Truck driving, lead casting, oak ripping
It was a good weekend with great work progress.
I had a day-off from work on Friday and took the opportunity to buy material in Rösättra Båtvarv.
I need to make new berths for Meritaten and the best mahogany plywood I found is in this luxury-yachts shipyard. Compared to sailor’s shops this plywood is of much better quality and at much better price. And it is close to my workshop so I don’t need to transport 2.5x1.2 meter sheets through whole Stockholm and 80km on the motorway.
I bought two sheets of 9mm plywood and got some big off-cuts of 12mm mahogany plywood from friendly cabinetmaker, as a bonus.
And since the weather was wet and windy the boatyard offered me their truck to drive the material to my workshop. Wow! Rosättra Båtvarv crew is really friendly and easy going! Maybe partially because I keep alive their boat (?) but in general people working here are my type of folks.
Since my workshop is just 3x3m floorspace I decided to cut the plywood to size as soon as possible.
I took my old berths for taking shape and then faced a problem how to efficiently cut these huge, beautiful plywood in confined space.
Luckily my poor-mans workbench is “modular” so I could remove some bits to make an opening in the bench and enable jigsaw cutting, with me sitting on top of the plywood.
As for the berths - last year I’ve made military-style berths which are basically bent, wooden frame with a lattice of nylon tape, forming semi-flexible sleeping surface. For added comfort they were padded with sleeping mat and then covered with fake-leather white vinyl. The idea was to have lightweight benches which are not affected by humidity and can be left in the boat during winter time.
That worked out but, unfortunately, these benches are not comfortable. My family complained and, honestly said, I am also not happy with them. Maybe it is the vinyl?
I’ve made them white (since I still had several meters after Motoko’s renovation) and it nicely lighten up the otherwise dark, mahogany and oak interior of Meritaten. However - this vinyl is easily distorted with sharp objects (like finger nails) and it gets stained easily while removing dirt is difficult. And sleeping on it is not pleasant.
I’ve decided to replace these berths again, this time with classic foam madrases. For easier storage and drying each berth will consist of three madrases. They will lie on plywood flooring, with many holes cut out for ventilation. The old berths will be probably changed into net-bags for sail storage or something similar.
Having cleared some space in the workshop I took the task of casting lead plugs for ballast keel openings where keel-bolt’s nuts are sitting.
That was an easy but little dangerous task. Lead was melted on small propane stove. To speed up the process I helped with handheld MAPP torch.
I started with smallest plug as a test run. I’ve made sure that plywood form is dry from any dew as this can cause melted lead exploding. The form was half-buried in gravel for stability and quicker heat dissipation. After the lead was in liquid form I poured it into form up to the determined level.
There was lots of smoke as the plywood caught fire but poured lead extinguished it instantly. Due to residue humidity in plywood the lead was bubbling rigorously, spreading bits around so I was happy to have thick leather gloves, gas mask and full-face rigid protection.
It took around 40 minutes before I could touch the solidified lead - in such volume it is indeed big thermal mass.
After opening the form one can see charred wood which protects it a bit from total damage.
The second and third plug, each bigger than predecessor, took the same route. The form could not take any more casting since after the third run it was already damaged too much.
The whole activity took around 3 hours and in the end I got all my lead moulded into nice 3 plugs which I can now shape to fit snuggly into ballast keel.
In the meantime I was squaring and shaping the big laminated frame which I’ll soon scarf to substitute the damaged frame on Meritaten. Hand-planing kept me warm during this cold day.
Then came a time for finishing cockpit floor joinery. Most of the work was already done, only one tricky joint was left. It happened that beams are joining on top of the extruding rod which holds main sail sheet’s cart and anchors it to cockpit structure. On port side this rod - which was galvanised steel - got so corroded that it fell of during cockpit dis-assembly. The one on starboard side remains in place as it was better protected from humidity so I needed to accommodate it somehow within the joint.
I will replace both of them anyhow as soon as ordered bronze bolts arrive from Toplicht.
I came out with this, little more complicated but still strong joint. It will accommodate both bolt and nut after I drill the opening in the beam.
Having the joinery done I took all parts for dry-fit on Meritaten.
To my great surprise all parts fit snuggly and most gaps in joints disappeared.
These gaps got me worried when I dry-fitted all parts in the workshop. I took careful measurements before cutting, on the boat. After cutting to the lines I had gaps but when fitting again on the boat there are no gaps! This is due to the fact that nothing on a boat is really square and main beams (running alongside the cockpit floors) are indeed little curved when screwed to the walls. If there are tiny gaps they will be anyhow filled with bedding compound (Farm 80 or 100).
Good to follow one’s measurements instead of blindly relying on square angles!
So then I took measurements for actual floor plates. I make them from 12mm mahogany plywood which I got from scraps. Not much is needed as I want to have big inspection openings - both for engine maintenance and for hull inspection. Otherwise there is no entrance to this part of the boat which caused me troubles before, requiring yoga-style gymnastics to access there.
I placed half-deck bits according to previous measurements against existing engine hatches.
Careful measurements take much time but are worth the effort.
After dis-assembly (again!) I took all bits to the workshop for routing the joints. While supporting beams are made from laminated oak the deck is plywood. I’ve decided to use router instead of chisels, as a quicker way.
After tons of dust settled and router finally finished its horrifying noise I took all parts (again!) to the boat for final check.
Surprise again - all fitted snuggly!
Before I take them home for epoxy-sealing I needed to cut openings for mounting cockpit draining.
Positioning of these pipes is pretty unfortunate since they appear on the front corners, close to main hatch. If I cut them close to the edge it will affect structural beams and weaken them. If I instead cut them further away they will be partially obscured with engine hatch, diminishing slightly their throughput in case of cockpit flooding.
Hard choice but I value more the cockpit integrity than, quite improbable, flooding so I moved the draining holes away from structural beams.
The main cut was made with 35mm routing drill, after clamping all parts tightly with some scrap pine plank to prevent burrs on the exit face. The holes will require further shaping as copper pipes - draining hardware - were hand formed and are not really regular.
It’s funny how just smell can tell you if you have drilled deep enough: while drilling in plywood one smells… well, plywood. After reaching pine plank there comes a strong smell of resin which tells that the hole is through.
While still on the boat I took measurements for replacement hinges for cockpit hatch. Again, I will replace the weak piano hinge - which also lets rain water to enter the bilge - with strong, through-screwed hinges and the gap will be closed with rubber sealer.
Back to the workshop again I could start ripping oak for making frame repairs. Steam-bent frames on Meritaten vary between 25x25 and 27x27mm so I planned ripping blocks of 30x30mm, to have some margins for final shaping.
Firstly - reading grain structure, to chose parts which are quarter-sawn.
Quick re-arrangement of workshop space to accommodate space for table saw and long planks. Heavy rain and wind outside did not make it easier really.
It took me a couple of hours and then it started to get dark. No further cutting today.
As a final activity I’ve cleaned from stain and buffed my chisels. All labels got removed in this process but now the wooden handles are smooth and pleasant to hold.
I’ve left them for a nigh in linseed oil so wood can become saturated.
