Tool Box
starting with the toolbox we looked at the the plans and brainstormed the required tools and materials after that we made a cutting list witch we used to begin cutting and dressing our parts to size. though these presses we learned about many of the machine, power and hand tools such as a buzzer, band saw, table saw, face sander, spida saw, chisels, hammer, measuring tools etc. we also looked at the wood used (Radiator pine) and how its structure would effect our ability to work with it. after building the toolbox i feel i have learned allot about the tools and process in the workshop.
Oil Stone Box
the oil stone box required the same initial processes as the tool box such as making a cutting list, dressing and docking the wood ready for use. the oil stone box gave us a chance to work with a hard wood and to learn about the structure of hardwoods in comparison to soft woods.in particular the oil stone box helped me learn about wood grain and chiseling.
Trammel
the trammel will be used in our lofting and was relatively short and simple to build. we sketched a plan and made the trammel from spare wood around the shop.
in our fourth week of the year we started the lofting section by lofting a 2.5 metre dingy.
we began by constructing the first lines such as the LWL (load water line), LW 100, LW 60, centre line, 5 stations an FP (fored perpendicular), and the AP (aft perpendicular).
Next we spent the best part of 3 days lofting the half breadth and and profile views. after constructing these parts of my lofting i have come to a better understanding of a boats design and the various parts, also i realise how important the lofting presses is and how specific it must be in order for all measurements and intersections to accurately line up. i also have sore knees.
after the weekend we returned to lofting and began the body plan by projecting the LWL, WL150, and the WL 60 line through onto another piece of card, we then put in a centre line and 2 buttock lines either side (B100 and B250). Once we had drawn the grid it was time to mark up a set of "tick sticks" starting with stations 2 and 5 we began transferring measurements to our new grid, this allowed us to find intersection points that we connected to create the lofting. this body plan made obvious all the imperfections in my profile and half breadth, this was because in this view the mistakes from the last 2 parts are a compounded. Now that we have all three views i have created a better image in my head of a the boats design and shape.
once we had completed the body plan we lofted the transom development. We constructed this entire view with tick sticks which we used to transfer measurements from intersection points on our 1/2 breadth. Before we could find these intersections we had to mark the transom on our profile view by using a trammel find the 15 degree Angle from the A.P,we transferred these intersects up to the 1/2 breadth. the night before i read the lofting section of the gougeon brothers book on boat construction which explained the concept well, this helped me significantly in understanding this particular development.
above is an example of a transom development similar to ours. ( without the deck line)- sourced from http://yatebuilder.blogspot.com/2010/10/lofting-4angled-flat-transom.html
once the lofting was done we started the drawing section with a 7.3 metre yacht. the process was similar to lofting just on a smaller scale, we constructed the half breadth and body plan followed by the body plan. because the drawing was on a smaller scale we needed to use a scale rule to transfer measurements and we used splines to create "fair" curved lines. For me the drawing section made more sense than the lofting because we had already learned most theory behind drawing boats and i did graphics at school which definitely helped.
above is my drawing on a drawing board i made at home to the left of the photo is a spline.
once we had finished the drawings it was time to begin calculations, because the figures for these calculations come directly from the drawings it is essential that the drawings where clean and accurate. In this section we looked at the trapezoidal rule and the Simpson's rule. admittedly at first i was completely lost with this but after a while i got the hang of it and it now i am confident i could use these rules again.
next we began our small craft build. with the class split into 3 groups each of which built a different boat i found myself in the pippi group. at first i had no clue what the differences between each boat would be and what study of the others craft would be needed to in order to gain a full understanding of small craft. turns out the pippi was a very different design all together. It had bow transom and a flat bottom witch meant no stem development unlike the dory and the dinghy. the pippi has box like seats that we cut to shape first, these fitted into a jig and acted like the #$#^%$^% on the other boats. something i noted through trail and error in this initial process was the level of accuracy need to keep errors from multiplying throughout the build.
to be honest our group was slack in the planning to begin with and this definitely effected our ability to manage time and be as productive as possible. I found that the introduction of the Google doc made the difference we needed in order to successfully complete the pippi by the due date because it allowed everyone to see a clear plan of what needed to be done and we where able to delicate jobs through the group better. after
sorting our management problems we the boat began to come together, we glued the boat together almost like a kit set starting with the bottom ply (6mm) then the bilge panels and the topsides last. at this point it seemed we where ahead of the other groups who no doubt spent longer on there stem in the beginning, this misconception once again slowed the group but once the hull was flipped and jobs where once again allocated we began making progress. the gunnel's where glued and doublers had to be fitted to allow for seat tops, personally it was here that learned the most especially about the epoxy and bog. note- when gluing sections use glue powder not filler powder and mix to a consistency of goat spew, when resining use little glue powder to create a runny consistency that can easily be brushed on, when bogging use filler powder and mix to a thicker paste.
more later...
