Head Scratched Protection Added

After some discussions with my fellow boat builder Ted, it would appear that the side wood strips at the rear of several boats like ours have been added not necessarily as splash rails but as protection against bumps. The shape of the side of our boats at the rear makes bottom edge of the boat prominent and susceptible to getting bumped and marred. A rubstrip along the shearline would be ineffective at the rear. However, since the boat side twists, getting something to fit takes a bit of head scratching.

I decided to build some stationary assists for fitting these bumper strips. I used the 2x6s from the forms and cut vertical pieces at the planned front and rear height and connected with a stringer at floor level. I then split them in half on the table saw so I could make one for each side of the boat. They were attached to the ping-pong table and then belt clamped underneath the boat to bring the verticals tight to the boat.

A 2" wide board was cut to rough length and placed up to the side of the boat. It was placed so it gapped about 3/8" at the front and a like amount at the rear. Then using a scrap piece of wood about 1/4" thick and 1 1/2" square, I sanded a chisel edge so it would ride up against the boat along the board. I drilled a small hole 3/8" in from the edge to allow a pencil point to project through. I laid this piece flat on the board and pushed it up against the boat side and traced a line on top of the board, and then repeated this on the underneath side.

I then took the board to the band saw and cut a line in from the edge every four inches and rotate it as needed to cut to the marked lines top and bottom. Then I set the band saw table to the initial angle needed and cut off four inches at a time and readjusted the table angle as I went along. This cut a spiral shaped surface along a curved line of sorts. Then a trial fit and some filing - some more filing - sanding - filing - and it got close to fitting - sort of.

Then duct tape was put on the side of the boat so epoxy would not adhere. Some scraps were put underneath with more duct tape to catch any epoxy drips. A batch of well thickened epoxy using the brown fairing filler was put on the board and clamped to the boat and allowed to cure. It took some mallet hits to get the board lose after cure but it appears to now have a surface that matches the boat. Filing of top and bottom sides of the board should clean up the excess epoxy.

This last picture shows the epoxied surface, which is now a curved line with a spiral twist - you can kind of see that in the photo.

Ill do the other side and then determine the final shape or line to cut the outside of the board. It will probably end up being a straight taper - narrow at the front and gradually getting wider toward the rear of the boat. I decided to reinforce the sides at each screw attachment point with another piece of 1/4" plywood. To keep it simple and light, a flycutter was used to cut some 1.5" diameter "washers" from 1/4" plywood. These were epoxied in place on the inside of the boat and held in place with a screw and a temporary duct taped block on the outside of the boat. I am not going to permanently attach these rails until the boat is out of the basement. Hate to add any unaccounted for width.

After a bit a trying different lines, a straight line did not work as it made the forward foot or so look like it bulged out due to the shape of the boat side. So I used a strip of plywood to create a curved line and cut it on the band saw and sanded out the bumps and saw lines it until I had a smooth surface.

I plan on putting a 1/2" or 2/4" wide stainless steel rubstrip along the outer edge.

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Getting Ready to Head South

Finisterra has been in her slip for the last four months undergoing some refits, improvements and upgrades in preparation for her next adventure. Here is a partial list of work done:
- 10 coats of varnish on the cap rails
- Replace the worn teak in the cockpit with synthetic teak
- Add a fourth element to the lazyjacks
- Rebuild the watermaker
- Replace the jib sheets and main halyard
- Service the ground tackle
- Install fans in all the cabins
- Modify the outboard motor hoist to make it smaller and lighter
- Install a cut-out switch between the solar panels and charge controller
- Upgrade the bimini
- Fabricate and install a new cockpit table
- Replace the XM radio antenna
- Replace all docklines
- Install spreader patches on the mainsail
- Service the diesel engine and outboard motor
- Seal the joint between the galley countertop and lockers
- Completely empty the boat and clean out all lockers
- Refresh ditch bag
- Get new bug screens for all hatches

Whew! That was a lot of work. Now all thats left is to provision, fuel up and take care of roughly a thousand other minor tasks, such as refill the propane tanks, re-certify all the safety gear, go through our wardrobes and thin them down for the tropics, install an Iridium Go satellite communications system, stock up on spare parts and tools, make copies of documentation, etc. etc.  A few of my landlocked friends tell me Im "Livin the dream", but what they dont understand is that living the dream is a lot of work!

Anyway, it looks like, barring any surprises, Finisterra will be ready to sail sometime in early November. The plan is to spend a few days at Catalina Island, another week or so in San Diego and then head for Ensenada. From there well sail down the coast of Baja California, stopping in Turtle Bay and possibly Magdalena Bay before rounding Cabo San Lucas and laying over a day or two in San Jose Del Cabo to top up provisions. From San Jose, the plan is to cross the Sea of Cortez to Mazatlan, then cruise down the coast to Puerto Vallarta where well spend a month or so and plan our next move.

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An Old Head on Young Shoulders

It is often said that words of wisdom come from the mouths of babes...

The other week one of my sons mentioned that he wanted to build one of my First Mate designs. I was full of enthusiasm and told him that Id build one too, and maybe I could arrange to have the parts for both boats cut by CNC.

He looked at me and said, "Marking and cutting is easy and fun - can you arrange to have the sanding and painting done by CNC instead?"

First Mate is a nice boat - you can see more designs on my website here.

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