Reefing Conundrum

My focus this weekend was on getting a good start on modifying the boom and sail so that I can reef the thing. I ran into problems with my original reefing plan, where the luff edge did not want to slide down the bamboo mast. Adding to the complications is the attachment of a halyard about 1/3 of the way up the mast, past which one of the mast hoops has to go down. I've since come to realize there are a few key points that keep this sail from lowering. One is the brailing line attachment point up on the luff spar. The pulley is integrated into the mast hoop via a quick eye in the rope. The pull of the weight of the boom is just enough to make for a lot of friction as the hoop tries to pass over the joint in the bamboo (BTW the joint is called 'gwudukngu' here in the Mibu language. Same word is used for elbow. Bamboo is called 'kekngu', the bamboo joint is called 'kekngu gwudukngu'.) OK, back from our rabbit trail. The other biggie is the clew attachment. Right now the clew is attached via static connection. Because of the angles in the sail, when the luff is lowered down the mast, the clew needs to pull in toward the mast. So I had to modify the end of the boom to incorporate a sheave. Now I have a clew outhaul... well almost. I wasn't able to get it completely done. When I am done though, I'll uncleat the clew outhaul, let it loose a bit, then lower the sail to its reefing points and tighten up the clew again. Note in the picture that I've simply added an extension on to my original bamboo plug into which I was able to make a slot for the sheave. I tenoned the new piece into the original, then drilled out and doweled through the whole thing, locking it into place for what I hope will be a really strong joint.

Because of the other friction problems, I've decided that a few spots need parrels. I looked high and low when I was in town last and could not find any suitable beads for the job. So I made my own out of some very dense, strong wood called 'kwila' which from what I understand is ironwood. So far, it looks like parrel beads at the head, the clew, and at the brailing line attachment point on the luff, will all serve their purpose well. Hoping I don't need any more than that to make it work.

I stewed and stewed about just how to go about making these parrel beads. Then it hit me! A small hole saw in the end grain of a piece of timber, then cross cut with the table saw. Then thread each one on a long bolt and work the things into shape with the orbital sander. Worked out pretty nice. I used similar methods to make my sheave as well.

No, I'm not into some kind of all natural funk or anything like that. Remember, I live in the middle of the jungle. No home depot, no Lowe's, no nothing. I would just order whatever I find lacking next time I'm out in town, except since it usually takes several months for me to get things I've ordered, and since the maiden voyage is coming up soon, in March, I have to make do with what I have. The added benefit is that I'm saving money this way too. Those parrel beads are expensive to buy online!

Will post pix of the finished assembly when everything is finished, which by the looks of it, may be a couple weeks. Got a lot going on that is limiting time spent on extracurricular activities.

Anchoring the Anchor

Wouldn't it be nice if I had internet access and could just include all the pictures and their descriptions in just one nice post? One can only dream. But as it is, I'll try to find contentment in posting all this over my limited HF radio connection.

So, the anchor. Yeah, really interesting right? As such I'll keep it short. I bought an anchor when I was out in town last. I didn't like the idea of the thing sliding around and not having a place of it's own in the boat; something solid would be needed that would keep it from falling out in the event of a capsize, or otherwise banging around making a bunch of racket, or worse, doing damage to the plywood hull. So I whipped up this little contraption which seems like it'll work out nicely. It keeps the anchor nicely stowed, out of the way, where the stub mast is stepped, under the seat there. The bottom end of the anchor, where the chain attaches, is held in place by a rare earth magnet, extracted from an old hard drive. I use those magnets for tons of things! Glad I found a spot for one on Shan Skailyn.

Railyn On Skailyn

Last Saturday I worked on some lashing rails. They're meant to be mounted on the inside of the gunwale in the fore and aft sections of Shan Skailyn. The idea is to have some handy spots to lash and tie things to. They're all done now, though unfortunately, I've come to realize I don't have any proper size screws to mount them! I just ordered some and thankfully the helicopter is scheduled to bring some food in to us (remember, we live in the middle of the jungle here) in just a couple weeks, so I won't have to wait too long.

In front of the rails in the picture, are two odd looking pieces I made up as a way to mount my anchor, which I bought a couple months ago when we were out in town last. More on that in the next post. Gonna have to catch you up on a series of smaller details in the next few posts.

Finished Oar

Once again, I found myself limited to just a few hours of work on Shan Skailyn this last weekend. Is it me, or do things just keep getting more and more busy? No problem. Just plug away when you can and it'll eventually get all done.

I managed to finish the steering oar. Turned out pretty nice, though I do wonder about it's flexibility, if it may be too much. Oh well. I'll leave that up to future experience to tell me. Again, this is a backup steering/propulsion system. I simply modeled after the diagram in Gary's book. Went with the 10' version. Total weight is 3.6 kgs (7.9 lbs). Seems a bit heavy to me. Though I'm not sure what one might expect from a 10' oar weight wise. Only thing left on the oar at this point is to put the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th coats of exterior varnish on the oar. Also note the texture I put on the handle (see picture in previous botched post). My thinking was that it would provide better grip in wet conditions. I'm wondering if it might only serve to expedite the development of blisters. Hmmm. If it does, I can just wrap inner tube strips around it for comfort. Hmmm. Why didn't I just do that in the first place?!

One other thing I did on Saturday morning was to varnish the underside of the fore and aft decks. This is something I neglected to do initially, thinking it wouldn't be a problem to just leave the plywood bare on the deck since it's in a sealed compartment. However, as I've thought over things, I've come to realize that my original thinking was naive. In a water craft, I think one can assume everything will get wet at one point or another. Best to leave zero surfaces unfinished if I want to extend the life of the material. So I got that done. Not an easy job on an assembled boat. I had to assemble the fore and aft pieces and turn it upside down on a table so I could sit up inside the hull and reach my arms inside the sealed compartments and apply the varnish all the way to the stem. Now I know why I've delayed doing that. All that work and it feels like I didn't really accomplish anything meaningful, at least not anything perceivable. But I do rest better knowing I've taken a good step toward preserving Shan Skailyn. After reading Chris Grill's blog (grillabongquixotic.wordpress.com - gotta check it out if you haven't already) and seeing what happened to his deck, I'm taking whatever measures I can to keep this one intact as long as possible. Of course his boat, Desesperado, has been in the water nonstop for more than a year, not to mention it's a completely different construction method and material. But the principle is the same... water eventually rots wood. Thus it is a good idea to do what you can to keep the water off the wood.

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Paddles and Oar

Today didn't feel like I got much done on Shan Skailyn. I'm mostly working on all the peripheral stuff these days. Anyway, I managed to get a second paddle done. I really like the wood used for the blade on this most recent one (the lighter colored one in the picture). It's much lighter and straight grained than the other stuff I used. The other one looks like rosewood, but feels too light to be rosewood. The other stuff was a major pain to plane down because of the irregular grain. I will definitely be making the third paddle out of this lighter weight straight grained stuff.

I also laminated up some strips which will eventually be the oar paddle. I'm planning on having the oar, mostly as a back up in case the rudder fails. Not sure what length will be needed. Gary recommends 8' to 10' oars for his boats, or "generally half the length of the boat". So I went ahead and made a 10' long oar handle. You can always make it short, but not longer. It seems like I chose a fairly heavy wood for this handle. Not sure how I feel about that. At this point I don't have a whole lot to choose from, especially when I'm looking for 10' length. I could have made it all from one solid piece, but the wood I have isn't quarter sawn or anything special that will make it more stable. Often, once you cut into this stuff it bends on you. So I cut strips out of the same piece, alternated the grain direction between each piece and laminated it that way. Should be much more stable, and much stiffer that way. Not sure how thick of a handle I'm going to make. Gary's book shows as thick as 1-13/16". Since this is a heavier wood, I'm kind of thinking of going closer to 1-1/2" to cut down on weight, and hoping the wood is strong enough... no clue on the type of wood, by the way. I have a 2-1/4" brass oarlock on the way for which I don't want to undersize the handle too much. One downside to laminating 5 strips together is that it uses a lot of glue! I think I used nearly a quarter bottle of titebond III. Yeah, that's what I'm using for the paddles and other peripherals... hardly have any epoxy left and no moolah in the budget for more. So I'm saving what I have just in case I need to glass a bit more or glue something that is actually part of the boat.

Shan's Tiller

Having just come back in to the bush from being in town for a while, I didn't have a lot of time this weekend for anything but laundry, laundry, and more laundry... oh yeah, and unpacking boxes and boxes of food and trying to organize it all. Imagine only getting a grocery run every 2-4 months.

But I did manage to get some little bits here and there, during which I managed to glue up one more paddle blade, and even better, construct the tiller for Shan Skailyn's rudder. I was concerned about using a bolt at the pivot point (at the base of the tiller) for fear that the thing might work itself loose. Since I still have some leftover brass rod, and some loose stainless steel washers and retaining pins, I decided to rig something up with that. My only concern with the retaining clips is that they're yet another little pointy, grabby thing that a rope is bound to snag. We'll deal with than when it becomes necessary.

For the paddle blade, I'm not sure what kind of wood I'm using. It's the same stuff that the Mibu folks use for making siding for their huts. It's very very lightweight, long grained wood. Hope it's strong enough for a paddle blade.