Tag Archives: wooden boat

Jilly and our Portuguese Water Dog, Maio, aboard Rainbird in Montague Harbour, BC.

by David Skelhon

Three years ago, my wife, Jilly, bought a 33′ Bill Garden designed, pilot house sloop Rainbird. As far as we can determine, she was built in Canoe Cove on Vancouver Island in the late ’70s by Gerry Anderson. She is cold moulded using red cedar, with fir-ply bulkheads, decks and cabin sides. Her interior is highly functional with ample storage – nothing fancy but built with thought and care as a live-aboard vessel. A Dickinson Pacific stove is the cosy centre-piece, making this an ideal boat for the Pacific North West. Gerry Anderson carried out Bill Garden’s vision to perfection.

Having built several wooden boats and repaired and refitted many others, I am struck with the care, perseverance and passion that builders lavish on their projects. Many are undoubtedly works of art. No two will ever be the same – even when from the same stock design – as each will be imbued with the essence of its builder.

Flip open the latest edition of Cruising World (July 2012) and you will find an inspiring article written by Thies Matzen, about 30 years of adventure aboard Wanderer III. As any sailor worth their salt will of course know, this traditional wooden boat belonged to that most famous cruising couple, Eric and Susan Hiscock. The Hiscocks had this 30′ Laurent Giles design built for them and launched in 1952 and subsequently made two leisurely circumnavigations and wrote the classic sailor’s bible, Cruising Under Sail.

Matzen and his partner Kicki Ericson have since sailed their humble boat both to the tropics and the stormy temperate climes, including a two month trip to Antarctica. Matzen sums up his reasoning for living with this small but capable boat for so long: “As a traditional builder of wooden boats, I like to show such craft aren’t just pretty to look at. They are made to sail too. They are not just romantic but astonishingly functional. Something as basic as Wanderer III, after 60 years and 290,000 miles under sail, is still up for anything.”

Like Wanderer III, Rainbird is astonishingly functional, having been lived aboard for 30 years and cruised extensively in the Pacific North West. I often wonder about the original builder. Putting together a boat like this requires extraordinary vision, dedication, skill, perseverance, understanding from loved ones and of course a big chunk of cash. Had he spent years saving and planning? Was he building full time? Was this the first boat he built or indeed the last? Does he ever wonder where she is or how well she is cared for?

Taking on Rainbird is like being being handed a torch kindled by the designer and brought fully into flame by the builder. As current custodians we have to nurture the flame to illuminate our future voyages of awe and adventure.

Rest assured Gerry Anderson, wherever you are, Rainbird is still loved and well looked after. You did a fine job and it’s appreciated. And, like Wanderer III, she is, “still up for anything.”

Bolger Dory Update and Construction Tips

May 29, 2012

Uncategorized, Wooden Boats

Launch Day Finally Arrives

by David Skelhon

Five months has passed since we first started cutting plywood for the Bolger designed Gloucester Light Dory. As you might recall, much of the initial construction was done by five eager novices on the “Beginning Boat Building Course”. The half-built dory was then purchased by Brian and Carol Elliott back in March and finished by Brian.

I am delighted to report we finally launched her at the Cowichan Bay Maritime Centre on a fine but breezy spring morning and I managed to take her for a quick sea trial. She rows just as I hoped! She is easily driven, has enough skeg for directional stability, and during the brief workout seemed well mannered. A little “tender” for sure, but she was lightly loaded at the time. Weighed down for an expedition I’ve no doubt she would feel rock solid.

Knowing the Elliotts, I’m suret they will use her to her full potential and I’ll keep you posted.

A dory of this type looks very simple to build and and the techniques involved transfer readily to bigger, more complex designs. Here are a few general tips and recommendations that new builders should take to heart.

Measure Twice, Cut Once!

It’s been said many times before but it’s worth repeating again. Measure twice and cut once! Well, actually, if you are cutting a complex, 3D component then you are likely to be doing a lot more cutting and fitting than that. Skill and experience are important and there are few tricks and devices to speed things up, but when you are learning the basics it will be tedious and you will screw up from time to time. This boat may look simple but if you have never before fitted, for instance, a thwart, with its beveled and curved ends, you may find yourself scratching your head! Be patient, find a piece of scrap or cardboard to build a pattern first before you cut into that expensive piece of mahogany!

Getting to Grips With Glues

If you are new to epoxy, read the instructions carefully before you start. With West System, for example, remember to use one pump of resin to one pump of hardener. The mix may be 5:1 for 105 Resin with 205 or 206 hardener, but the pumps are calibrated to deliver that ratio with one pump of each. 207 hardener, which is recommended when a bright finish is needed, has a 3:1 mix. Make sure you are using the correct pump for that hardener!

This may seem obvious but we did at one point have a sticky mess on the boat which was never, ever going to cure because one pump of hardener had been added to five pumps of resin!

West System’s technical department had obviously heard this many times before and advised using a scraper to remove as much resin as we could and then washing the remainder off with acetone before applying fresh resin.

Please, please remember that uncured epoxy is toxic. I personally know half-a-dozen builders who have become sensitised to epoxy – so much so that they cannot walk into a building where there is uncured resin without experiencing a severe reaction. It is important to add that these users failed to protect themselves adequately, often working for months or years without basic skin protection.

Remember that there are alternatives to epoxy. We used Gorilla glue on most tight fitting joints and it worked like a charm. It’s so easy to use; there is no mixing and measuring, – just squirt it out of the bottle and spread it. Clean up couldn’t be easier, because excess glue foams and can be shaved off with a chisel or knife. It’s cheap compared with epoxy especially when bought in a large bottle. We used it in scarfs, butt straps, frames and the laminated stem and stern. We didn’t use it on the gunwale or chine logs because it was easy to work with slow curing epoxy when accurately clamping long pieces of lumber onto curved surfaces. We also used green painter’s tape on many epoxied joints, pulling it before the epoxy cured, avoiding a lot of difficult sanding later.

Finally, when protecting epoxy with varnish or paint, make sure the epoxy has had chance to fully cure and that any amine “blush” is removed from the surface (a little dilute ammonia solution does this quite well) and then lightly sand the surface. Failing to remove the waxy amine reaction by-product can result in paint or varnish drying very slowly or not at all.

Our New Table Saw Improves Member’s Safety

February 8, 2012

Wooden Boats

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Tony Owen puts some fir through our new saw; SawStop technology helps prevent table saw injuries

We are delighted to announce that we have a new table saw with SawStop technology. This is an important step in improving our member’s safety. We decided it was time to introduce a new “norm” in the way we view safety, especially as we have a wide range of individuals using the shop, from complete novices to seasoned woodworkers.

The table saw is potentially the most dangerous piece of equipment in any woodworking shop and gruesome injuries are not uncommon. There are typically 40 amputations caused by table saws each year in BC alone, plus numerous injuries from “kick-backs.”

WorkSafe BC is quite clear on table saw safety.

“Blade guards on table saws, and to a much lesser degree panel saws, cannot be used in every circumstance. The OHS Regulation allows for the temporary removal of the guard, where its use is impracticable or where the guard itself creates a hazard. The term impracticable means “that which is not reasonably capable of being done.” Impracticable does not mean inconvenient; there should be few situations where it is impracticable to use the guard.

In some cases, however, the guard may physically obstruct the cutting process (for example, when cutting dados or narrow pieces of material). In these cases, the guard may be temporarily removed, but another safety device (or devices) must be used, such as a push stick, push block, feather board, or similar device. Note that the operator’s hands are not an acceptable alternative to a push stick, push block, or similar device. Replace the guard once that cutting operation is completed.”

Returning to kick-backs, consider that the tips of a 10” blade are travelling at around 220kph, and if the blade happens to catch a piece of lumber because you are not using a riving knife, or a guard with anti kick-back pawls, then that piece of lumber is likely to end up heading towards you at 220 kph! I have seen a sliver of lumber narrowly miss a saw operator and then penetrate 2 layers of drywall!

Before using the saw please ask me to show you how the SawStop feature works – important as accidental activations are expensive! I recommend looking at the http://sawstop.com where there is an impressive video on their home page of the technology in action. Basically, if any part of your body makes contact with the blade, an aluminum block is fired into the bottom of the blade, stopping it instantly and retracting it into the table; this all happens in a few milliseconds! You will also find the excellent manual for our Professional Cabinet Saw model at http://www.sawstop.com/support/professional-cabinet-saw/

A hard copy of the manual can be found in the rack just inside the tool room door, together with manuals for the other shop machines. Read it and you will learn a few things – I certainly did. Remember that even SawStop technology won’t protect you from kick-backs if you remove the guards!

The saw was assembled with Collin Craig’s help and we were both very impressed by the build quality of this machine and we are sure you will all find it a pleasure to use.

We have some quality equipment in the shop for member’s use. There are still things we need to improve, and a few more tools that we would like to have (aren’t there always!) and those will come in good time.

—Pacific Wooden Boats

Wooden Boat Culture In The Pacific North West

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