NPFF Awards Time!!!

So a few years ago i got involved in the National Paddling Film Festival (www.NPFF.org). My involvement has since gotten much smaller however i still do the awards art. As most things in life go having the time is not the issue, time can always be made. The problem with this is the idea.

At the annual BWA x-mas party i saw a sweet piece of art with exploding lines coming off of the subject. I thought to myself, self that would work for some paddling art and i drew these.

 Its fairly small in this view but hopefully by the end you'll get the idea, and want one bad enough to enter.

So i dicied to combine the two sketches above with this...

Ah, a nice concise double boof. Double your pleasure?? Now got to work out the layout.

And,

And,

So its coming to get her, literaly i have not done a award with a woman in it, not to mention one with such a great boof!!

I'll keep you posted.

Frames Finished

A good push over the last two days and it all came together. The pile of saw dust got deeper and deeper but the pile of frames also grew and than it was over. Before i show you the finished product i would like to show the necessary tools to get all of this done.

 After some serious sweeping, rearranging dusting and grumbling. (i need a longer tape measure, one at least as long as the boat.) and here it is, all the ribs laid out and in their approximate place. The silver yard stick marks the transom and the stick of ash on the saw horse marks the stem post.

So i guess now i need to find some really long pieces of oak to make the chine logs, stem post, and decide what i want to build the transom out of. Hopefully i can get all that figured by the end of this week. There also is the question of epoxy, i have used west systems for years, but it seams that a company called resin research has a more flexible product. Ah, decisions decisions.

Frames

I think i may be allergic to Alaskan Yellow Cedar, its giving me a rash, so its a good thing that the end is near for it. Its amazing how the smell permeates everything, even with a respirator i feel like its coated my whole head. Anyhow, once i got the order of operations down the process sped up.

Start by cutting the bottom of the frame to the lines on the loft. Next cut the vertical pieces of the frame 1/8 to 1/4 inch longer than the loft. Text set the table saw to the bevel angles on the outside of the vertical frame pieces, and cut. Set the saw next to the bevel of the bottom frane piece and cut.

Now that you have the bevels cut draw lines at 90 degrees to the bevels on the vertical frame piece ends. Clamp the pieces down to the loft and draw out the shear line than stack the pieces up and screw them together. At this poing grab the belt sander and  sand the ends down to match the long bevels.

I'll admit this sounds complicated, but once figured out its not so bad, and you end up with the lofted lines in between the pieces of the frame.

Happy Birth Day!

Got off work on Thursday night to celebrate my creation with a creation of my own. I thought about what libations should be had, i went with Caldera IPA (its from Ashland Or, damn near where this boat's design comes from) and PBR cheep river beer. Than it was back in the respirator and cut, sand, screw.

The Tide

Its late and i am up feeling out the tide. Eeek-a-mouse is biddy by by bying on the stereo and something is stirring. Can you feel it? Its been a while, the last time i felt it brought some good adventures.
The tide however is fickle. Sometimes it rises only to crest just out of reach, while other times it can swallow you whole, i don't care how it goes its always a good ride. Just kick back and let it come, it is the tide after all.

The Big Show

I have had enough with these tests, time for the real deal, the big show. Off the the basement for a stick of Alaskan Yellow Cedar, smell the love!







I really didn't want to mess this up, if i need more of this wood its almost more expensive to have it shipped than the darn wood itself. For all of you building on the west coast, Up Yours! (grumble, Grumble)

Since my first test frame had been #1 why not start there with the first real rib, here it is the first cut, its on now.

a quick trip to the fridge for some liquid courage and before i knew it i was polishing it all off.

Alaskan Yellow Cedar (AYC) is way easyer to work than the cheep pine i had been using, you will also note in the above pic that i have left room for the chine log notch, i will cut that by hand after the frame is glued and sets up. All that's left now is some sholess dancin' in the shop!

That One Stove Project

There is this guy named Scott, i was talking stoves with him one day at the store and mentioned that i had always wanted a tow burner camp stove that used MSR Dragonfly burners. Well nothing like this existed... Until Now!

After acquiring the necessary bits, two stoves, two fuel cans, some wood, and time i got to work on it.

 Here is the finished product all folded up for transport. This is not a backpacking stove rather a boat and car camping rig, so as for weight i really don't care.

The set up is simple, remove the fuel cans, flip the body over unfold and attach the stoves.

 Slide the fuel cans into their slots, hook up the lines get the end caps out and put the whole thing together.

And now you have a two burner Dragonfly set up, sweet.

Yes it does work, haven't had it camping yet but i already have ideas for Gen 2.

Two Dog Night and the Last Test

After the reaction from my dog Nelly, no thoughts on the subject of river dorys. So i asked Olive,  obviously  no opinion. Off to the shop for another test frame.

After building the #9 (the farthest forward) and #1 (the aft most) i figured i would try #6 the biggest one. Got it all lofted out and fired it up. This frame has bevels of 0 deg's so it was fairly easy. Here are some highlights.

Ah sanding, its the best! In the bottom Pic the end of the close yard stick is about where the bow will be and the tail of the tape measure should be the transom, if i want the boat can live in the basement!

A Good Test

After building frame #1, the closest frame to the transom once, i decided to build it again. The first time the bevels were off where the verticle frame peices met the horisontal. Also the frames were drawn so that the loft lines are in between the trhree pieces. It was a little rough to wrap my head around that, in fact i still can only get it done one step at a time.

To really get a grasp of this i needed to get some sort of order of operations.  In the Free Form construction that Roger Fletcher lays out . http://www.amazon.com/Drift-Boats-River-Dories-Construction/dp/0811702340 It appears that the Bevels need to be as perfect as possible so that the plywood hull pieces wrap around the frames with no distortion.  Here are some pics of the process.

I cut the bottom frame piece to the inside of the loft lines.

I cut the vertical pieces a 1/2 inch long at the bottom to accommodate the bottom bevel as well as give some meat for clamping.

Next the bevels get marked onto the horizontal and vertical frame pieces. The long bevel up the vertical piece is done with the table saw than after it is all screwed down a sander gets the bevels looking like this.

Nice and clean, this frame i would install in a boat, to bad its not made from the cedar i bought, one more test frame with the opposite bottom bevels, figure out the chine log notches and i think the real thing will be happening. Like anything you just gotta take your time.

Protractor Trouble

I was working away on the second test frame when i realized that using a protractor to draw angles on paper, than copying that angle onto my bevel gauge was stupid. So feeling like this,

 

I decided to modify a protractor into something that i had thus far been unable to find in a store, and making a "custom" tool is always a reason to get excited. So out with the Dremel Tool!

A cut here a cut there and within two minutes a protractor that works with my bevel gauge, ahhh sweet satisfaction.

Big Wood

The Alaskan Yellow Cedar and Ocome showed up the other day. Thought i would share some glaring pics of Big Wood. I always love driving around with a car full of wood both on top

and inside. After some persuading (carrying) the wood found its temporary home in the basement hallway of the house.

The Test Frame

Woke up late today, apparently i cant have two days off in a row. I  needed to get some things done before i could start  the test frame. A quick trip to the hardware store, and a assault on the clutter in  the shop. You will notice the camp stove project on the table as well as the paddle mold on the bench to the left. It was finally time to put them away and get to work on frame #1.

The bevels have been giving me a real hard time. Each time i put the frames together in my head i can't  figure out a way to make them perfect, so i decided to buy some cheap pine from the store and give it a try.

I feel like for a first attempt the finished product turned out OK, although i wouldn't put it in a finished boat. I figured out that unless i can learn some trick  this is going to be tough. One of the major issues is the shitty borrowed table saw. It can cut bevels but it is not a very precise piece of hardware. But like my dad always said, measure with a micrometer draw with a crayon and cut with an ax.

Anyhow here is the finished product.

Here is a close up of one of the bevels, there must be a better way of doing this, trial and error is going to get expensive when the real wood shows up.

 I'm off to make some food and than teach a kayak roll class tonight, lovely i even get to work on my days off. Oh well.

Passing Time

Have had a few days off. Not in a row so little in the way of boating but there were some things that got done. Most of my Frankin-Dragonfly MSR base camp stove is finished, epoxy is curing tomorrow will be sand and paint. Lofted out the ribs for the drift boat project and ordered the wood for it, i guess now its on.


I still need to figure out what the hell i am going to do for the NPFF art. I don't want to let those cats down so i need to get started soon. I'll think of something.

Oh, i figured out how to mold turkey heads, silicone rubber, more on that as well as pictures later.

Crazy

So been pulling my hair out trying to figure out how to finance this build. I need to sell some boats to gain a boat. Gonna try and sell one tomorrow, i keep it posted. I am also going to try and get a hold of a camera, so folks can see the insanity taking shape in the shop.