Bens Boatbuilding

Some pictures...

2011-09-17T08:59:00.001-04:00

I can't believe what a busy summer it has been! But... despite that I have been able to do some paddling in the SeaTour and sailing in the XCR. Some pictures:

Sea Tour skin removal:

starting to come out of the skin for the first time

skin off!

skin rolled

First test of the sail:

no wind... but the sail looks nice!

beautiful sunset over Lake Macatawa

...and some sailing in the XCR:

loving the new Balough 5M sail

Sara up front where she loves watching for waves

Sea Tour 17 EXP

2011-06-08T22:24:00.000-04:00

I've been falling behind with my blog posts, so I'll start by catching you up with my progress on my folding kayak. I would gauge my progress at about 90% complete. The frame and skin are complete, and I have had the boat out paddling a couple of times. But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself...

The cockpit coaming:
The coaming rim is made of two sections of 1/2" aluminum, the left and right halves. The rim is set above the skin, which is trimmed to match the inside of the rim. Next, multiple strips of PVC are glued to the skin and wrapped around the rim. This continues all the way around the rim with the front and back left unglued. Here is a pic of the progress part of the way through:

The openings at front and back are to enable the removal of the skin for folding.

That brings me to the next stage of construction, the deck zippers. I plan to install a full length zipper in the rear deck and a partial zipper on the front deck. These will allow removal of the skin as well as access to gear that is stored beyond my reach.

My final addition will be a Feathercraft K1 rudder. The rudder and foot controls will be installed after I put in the deck zippers so that I have access to the interior of the boat.

In the meantime... here are some pictures of the boat in use:

Halfwhacker 2011

2011-05-24T23:15:00.000-04:00

This past weekend, I participated in the "Halfwhacker" paddling event. This event is the first half of the 150 mile Bushwhacker, and annual event sponsored by the Verlen Kruger Memorial. The event begins in Lumberjack Park near Riverdale, MI on the Pine River. Many of the paddlers, including myself, camped by the river on Friday night before the race. We sat around a campfire swatting mosquitoes and telling paddling stories before finally heading to our tents. On Saturday morning, we all enjoyed an excellent pancake (and sausage, ham, egg, etc...) breakfast provided by Lumberjack Park, what a great way to start the day!

After breakfast, I finished packing up my stuff and got the boat in the water to prepare for the start. A new addition to the event this year was the Backwhacker, which is the Bushwhacker in reverse. We had a great idea to start the Backwhackers downstream of the Bushwhackers, which meant we would have to pass each other after the gun went off.

It sounds confusing, but it was a lot of fun! The first few miles went by quickly and the paddlers spread out. We encountered the first deadfalls fairly soon. The first few I could go over or under, but before long, I had to get out of the boat and drag around some large downed trees. This pattern continued for about 30 miles, until the backwaters of the Alma Dam.

The first portage is around the Alma Dam:

The put-in on the other side of the dam was not very boat friendly:

Fortunately, a friend of a fellow paddler was nearby and helped me carry the boat down to the water. The next few miles to the St Louis Dam were uneventful, I was very thankful that the deadfalls were finally gone! The only "obstacles" were some fairly low bridges which required me to lean all the way back when passing beneath them.

I portaged around the St Louis dam quickly and continued downstream. With the slightly greater current and lack of deadfalls, my speed was quite a bit faster than in the first half; I was able to keep the boat moving at about 5 to 6 mph for most of the duration. A highlight was Carl Cole greeting me from the Magrudder Rd bridge. Carl paddled the full Bushwhacker last year, but was only able to do the 10 mile Sprint this year. He let me know where some of the other paddlers were and offered some encouragement. A few miles later, I started to feel tired and was losing my energy. I ate and drank something, but what really kicked me into gear was a Starbucks Doubleshot. This provided the kick I needed to finish the push to the finish. Finally at about 9:30, I stopped and turned on my headlight, a 2 D-cell LED Maglite, which worked very well. I also had topo maps programmed into my GPS so I could anticipate the turns of the river, then pick them out with the light. I only hit a couple of rocks... Finally, at about 11:30pm I passed the Chippewa Nature Center River Overlook building. I was really close!

The "finish line" was the canoe launch, which I knew was a little ways past the confluence of the Pine and Chippewa Rivers. I picked my way very slowly down the right bank, but still almost missed it. I pulled the boat up and took a picture of the final stats:

The next surprise was when my phone rang, it was Emily. She had been watching my SPOT and decided to stay up and watch me finish. We chatted for a while while, then decided it was time to sleep. I set up my tent, turned over the boat and went to sleep after a long, exciting day.

Paddling in Holland

2011-05-07T21:28:00.000-04:00

After becoming involved with the planning of the Verlen Kruger Memorial paddling events, I decided to participate in the "Halfwhacker" which is the first 75 downstream miles of the 150 mile Bushwhacker Challenge. At first, I planned to paddle my SOF folding kayak, but Mark P. of Kruger Canoes very generously offered to let me borrow his Sea Wind for the trip. I brought the Sea Wind home after last weeks Hugh Heward event, and I have been paddling it as often as possible since then. My first trip out was a night-time paddle; I chased the sun to the west and got a couple of shots of De Zwaan before the sun went down:

I paddled back in the dark, which was fine except for the fish that kept swimming into the boat. I could see them swimming just below the surface, and a few of them actually swam into the boat; weird.

I got out again this morning for a little while in Lake Macatawa. It was nice paddling in the daylight, and also nice experiencing some wind and waves (well, boat wakes...) I paddled with my friend Dan who was paddling his SOF Sea Ranger.

It was a great outing on a beautiful day. I can't wait to get out again!

Oh yeah... and I have not forgotten about my folding kayak. I have the deck completed and I'll be working on the cockpit coaming next.

Hugh Heward Speed Profile

2011-05-02T23:46:00.000-04:00

Hugh Heward 25

2011-05-02T23:44:00.000-04:00

This past Saturday, Emily and I participated in the 12th Annual Hugh Heward Challenge. We paddled the 25 mile "Half Hugh" from Fitzgerald Park in Grand Ledge to the Verlen Kruger Memorial at Thompson Field in Portland, MI. We had quite a bit of rain preceding the event, so the river was high; not quite at flood stage, but it was really moving!

We were again thankful for the "carspotting" services of Trailspotters of Michigan. Using this fantastic service, I could drop the boat off in Grand Ledge, drive the trailer to the finish in Portland, and Trailspotters drives me back to Grand Ledge. The only issue was that Emily had to wait around for a while in Grand Ledge and got kind of chilly (it was about 45 degrees). A few boats left while I was carspotting; Mike Smith among them:

Here are a couple shots of the water coming over the dam just above the launch point:

Some of the other boats at Grand Ledge:

We finally got on the water at about 9:50am. The current below the dam was very strong, and I was not used to paddling without the rudder. We just barely got past the tree on the left bank; we took out a few branches, oops! The paddling was very fast and fun!

Before we knew it, we were at Charlotte Bridge, the start of the 13 mile "Quarter Hugh"

At about 20 miles (5 miles to go) we were caught by a fellow Watertriber "Cliffjumps" He was paddling the full 50 mile route, and was the first (and only) 50 miler to pass us:

We chatted a bit, and then he pushed on ahead. There was no way we were going to keep up with him in his Epic 18X. We finished about 20 minutes later, with a total paddling time of 3 hours, 38 minutes. Our average speed was 6.8 mph and we didn't stop once. Our only breaks were to munch some snacks and drink. Our maximum speed was 9.1 mph below the last bridge, were I saw some kayaks catching up to us and was determined to not let them pass us!

The finish was fun, chatting with other paddlers, checking out the boats, and cheering for the finishers as they continued to arrive. Some highlights:


Gabacouache, a 26ft Vouyager canoe

Jon Holmes and Larry "Coach" Hoff, veterans of the 2009 Ultimate Hugh Heward Challenge


Verlen's "Old #10" racing canoe

A little something Mark P picked up out of the river...


The memorial statue of Verlen Kruger

Well, that's all for this year. Emily and I are hoping to paddle the full 50 mile route next year, probably in our folding kayaks. More to come on their progress in the next couple of days.

Skinning the Sea Tour 17 EXP

2011-04-17T14:54:00.000-04:00

Finally posting again... it has been a while! I have made some more progress in getting the "skin" installed. Instead if seal skins (I couldn't find any locally...) I am using 18oz Vinyl Coated Polyester tarp material. This fabric is REALLY tough! First, it gets rolled out over the upside down hull. It is cut to overlap the gunwales by a few inches all around, then small slits are cut every few inches around the perimeter. Starting in the middle of the boat, the skin is laced tightly around the hull.

You can see in this picture how tough this fabric is. The lacing is under a lot of tension, however the slits in the fabric do not tear; even cutting them with a razor knife was pretty hard!

One thing that can't be avoided with a skin of this type is wrinkles in the hull between the chines and the gunwales. I knew that this would happen, and I tried my best to keep them to a minimum. In the end, I decided to cut a couple of "darts" into the hull sides. There are two per side, and they reduce the amount of wrinkles in the hull.

My first attempt at closing the bow was a mess, lots of wrinkles and loose fabric. I cut off the first few inches of fabric and made a new bow section. The second attempt was much better. Last night, I finally finished the last dart and got the stern closed up. I flipped the boat over and will do the deck skin next.

Progress on the folder

2011-04-07T22:30:00.000-04:00

Over the past few days, I have almost completed the frame. The stem took longer than expected because I ended up trying a couple of different methods. My first attempt used a section of HDPE cut to fit the inside curve of the stem and screwed on. I ended up abandoning this because the HDPE didn't fit well and didn't feel very secure when installed. I decided to give the bent aluminum brackets a try. These ended up being pretty easily manufactured using thin aluminum bar bent around a mandrel with my bench vice. These were riveted in place, and the stringers were attached with nuts and bolts.

The stem / gunwale / deck stringer attachment was a little trickier, and I thought long and hard about how best to accomplish it. I ended up making a slightly different version of the bracket where it was molded into a "U" shape. The deck stringer went on the inside of the "U" and the gunwales are on either side. See the pic below:

I am hoping that I will be able to leave the smaller diameter inserts bolted on permanently to the stem and stern, but I'm not sure I will be able to get the tubes assembled without unbolting at least one side. We'll see...

After I got everything assembled, I took the frame off of the temporary supports and could not resist trying it on for size. Feels great so far!

New Boat!

2011-04-01T22:33:00.000-04:00

Yes, I have started building another boat! I am building a Tom Yost designed Sea Tour 17 EXP kayak. I am building it as a folder, using HDPE frames, aluminum stringers, and PVC skin.

I have found this to be an extremely fast build so far. I drilled out the stringer connection points with the drill press at work (way easier than a hand drill). I then cut out the frames with a jigsaw. The stringers are made of three 6 ft sections of aluminum tubing connected with smaller diameter inserts. Eventually, I was add some shock cord to hold the sections together, kind of like big tent poles. Two frame sections were attached to the strongback and the stringers were "clipped" onto the frames.

Next, the middle four sections were clipped in.

Stem and stern are next.

Post EC2011 - Day 6

2011-03-27T15:51:00.001-04:00

We woke Thursday morning in a with mixed feelings. We were glad to have had a nice, comfortable nights sleep and were looking forward to seeing the kids; on the other hand, we were still disappointed by our DNF. Our first order of business was to get back to our boat and wait for my dad to pick us up. We had about a three mile walk from Everglades City back to Chocoloskee.

Once back at the boat, we finished emptying it out and laying some of our stuff out to dry while we waited for our ride. The kids were thrilled to see us again and had fun playing around the boat while we finished packing stuff up.

As my dad and I were loading the boat onto the trailer, we could see a very dark, ugly looking cold front coming from the north. We barely got things covered and strapped down when it hit. There was a blast of cold air, the wind very quickly whipped up whitecaps on Chocoloskee Bay, and then the rain hit. It continued to rain pretty hard most of our drive down to Key Largo. After settling into the condo in Key Largo, we swallowed our pride and headed over to Bay Cove to visit some Watertribe finishers. We enjoyed our time there, visiting and sharing stories. The highlight was being there as NiteNavigator and NiteSong finished. It was incredible watching them paddle in, I want to be able to paddle like that some day!

We enjoyed a fantastic sunset, then headed back "home" for a great grilled steak dinner, thanks Dad!!

EC2011 - Day 5

2011-03-26T21:54:00.000-04:00

We woke fairly early Wednesday morning after a descent nights sleep in the boat.

We skipped hot breakfast and just had pop tarts and Spiz. Another benefit of sleeping in the boat was that we could get packed and underway a lot quicker. Unfortunately, while packing the boat, I noticed that Emily's hydration bladder was empty, and mine was getting close. I realized that I had forgotten to fill them at CP2, uh oh... All together, we had about 13L of water to get us to CP3.

We started sailing under partially reefed main as the wind was fairly strong, even this early in the morning. As we approached Pavilion Key, we started the experience the same pointing issues that had stopped us the night before. We made it through the channel to the east of Pavilion Key. We headed out into the Gulf, but found it difficult to make headway in the short, steep waves.

Looking at the conditions, our VMG, and the charts, we decided to give paddling a try. We turned towards shore and beached in the Huston Coves. I pulled down the mast, packed up the sail, and removed one of our ama / aka sets.

We pulled / paddled our way to the entrance of the Chatham River, hoping for a break from the wind. Unfortunately, since the wind was from the east, we were paddling dead upwind and we did not get much protection from the mangroves. The farther we went... the tougher it got... the more we started to think about quitting. I kept looking at the charts, trying to figure the distance from where we were to CP3. I didn't know the exact distance, but I figured it was probably about 80 miles. We kept listening to the radio, hoping to hear that relief was coming... no such luck... in fact it sounded like we were going to have more of the same for the next couple of days. It was getting near lunchtime and we were near The Watson Place campsite. We were hoping to tie up, eat some lunch, and come up with a plan. Unfortunately, the site was occupied, so we paddled up the river a bit more and pulled up next to some mangroves to eat. As we floated, we discussed our options. Based on how things were going, our limited water supply was really worrying me. We didn't feel like we had enough strength to paddle all the way to CP3 in the present conditions. After much agonizing thought, yes even some tears, we decided to turn back towards CP2 and drop from the race. We turned up Huston Bay channel and enjoyed a tidal current and tailwind push towards Huston Bay. In the small bay just north of Huston Bay, we crossed paths with PaddleMaker and SavannahDan. The tried to talk us into continuing, even offering to share their campsite with us, but we were really finished. After chatting for a while, we went our separate ways. One thing that really surprised us was how open the wilderness waterway was; lots of big bays that were getting pretty choppy in the strong winds. A few times, we would stop paddling and just hold our paddles up in the air and get pushed along at a pretty good clip.

As we neared CP2, we kept trying to make cell phone contact, hoping to call my dad in Key Largo to come pick us up. However, cell coverage is extremely spotty, and we never did get a call out. Finally, just after sunset, we landed on the beach at Chocoloskee (again at high tide, so no mud) We were met by the checkpoint volunteer, Scully (not sure about the spelling...) who told us that we were the third boat to return that day. He also told us the Chocoloskee hotel had no rooms left, but offered to give us a ride to Everglades City to find a room there. We got the boat pulled up and covered up and hopped into his truck. He dropped us off at The Captains Table Hotel, where we got a beautiful room. We both took nice long showers, then headed to a restaurant across the street.

After eating, we took a walk, then headed back to the hotel. We were pretty beat, so after watching a little TV, we went right to sleep, looking forward to seeing the kids and my dad the next day.

EC2011 - Day 4

2011-03-22T22:21:00.000-04:00

Tuesday morning dawned and we slowly dragged ourselves out of our sleeping bags. We got a chance to see just how beautiful Panther Key is, I would love to come back some time and take my time sailing and camping in the area.

We got packed up and underway, heading towards Indian Key Pass. Shortly after leaving, we passed SandyBottom in her kayak, we waved, and kept sailing. Our timing with the tide was decent, when we arrived, the current was fairly light. The wind was from the east, so we were able to sail up the pass, but needed to tack. Keeping a careful eye on the depths on my GPS, I held each tack as long as I could. The wind was moderate, and I had the sail fully unfurled. In these conditions, the boat tacked beautifully, tacking very close to 90degrees:

Throughout this, SandyBottom continued to follow us, occasionally popping up her Flat Earth Kayak Sail. She finally caught us in Chocoloskee Bay when I tacked, hit a mud bank, and lost all my momentum. It is interesting to notice on the track above, that my tacks got a lot worse in the Bay. In the more open bay, the wind was stronger, and I furled the sail a bit... when I did this, I lost pointing ability... interesting...

I hopped out of the boat, and pulled it the last few yards into the NPS boat launch. Also there were SandyBottom and AhMaChamee.

We all chatted for a while, enjoyed some ice cream, and took advantage of real bathrooms. We were planning to camp at one of the National Park campsites, so I went to the ranger station to get a backcountry permit. I ended up in line with AhMaChamee, and we decided to share a permit for a site on Highland Beach. SandyBottom warned us about getting stuck there at low tide (200 yds of mud!) and we all hopped in our boats and headed to CP2. We arrived at CP2, Emily signed the logbook, and I refilled our water. (Or so I thought... more to come on that in the next segment...) A few minutes later, we left and sailed towards Rabbit Key Pass with AhMaChamee.

I followed the route through Rabbit Key Pass that I had plotted in my GPS and we were separated when AhMaChamee took a slightly different route. We assumed we would meet up again at Highland Beach. Unfortunately, we would not see each other again until Key Largo. The tide was coming in through the pass, and with the wind was also against us, we struggled our way out towards the Gulf. Shortly after tacking near Rabbit Key, the wind quickly grew in strength. I furled the sail a bit and started to experience the same pointing issues I had in Chocoloskee Bay. In addition, there appeared to be storm clouds approaching from the east. The wind and waves were building, we were having difficulty making headway, and it was getting dark, so we decided to beach the boat. We landed in the lee of a random unnamed key and got out to stretch. I walked back to the end of island and looked out at the water. It appeared a bit calmer, so we tried to sail again. It turned out about the same as before, and since we were pretty tired, we decided to just head back to our beach and camp for the night. We headed back to where we were and made some dinner. Unsure if we could legally camp on the island, we decided to sleep in the boat. This ended up working wonderfully. I rearranged our stuff a bit, and we slept Emily in the bow, me in the stern, with our feet towards the middle of the boat. With the cover closed over us, it was fairly warm, we just used our "woobies" for a bit of extra warmth. The only thing we wished for was a closed cell foam pad for a bit of cushion and insulation from the cold water. We quickly fell asleep, hoping for a better day tomorrow.

EC2011 - Day 3

2011-03-20T21:22:00.000-04:00

Before going to sleep, I had set the alarm for 5AM, fully expecting to snooze for a while. And snooze we did, until around 6AM when the sun started to brighten the sky. We slowly got moving, ate some breakfast and packed up our stuff.

We got under way with steady winds from the north. As we sailed around the southern end of Chino Island, we saw CaptJackOtter anchored just off the shore. We waved and continued on our way.

We were enjoying the north winds as we approached the Sanibel causeway. I ended up a little to the east of the tall section of the causeway, but I assumed I had enough clearance to get under the section we were nearest to. As we got closer, I started to doubt, but now we were comitted. Well, now I know that the Sanibel Causeway is 16ft above the water... My mast is 16ft, but my sparfly (wind indicator) is about 16ft 6in. Needless to say, my sparfly is now floating in Pine Island Sound somewhere... oops! Fortunately, no other damage was done. As soon as we passed under the bridge, the wind began to die. We ended up drifting slowly by Point Ybel and the Pine Island Lighthouse.

Our goal for the day was to get near CP2, we were planning on Panther Key cutting through Caxambas Pass. We sailed and paddled for a couple of hours; with the wind finally starting to build after lunch.

It turned into our best sailing day of the entire event. We sailed at 5 to 6 kts for most of the day, slowly approaching the shoreline. Near Naples, we caught up with Brogan in his Hobie AI.

He had lost his GPS and was wondering where Big Marco Pass was. I attempted to relay some details, but I'm not sure we could hear each other. We could also see CaptJackOtter's red gennaker farther offshore, and we soon caught sight of a pair of Pacific Action sails. The PAS sails turned out to be Paddlemaker and SavannahDan in their Pygmy triple kayak. Just before we caught them, they turned into Gordon Pass. Brogan and CaptJackOtter also sailed into the pass. The waves around the pass were pretty wild, but the XCR handled them just fine. In fact, we stayed perfectly dry all day. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset, and sailed and paddled the final few miles towards the lit up high rises of Marco Island, and the entrance to Caxambas Pass.

I had the course into and through the pass programmed as a route into my GPS, so I was confident in the approach. I knew from looking at satellite maps that there were three rocky barriers just before the entrance to the pass. There was one flashing white light that marked the first one, but the others were unlit. We could hear the waves breaking onto them, and barely see them as a "blacker" area in the water. We sailed past the first one, and as we neared the end of the second one, I decided to turn between the second and third "island." Well, that sure got my heart going!

As soon as we entered the pass, the wind got really flukey. We paddled and sailed through the pass, and only hit one mud bank. We got over that quickly and sailed out into Gullivan Bay. I set a course to Panther Key and we had a pleasant sail under clear skies. After a couple of tacks, we landed on a sandy beach on Panther Key. We got camp set up, ate our dinner, and hit the tent. I ended getting up after a few minutes and moved the boat; I was concerned about it floating away (I'm not used to tides...) I got the boat secured and was quickly asleep.

EC2011 - Day 2 addendum...

2011-03-20T18:35:00.000-04:00

In the previous post, I told the story of our nighttime sandbar / mudbank incident. I forgot to post the corresponding picture showing our track overlayed on a Google sattelite map:

EC2011 - Day 2

2011-03-18T21:16:00.002-04:00

After some much needed rest at Grande Tours (CP1) we loaded up the boat and paddled out towards Pine Island Sound. As we were leaving, we passed Bosab in his Hobie TI, Krunch/Woodcutter in SCAMP, and Scareman in his tandem kayak.

Once out from under the "filter" bridge, we pulled up next to some mangrove, and I put the mast back up. The wind was now building out of the northwest, which would mean for a great ride down Pine Island Sound. We had already decided to make it a short day, since we had not had any real sleep since about 5AM on Saturday. Our destination was Chino Island, on the southern end of Pine Island Sound. From what I had read, Chino Island was some developer's dream, there is a channel cut into it, but nothing more. If things were different, it may have been covered with exclusive houses, but instead, it is just sand and mangrove. We enjoyed a great run across Gasperilla Sound heading towards Cayo Costa.

As we neared Boca Grand Pass, I happened to look back at the rudder, and noticed that the pin holding my tiller extension to the rudder box was loose, the cotter pin had fallen out somehow. We were pretty close to shore, so we sailed towards the least developed looking area so that I could fix it. When the water was shallow enough, I hopped out and replaced the pin and cotter pin. My lesson learned is to replace all cotter pins with cotter rings... they should stay in better!

Once back underway, the wind continued to build; we were flying past Cayo Costa State Park, then Cabbage Key, home of the "cheeseburger in paradise." We resisted stopping to eat (they probably wouldn't have let us in the door) and kept flying down Pine Island Sound, averaging 5 to 6 kts.

We ended up sailing within sight of a yellow Hobie AI as the sun started to set. We found out later that this was AhMaChamee, here is a really bad picture:

The wind continued to build, and I kept furling the sail to keep from burying the amas, this is what I ended up with:

Even with this tiny bit of sail, we were averaging about 4 kts, which was a little more comfortable in the dark and waves. During all this time, I was struggling to stay awake. I would close my eyes, count to 10, then check the GPS and compass to confirm I was on course. I had plotted a straight line course to Chino Island, and I knew there was some shallow areas, but they were not charted well. Well, I found one... I was drifting off, when BANG! My rudder popped up (thanks to the autorelease clamcleat!) Now I was awake! I hopped out and started dragging the boat over the mud, the water was only a few inches deep. As I dragged, it seemed that it was getting shallower, so I looked around and saw dry ground behind me. I wandered around a bit, found the deeper water and dragged the boat over to it. I hopped back in, and we finished the trip to Chino Island without incident. Once close enough, I furled the sail away, Emily lit up the shore with our Ultrafire flashlight (900lm of awesome brightness) and found a semi-sandy looking beach. We pulled the boat up, tied it up, and started pulling out gear. I wandered around a bit, and found a beautiful flat sandy spot in from shore a bit, which kept us out of the wind. Emily set up the tent while I got "dinner" started. We were both dead tired, and once we ate and got things cleaned up, we hit the tent for some much needed rest.

EC2011 - Tampa Bay Videos

2011-03-18T20:22:00.000-04:00

Thanks for Sirtackalot for these videos shot during the Tampa Bay crossing:

EC2011 - Day 1 (and a half...)

2011-03-17T22:02:00.000-04:00

Now that we are back home, it is time for an Everglades Challenge trip report.

We left Michigan on Wednesday afternoon and drove about 24 hours, arriving in St Petersburg on Thursday afternoon. Friday morning Emily dropped Sara and I off at Ft Desoto with the boat and our stuff, then left to pick up my parents at the airport. I got the boat set up and mostly packed, then spent the rest of the day checking out all the other boats and attending the captains meetings.

We got up early on Saturday morning and were thrilled to see that the hotel opened up the breakfast area a bit early, maybe they knew there were a bunch of Watertribers staying there! We got to the beach and finished packing the boat with our water and food. The wind was out of the east so we would have a nice reach across Tampa Bay. At 7am the horn went off and we hit the water pretty quickly.

We had no trouble pushing and pulling the XCR into the water, even when loaded with all our expedition gear. I pushed us out past the sandbar, hopped in and off we sailed!

The sail across Tampa Bay was fantastic! We hit a peak of 7.5 kts but spend most of the crossing at 5 to 6 kts. As we neared Anna Maria Island I noticed that the bungee that was holding the leeward ama to the forward aka was getting loose. This was potentially really bad news... if it let loose, we would have no righting moment and at risk of a capsize. I leaned out and tried to re-lash it, but to no avail. I reefed the sail way down and we paddled the last few hundred yards to the tip of Anna Maria Island. We beached the boat and I re-lashed the ama, adding a couple extra loops for more security. I had no more issues like this for the rest of the trip. Turning the corner towards the southeast, the broad reach became more of a close reach / beat. By about lunchtime, the wind started to die away, so we paddled and sailed through the afternoon. For most of this time, were were within sight of Jarhead in his Sea Pearl and Capt Jack Otter in his Weta trimaran.

As the sun set and the wind totally died, we decided to go "inside" at Venice and paddle the rest of the way to CP1, about 25 miles. Fortunately, the tidal current in Venice was helpful, and we paddled through the Venice canal with a bit of tidal pull. At the end of the canal, we made our first mistake. We decided to keep going, and not stop to eat. We paddled for a few more hours and finally pulled over somewhere in Lemon Bay. We were both semi functional by this time, but stubbornly decided to keep going; we were determined to get to CP1 without stopping! By this time, the wind started to pick up again and we were able to sail in some of the wider parts of the bay. We continued to paddle and sail as the sun started to come up on Sunday morning. As we neared Placida Harbor, we were fighting tide and wind in the narrow channels. Entering Placida Harbor, we tried again to sail. However, the channel is very narrow, and most of the rest of the harbor is very shallow with lots of mud and oyster bars. By this time, the wind was 15 to 20 kts from the south east, pretty much exactly where we wanted to go. We attempted to sail, but kept hitting bottom, so we finally drifted (got blown) into shore and I pulled the mast down. We attempted to paddle, but ended up getting blown in between some boat piers. We tried, and failed, to paddle out from between them, so I finally resorted to removing one of our amas and pulling the boat under all the piers and along the shore.

Finally, I hopped in and we paddled under the bridge at the end of the harbor, and into CP1 at about 11:20am on Sunday, 40 minutes before the "deadline." We chatted with some of the other racers there and with Pelican who was the race manager. It turns out that were were far from the only team to have struggled the first day. Many boats never made it to CP1 and quite a few dropped out when they got there. We ate some food, filled our water, and rested for a couple hours.

We planned a short remainder of the day, planning to sail about 25 miles down Pine Island Sound to Chino Island. More to come next... stay tuned!

Rudder

2010-10-17T15:08:00.001-04:00

Next up is the rudder and controls. Like the leeboard, the rudder is carved from a solid piece of white ash. I do not plan on painting the rudder, so it is protected with a coat of epoxy. The rudder box is made of several layers of fiberglass and carbon fiber and is very strong and stiff. It pivots on a 3/8" stainless steel bolt. The gudgeons are built into the XCR and are made of low friction plastic bearings set into thickened epoxy and reinforced with several layers of unidirectional carbon fiber. As you can see from the pictures, I still need to get everything smoothed out and painted over.

I have several means of controlling the rudder. The primary control for sailing is via a push-pull tiller. An aluminum tiller bar is bolted across the top of the rudder box. A custom made carbon fiber universal joint connects the tiller bar to the aluminum tube tiller extension. A foam rubber grip provides a comfortable grip while sailing. With this setup, I have a lot of ability to move around and maintain control of the boat. I can stay in my seat, or easily hike out on either side if I am feeling adventurous.

I also have the foot control pedals which provide a means of hands-free steering. These are not intended as the primary means of steering, but they are great when I need to put down the tiller and attend to other things. Finally, I have a continuous loop hand steering line that can be cleated off and provides a solid backup if any of the other systems fail.

And last but not least is the rudder uphaul and downhaul. The uphaul connects to the top of the rudder box, runs through a small block on the rear edge of the rudder and back over a turning block up to the rear cockpit. The downhaul runs from the front edge of the rudder, over the top of the rudder box, to a auto-release cleat near the rear cockpit. This allows the rudder to pop up if it hits an obstacle.

Leeboard

2010-09-16T19:45:00.003-04:00

On to the leeboard and bracket... The leeboard is carved out of a solid piece of white ash, beautiful stuff. I used the method I read about on Duckworks Magazine and it worked perfectly. After routing off the majority of the material, I smoothed out the router bit marks with the random-orbital. I wanted some extra reinforcement, so I added two strips of uni-directional carbon fiber on each side. Then to smooth everything out, I put on a thin layer of epoxy + phenolic micro spheres, then sanded nice and smooth. As you can see, I still haven't gotten around to painting it... still a little unsure about the color, help me decide by voting in the poll on the right side of the page --->

The leeboard isn't much use without the bracket. It seemed to me that the loads on the bracket could be pretty substantial, so I built it pretty beefy. It is made of 3/4" stock, 4" wide with 2" tall sides; creating a U-beam of sorts... The pivot face is glue and screwed to one side, with 1/4" thick triangular reinforcements. The main body of the bracket is covered with a layer of carbon fiber, and all joints on the pivot face are reinforced with fiberglass and carbon fiber.

The bracket is held to the XCR thwarts with two "L" shaped wood blocks (carbon/kevlar reinforced) that are tightened down with 1/2" stainless steel bolts and handle nuts. The bolts go through slots cut into the bracket, so that I can move the blocks in or out depending on their position in the boat. This allows me to adjust the center of lateral resistance and find the best position for the given conditions.

The leeboard pivots on a 1/2" stainless steel bolt, with large stainless steel "thumb" nuts. These are relatively easy to loosen or tighten underway if I need to pivot the board up or down. Thanks to McMaster-Carr for all this great stainless hardware, they have everything! So far, everything has been working great!

Sailing bits and parts...

2010-08-28T08:40:00.002-04:00

In the push to get the XCR sailing, I kind of slacked off the blogging. Over the next few days or so, I will try and do a post about the various parts of the sailing rig. Today, the roller furler:

This is one of my favorite features of the rig. This is a continuous line type of furler that I designed and built based on pictures of commercial ones that I looked at. The disc is 6" diameter x 3/4" oak. The 'notch' cut into the edge is not circular, but is actually 12 straight line notches, similar to the sheave of a Harken Hexaratchet (or similar ratchet block). This allows the furling line to 'grip' the furling disc better. The pair of lines runs back to my seat in the rear of the XCR where I can easily and quickly furl or unfurl the sail based on the wind conditions. The mast rotates in a low friction plastic bushing in the thwart and in the mast step. So far, I have used the system in a variety of wind conditions, and it has worked perfectly. Up next... the leeboard and leeboard bracket...

Embedded map test

2010-08-27T10:25:00.003-04:00

Click here for the map

New map feature

2010-08-26T19:29:00.002-04:00

Check out the cool new map feature!

GPS Visualizer allows me to upload GPX files from my Garmin GPSMAP76CSx and show them on Google maps with the track colorized by speed. Cool!

I plan on updating the map whenever we have a good track to show.

SAILING!!

2010-08-07T15:21:00.004-04:00

Wow, FINALLY!
This morning we took the XCR sailing for the first time. We had a great time!

Since it was our first time out in a new boat, we left the kids with grandma and grandpa (thanks!) After getting almost to the beach, I realized I had left the akas leaning on the wall in the garage. Oops. Fortunately, it is only about a 10 minute drive back to the house. Back on the beach, we got everything set up pretty quickly.

The wind was VERY light when we got started, tacking usually took a couple paddle strokes to get things around. After a few minutes the wind picked up some and we really started moving. I saw a 5MPH on the GPS before the batteries died; a real bummer because I know we went faster than that later on, but I have no record. That will teach me to check the batteries BEFORE I'm on the water next time. Here is our GPS track before the batteries died:

We sailed up the lake (upwind) until the powerboat traffic and time forced us to turn around. Sailing downwind back to the launch beach was amazing. This is where I really wanted the GPS. I may try and figure out our speed from my SPOT track. By the time we were back to the beach, the wind had really picked up, so we decided to take a quick upwind jaunt in the stronger conditions. We reefed the sail (roller reefing is awesome!) and did a couple quick tacks. The XCR performed wonderfully with the reefed sail too. Finally, we turned the boat back downwind, rolled up the sail just off the beach and surfed right in. Overall, a GREAT trip, I can't wait to get out again!

Oh, and sorry for the lack of pics, our camera battery died too (argh!!!)

Hugh Heward 25

2010-04-27T18:45:00.003-04:00

This past weekend, Emily and I participated in the Hugh Heward Challenge. This "race" follows the supposed 50 mile sprint down the Grand River followed by Hugh Heward in 1790. We didn't do the whole 50 miles (not enough time or training) so we did the "Half Hugh" at 25 miles. A great amenity this year was carspotting provided by Trailspotters of Michigan. We dropped the boat off at the starting point in Grand Ledge; I drove the car and trailer back to the finish in Portland; I was picked up by Trailspotters and driven back to Grand Ledge. An awesome system! Once back in Grand Ledge, we got the boat down a long steep bank down to the river. This was no simple matter given the weight of the XCR, thank goodness I built it tough! Next time I'm bringing portage wheels... We got underway a little before 9am (there did not appear to be an official start...) paddling mostly by ourselves. We passed and were passed by a few kayakers and a couple guys in Superior Canoes Expeditions. One of these guys was Scott Smith who is the owner of the company and the builder of the canoes. We chatted for a while about the XCR which he really admired. We enjoyed a pretty leisurely paddle, taking breaks to eat cookies and other snacks. We finished sometime before 3pm with only a couple of kayakers in front of us. It was really fun to wait at the finish watching everyone else come in, especially the super-fast racers in their carbon / kevlar canoes. These guys (and girls) are AVERAGING over 7mph... wow! Another highlight was to see Hugh Heward himself come in:

This was a genuine birchbark canoe, pretty cool!

Here are the rest of my pics:

Macatawa River Paddle

2010-04-18T07:05:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago, we had an unseasonably warm day. So we decided to take the XCR out for a quick paddle. We drove up the the launch and almost turned around. The wind was very strong from the south west and was driving some short chop right onto our launch beach. Not an issue for just Emily and I, but we had the kids with us... what to do... We decided to give it a whirl; packed everybody into the boat and set off. Once we turned off the lake into the river, things calmed down pretty quickly, so much so that David fell asleep. Every time he is in this boat, he falls asleep! We paddled a bit then pulled up on shore and moved him into the covered bow section of the boat, where he slept until the end of our trip.

Sara wasn't happy sitting on the bottom of the boat, so we put her up on a dry bag and she loved it. She was pointing at the "alligators" and "elephants" but told us "it's OK, they are just pretend." We paddled up the river a bit, went around Windmill Island, then turned around and went back to our launch site. Landing was a blast! We paddled out away from shore a bit, then turned downwind and literally surfed the boat in. Very fun! Sara really enjoyed herself, and how could she not?!?! She sat on a soft drybag eating an apple, what a life. Here are some more pics:

I'm still around!

2010-04-18T06:45:00.003-04:00

Wow, it has been a while since I have posted!

Well, my dad and I successfully completed the WaterTribe UltraMarathon in March. It was a great experience, and we both had a lot of fun. We finished in just under 24 hours, with about 21 hours of paddling. We took breaks pretty consistently throughout the day, just to stretch legs, eat snacks, etc... The boat was great; handled well in the wind and waves, paddled well. I just wish we had had a sail! We ended up having a tail wind for most of the day and a sail would have really pushed us along. Oh well, next year.

Speaking of next year... I am slowly getting things going on the sail rig. I ordered a set of inflatable amas from Attila at Custom Inflatables. These are not something you will find on his web page, but he as made them before, a couple of pictures are here. Mine are going to be made from red 32oz PVC.

Over the next month or so, I hope to get the rest of the sailing rig built and assembled. The major steps:

Modify Escape Rumba sail
Shape leeboard and rudder
Build leeboard bracket and rudder box
Assemble mast and akas
Install running rigging

Sounds easy! We'll see... watch this space!

But for now, here is a link to my dad's UltraMarathon trip report.
And here is a slideshow of our pictures:

Countdown to the UM

2010-02-14T17:43:00.002-05:00

With just under three weeks to go, I need to wrap up all the final bits and pieces on my boat. This weekend I finished the bow and stern lighting and a mount for the compass:

First paddling trip!

2009-10-09T15:01:00.003-04:00

Over the past couple of days, my dad and I were able to get the XCR out paddling. This will probably be our only time paddling together before the Watertribe Ultra Marathon this coming March. We decided to split our paddling into two days since the weather here has been so nasty. Well, maybe typical for Michigan this time of year, but still not great for paddling. It has been rainy and low to mid 50s for the past few days. At least it wasn't very windy... :) Anyway, on our first day, we headed west from the canoe launch at Dunton Park, on the east end of Lake Macatawa. We paddled about 6 miles, almost to the end of the breakwater but decided to turn around before we hit the big lake. The waves coming into the channel were 4 to 5 feet and pretty steep. We were able to surf down the face of a couple of these waves which was thrilling. We then paddled back to the launch since we needed to get back home for my daughter's 3rd birthday party. Here is our GPS track:

The second day we started from the same spot, but headed east up the Macatawa River (also called Black River). Just at the mouth of the river, we passed a large lake freighter which appeared to be unloading road salt. Like I need a reminder that winter is coming... We headed up the river about 5 miles before it got a little to small to easily navigate the XCR. We turned around and paddled back down the river, this time taking the canal that runs around Windmill Island. If you are ever in Holland in the spring time, this is a must see! Once back to our launch beach we decided to do a couple more miles (since we couldn't get enough of paddling in the rain!) before heading back home for lunch. Here is our track from day 2:

And finally, here is a slideshow of pictures from both days:

Pictures

2009-09-18T16:59:00.003-04:00

First coat of topside paint done. I plan on putting on a second coat tonight.

Interior shot, looking from front to back (rear seat is removed) I plan on painting the interior as well, using the same topside paint as the exterior, but in a "sand" color.

Painting

2009-09-18T11:42:00.004-04:00

Again, I have a few days of progress to report... After our successful launch, I had to get around to actually finishing everything. I started with a long session with the random orbital sander, smoothing down all the rough spots from the first fairing coat. After that got smoothed out pretty good, I put on a much thinner second coat, limited to the area around the fiberglass joints. After this was set, I ran over everything again with the sander getting the hull and deck nice and smooth. There are still a couple rough spots here and there, but you have to be pretty close to see them. Then finally, I put on the first coat of paint. I started with Rustoleum Wood and Fiberglass Primer, which went on without a hitch. I used a foam roller (cut in half to ~4") for the majority of the hull, and a small brush for the coaming. Last night, I put on the first coat of Rustoleum Topside Paint after giving the primer a quick, light sanding. The boat looks great, I'll try and get a couple new pics up soon.

LAUNCHED!

2009-09-10T21:49:00.005-04:00

The XCR got wet today! Still not faired, sanded, or painted; but who cares! We took a very short trip on Lake Macatawa since we had our kids with, but still had a great time. Sara (almost 3) enjoyed peeking over the edge of the coaming, while David (1) promptly fell asleep:

How this is comfortable, I have no idea...

Because I took a bunch of pictures, here is a little slide show:

Pre-launch Marathon

2009-09-10T21:01:00.005-04:00

So, I had given myself a goal of getting the XCR in the water on Labor Day... that didn't quite happen, but not because it wasn't ready to go. Anyway, I have a few days worth of work to report on. I narrowed the tasks down to the minimum necessary to get the boat into the water: getting the trailer finished and roadworthy, installing the seats, and installing the carrying handles.

First the handles. What should have been simple turned into quite a struggle. I found a place that looked good, then drilled holes for the mounting screws through the deck and backing block. I was using machine screws, so I needed to put the nuts and washers on the inside to hold everything together. Since the handles are near the front (and back) of the boat, the nuts and washers are inside the closed off area behind the bulkhead. I had installed a hatch, so I should be able to just reach in there and spin on the nuts right? Wrong. First of all, I peak in there and don't see my bolts... hmm... I figure out that they are not long enough, so off to Menards for some new ones. Back from Menards with new bolts that are plenty long, so I check the fit with the mating nuts. I find out that I ended up with course thread bolts and fine thread nuts. Arrrggghhh!! Off to Meijer this time (Menards in closed by now...) to get the right size nuts. Back home, checked everything again, and it all fits, good. So now to just reach in a thread them on... not quite so easy! I had to squish myself into the narrow front of the boat, and reach through the small hatch all the way to the very front and thread those nuts on blind. After much stretching, wriggling, and sweating, I finally got them on and tightened down. Whew!!

The seats were a lot easier to get installed. I first made 8 aluminum "L" brackets that the seats hang from. Here is one without the holes drilled:

These were mounted to the seats using some more stainless steel machine screws where this time, everything fit the first time! I then used some larger diameter bolts to attach the "L's" to the previously installed seat brackets:

Finally, the trailer... First I put the plywood bedding on. Then I built "bunks" starting with the 2x6's I had previously cut to match the bottom profile of the boat. A couple notches were cut into this part for the U-bolts that held the bunks to the bed of the trailer. Then, I glued and screwed a 1x4 to the top, glued a piece of camping pad to that, and wrapped the whole thing in trailer bunk carpet.

Seat frames

2009-09-05T16:18:00.002-04:00

I epoxied and fiberglassed the seat mounting frames in place last night. The frames are made of 1/2" plywood fiberglassed on both sides. Several sets of stainless steel nuts are embedded in the frames to allow for a variety of seat heights and angles. The seats will be held to the frames using aluminum angle brackets and thumb screws.

Also, the trailer is mostly assembled... I still need to put on the plywood decking, mount the bunks, add the tongue extension, and install the wiring and lights:

Back upright

2009-09-03T08:13:00.005-04:00

Having been a few days since I last posted, I have several days worth of progress to report. After all the bottom fiberglass and other reinforcements were added and faired, I applied a couple coats of epoxy / graphite mixture. This mix has been shown to be a very durable and low friction bottom finish. You can read about some others's experiences here and here. I ended up doing the application with two rather thick coats, instead of 3 light coats. Here are some pictures:

We had some unseasonable cool weather here in Michigan (mid 60s during the day, 40s at night) so I ended up putting a little heater "inside" the boat to make sure the epoxy cured nice and hard:

Final appearance after 2 coats:

After letting everything cure for a day, I cut some simple shallow "V" blocks (that will eventually be used on the trailer), called over a couple friends, and flipped the boat upright again. Here is my wife trying it out:

Reinforcement and Fairing

2009-08-28T08:28:00.004-04:00

Application of the reinforcement layers was pretty straightforward. I used some more kevlar on the stern to provide extra strength for the rudder mounts. I once again used the "plastic sheet" technique to give me a smooth finish. After wetting out the kevlar, I simply wrapped a sheet of plastic over the cloth and smoothed it out:

Then, last night, I knocked down the rough edges and high spots with a plane, then applied some fairing compound (epoxy + silica + microballons) to give everything a smooth uniform finish. I did a test fit of my rudder gudgeons and found that I needed some small spacers between them and the stern. They are epoxied on and reinforced with a couple strips of fiberglass. They can just barely be seen in the following picture:

Here is an overall view of the stern:

Armor

2009-08-26T11:12:00.002-04:00

My plans for the XCR include expedition style trips to a variety of locations that include plenty of rough landing areas: rocks, oyster beds, sand, logs, etc... Therefore, I am planning to heavily armor the front few feet of the boat. It may be excessive, but I am not that concerned about a few extra pounds. What I am planning is:

4" strip down the full length of the keel, extending all the way up the stem
8ish" strip from halfway up the stem, extending about 2 ft along the keel
12ish" strip from the bottom of the stem, extending about 4 ft along the keel

This, along with the epoxy / graphite fill coat should make the front end of the XCR pretty much bombproof. Here is a picture of the cloth laid up dry:

More fiberglass...

2009-08-26T08:07:00.002-04:00

I got the second layer of exterior fiberglass applied without incident last night. However, I had two other experiences that are more interesting than repeating what I did on Monday night. The first was that I went out to the garage to get started, went to put on some gloves and found that I had only one left (how did I go through that box so quickly?!?!?!) Oh well, so it was off to the store. It turned out that they were out of the kind I bought before (latex stretch) so I wandered over to the "medical supply" section of Meijer and found a box of blue nitrile gloves. Wow, I am definitly converted. I was having a lot of problems with the latex gloves tearing and getting holes in them, maybe I just got a box of really flimsy ones... Anyway, the nitrile gloves work great.

The other interesting thing was that I met another neighbor. I always work in the evening, with my garage door open, so it is very easy to see what is going on inside. This is actually the second time a neighbor I have never met before stops in my driveway and walks in to see what is going on. We chatted for a while (not too long, I was still working epoxy into the fiberglass) and it turns out he built a cedar strip kayak a few year ago. I'm pretty sure I want to build one of them myself, but I really can't settle on a design... I digress... Anyway, if you want to meet your neighbors, build a boat in your garage, they will flock to you!

Fiberglass and a trailer

2009-08-25T11:04:00.003-04:00

I got a lot accomplished yesterday. First, I got a trailer to haul the XCR around on:

Due to the length of the XCR, I will be adding a long tongue extension which I am picking up locally. Because the trailer is bolted together, it is really easy to add the extension. I also plan on making some custom "bunks" for the boat to sit on. At this point I am planning on keeping it upright, so I will also need some sort of cover for hauling it long distances. I'm thinking a simple plywood cut-out shaped to fit around the cockpit... Any other brilliant ideas?

After the kids were in bed, I put on the first layer of bottom fiberglass. Because I got 60" wide fabric, it reached from gunwale to gunwale, so I could do it all in one big application. I ended up wetting out the cloth in "quarters." I started in the middle of one side, and worked my way to the front. Then, I completed that side working from the starting point to the back. Once that whole side was complete, I switched to the other side and did the same thing. This way, I didn't end up with any wrinkles in the cloth that needed to be pulled or cut out. I was able to work quickly and smoothly and I never had any batches of epoxy "get away" from me. It helps that it has cooled down to the high 60s / low 70s around here. Hopefully I get the same weather treatment for the second layer tonight!

Upside down!

2009-08-22T17:23:00.003-04:00

The boat is now flipped upside down. Hopefully this is the only time it ever ends up that way! :) The first step is the plane down the chines a bit, then to fill any gaps and / or stitch holes. Then, once everything is nice and smooth, fiberglass!

Thwarted again!

2009-08-20T06:22:00.006-04:00

...well, maybe not, but it is a good post title... Anyway, the thwart tubes are now installed, but lets back up a bit. After completing the cockpit rim, I planed and sanded the deck and deck-to-hull joint in preparation for fiberglassing the deck. Once that was smoothed to my liking, I rolled out my fiberglass and cut it to fit. I ended up with three sections; one that covered the forward and starboard decks, one that covered the port deck, and one that covered the rear deck. Since I was cutting these pieces out of "extra" fiberglass, it was just easier to do it this way. Here are a couple pics showing the glass laid out:

Wetting this out was pretty straightforward. I started using a foam roller and plastic spackel knife, but ended up not using the roller that much; it was easy to spread the epoxy and work it into the cloth with the knife.

Then, last night, I cut some big holes in the boat! Fortunately, they are above the waterline... The holes are for the twart tubes which provide structural support to the decks and gunwales, as well as holding the akas for the sailing rig. I epoxied the tubes in place and applied some fillets to the inside and outside joints. I also added some small strips of fiberglass tape around the internal joint to make sure everything is nice and strong. Here are some pics:

And finally... I got the rear seat supports dry fitted. This was definately a challenge since everthing is curves and angles. I started by cutting out a scrap of chipboard to the size of my seat. I then laid it in place, took some measurements, and cut out my first attempt at a seat support. After plenty of re-cutting and planing, planing, and more planing, I got everything to fit nice. The funny thing about the pictures is that the seat supports look crooked and out of square, but in fact, they are the only square, plumb, and level thing on the boat!

Mostly finished cockpit rim

2009-08-18T08:26:00.002-04:00

Well, the cockpit rim is almost completely done. Since the thwart tubes are covered in this cool looking carbon / kevlar sleeve, I wanted to see if I could find something similar to use as the outer fabric reinforcement on the cockpit rim. After some searching, I found that U.S. Composites caries 4" wide carbon / kevlar tape (all the way on the bottom). So I ordered some, and it is now epoxied on. It happened that it was really hot and humid the day I did this, so I needed to work really quickly. I managed to get everything laid up without losing any batches of epoxy, so I was happy about that. The nice part about the heat was that a few hours later, the first coat was pretty much hard, so I did my fill coat right away. After letting things cure for a day, I am really happy with how it looks. I cleaned up some of the edges with a chisel (the ONLY way to cut epoxied kevlar) and ran a fine grit sanding block over everything. Once the boat is painted, I will add a coat or two of varnish, and it will really glow.

More cockpit progress

2009-08-14T22:38:00.005-04:00

I have a couple days of progress to report... I did get the riser filleted and taped, that went really well. I once again used a disposable plastic frosting piping bag to apply the fillet, and I am loving how easy they make it. Unfortunately, I have only one left... need another trip to Meijer! Next, I cut out the coaming flange (flat part). I used my last remaining big piece of plywood, and made the flange out of only two pieces. Tonight, I glued the flange on. I don't have enough long bar clamps, so I resorted to painters tape to hold it down. In a few places, it didn't want to lay flat, so I just layed a couple blocks of wood across the boat to keep everything nice and flat. I also applied a coat of fairing putty (epoxy + microspheres) to the deck and deck joint since I am planning to fiberglass the topsides soon.

And last but not least... I epoxied the cool kevlar / carbon sleeve to the outside of the fiberglass thwarts. The thwarts are hollow fiberglass tubes that will eventually hold the akas when the sailing rig is added. Besides looking cool, the kevlar / carbon sleeve should make them a lot stronger and stiffer.

Cockpit coaming riser

2009-08-10T22:00:00.003-04:00

Over the past couple of days I have gotten the cockpit coaming riser installed. I am making it out of two layers of 6mm plywood instead if the designed 4mm. My reason is so that I have a thick enough rim to install some screw-in snap studs, so I need the rim to be at least 3/8" thick. The snap studs are for the cockpit skirt I am planning on making. One of the Watertribe rules for semi-open boats is substantial decking (which the XCR already has) and a full skirt based on the one described in chapter 7 of Cliff Jacobson's book "Expedition Canoeing." Anyway, both sides of the riser are installed now, tomorrow it will be filleted and taped.

Cockpit coaming begun...

2009-08-07T08:00:00.002-04:00

Last night I went to work on the coaming riser clamp with a hand plane. The coaming riser should be vertical, so there needs to be a rolling bevel cut into the riser clamp. Working with the plane is always fun, I love making nice wood spirals. Especially cedar ones, since they smell so good :)

After a while however, I decided to switch over to the belt sander with a 50 grit belt which made very quick work of finishing things off. Then the boat went back inside (it was outside so I didn't cover the garage in sanding dust) where I started on the coaming riser itself. I cut some 6" wide "strips" of 1/4" plywood and clamped them with the bottom edge of the plywood just below the bottom edge of the riser clamp. Since the riser is intended to be 2 1/2" tall, I used a pencil and a block of wood to scribe a line exactly 2 1/2" above the deck all around. Tonight I plan to start cutting and gluing.

Some outdoor pictures

2009-08-04T07:37:00.003-04:00

Forward Quarter:

Rear Quarter:

Interior (port cockpit riser clamp not yet installed):

Progress on the Deck

2009-08-03T18:56:00.002-04:00

Over the past couple of days, I have made some progress on the deck. First, I got the deck panels tacked all around. The next day, after everything had hardened, I turned the boat on its side again to make working under the deck a little easier. In one marathon evening, I put in a major structural fillet between the sheer clamp and deck, I filleted and taped the underside of the deck / deck triangle joint, and epoxied on the cockpit riser clamp. Tonight, I get to do the same thing on the other side. Here is a pic:

Pictures of the stitched deck

2009-07-26T16:14:00.002-04:00

Started on the deck

2009-07-25T22:17:00.002-04:00

Today I got a start on the deck of the XCR. I drilled stitch holes diagonally through the gunwales and matching ones through the deck panels. I started wiring in the middle and worked my way towards the ends. For now, I left the ends un-wired; I will glue them down directly to the gunwales and backing blocks with I apply the epoxy tacking to the rest of the deck. I cut out the fore and aft deck triangles and have them temporarily clamped in place. Tacking is next!

Progress on bulkheads

2009-07-21T22:14:00.003-04:00

First off, here is a picture of one of the kevlar taped frames:

Tonight I worked on the bulkheads. Over the past couple evenings, I fiberglassed both sides of the bow and stern bulkheads. Tonight, I cut big holes in them for the hatches I am installing in each of them. For now, I just glued the hatches in and will add some stainless screws when I get some. With the hatches glued, I wired the bulkheads into the main hull and tacked them in with some thickened epoxy. Here is a pic:

And finally, I cut out some backing blocks that will install under the deck ridge between the bow and the forward bulkhead. These will support the deck, as well as provide a strong attachment point for a carrying handle. This is repeated at the stern...

Frames Done

2009-07-21T08:47:00.002-04:00

Last night, I got the sailing frames filleted and taped. I used a technique I read about in this book, and it worked great. I started by pre-cutting 24 small sections of kevlar "tape" cut out of my leftover kevlar. Each small section was cut to fit a specific joint. Small section of 4-mil plastic (just larger than the kevlar bits) were also pre-cut. Then I applyed a thick bead of thickened epoxy to the joint between frame and hull, then smoothed it down with my finger. After all joints were filleted, I mixed up some unthickened epoxy and wet out the sections of kevlar tape, which were resting on the small pieces of plastic. Once wet out, I picked up the tape + plastic, and pressed it into the joint. All I had to do was work out the air bubbles a little, then move on to the next. The whole operation took little more than an hour. This morning, I pulled all the plastic bits off leaving perfectly filleted and smooth joints. Awesome! I'll post a picture soon.

Another quick progress update...

2009-07-19T16:16:00.002-04:00

Got a bunch of little things done today in preparation of the next few major steps:

I added a section of 6" wide tape from gunwale to gunwale to smooth and strengthen the joint of the two kevlar sections
I stitched and tacked the sailing frames in place (permenantly!)
I fiberglassed one side of the fore and aft bulkheads
I laid out and cut the fore and aft deck triangles

Now I just need to wait until the epoxy is dry before I can do anything else.

Interior Glassing Done

2009-07-19T08:54:00.003-04:00

All major panels of interior fiberglass are now complete. I have a couple small patches to add; at the bow and stern, and one in the middle to smooth the transition between kevlar panels. I will probably do those in conjunction with glassing in the bulkheads and frames. Here is a picture of my kids in their new boat. My daughter thinks I am going to paint it pink for her, but I think I am going to have to disappoint her... Maybe a pink paddle like Boo and Hannah...

From Bens Boatbuilding

Interior Fiberglassing Continued

2009-07-16T07:37:00.003-04:00

Last week was a vacation week, hence no boat building. We went camping at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, and had a great time. I definatley see a lot of opportunity to use the XCR there once it is completed. One trip I would like to try (eventually) is to launch from Glen Arbor, sail / paddle along the shore to Sleeping Bear Point, then make the crossing out to South Manitou Island. The spend a few days sailing, hiking, and camping around both islands. Maybe someday!

View Larger Map

Anyway, once back home and unpacked, I got rolling on the XCR interior again. I first feathered the edge of the kevler, then laid down the fiberglass on the interior starbord side. It went on in one long, narrow piece. It goes from the chine between panels 1 & 2 to the gunwale. I got the port side prepped last night, so hopefully I can get that laid up tonight.

Some cleanup and prep work

2009-07-04T20:04:00.002-04:00

Got a couple things done on the boat today. First, I did some cleanup on the kevlar edges. I did a pretty good job of keeping the edges flat and smooth when I was applying the epoxy, but there were a few rough edges here and there. I was a little unsure of if I would be able to do anything to the kevlar, but it wasn't too difficult to cut using a chisel and plane. I also got the two sections of fiberglass that will cover the inside from the gunnel to the joint between panels 1 and 2 (first chine). I turned the XCR on its side and rolled the full width (60") cloth out on the outside of the hull. I lined up one edge with the gunnel and then cut a little above the first chine. Now that both pieces are cut, I plan to add some fairing compound to the kevlar edge, roll the fiberglass out over the wet epoxy, then complete the wet-out. Some pics from today:

Kevlar done

2009-07-03T15:30:00.002-04:00

Today I got the kevlar laid up on the interior of the XCR. I planned on doing only the front section, but the process went really quickly, so I ended up doing both sections. First I coated the bare plywood with epoxy. Then I laid the kevlar in the wet epoxy and got it positioned. I used a foam roller and a couple of plastic squegees to get everything saturated and looking good. I am pretty happy with how things turned out; fiberglassing the interior sides is next.

Pictures of flooded garage

2009-07-03T14:54:00.003-04:00

Here is a picture of my garage during the floods we had last weekend:

The water was about a foot deep in the garage and my boxes of cans ($0.10 refund in MI) all floated away. Fortunately, nothing was really damaged or ruined.

I'm still here

2009-06-30T08:14:00.002-04:00

It has been a while since I posted last... things have been busy! The big news last weekend was the flooding we had here in Holland, MI. A thunderstorm decided to park on top of the city and dump about 8" of rain on us. I got off pretty easy with about a foot of water in the garage and about an inch in the basement. Getting everything cleaned up after that has occupied most of my time over the past week. The rest was getting ready for and celebrating my son David's first birthday. But, now all that is passed and I can get working on the XCR again. The interior taping is complete, everything smoothed out and cleaned up. Up next is the first section of interior fabric. I decided to use kevlar becuase it will give the boat excellent impact resistance and the price was not to high. The pictures below show the kevlar layed out in the boat. I will be cutting the "corners" off, keeping the fabric edge just below the second chine. I have already made a couple test cuts to verify that my scissors will in fact cut the kevlar fabric. So far, so good! Once cut, it will be time to break out the rollers, sqeegees (sp?), and big epoxy mixing tubs!

Fillet and Tape, part 2

2009-06-17T09:54:00.003-04:00

I FINALLY got around to the second round of fillets and tape. I almost had a disaster when the batch of epoxy I was wetting out the tape with started to kick. Fortunately I was able to finish the section I was working on and the worst that happened was I lost a brush. Next, I need to clean up the edges with the sander, then prep everything for the first layer of interior fabric.

In other news, check out my friend Dan's new kayak. I plan on using a similar style of construction for the amas of the XCR. (I will be using plastic cross sections and aluminum stringers, instead of wood everything.) I also plan on using the same fabric he used to cover his boat. It is a very cool fabric reinforced clear vinyl from Seattle Fabrics.

Fillets and Tape - Part 1

2009-06-09T08:45:00.002-04:00

I got three joints filleted and taped last night; the centerline joint, and the joint between panels 1 and 2. All in all, it wasn't too difficult. I first mixed up some epoxy thickened mostly with silica, but with some wood flour. I used a plastic spoon to work the goo into the joint and do some initial shaping of the fillet. Then I made a "custom" plastic squeege that did the final shaping and also scraped up the excess that wanted to squeeze out to the edges. The centerline joint was even easier because it is almost flat. After getting the 3 fillets done, I let the epoxy set up for a while, about 45 minutes. Then I came back with un-thickened epoxy and painted it over the joint and the surrounding wood. I then rolled out the biaxial fiberglass tape over the we epoxy and pressed it into the joint. This gave me a very nice smooth fillet and no air bubbles. I completed the wet-out of the tape, the moved on to the next one. Only 2 more joints to fillet and tape, then I can move on to interior fiberglass!

Unstitched!

2009-06-04T21:06:00.002-04:00

Got the epoxy tacking finshed up last night, so tonight I took out all the stitches. It was nice to see that things really didn't move around much when I took them out. I decided to try and lift the canoe out of the forms and see if I could get some pictures outside. With a temporary thwart clamped on, the boat was plenty stiff and I could lift it out of the forms and carry it outside by myself. I snapped a couple pics and then put it back in the forms. At this point, my 2 year old daughter decided she wanted to help, so she brought out her little hammer and went banging away. Fortunately, she can't hit hard enough to do any damage! Next steps are to clean up the epoxy tacks some with the sander, then time for fillets and tape. A couple pics:

Epoxy "stitching" started

2009-06-02T21:08:00.002-04:00

I got started on tacking the panels together with epoxy tonight. I should have made a touch more epoxy, because I ran out a few feet from the end... oh well. The frosting piping bag I used worked very well, but next time I might cut the tip a little smaller. Tomorrow night, I plan to finish up the tacks. I think I will try tacking the panels on the outside in the area around the bulkheads. There isn't enough space to work on the inside, and I want to leave them it while tacking so that I am sure the correct hull shape is maintained. Here are a couple quick pics:

Ramping back up

2009-06-02T09:32:00.003-04:00

Good grief... what a busy week! After the busy Memorial Day weekend, the whole following week continued to be very busy. There were however two very positive outcomes of all the activity. First, I managed to run a 5k in 19:35; which I think is my fastest 5k EVER. Very exciting (to me). Second, I bought a new car:

It is an 09 Subaru Forester, and is what I intend to haul the XCR around with.

Anyway, back to the build... I got a little work done on the sheer clamps again last night; got the outer edges planed down. When I glued them on, I let them stick up above the plywood panel a little bit. That way, after they are planed down, they will offer a larger gluing surface for the deck panel (panel 4). I definatley feel like a "real" boatbuilder working with a plane... nice curly shavings everywhere... the smell of cedar... nice.

I also had my wife pick up some disposible frosting piping bags from the grocery store. These are basically just a couple of plastic triangles that are welded together and open on one end. I can stuff them full of thickened epoxy, cut the tip to whatever size I want, and squeeze epoxy exactly where I want it. Well, at least that is the plan! We'll see how it goes tonight!

Still making progress

2009-05-28T10:33:00.003-04:00

Having had a busy Memorial Day weekend, and lots of other things going on at home, I have not make much progress on the XCR lately. I have both sheer clamps installed now, I just need to finish cleaning up the glue drips. (I should have been more careful when installing them!!) I got a pair of small stands built so I can take the strongback off the sawhorses and get the boat to a better working height. Once that is done, I can start tacking the panels with epoxy, which is something I am kind of looking forward to.

Other than that, I have made some progress on the sailing rig. I have been planning on rigging only one mast, with round-the-mast furling, similar to the Hobie Adventure Island. Based on the suggestion of a fellow XCR builder, I got a great deal on a brand new Escape Rumba sail on eBay. This sail was also designed for roller furling, but does not have much roach and is a little larger than I was intending. So I am planning on modifying the sail to be more "Hobie AI like." I am going to cut off the top few feet, and add a couple high angle batten pockets. Here are some pics:

Escape Rumba sail:

My modified version, alongside a Hobie AI sail:

Sheer clamp 1

2009-05-23T14:12:00.003-04:00

I picked up the wood for the sheer clamps last night, some nice cedar. It isn't totally clear, but the knots were pretty small. I ripped 4 strips out a 10' long by 6" wide board, cut some quick scarfs, and epoxied them them together to get 2 almost 20' x 1" strips. The best part about working with cedar is the wonderful smell, every time you cut the stuff, it smells great! Anyway, after letting the epoxy set for ~12 hours, I got the first one glued to the boat. I can only do one at a time because I have a limited number of clamps. I am using all of my spring clamps and a few G clamps and ratchet clamps too... and this is AFTER I bought 8 new spring clamps last night (all they had at Menards)! As I have said many times before... you can never have too many clamps!!!

Bulkheads and frames stitched

2009-05-21T22:42:00.003-04:00

Quickly... panel 4 removed; bulkheads and frames removed, notched for sheer clamp, and re-stitched... pics:

Half step back, then forward!

2009-05-21T09:38:00.003-04:00

After getting panel 4 stitched on last night, I am planning to remove it tonight. Really the only reason I put it on was to make sure everything was still fitting together nicely before I permanently glue the panels together. As you can see from my list of next steps above, I will be temporarily stitching in the bulkheads and frames and then "tacking" the panels together with thickened epoxy. Once the tacks are in place, I can remove the stitches, which is great because working around the boat is kind of like working around a huge cactus; lots of sharp prickly points looking to grab at skin or clothes. So far, only minor scratches... :)

I am also going to take the strongback + boat off the saw-horses. The whole assembly is just too high; the sheer is about at my sholder level. I have been getting by standing on a milk crate, but that just isn't going to cut it, especially one glassing starts. I am going to throw some shorter supports together from the chip-board I have left from the scarfing table. This should make working on the interior a lot easier.

Quick pic update

2009-05-20T22:55:00.002-04:00

Too lazy to write now, but here are some more pics from tonights work:

Panel 3 stitched

2009-05-17T22:57:00.003-04:00

Just pics tonight...

Panel 2 stitched

2009-05-16T16:46:00.003-04:00

I took advantage of the kids taking a simultaneous nap and got panel 2 stitched. This is the best part of stitch and glue construction, the boat takes shape very quickly. Everything is fitting together nicely so far, at this rate, I'll be done in no time!

First Panel Stitched!

2009-05-16T08:05:00.004-04:00

I made some real progress last night. I finished pre-drilling stich holes, and cleaned up some of the glue "squeeze-out" around the scarf joints. I figured it would be a lot easier to sand the joints flat on a table than while on the boat! After the joints were squared away, I moved all the panels back under the table and removed the extra cross pieces I had added for scarfing and layout. Then, I mounted the three building forms that I had previously cut out. I took my time getting them mounted to the strongback, making sure they were square, centered, and properly spaced.

At that point I almost called it a night, but I really wanted to see what the first pair of panels looked like sitting in the forms. I pulled the panels out and arranged them on the forms, where they fit very nicely. Then I thought, "maybe I'll put in a couple stitches, just to see what it looks like." A couple stitches eventually turned into the whole centerline joint. One tricky part was getting the stitches up through the holes. After getting a foot or so in from the ends, I started having the stiches come from the bottom up, that would make it easier to tighten and adjust them. I finally came up with the idea of using a flashlight to shine light through the stitch holes from above, then I could push the wire through the hole from below. Once I got my little process down, the stiching went pretty quickly. I can't wait to start adding more panels!

Cut and Drilled

2009-05-13T22:15:00.006-04:00

Several days worth of work summed up in only a few words. I how have all panels cut out, and panel 1 is pre-drilled. I made a nifty drilling jig that gives me stitch holes a consistent 6" apart, 1/4" in from the panel edge. I drill the first hole, then drop a wire through, rotate the gauge around the wire, drill another hole, move wire, repeat... alot... Anyway, here are some pictures:

Ready to cut

2009-05-07T21:23:00.002-04:00

Finally got the panels all layed out. I was kind of tricky figuring out how to fit all 4 panels on a 4 ft. wide sheet of plywood, but Microsoft Excel came to my rescue. I punchedthe panel offsets into Excel and plotted the points on a graph. I could then shift and flip the panels as a whole and arrange them to my hearts content. The added benefit was that I could now make all my measurements from a common baseline, the sheet edge. Anyway, it is all done now, just need to cut them out! I have included a picture of my son David sitting on the "new boat." I can't wait to take him out in it!

Scarfs done

2009-05-01T21:57:00.004-04:00

I now have 2 4' x 20' sheets of plywood in my garage. After gluing everything up and clamping it down, I was have horrible visions of trying to take things apart the next day and finding everything permenantly glued to the table. Fortunately, my fears were unfounded, and everything went off without a hitch. Here are a couple of pics of the clamping setup and the the two finished panels. On to the layout!

Brush with greatness...

2009-04-28T18:47:00.002-04:00

I had the privilege of meeting up with three of the Ultimate Hugh Heward Challenge paddlers this evening. I have been following their progress across Michigan here and here. Thanks to Toby's SPOT tracker I was able to make an educated guess about where I could try and meet up with them. My guess was pretty good because about 5 minutes after we got to the Grand River Park boat launch, they showed up. I gave them a shout and they paddled up so I could give them some fresh banana bread (thanks to Emily's fantastic baking skills).

Actually getting to the boat launch was a mini-adventure. The launch is at the end of a dirt road which turned out to be flooded. I rolled up my pants and found that the water was only ankle deep, so I figured it was safe to drive through. We made it without incident and Mark, Dan, and Toby showed up minutes later. We had a nice chat about their paddling experiences so far and my Watertribe ambitions, then they had to get moving. Turns out they paddled 52 miles today! Wow. I will definitely be thinking of them as they venture into Lake Michigan tomorrow for the remainder of their trip to Chicago. With all the wind we have had lately, the lake has built up some pretty substantial waves.

Back to boatbuilding soon, but here are some pics of the flooded launch:

Scarfs cut at last

2009-04-25T18:35:00.004-04:00

...well I guess since I used a belt sander, I didn't really "cut" the scarfs, but they are done anyway. It wasn't really as bad as I thought it would be. I did use a plane for some of the intial rough cutting, then switched to the belt sander to do most of the work. I finshed things up with the random oribital. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the results. Epoxy is next!

Plywood

2009-04-19T17:40:00.002-04:00

This is probably the most boring post ever... but I'll do it anyway. I was happy to get my plywood yesterday, but it almost didn't happen. I spend the early afternoon with the family at Meijer Gardens seeing the butterflies and other things, and planned to stop at Johnsons Workbench on the way home. I didn't bother to check their hours of operation, but I walked into the store only a couple minutes before 4pm (aparently when they close, oops). They had already shut the lights out in the lumber room, but they were glad to help me anyway. I got my six sheets of 4mm marine ply and they helped me load them into the truck. I must say that 4mm thick ply is a lot easier to move around then the 1/2" stuff I have worked with before! Scarfing is next...

Scarfing and Layout Table

2009-04-16T21:26:00.002-04:00

Quick update... Got the scarfing and layout table finished. I am planning to cut the scarfs on the end closest to the camera because it has the largest support platform.

I am planning on picking up the plywood this weekend; then cuttingand glueing the scarfs as soon as possible. When glued up, the panels will be 8 ft. wide and almost 20 ft. long and I can start laying out the hull panels.

Progress!

2009-04-10T15:01:00.004-04:00

I managed to get both kids to nap simultaneously, so I was able to get some more boatbuilding prep work done. First, I got the strongback up on legs... it seems a little high, but it will probably be nice for puting all those stitches in. Here is a picture:

I also managed to get all three building frames cut out. I am not going to mount them to the strongback yet, since I am also using the strongback as my scarfing table. Here are the three frames:

First step towards a new boat

2009-03-28T21:08:00.004-04:00

Well, kind of... This new shed will allow me to get the yard stuff out of the garage, making room for lots of new boats! Here is a slide show documenting the shed build:

On Hold

2009-03-26T07:31:00.003-04:00

Well, boatbuilding is on temporary hold due to cold weather and other stuff that needs to get done first. First of all, my shed should be arriving tomorrow, so I will need to take some time to get that taken care of. I need to clear a spot behind the garage for it to go, build a "foundation" for it, and then assemble the shed itself. Then I can move all my yard stuff into it and give the whole garage a proper cleaning. I've also got some spring yardwork to take care of, like raking up the leaves left over from fall, de-thatching the grass, etc... And finally, I can get rid of any other junk I've got laying around on Project Pride day. Every year in the spring, the city of Holland opens up the city dump and allows the residents to dump as much as you can for free! It always amazes me how much stuff I bring! I load up the truck and wonder to myself, "Why on earth did I keep this stuff?!?!?!" I am trying to reform my pack-rat ways, but change is hard, and you never know when you might need that random piece of scrap wood!

Preliminaries

2009-03-19T07:34:00.004-04:00

As with many projects, just getting started can be the hardest part. This one is no different. In order to have room to build in my garage, I need to rearrange some things, and move some things out. So I have actually ordered a small shed that I can put behind the garage with all my yard stuff; lawnmower, rakes, shovels, etc... Until that comes the garage is just going to be really cluttered, oh well.

The next big step is that I am planning on picking up my marine plywood this weekend. The first major task after that will be to scarf the sheets into two 20 ft. long x 4 ft. wide panels. I am planning to add some temporary support to my strongback and use that as my scarfing table. I am a little nervous about the whole scarfing process, but it has to happen!

Watertribe UM

2009-03-16T10:33:00.000-04:00

I now have a really good reason to finish my boat ASAP. I am planning on doing the Watertribe Ultra Marathon (UM) in 2010 with my dad. This is a 65 mile sprint, and coincides with the first leg of the Everglades Challenge. Shown below is a map of the course:

View Larger Map

Paddles

2009-03-14T16:54:00.000-04:00

So of course you need paddles to make a canoe go... And of course I can't be satisfied buying a pre-made paddle, I need to make them myself! I am planning on making a pair of bent-shaft marathon racing style paddles to use with the XCR. The pictures show the plan and a full size template I made of half the paddle blade.

My plan is to make the bent shaft using 7 laminated strips of wood (species unknown). That way, it should be relatively easy to build in the 14 degree bend. The blade will be made of high density closed cell foam with two layers of carbon fiber on each side. All in all, the paddle should be very light, but also very strong. I am hoping that I will be able to work on the paddles in the near future, since they are small enough to be worked on inside.

Cut out

2009-03-13T08:07:00.000-04:00

I got the frame and bulkhead templates cut out. One of them doesn't quite look right, so I am going to go back and double check all dimensions. See you soon! Sorry for the crummy pic, but I used my phone.

A cardboard boat?

2009-03-12T22:10:00.000-04:00

No, I'm not building my boat out of posterboard... but I am laying out the building forms and bulkheads on posterboard. I can then just trace the cardboard templates out onto my plywood whenever I want and in any arrangement. In order to most efficiently use the marine ply, the forms are scattered around the main hull panels wherever they fit.

Well, it isn't much progress, but it is something!

Mods

2009-03-09T20:55:00.001-04:00

Anyone who knows me, knows that I can't build a boat according to the plans. What fun would that be?! Anyway, this is my plan.

My ultimate goal for the XCR is to use it for the Everglades Challenge. The Challenge is a small boat "race" down the Gulf coast of Florida, from Tampa Bay to Key Largo, with three checkpoints in between. There are two primary routes between the second (Chokoloskee) and third (Flamingo) checkpoints. One can go "outside" and stay in the Gulf, or take the Wilderness Waterway (WW), a twisting route through the rivers of the Everglades. I think it would be a great experience to paddle this route, and that is where my modifications come into play. Since the WW can get pretty narrow in places, it would be a lot easier to navigate without the rigid plywood amas (outriggers) that are specified in the design. So... I am going to build the amas as aluminum and fabric skin-on-frame (like a Yost kayak). That way, I can take the amas apart and stow them in the boat for paddling the WW. At least thats the plan for now!

A slow start

2009-03-09T07:28:00.000-04:00

Now I have the strongback (mostly) done... I guess its time to start working on "boat" stuff. Unfortunately, the weather has turned wet and cold again. My next step is to cut out the three building cradles and attach them to the strongback, making sure they are square, straight, and level. Then, its too the store for some nice marine plywood!

In the meantime, I am keeping myself busy following the 2009 Everglades Challenge which started two days ago (Saturday morning). The winners are probably finishing up about now... check it out!

Strongback!

2009-03-07T13:49:00.000-05:00

Well, it isn't much to look at, but I finally got around to making a strongback for the XCR build. I used some 5/8ths chip board I had around, ripped to 1 ft. x 8 ft. for the top. For the sides, I used some left over 10 ft. 2 x 6s. Finished size is 1 ft. x 16 ft. It doesn't have legs yet, but I think I will just screw the whole thing to a set of sawhorses. Hopefully, more to come soon!

Colors?

2009-03-06T10:17:00.000-05:00

Here are some more views of the boat, showing my ideas for a color scheme:

Why does it have to be so cold?!?!?

2009-03-03T14:10:00.000-05:00

I really want to get rolling on building my XCR. But then I remember it is March, and I live in Michigan. Boatbuilding and 15 degree air don't seem to work well together. I am hoping to get the strongback put together sometime this week, it is supposed to be in the 30s or 40s later this week. After that, I can probably get started making the small parts inside, like building cradles and bulkheads. As much as I like to plan, I have thought about this too much! I need to get started!!

Slight change of plans

2009-03-02T08:16:00.000-05:00

So, after some discussions, it looks like I am going to skip the SOF canoe for now. But not to worry, it is so I can build a bigger and better canoe! About a year ago, I purchased plans for the XCR sailing canoe designed by Chris Ostlind. So the XCR it is! I am excited to get started, but will probably start with a very unexciting strongback. Check back soon!

Design Particulars

2009-02-28T17:02:00.000-05:00

I suppose some details would be important:

LOA: 16 ft.

LWL: 15 ft. 9 in.

BOA: 34 in.

BWL: 32 in.

Disp @ 5 in. WL: 475 lbs.

I wanted something big enough to fit the whole family (at least while the kids a little) but not too big. 16 feet seemed like a good compromise. I took inspiration from a variety of sources, including the Pakcanoe, and various John Winters designs.

The design will use plywood frames, aluminum stringers, and PVC skin. The stringers will attach to the frames using HDPE "clips" similar to the full HDPE frame construction of Yost kayaks. The skinning process will also be similar to the method Yost uses, with some adaptations to an open canoe design. I am planning to have a floor of some kind, but I have not fully figured that out yet. I am also considering using some inflatible sponsons (like the Pakcanoe) on the sides to provide structure and floatation.

The canoe should "fold up" relatively small. The stringers will break down to approximately 6 foot sections, and the skin will be rolled up. The frames will stack up and should "nest" fairly well, due to the wide variety of sizes and "U" shape.

Thats it for now, I guess the next step is to buy some stuff!

The Design

2009-02-28T11:03:00.000-05:00

Design Inspiration:

Linesplan:

3D framework:

3D final:

New canoe?!?!?!

2009-02-27T21:38:00.000-05:00

In anticipation of a trip to Florida in Spring 2010, I am thinking of building a folding canoe. I really want a canoe for exploring the waterways around Flamingo, but I don't think I can finish a S & G by then. But a folder... just maybe... The fact that there are no plans for such a thing does not discourage me. I figure I will design my own, or adapt a set of plans I already have. I did find something to inspire me: Pakcanoe. We'll see!