The Boat Project: Question for Fred

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Question for Fred

Fredddd,

I need a 15' length of plywood. Uncle John is telling me that I have to make a scarf joint with two pieces of 8' ply. I don't want to make a scarf joint. I want to make a butt joint, because it looks easier.
Here are several suggestions from Jim Michalak as to how I could make a butt joint.

What would you recommend? Keep in mind: I have very little skill in this area.

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Total Build Time

31 hours, 47 minutes
4/18 - 45 min: joined rub rails and glued ribs
4/19 - 1 min: broke both rub rails
4/24 - 45 min: cut four 10" sides
4/24 - 30 min: re-scarfed rub rails (6":3/4")
4/25 - 15 min: sanded and glued rub rails
4/28 - 6 min: glued 4th rib
5/1 - 1 hr, 50 min: joined plywood sheets
5/2 - 3 hr, 30 min: sanded, re-glassed sheets
5/4 - 45 min: sanded sideboards
5/8 - 20 min: cut sideboards, broke sideboard
5/9 - 2 hr, 40 min: attached stringers
5/14 - 1 hr, 15 min: re-attached stringers
5/15 - 45 min: attached stemposts
5/16 - 4 hr, 20 min: attached ribs, rubrails
5/22 - 3 hr, 15 min: attached bottom
5/23 - 3 hr, 45 min: sanded
5/26 - 3 hr, 15 min: fiberglassed hull
5/28 - 3 hr: glassed inside edges, sanded
5/28 - 45 min: final epoxy exterior

About the Name

While I have chosen "Ruddy Duck" for the actual name of the boat, I felt it needed a little bit more for a proper formal title.

So I went back to naval history (specifically the Royal Navy), and found that ships generally had an abbreviated description of the service to which the ship belonged, then a description of the vessel type, and then the name itself.

For example, HMS Frigate Boadicea would belong to His Majesty's Service (i.e., in the Royal Navy), would be a frigate-class ship (38 guns), and be called the Boadicea.

Privateers, which were ships licensed by the King to attack enemy vessels but were not part of the navy proper, were signified "HMHV": His Majesty's Hired Vessel.

I have taken that to the next (logical) step to come up with the designation "PV": Private Vessel.

As for the class my boat belongs in, I don't know that there is one: It's no doubt a pirogue (flat-bottomed, double-ended canoe), but it will eventually sport a single-mast square sail and, perhaps, a transom. I doubt any such vessel has ever existed in the history of boat building.

So I determined it is a new class, the Merganser class. This is in tribute to Fred, in gratitude for all of his invaluable help on this project. (Fred had proffered the name "Merganser" or "Smew" for the boat, when I was casting about for names.)

A merganser is a fish-eating seaduck, although almost all mergansers live in and on rivers rather than the sea. While a Ruddy Duck is not technically in the merganser family, I thought it was close enough.

So, the offical name of The Boat is PV Merganser Ruddy Duck.

The Boat Project

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Question for Fred

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