, especially filled with bars, which the sternwheel especially excels at backing off.

 

But, man I ain’t gonna defend every word and idea I have.

 

I like dumb, unpopular things, and though I like to share, I’ve had enough of justifying myself and my every decision.

 

Your motor looks amazing. I’d love to own somesuch. Enjoy it.

 

Peace,

Robert

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HEY Y'ALL, look what I ran across!!! It was on the Wooden Boat Forum.

Default Re: Phil Bolger consensus?

Can't remember the publication but Bolger used to have a design thoughts column featuring what he called "cartoons" - rough ideas sketched in response to various suggestions. And some he built. And some failed amusingly. Someone wanted a planing paddle wheeler. So Bolger and Dynamite Payson thought it through and built a sort of scow box with paddle wheel. The paddle wheel took a few evolutions before they hit on making it like a barrel so that it would not pick up so much water. They may have also thought about articulating the paddle blades, or maybe that was my own nutso idea reading it. Can't remember. Anyway, that helped but it still really dug its own hole in the water, just would not plane. So they added a canard out front. And that worked great. Till they hit the small wave of another boat's wake and the canard collapsed under them.

What I most admired about the piece with the full out gusto with which Bolger enjoyed his failure. Not just open mind . . . fun with boats.

I think he'd have enjoyed seeing me at twelve. My swamp-boy buddy and I found a floating telephone pole we played about with, eventually nailing some 2x4's at right angles to the pole so we could stand and do a lumberjack log roll, thus propelling ourselves about half way across Port Jefferson harbor before police boat put a stop to our nautical adventure.
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8 hours ago, Action Tiger said:

Ken, I would LOVE to talk paddlewheelers with you

   Well hopefully (maybe) I'll be driving past your place on a road trip in the next year or so.  My wife would like to see more of the U.S. and I'd like to see more purple boats.

   I think she just likes the funny accents.

   Chick, the Chapman motor has a 6 or 7 foot drive shaft on it.  If you had a strong enough transom you could rig it up like one of those long-tail outboard motors you see in pictures of exotic faraway lands like Thailand and Florida.  You might need a little ballast in the bow, though.

   I think we've managed to completely, irrevocably, hijack Tiger's thread now.  I'd apologize but I'm hoping he's enjoying it. :)

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38 minutes ago, Ken_Potts said:

   Well hopefully (maybe) I'll be driving past your place on a road trip in the next year or so.  My wife would like to see more of the U.S. and I'd like to see more purple boats.

   I think she just likes the funny accents.

   Chick, the Chapman motor has a 6 or 7 foot drive shaft on it.  If you had a strong enough transom you could rig it up like one of those long-tail outboard motors you see in pictures of exotic faraway lands like Thailand and Florida.  You might need a little ballast in the bow, though.

   I think we've managed to completely, irrevocably, hijack Tiger's thread now.  I'd apologize but I'm hoping he's enjoying it. :)

Ken,

There are several boats here, all at your disposal, Friend. Maybe even the Sneakeasy by then...:)

Also, I can direct you guys to some absolutely unique and off the beaten path things to see around here.

I know, for example, of a grove of nearly 300 sequoias nearby that get practically no visitors.

Or the deepest canyon in the contiguous U.S. With the craziest river running through it comprised of the entire spectrum of blues and clears water is capable of.

 

Hijack. What’s that?

 

Peace,

Robert

 

P.S. The sailing canoe in my avatar is being converted to a hand powered side wheeler. Really. ;)

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12 hours ago, Action Tiger said:

......long-tail outboard motors you see in pictures of exotic faraway lands like Thailand and Florida. 

Gosh, the only long tails I remember from Florida were attached to the gators. We had to sometimes dodge them when racing outboards down there.

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Trouble is, the grown up mommas guard the little ones for several months after they are hatched. An adult gator can outrun a man, or a horse, for a short distance on land! Thank God that he protects fools and kids from themselves! I'm glad that momma didn't take ME home for a pet!

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https://youtu.be/PjzZmbdxJnE

This is a link to the birb thing my kids showed me. Where I got American Death Log. Hehe.

 

Olderst Son and I have held a gator. A “tame” one raised in captivity, as it were, but a gator nonetheless. Those things are snakes with stumpy legs. That body is pure muscle.

 

Whoo! 

 

I think theyre pretty, too. And the babies is SOOO cute!

 

Peace,

Robert

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