Evicted...

It finally came time to move my work area out of the family room to the basement...more space, better light,
nice and quiet...and heat.

The cutting and sanding area is still outside. One step at a time.

The real thing...

The quest begins...

The least gratifying (for a woodworker) but likely the most important step to making a very accurate hull is finding lines, and having them altered to the right scale.

One nice byproduct of this step is I begin to learn the hull...the shape. The flow. The feel.  Even Iif I could hand this step off, I doubt I would. The final product would certainly suffer.

The Q32 lines were amazing to work with...

Then it's off to the lumber yard...the material is selected. Choice lengths removed and planed to the proper lift thickness. The water lines are transfered to the lifts.

Then the cuts are made and the lifts glued up.

All the while quality control watches over me...

Echo gets the finishing touches...

Echo is almost ready to go to her new home...I'm proud of this hull. 

Total time to get to this point is 55.5 hours.

A new project...Quest 30/32

Today marks the start of my first race bred boat...I'm excited.

Thanks to the boat owner, and the designer Rodger Martin, I have a nice crisp set of hull lines complete with updates. They'll go to the print shop for enlarging then the woodwork begins.

My assistant Jib is beside himself with excitement about this hull.

Echo....almost a reality

Lacking only a backboard and a couple coats of wax,  Echo is nearing completion.

Echo updates...

Not much new as to the process, but I have a few more pics...the marker lines indicate areas where I have to work on the finish. Once I'm happy with the primer coat, then the Flag Blue is put on.

The Antifouling was picked to compliment the blue. The copper colour (VC17) on my pal's boat just looked awful on the model so we picked a better colour that matched a popular salt water bottom paint.

Sometimes a break from the real boat is required to make a nice presentation

Wow...high praise!!

The Twins got a very nice mention on Bob Perry's Blog.

Bob writes a great blog that is both entertaining and educating...which I'm sure is just as tough as designing boats which are both good cruisers and good racers. And nobody does that better than Mr. Perry.

Here's a short cut to Bob's blog

http://perryboat.sail2live.com/




"DING"...time to take ECHO out of the oven.

Back to Echo...

Echo is moving along nicely and should see paint tomorrow....here she is in my variable temperature curing  autoclave. Just 120f to help the epoxy kick and the cedar dry after wet sanding.

Crude but very effective.

The clients have had a change in heart and opted for a more traditional presentation...hard to argue with that decision. I'm very happy with the results.

Hull # 001 finds a new home

Hull #001 one...a handsome Cornish Crabber 22 sits on the mantle in this new home in downtown London England.

Echo progress...

Echo now has some shape and the first coat of epoxy...a skim coat of thickened epoxy will follow.

One twin...done

Backboards...the red twin

While it seems that most folks on Cruising Anarchy don't care for this break from traditional mounting...I'm really warming up to it.

It'll likely go on the scrap heap of sailing ideas with other bad innovations like fin keels, spade rudders, diesel engines and aluminum spars ;)

Naaahhhh, I'm going to keep exploring it on the odd hull. Although the choice is entirely up to the client. These twins are going to a couple pretty open minded clients..

The Crabber projuct

This was my first hull ever...a wonderful Cornish Crabber 22. I did it for a good friend in the UK and had to wait until he received it before I posted here.

The real thing....it was far too pretty to pass up.

The hull under construction...complex hull. Lots going on.

The final product...and thanks to Bob Perry for A LOT of advice on my first hull.

(p.s. the sprit is on the proper angle)

Backboards...a break with tradition

I really wanted my backboards to show off the boat while not always resorting to a traditional rectangle.


This is the Sliver Red backboard at the plywood stage, and I'm trying to get my head around it, but I think it will look great when the finish work is done.

Oh ya...here is the real thing under construction near Seattle.

The Twins are born...

There is still the matter of backboards...but I'm happy with the results. Now as long as the client agrees it'll be my best effort(s) to date.

...and this is my newly invented DWL scribing device. Only 3 easy payments of $39 and you can own one too!!

Other modern and spacious facilities...

This is the warm area...funny it doesn't look that cluttered in person.

Shop supplies and sail storage.

My cold workshop...mess thanks to pissed off squirrel with whom I share this space.