Whole Lot of Hectic

As I said in my very first blog post, I was a bookish kid. In high school, I hung out with the Ham Radio club, my best friend was destined to win a Westinghouse grant and go to MIT (while I headed off to the slightly less prestigious, but equally egg-headed RPI), and my only sporting activity in all 4 years was a fist fight, which confirmed that boxing would not be a good career choice for me.

So I never really understood the seemingly irrational hostility that doers often have towards thinkers. When told by my industrial arts (i.e. shop) teacher, "Stop over-thinking it, and just get on with it!", my open-mouth reaction was, "How?" How could I get on with making that ashtray, or lamp, or whatever, without understanding exactly what it was I had to do?

It baffled me.

Two and a half years into my voyage through the unknown waters of boatbuilding and wooden boats, I finally get the whole just get on with it! idea, and believe its based on one simple insight that practical people must learn at a very early age: No matter how much you plan, things are still going to go wrong, so you might as well get on with it, and deal with problems as they (inevitably) arise.

I still enjoy thinking out a new process, and planning for whatever contingencies I can anticipate, but now I also enjoy leaping off the end of the pier, into the unknown depths, to discover what, exactly, is going to go wrong this time.

So, with steam box and boiler built and tested, it was time to just get on with it.

The next step in the project was to build some sort of form that my wood could be clamped to. Page 46-47 of John Brooks "How to Build Glued-Lapstrake Wooden Boats" describes several ways to build such a form. The one that appealed to me involved making a set of clamping blocks, and screwing them down to the line Id already lofted on my workbench.

John Brooks clamping block

However, Johns clamping blocks seemed to be the wrong shape for my project. They were wide but short in height. Because my hickory boards were 2 1/2" wide, I needed higher blocks. If I built my blocks to the same proportions as Johns, Id need much larger clamps than I had, or could afford to buy.

So I decided to modify his clamping blocks to fit my application.

As they say, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing!

Clamping blocks screwed down to table along line

My clamping blocks were high enough for my 2 1/2" hickory boards, but narrow enough so that my clamps could get around both the 5 boards and the block.

I screwed them into the workbench, along the line I had already lofted onto the bench top. I then clamped a plastic batten to the form, to make sure it followed the line.

Clamping batten to form

Form and clamps tested and ready to go...
I thought...

It all looked great. I had my form, I had my clamps. I was ready to go.

Even Mother Nature was cooperating, by providing a 50 degree F day in the middle of February, for my first steam bending expedition. A warm day is important, I was told, because the colder the day, the harder it is to get the steam box up to operating temperature.

I started by pre-boiling the gallon of water in the kitchen. To save the bottom of my paint tin, I boiled the water in an electric kettle, and then kept it on simmer on the stove until I was ready to go.

Pre-boiling the water on kitchen stove
to save propane & time

In the meantime, I set up the steam box in a part of the garden that is well protected from wind from all sides by a tall concrete wall. The 1" inside diameter radiator hose was just long enough to reach the stove. Perfect.

Initial set up, well protected from any breezes.
Outside temp about 50 F

With the box in position, and the boiler starting to fill the box with wisps of steam, I loaded my wood into the box.

People keep telling me that my box is too complicated, but I cant quite figure out how a simpler box (without the pegs) could hold this amount of wood while allowing good steam circulation around the wood. Maybe someday this will be one of those obvious questions, but for now, I am happy with my box.

First set of boards loaded into steamer.

The boiler was steaming and the wood was loaded, so I shut the door and waited for something to happen.

Hmmm... a box... a closed box with no windows... Not much to look at...

After a few minutes, I realized I was missing some vital instrumentation: a temperature gauge. So I fetched my instant read thermometer from the kitchen, found a drill bit big enough for the probe, and drilled a hole in the box about a foot from the end.

Meanwhile, the boiler had been going for at least 20 minutes. When I put the thermometer into the hole, I was surprised to discover that the air inside the box was the same temperature as the air outside the box. This seemed rather peculiar.

After another half hour, the temperature had risen by 5 degrees or so, but obviously I wasnt going to steam wood at 55 degrees. So I started gathering old blankets and a couple of fleeces and wrapped the box in them, to keep as much heat as possible inside the box.

This seemed to help, and slowly but surely the temperature rose up, and up, and up.

I wondered if the temperature was even in the box. The thermometer was at one end of the box; what was happening at the other end (which was slightly higher), or in the middle, near the steam inlet?

I drilled two more holes in the box -- one in the middle, and one at the other end -- and took additional measurements. Of course, the the temperature was higher in the center, but it was also higher at the other end -- the high end. Heat rises.

I fetched another, lower chair, and leveled the box. A few minutes later, the temperature gradient inside the box had evened out. Both ends were roughly equal, now.

Essential instrumentation

Leveled out, with insulation

After an hour, the temperature seemed stuck at 180 degrees. I kept watching it, but the temperature just stayed flat at 180. I wondered if that was as high as it was going to get.

I also started wondering if I was going to overcook the wood -- a pitfall much discussed on the wooden boat forum. I had no idea what overcooked meant, but it sounded bad, so I pulled a board out of the box to see how it was doing.

Not overcooked. Not even al dente. Uncooked pasta was more like it. I shoved it back in.

A watched pot never boils, so I took a break by logging onto the forum and expressing my angst to my fellow boat builders. 20 minutes later, I was back outside, and delighted to find my box was now at 200 degrees.

At 200 degrees, everything started to click. First, a peak inside the box confirmed that everything was a lot steamier and wetter than it had looked before. The steam box itself was changing shape, and -- yes -- all those gloom-and-doomsters who predicted that my fancy door would jam shut were correct: it did stick. Luckily, my dados were oversized enough so I could pry the door open, but after that close shave, I didnt put the door back in. I just draped a fleece over the end of the box.

After 1/2 hour at 200+ degrees, I again pulled a board out and tested it. The stiff, brittle, bone-dry hickory was wet, supple, and -- yes -- bendable! Amazing!

But was it done enough to bend on to the form? Only one way to find out, so I carried it into my shop, and cautiously bent it into the sharpest part of the curve. If it was going to crack, this would be the moment, but it didnt -- it bent right into the curve.

Beautiful!

I didnt think I could bend all the boards into shape at the same time, so I brought in the boards one by one, clamping them next to their partners in turn, using just 3 clamps, to minimize the amount of clamping and unclamping.

However, as I bent the 4th board into the deepest part of the curve, the clamping block broke! It sheered off right where an experienced woodworker would expect it to sheer off: where the vertical part of the block met the horizontal part of the block (thus explaining the odd, but much stronger, shape of John Brooks clamping blocks!)

Disaster!

I tried using the clamping blocks on either side of the failed block, but they too sheered off! In the battle between hickory and pine, hickory was winning!

Now this is the type of moment that do-ers relish. Its the moment that rewards not only experience, but a well stocked junk box -- the kind of junk box that only do-ers accumulate. Built from failed or abandoned experiments, it contains a vast array of valuable bits and pieces.

My junk box had just the thing to save the day

Before heading off on my long voyage in the Blue Moon, I had the idea to build bulwarks that would give me some security on the BMs raised deck. For various reasons, I never installed those bulwarks, but the steel brackets Id built for the bulwarks were still in my junk box.

In a few hectic minutes (wood cools quickly) I replaced my sheared off wooden blocks with much more sturdy steel ones.

Sturdier clamping stations

When the wood was safely clamped in place, I had time to catch my breath, and bring in the final board from the steam box.

All 5 boards clamped into place. Whew!

I bent the final board into position, and then put clamps on all of the clamping blocks. The end blocks didnt have the same sort of stress as the center blocks, so they all held, thankfully. 

And, just like that, I was done. My hickory was bent into shape. Success.

From reading in the Wood Handbook, I believe the next step is to let the wood cool and dry out for a couple of days. That should allow the wood to hold its shape after being unclamped form the forms. 

It will then be time to glue the boards together. I plan to tackle that part, tomorrow, so stay tuned!

>>> Next Episode: Confessions of an Epoxy Hater

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Deember 8 24 Slow Steady Progress But There Is a Lot Left To Do

Three visits to ILENE for a total of 14 hours during this period.  I lowered the chain from the boat to the ground, loaded it into a yard cart, and from there to a cardboard box in the cargo area of our mini SUV. An estimated 200 pounds, but easily movable, a few feet of links at a time. A few days later I drove to Jersey City and located Nicholas Galvanizing, in a thoroughly industrial area by the Hackensack River. Its staff slid the box off the back of my vehicle onto a wooden pallet to be moved by fork lift. The chain should be nice and shiny and protected for another 16 years soon after 2016 starts. While in Jersey I enjoyed a delicious, leisurely, Thai lunch in Berkely Heights with Jim, formerly of s/v "Aria", who is now sadly too disabled to sail. He gave me three excellent sailing books including Nigel Calders maintenance bible.
On the first of my three boat visits I also took most of the three bladed feathering propeller off its shaft, to be sent to its manufacturer, PYI, on the west coast, for refurbishment. Before going, I watched PYIs how-to video -- four times -- took notes and called the company to speak to the demonstrator, three times. But he demonstrated the disassembly of a shiny new prop and the video left out some pre and post steps. The parts are held together with ten Allen Head bolts. These are locked in place with tiny cut-off half length cotter pins inserted through holes in the sides of their heads, which pins were encrusted in place with layers of paint. By use of the scraper, ice pick and needle nose pliers, the pins came out. Also, I knew that unlike his model, my prop was loaded with heavy grease because I had pumped it in each year through zirc fittings. So I had a lot of rags and paper towels and Fantastic to get the grease off and into a plastic bag. And after the end of the video, the props central hub has to be removed by first removing two rods that hold a locking bolt on the tail end of the shaft in place, unscrewing that bolt, which required no tools, and then sliding the hub aft, off the shaft. The bolt removal was accomplished during my second visit, and that is when I ran into a problem for want of a tool that costs several hundred dollars but that I needed to use only once: a prop puller. But I met with Fernando at the boat to plan a big job that he will do with me: sanding off and spraying on primer and two coats of Awlgrip paint to renew the dark blue decorative boot stripes around the boat, just above the water line. Fernando did excellent work in repairing ILENEs stainless steel and fiberglass which were damaged by a hit and run at the mooring one night in the fall of 2013. In addition to telling me that the bottom is not ready for barrier coating but requires thorough sanding, a lot of sanding, he put me onto the man who does the diving work and other work for many folks at the Huguenot, Brian McCauley, who was present and who has a prop puller. The job will take only ten minutes and of course I was prepared to pay for his services, but he said he would just leave the tool under ILENE, so I could do the job myself and would pick up his tool later -- at no cost! Thanks Brian!
On my third trip the tool was there but I had to loosen the Spurs line cutter to fit the forward end of this tool at the forward end of the hub. This required a spraying of penetrant and then heat from the heat gun, but was accomplished and then the puller did its job, easily. Here are the pieces of the prop, except the bolt, at home, awaiting shipping.

I have also taken out four of the smallest pieces of the cabin sole, and done two of them, the ones that collar the mast. I sanded them down on the sides to make them a bit smaller so they will fit better, let them dry thoroughly and applied two coats of spray-on low-gloss polyurethane to their sides and bottoms, to seal out water, which drips from the mast boot, making this a damp area, and finally, lightly sanded their top surfaces, and applied the plastic paint. It looks good, so I can now do the rest of the cabin sole, piece by piece.
Also, the new teak flagpole, to which I had previously applied many coats of varnish, is finally complete: I got a 5/16th inch Phillips head bolt and after first using the Dremel tool to grind a flat spot on the side of the chrome plated brass base into which that bolt goes to hold the pole in it, I drilled a hole through the base at that flat spot,  and into the wood. A snug fit resulted, but removable, so that the new flag will not get torn to shreds in storms. And pole and flag will not be blown away again, as the combination did during a windstorm in Fort Lauderdale last winter.

I had two other ashore days in addition to the day of the drive to New Jersey. One consisted of about six hours at home on the computer and phone. In addition to learning from PYI about the prop disassembly, I called three potential sites for this winters Harlem winter excursion. The US Merchant Marine Academys Museum at Kings Point, directly across Long Island Sound is not available this year. The other two candidates were the National Lighthouse Museum, a short walk from the ferry terminal, and the Noble Maritime Collection at the Sailors Snug Harbor, about a ten minute bus ride from that terminal on Staten Island. After reading as much as I could and talking with all three places, I spent a day on Staten Island checking out both sites for that I have now called "The Harlem Yacht Clubs Fifth Annual-ish Dead-of-Winter, Out-of-Clubhouse, Salt Watery/Maritime Learning/Social/Dining Excursion".  The Lighthouse Museum is planning a major expansion over the next couple of years so I decided to wait until it is complete. For 2016 The Noble Maritime Collection is the winner and the event is being offered with an additional attraction -- two optional free boat rides -- on the Staten Island Ferry! For those who prefer to drive, it requires getting to Long Island and then crossing the Verranzano Bridge with its $15 toll, though parking is free.
The Noble Maritime Collection is a little gem of a museum located on the site of the Sailors Snug Harbor, formerly an old age home for destitute, family-less, worn-out seamen. The Snugs, as residents were called, were offered a comfortable somewhat spartan free ride. I have characterized it as a way station on their route from their life at sea to Fiddlers Green. Ciro, the Associate Director, opened the place for me on a weekday, when it is normally closed, so I could scope it out to describe it to the Harlemites. More on this place after Sunday, February 21, when the excursion is now scheduled. Ciro also put me onto Blue, a nice waterside (to the Kill van Kull) restaurant less than a quarter mile away, where the dining portion of our excursion will take place, at prices that are comparable to those at the Clubs dining room.
I checked out my friend Bobs blog: SailPandora. When I left him in Hampton, VA he was excitedly planning his cruise to the Caribbean. But a delayed start due to weather and then possible mechanical problems early on the route to Tortola forced him to divert to Beaufort NC; he had lost the availability of his crew and the good weather and was compelled to change his destination to Florida and the Bahamas, where he has been the past two seasons. He did find friends to help him jump the boat from Beaufort to Florida and is now back in CT with Brenda and family before rejoining Pandora in the first days of 2016. As a man of my own passions, he likes to have new horizons in his sights. Currently he has an application pending with the US Government for a permit to visit Cuba. He is applying under the journalism category and has submitted his blog as the journal in question with the hope that the government reviewer of his application has a sense of humor, because he injects a lot of humor in his postings; would that I could be so witty. He also hopes that the reviewer is a sailor who can understand the difference between beating into the wind and letting it push you from behind; due to the prevailing winds being almost always from the east, he prefers a clockwise circumnavigation of Cuba, departing from the Bahamas and returning to Key West. However, the regulations seem to suggest that at a U.S. registered boat he can only visit Cuba leaving directly from a U.S. port, without a stop in another nation. I sure hope Bobs plans work out.

And speaking of plans, I also spent some time learning more about ILENEs proposed summer cruise to the Bras Dor Lakes at the NE end of Nova Scotia. The SCCAs journals include one account of a voyage to Nova Scotia from Mount Desert Island, Maine, in 2002. Old, but while the shoreside amenities may have changed, the waters and rocks do not change that fast. The 18 foot tides of the Bay of Fundy, which we experienced on our voyage to Eastport, Maine in 2013, do not extend to the ocean or Atlantic side of that Province, where six foot tides, comparable to those at the Harlem, prevail, I am told. And  the distance from Northeast Harbor in Mt. Desert Island to the check-in town in Nova Scotia is 165 nautical miles, which I compute as about 24 hours at 6.5 knots. So an overnight sail is in order. With tidal currents running swiftly around Nova Scotias SE cape, its a passage that has to be carefully timed and on a good weather day. I think we can get nearly a month in Nova Scotia between our scheduled arrival in Maine in late June and the beginning of the Corinthian cruise in Mt. Desert Island starting July 25. My mate is not yet totally committed to this summer float plan

(the other two crew members do not have votes) but I am continuing to plan for Nova Scotia and my gal usually comes around once she can see the fully thought out plan with enough safety lay days to avoid problems. Wish us luck, both Pandora and ILENE.

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