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Another Fairytale from Denmark
by Maarten Bijl
This year, Denmark is celebrating the 200 year anniversary of Hans Christian Andersen; in fact, the whole world is celebrating H.C. Andersens birthday, since his ambassadors have now been appointed as far away as Australia and Hong Kong.
I can tell you another fairytale from Denmark, that’s only 20 years old. It started in Aarhus, the largest town on the Danish mainland. I had been thinking about building a boat for many years and at that time I had some spare time and some money in the bank, so I decided that it’s now or never… inspired by an article I read about James Wharram and his cats.
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What now? Notice the bolts for beam attachments...
(click images for larger views) |
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Right beside the place where we lived, there was a bicycle rack, which nobody used, since everybody took their cycle home to their own shed. I used the metal hooks that where cast firmly down in some concrete, to make a stable strongback with some bulkheads. Since the hulls are symmetrical, I could use this to build both hulls.
On the road with the first hull |
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Hulls were built “traditionally” with stringers, 9 mm (millimeter) WBP ply, urethane glue and screws. I could have saved a lot of time had I known the “Stitch & glue” method back then. Hulls where dimensioned to minimum waste of plywood. The decks were of the same material (9mm Ply). Asymmetrical cabins where made of 6 mm ply. Beams were hollow and laminated together from cheap laths. The 9 meter mast and boom were also laminated hollow, so the ropes could run inside. Everything except the sails was hand made. Rigging was a traditional Bermuda-masthead rig. Except for the rear skegs and the flat hull sides, there where no leeboards. Each hull had a “deck” inside, about half way down, so 4 grown ups could easily cruise with her for several days.
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The first hull arrives at the fjord.. |
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Each hull was about 6 meters long, about 1.2 meter over deck and 1.2 meter high. Total beam of the boat, about 3.6 meters.
In the middle of the building process, we started thinking about, how nice it would be, to live by the water somewhere. But, although Aarhus is situated at the East sea coast, you have to be a millionaire to live by the water there. So we started to look for places where living by the water would be affordable, and ended up on this island called Mors, in the middle of the Limfjord (Translates to Glue fiord, since it glues the northern part of Jutland, to the mainland). We found a house with a big garden where you could run right through to the beach, for the same price that you could get a 2 room flat in Aarhus, and only 150 km between them!
On the road with the first hull |
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So, one fine summer day we loaded the hulls and all our belongings on an open truck and moved! The summer after we got the boat in the water, and a fine sailer she was, fast and easy to handle. She had one big problem though: It was impossible to tack with her, especially in hard wind, so you had to gybe her, but theres lots of room here, so that can be done.
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The finished boat at her anchor |
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The Limfjord consist of about 1500 sq. kilometers of water with 1000 kilometers of coastline. There are 24 harbors suitable for keel boats, but to visit the most beautiful places you need a shallow draft boat which is easily beach able, and here the cat is perfect.
Moored in Doverodde harbour...the cabin sides provide comfortable back support. |
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The spacious after deck. See the twin rudder arrangement... |
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The boys (8 and 9) can easily handle her…in light winds |
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No wind, so it's time for a swim... |
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Ready to beach near "Hanklit"...a heaven for geologists… |
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Construction:
The stringers are in place on the “mold” which only consists of 3 stations plus stem and stern fastening points. The stringers are fastened to the stations with small “corner” fittings, so I could crawl under the hull and unscrew it from the mold, when the plywood was on…. |
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A hedgehog (porcupine?) was examining the half finished hull, to see if this could become its future home…
“Can’t they make a proper doorway? I can’t get to my milk!”
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The first hull has been turned over. My wife is measuring the inside. “Are you sure there can be a double berth in there?”. |
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The captain to be, screwing down the after deck. You can see the polyurethane glue foaming out. All screws are screwed in by hand, the battery driven screwing drill had not been invented yet…. |
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The fastenings for the after beam are in place, you can see the bolts sticking through the after deck. The bolts go through a 10x20 centimeter, galvanized steel plate under deck, which in turn is fastened to a steel plate, going down the hull, to divide stress forces. Probably much too strong, but better safe than sorry! |
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The whole family around the partially finished first hull. You can see a butt block peaking through, and the plywood that needs to be trimmed of. |
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The half finished boat (2 hulls) are moving away from Aarhus. The crane lorry could not drive up in front of the house, so it had to stretch it’s long arm, over the garages to get a hold of the hulls. Luckily they where light! That’s the second floor of our house on the right….. |
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Amazing what a beautiful hull form you can get with bending just 3 pieces of plywood, and gluing/screwing them together! |
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