Sandra's Larsonion Latin and the great Ook

Dear Sandra, (RE: "A New Year's Cruise")

A couple of minutes with my Cassell's Latin Dictionary (remember books?) suggests that fear of rough cold sea water might be"aguamarinahorridusfrigasphobia". I know it doesn't roll off the tongue like "luposlipaphobia", but I see a hint that the old road builders might have shared your dislike.

My wife's and my standard of innovation is Larson's bright Neanderthal who instead of burning his fingers with the rest of the tribe cooking mastodon steaks put his on a stick to cook. Hence the victorious cry,"Look what Ook do!"

All the best,

Tim Ferguson
building the trimaran Polka Duck in
Thetford, Vermont

Dianne's Rose

Chuck, What an amazing job Roy Schreyer did on his shantyboat, Dianne's Rose. I really enjoyed the article today. What a beautiful boat! Great article, Thanks. Paul Cook

Jukebox 3

Hi Chuck

Did not know whether to send this to you or Mike. Thanks to you and Jim Michak I have finished my Jukebox 3 build. Don't like computers so don't work with them very well.

Build was done away from home and building was sold before I could paint. Have been unable to post direct link for Email. Included Is my Flicker account. Due to family difficulties and ill health have not been able to work on her. Waiting for weather to break.

Hope to take her to Rend Lake

Eugene, Port of Catoosa

Sundowner Progress-Graeme Samson-Whangarei

I get some really nice emails from people building my boats, and to see their work as the projects progress is one of the better parts of this job. Graeme Samson here in New Zealand is working away steadily on a little ocean voyager and is making a very nice job of it, Turnover time cant be too far away and I'm thinking that I should go up and visit shortly after. In the meantime, I'm encouraging him to send in progress pics when he's able. Big project, but what a boat.
John Welsford

Progress on my Sundowner.

2nd Skin all in place, Preliminary trimming and sanding done. Into sanding boards and final fairing process now. Hull is pretty fair, just the inevitable little Ripplys here and there. Tentative name – GIMLY After the leader of the dwarfs in LOR. Hope that is how the bow area Is meant to look. Was the only way to fair the planking into the bow? Boy is she (he) strong! He's developing into a great boat. Solid as. Also with great things, he is quite a solid bit of work.

I had Tony in Tauranga make a suit of sails (cutter rig as per plan) for me last year. They are Tan Bark. A great suit of sails. Have glued up North American Douglas fir for boom and gaff and Have DF timbers ready to glue together for mast. Have built the rudder and tiller.(they reside in my living room-ornamental furniture) Rudder cheeks in Teak with Plugs over the screws. All Oiled, looks great.

Will finish him in more traditional style. (Cream white hull with Green or Blue between sheer and rubbing strake). My WW1 RN Grandfather would approve. I have been reading Brian Toss's book plus bought his DVD on splicing, so will try traditional Galv. Wire rigging, serving and parcelling etc. With the bolsters on the mast etc. Looks like a very reliable system. Had enough of things going "ping" on aluminium rigs over the years. Should be good fun.

The hull has been planked in NZ Medium H3 Kauri, from stock I have had for over 20 years. However the strakes were only 70 mm wide, hence lots of strakes. He is all bronze fastened, decided the extra cost was worth it. Still, lots and lots more work to do before launching day.

Regards
Graeme Samson

Thanks for those Graeme, she's looking good. That hull is the best looking one I've seen so far, you've done well. I'm looking forward to seeing more as "He" progresses.

John Welsford

Mia 15

Hi Chuck

New Design - Mia 15

Just to let you and all the Duckworks Magazine readers know, My new design, Mia 15 is available here.

It's a 15' version of Mia, my 12' runabout design. To date Mia has been my most popular design and I'm hoping that the 15' version will be even more popular.

Best wishes
Andrew Walters

Deckplates

Funniest use you'll ever see for one of your deck plates. I got this from you. Need another one will call. Thanks, Walt

Saugatuck Wooden Boats

Chuck,

Hi. I am writing to ask to have a link to Sauagtuck Wooden Boat included on your links page. My Riverwalker  houseboat, "Darwin", was featured in your slpash section a few years ago and I'm now offering site-seeing tours aboard it as well as building and restoring boats.  Details follow.

Sincerely,
Christopher Carr

Saugatuck Wooden Boat
PO Box 204
Saugatuck, MI 49453

269-599-3064

www.SaugatuckWoodenBoatCruises.com

Building and restoring wooden boats as well as offering river cruises at Saugatuck, MI.

Video Problems

In all honesty, I gotta admit to having the same trouble since TSBB went 'new school' and switched their programming.

I confess I'm at a loss to understand this but hoped you might know something about that?  I run IE Explorer version 11.0 ad infinitum.  I won't feel badly if you dunno, 'cuz I dunno. 

You're doing a great job, kid!

Rich

Rich: it seems to be a problem that IE is having with an update. You can read more here. The recommendation is to use Chrome or Firefox as your browser when viewing videos.

Blog Roundup

I love the Blog Roundup. What a great resource! Please pass my thanks along to Tom Henry. I'm sure that took a bit of work to put together.

Paul Cook

Florida Gulf Coast Small Craft Festival - 18-20 April, 2014

The Annual Florida Gulf Coast Small Craft Festival will once again be held at the Sarasota Sailing Squadron. Please note, this year there are no other major events scheduled on Squadron grounds during this weekend. While many participants enjoyed the vibrancy of our little club last year there were some parking issues. We took this in to account when putting together our 2014 calendar.

Come for a casual dinner Friday night as participants arrive. Food may be potluck (kitchen available) or from the Sarasota Sailing Squadron Grill. This will be a cash grill with hamburgers, hot dogs, sausage, etc…

Saturday will be the mess-about on Sarasota Bay, our protected "lagoon" and the mooring field adjacent to the Squadron. Please anticipate speakers and some music. A Squadron provided dinner will be available for a nominal ticket price. Amenities available at the Squadron include camping, limited RV options, clubhouse, bar with snack foods, large porches and meeting pavilions. There are plenty of launching options including beaches, ramps and a hoist.

Registration is free but required so Squadron management can designate a location for your craft.

The Sarasota Sailing Squadron is in Ken Thompson Park on City Island – near the north end of Lido Key. For more information on our facility, go to www.sarasotasailingsquadron.org or call 941-388-2355.

David Jennings
P: 941-650-7354 F: 941-866-1061
David.Jennings@FloridaMoves.com

Website Update

Hi Chuck I've recently updated my website, my boat designs are featured on it here.

https://andrewwaltersdesign.com/

Best wishes
Andrew Walters

Sad News

Hello friends,

I am the bearer of sad news, our wonderful brave father Mark Steele passed away yesterday the 27th March at around 5.15 p.m. at North Shore Hospital. While his terminal illness meant that this was not unexpected, complications arose causing him to go into a steep and irrevocable decline over the previous 48 hours. You were amongst his large and loyal group of friends and he was extremely particular that I should notify you in short order.

His funeral will take place on Monday 31st March at 11.00 a.m. St Joseph's Church, Taharoto Rd, Takapuna, Auckland and this will be followed by a private cremation.

Dad appreciated your friendship and support, and as a family we thank you for being a part of his life and times.

May God rest his soul.

Sincerely
Tim Steele
(Mark's son)
On behalf of:
Mark Steele's family

Rudder Boat Plans

Dear Sir,

You might be able to help me. I'm researching boat plans that were included in the Rudder Mag in the 1930's. Can you tell me were full size layout patterns available to purchase at the time, or did the boat builder make their own, or simply use the measurements given in the "tables of offsets"and apply them to the actual plywood or timbers?

Many Thanks,
Ronan

We passed this question on to our friend and boat building historian, John Kohnen - his comments appear below:

Ronan & Chuck-

There were no full-size patterns to be had back in the '30s. Full-size paper patterns are a "snare and a delusion" anyway, as my boatbuilder friend John McCallum puts it. More trouble than they're worth, because the paper stretches, shrinks and changes shape. It's much more accurate to lay out pieces directly on the wood from measurements. I gave up the only time I tried full size patterns after I discovered that an important line on one paper pattern that I KNEW was supposed to be straight had a significant curve in it! <sigh>

Almost all of the plans in those old Rudders don't give any measurements for the pieces of the boat. The table of offsets is used to draw the lines of the boat full-size, "lofting," and then you can use the "laid down" lines to make patterns and parts, and to find bevels. The measurements in the table of offsets were taken by hand from a scale drawing, so can't be trusted to to scale up accurately. When you loft, or "lay down," the lines full size you correct any errors. You need to loft everything but the simplest boats in those old Rudders, but it's kinda fun anyway.

An excellent, and inexpensive, book is "Lofting" by Allan H. Vaitses.

Nowadays most designers use computer design programs that can check the fairness of a boat's lines using mathematical algorithms. Then they can get measurements for the individual parts from the drawings without lofting. Some folks use the table of offsets from old plans to get the lines into computer design programs, and then fair them up electronically. There's a program called FreeShip! that's pretty good, and free. It's got a steep learning curve that I haven't climbed yet:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/freeship/

You can practice lofting in any 2D CAD program. It's hard to tell a really fair line on a computer screen, but you'll figure out what's involved in the process. If your CAD program has a selection of curved line types (bezier, spline), and the boat you're drawing is small and simple, you might even end up with a useful electronic lofting that can be used to build the boat, but you might end up having to make adjustments as you build it.

John