Great Ideas in Action

Hmmmm.....I can only offer apologies for not including everyone sooner. I ran across this great idea to build a medicine cabinet for the head in "The Finely Fitted Yacht". It's really quiet simple and didn't require many tools which naturally appealed to me. I don't have a lot of tools so I'm always looking for the easy, quick projects that fit my restrictions. Anyway, we only have a small upper cabinet and a somewhat larger bottom cabinet on Sea Wind. The forward facing bulkhead was asking for a bit of decoration so I thought, why not? I could have fun in the shoppe and increase stowage on board. (R didn't seem too enthusiastic about the idea, I think he really thought I was going to ask him to cut a piece of wood!) After I laid out my plan to get the support from Captain Ron (AKA "R") I was off. Built from mahogany it would be in keeping with all the other wood below, so I was on good ground.  

In his book, Ferenc Mate outlines a medicine cabinet that is slightly deeper than what I built, only by .25 inches......we sailors always improvise to suit our particular needs. I did not put a solid back but instead let in two pieces of wood about 1.5 inches wide across the back. The bright white of the bulkhead will increase the illumination of the interior light through the stained glass front....oh I haven't mentioned that yet...it's still under development upstairs.

Anyway, I spaced the shelf support holes about two inches apart. This allows Capt. Ron plenty of latitude to adjust the shelves to suit his "what nots" so all will be happy.

We measured for a good fit by sitting on the head and determining the amount of space we would have left for the cabinet, we also had to take into account the side to side dimensions as we have mast wiring to run in an artistic fashion, this will take up some space. The overall dimensions are 16 inches tall by about 12 inches wide.

I am on finish coat number 6, the mahogany is filling in beautifully and the cabinet is starting to take on that reflective, glowing quality that we like so much. In a finishing situation like this, where I am putting finish up against a 90 degree surface I always use the foam brushes sold by West Marine, they have angled sides and allow for getting into corners without messing up the finish on the upright side.

Tomorrow I will be ripping teak for the cap rails, getting ready to make the scarfs. Feeling excited because this is the first time I have done this, I have the shoppe set up as best I can, I'll get Capt. Ron out there to shoot a few photos so we can make the mistakes together!

Filling Holes

What to do with all those old bolt holes? Since the new teak rails will be manufactured in the shoppe-- complete with countersink holes drilled 10 inches on center, it will be difficult to get the holes to line up perfectly. As a result we are going to fill each hole on on the hull deck joint flange with structural putty ( an epoxy mixture with micro-fibers). When the new rails are ready for installation we will match drill the hull deck joint and not be obsessively concerned with mis-matching holes.    

We have also decided to use SS cap bolts without countersinks. Some wood experts believe that using countersinks build in a weakness for splitting the wood since the bolt is in the shape of a wedge. I don't have enough experience to agree or disagree, however, while removing the rails they split quiet nicely through the holes. In addition, on the starboard side the damaged area gave up through the bolt holes in several places as well.

Ratline update

We have been obsessing (that really means me, R doesn't obsess) on why the ratline seizing failed. Could be a number of issues, not the least of which is I don't have a clue on what I am doing......going by feel and what seems to make sense......not always the best solution! Much research has lent suggestions on knots, seizing, technique but no information on the nuts and bolts of the thing, think I'll get in touch with someone who knows the details.  

I sent an e-mail to Stuart.  He responded promptly with much advice and suggestions on proper rope size and seizing thread. I had used .5 inch nylon three strand twist, which was too large. (Very attractive though, all the ratlines I made with the eyes spices are now in the wood shoppe holding various articles on the overhead beams). We have placed an order for 100 feet of dacron (New England Rope)  3/8th diameter. It should be here Thursday just in time for the threekend.  Naturally I am very excited (R is not too sure) and will manufacture the first one within an hour of getting the material. Weather permitting we will install in accordance with Stuart's advice and load test it. If it passes, you know what we will be doing over the next week or so!

Toe Rail Removal

     We are beginning the process of replacing Sea Wind's toe rails.  Currently, due to previous damage,  she has mix of teak and aluminum.  As you can view in the above photo, we opted to use a hammer and chisel to remove what is left of the original, the nuts on the underside of the SS bolts were buried in 40 years of yuck and difficult to get at. 

     We are going to replace to original specs (As much as we can determine).  The teak is in the shoppe and waiting for us to make a decision on what type of scarf joint we will make. This decision has become rather lengthy as we have gone from a traditional 12 to 1 through the thickness of the teak to a more decorative 12 to 1 joint that is somewhat self locking. 

     We were able to purchase nominal 1 inch thick by 7 inches wide stock; to make the best use of the teak we plan to rip it into the desired width and then to the desired thickness. It appears that the original cap rail was about .5  to .75 thick, hard to be exact due to the numerous cleaning the teak had over its 42 year life thus eroding its thickness.

     We installed a thin kerf blade on the table saw and will move forward with that blade to avoid unnecessary waste of this valuable wood.  We will document our trails and tribulations as we move out on the task.

Ratline Problems

Although they passed load testing last week, our ratlines are slipping.  Amanda is trying to dissect one of the original lines. Next, we will try glue over the newly lashed lines; a technique of a local rigger. On the port side, an electrical tape wrap under the lashing is recommended in several publications. We shall see...

Sailfish Anyone?

Here's the latest edition to our sailing fleet; a "classic" Alcort
Sailfish. Any ideas on the vintage? Sails, spars, rudder, dagger
board will all have to be rebuilt.

Testing

Amanda completed three ratlines today. They passed initial load testing without any slippage. Nine more to go on this side.