What I (we) did during my summer "vacation"

Some Misc Pics that never got uploaded:

June started out  with 105 degrees and stayed that way until Sept, which surprisingly brought cooler temps. Needless to say not a lot done on boats but wow what we got done in house is great!
In no particular order......

Before shot of ceiling, Wood stove smoked up a bit and ruined ceiling paint.,

No home remodeling is complete until someone puts their  foot through the ceiling

Oh the joy of remodeling a house while your trying to actually live in it.

UPDATE on The Toy

Folks have commented on  why am I not focusing on The Toy. Mostly it is because I am focused on The Venture, I really want her in the water ASAP!
Also I have been reading all the books I have been getting. 
I've been debating on do I cut The Toy down in length or leave it as she is.  I'm fairly close to the Texas border and in Texas a boat smaller then 14 ft does not need to be tagged. Since my first choice for closest possible sailing spot is Lake Texhoma, I'm thinking it would save me money.
Either way I can tie it down to the Ventures deck and go . In the back of my mind assuming the guys will want to come with, I figure we can take both and they can go do their thing while I'm doing my thing.
Since I'm going to learn how to fiber glass with the rudder, I'm seriously thinking to just fiberglass her hulls with polyester. That way I could conceivably have her in the water soon after it warms up enough to get it done.
I bought a small trailer from a neighbor cheap enough, I need it get it new tires. Putting a floor on it is a thought I have been playing with . It needs the tongue extended but that is not a big problem. The idea is use that to pull the Toy until I have a roof rack for  her made to fit the Lumina or get a tow vehicle for the Venture and use that.  I have a light weight hitch for the lumina..  Most of this is outside work and let's face it , winter  just not conducive to out door work, even in Oklahoma.
So for all you folks out there that have been wondering whats up with The Toy, that's the latest on her.

CONSUMER ALERT!!!!!

CONSUMER ALERT!!!!! READ THE  MSDS on any product if someone tells you it is the same as another product BEFORE YOU BUY!

Well I thought I was good to go on the rudder for doing the fiberglass this week or as soon as the weather warmed up. It  turns out there is some sort of mix up with the bondo samples that were  sent so it appears that completing  this part is going to have to wait until payday.  I have an email sent to the tech I have been talking to so will see what happens. People make mistakes. It's not a big earth shaking deal. If I sound ungrateful it is because THIS IS SO frustrating!

 As stated through out this blog, I have WAY to much Scot in me to waste the samples sent. I have been thinking on this. What I am going to do is use the NON marine stuff sent on the inside to laminate the boards together where water will not touch them and use the BOAT YARD on the out side.  If I do it right the inner NON marine grade bondo will never see water, so it will be fine.
 I am still going to use the Boat yard product line since it is a lot cheaper then the other fiber glassing epoxies. If it was not for price difference I'd go with the  west or systems 3. I'm going to test it and see if the rudder holds up. Why am I being so hard headed on this? It is MY BOAT we are talking about here. I'm not expecting that every one I deal with have the sailing bug but sheesh!
 
I did the research. The end user sources online ALL agree, the NON MARINE grades of bondo are TEMPORARY for marine use, same as using duck tape and a piece of cardboard wrapped in a zip lock bag or  a piece of ply wood with a water  proof  5 minute epoxy to get you to shore are temporary fixes. 


 I asked about using the tempera paint  as a substitute since finding marine grade materials is not so easy in this land locked location. According to the same gentleman who told me the samples sent are identical in nature as the boat yard line,  TEMPERA is not a good idea since there is no way to know what fillers etc they put into the tempera.  Some additives will prevent bondo products from curing! According to this same tech support person, I can use  3 ounces of the strongest universal paint tint they have at any place that tints paint such as HD or Lowe's  (for white) and it will color one gallon of Bondo  to opaque. If he is correct on this issue we have a source for cheap custom colors. The question is do I want to trust him on this after the mix up on the other or not. I HATE being put in this kind of a position!

Cold hard facts time. We are talking about a rudder, not a hull. Do I want to take the time to rebuild a new rudder if he is WRONG on this as well? I did a search for bondo colorants, I went  to their site. That site is NOT user friendly. I got tagged for a survey and I actually did it. I gave the web site related questions  1 on everything,. If I could have given zeros I would have.  After going through the process of adding a - minus sign to all the various NON relevant terms and items that came up I found NO link to colorant so I guess they are not making marine colorant any more.
Bottom line, I have entirely to much Scot in me to waste time on a product the I have reason to believe might let me down later when I need it the most.  I'm putting a lot of work and materials into this rudder and I'm not going to risk bad advice for false economy over the cost difference of proven colorant vs non marine paint colorant..

I have looked up universal marine colorants in bulk. I found nothing that was specifically mentioned as for marine use so I'm back to getting something probably from jamestown.  Granted I did not search through all the zillions of links but then I'm not into spending hours upon hours looking for this type of item.

 If I can find a cheaper source of MARINE grade tint that works with bondo I'll let you know.  If bad comes to worse and I POSITIVELY HATE this idea. I'll forgo the colorant and just paint it with marine grade paint. Chips I'll just have to  keep on top of so it does not look shabby.
Repeat after me.  It's about getting in the water!
 I decided to submit this question  to yahoo answers. 
Will see what happens.

In The Back of My Mind

In the back of my mind, I keep thinking a person can use this same technic to make a blue water worthy cat.   I'm planning on doing hull number 2 from the out side in. This plan is doable for a smaller boats. In Oklahoma any thing HAS to be licensed. In other states such as Texas if you run a 14 foot or less  boat it does not have to be registered.  My original idea was a cloth or fiber glass hull covering and it would work.

For the second hull, since I have decided to go with the wood hull and since I will have the dimensions figured out for that from covering this hull, I am going to simply build the hull and fill it in with the recycled  bottles and Styrofoam, then fill in the  small voids between bottle and foam  with the canned foam to hold it all together.  It also eliminates the original 3/4 " PVC frame used in hull #1.

In a blue water boat, my thought is find a basic wood or fiber glass hull design that accommodates this much flotation and fill the portion you want to fill as float with the same materials. An alternate idea is simply line the hulls with a layer of the recycled materials and cover it with perhaps wood or fiberglass.
If a person did not want to go that route, making this same pattern thicker in circumference should work although I have no idea of what to suggest as far as measurements go. For that information I would look to see what other proven designs do and emulate that.
Happy Sailing

ATTENTION ALL LADIES!!!!!!! and other news about The Toy

While cruising the sporting good section I came across something that had me smiling so hard I thought my face would crack and it is JUST for girls!!!!!!

ALL I am going to say is click on the link and look for your self and remember, out of all the male recovered man over board victims many of the men had their fly open so DO NOT use this at the stern!!!!!!!!

The Toy is progressing. I am making final decisions on the wood covering of hull 1. After I figure out exactly how deep I want to make this and how I am going to adjust things, I'll post an update.

We Test Sail

Today we tested the sail on the make shift mast in the front yard. It has no rigging except for the halyard and some ties I slipped under the battens to practice the concept of reefing but it looks really good. The idea is if I cant get all the blocks etc for the rigging this next month I can at least sail it as a crab claw. Went to take a picture and the camera was not charged so the camera is charging and tomorrow I will take a pic and post it.

Other then that today has been about saw dust. YUK! One of the guys cut me a LOT of chines for the # 1 hull. I have part of them sanded just enough to take the splinters out. Have coated all sides with Thompson's water seal.

 Tomorrow is going to be about finish sanding the chines and applying a coat of water seal on them and hopefully start assembling the bottom  out side of the hull.  Once I get hull # 1 finished getting hull 2 done should go a lot faster since I will have the basics already accommodated.

A Puzzle

Wow, I just noticed  it has been almost two weeks since I posted any thing. It has been that busy around here. In between BOOTS last month and going to Lake Eufaula this month, there has not been a lot of time to work on The Toy lately. The good news is progress has been slow but sure and we are ready to do a float test. Now what with her being made of foam and bottles, I am not the least bit worried that she won't float. I want to know where the water line is going to be for sure with  the  comparatively light load of only two or three adults on her before I say the bare boned first hull is finished and ready for the temporary  "final" cover of being fitted with the heavy duty tarp I broke down and got this month.
She is not as light as I had hoped , but she can be moved by two people as the guys and I can all three attest to. Taking her to get the weight of this first hull is definitely on the agenda. It has been getting a lot cooler so I moved her into the house to work on her again, It like like moving a 18 ft long and very skinny couch,. but it is doable. I was hoping one 10 ' x 20 ' heavy duty tarp would do but the circumference is just a bit to wide so, in between the left overs from the new tarp and the other I had purchased,  we will have plenty of tarp left over to make sails while we are experimenting with what we like before we spend the money on "real" sails.
Oh, before I forget, Eufaula was a bust as far as me getting any sailing done, but I did learn a lot. about Puddle ducks, sail size etc.
 
The junq rig sail that I was given is about 5x 16 so I am thinking that it is about right for The Toy but plan on keeping it reefed to about 50 square foot as a normal thing  for general practice while I am learning.
For the purpose of experimenting I  am using 1 1/2 inch PVC for a temporary mast and 1 1/4 inch for booms while I figure out how to get this sail rigged.  Needless to say it is going to be a FLAT WATER ONLY boat until I get different materials or am satisfied that the PVC can handle the stress. . (The guys are talking about building PD racers so I'm  thinking about letting them have the wood I bought a while back for mast. Two end to end with lap joints make just about the right size for a short mast to get them started with a lateen sail.) I'm thinking if the PVC is not strong enough and yes I have my questions about that, the local building supply store sales 1 5/16" round stock that fits inside the 1- 1/2 PVC quite nicely for reinforcement. I have a 20' joint of pipe.  I'm thinking  butt end two sticks of round with epoxy and water proof the wood by putting caps on the end. For convenience sake I'm thinking a screw on cap at  mast top. Yes, I am planing on using wood inserts to reinforce the PVC where hardware is attached. Found out the polyurethane idea is a complete bust but that's OK,  you live and learn.
 For the float test I have wrapped the hull up in a heavy duty tarp with duck tape. I thought about using the gorilla tape but since this is just an extremely temporary  set up just  to test water line, wasting the extra 7.00 a roll did not seem like a smart move. As soon as we get her back home all that tape is going in the trash so we can go onto the next step.

Yes it's as ugly as it can be and has more wrinkles then my great grandmothers brow.  Until I find out where the water line is I do not want to cut a brand new tarp. Once I find out if I am going to have to increase the height of the hulls and get it done on this first hull, then I'll cut the tarp to fit. Right now it is folded up on one side and looks pretty sad.
 I am planning on increasing the hulls depth  some to accommodate placing a strip of 2 x 4 length wise on top of  each hull to have something solid to fasten cleats and other items to as it becomes needed.
 
 I had the strangest thing happen at Eufaula. Someone commented that what I am doing scares them. I can't imagine why. It truly puzzles me.  The basic design is already tested on what I would imagine are millions of pontoons all over the world.  Seriously, if you look at a pontoon boat and this one, the similarities are astounding.  A pontoon usually has 2  large long rectangular pieces of square bottom foam  that are fastened to a deck with aluminum frames that go around or through the foam. This design has two long  triangular pieces of foam with the structural support going through the foam and coming up from that 4 inch PVC base to attach to the deck. 

While a pontoon is one large piece that you would not be disassembling to move,  The Toy is designed to be modular. Although the original goal of fitting on top of my car may or may not work out due to my car being a small Lumina, as it sits right now, I have been researching that issue and THINK I MAY have found the solution on instructables. It is as simple as extending the usable length of the car with a hitch extender which will work, some tie downs and a roof rack. I need to drive to Harbor freight get some parts, but that's not a problem. Until I get the parts all I have to do is take it slow the few miles out to the local lake and I'm good to go.

We finally got the hitch I bought checked. It will work I just need to get the bolts etc to install it.  I have been keeping my eye open for a light weight trailer I can modify to use but so far have not managed to get that part accomplished . Not having the hitch on puts a real cork in bringing a trailer home. LOL
The long term plan is get an extended van. The hulls will fit on top and I can set it up for long term camping. With a winch and the right rooftop rack, the hulls will go on top as slick as grease. Put a cargo extender on the hitch for the decks and other items that might not fit inside and I'll be all set up  for going where ever the sailing looks good.
 My son, who owns the digital camera, has promised he will get me the pics from BOOTS tomorrow. Here is hoping he does not get busy and  forget. I would like to see them myself.  Considering we are taking the camcorder to document the waterline test I think it will happen.


Went shopping for boat stuff. Bought a fluke anchor although I'm thinking I may want a mud anchor as well before things progress to far. Need to find out what the local lakes bottoms are for sure. Will be carrying 20 ft of 1/4 inch chain and have 75 ft of  1/4" anchor line. Yes, they are both over sized for this boat but I live in a small  town and you take what you can get. This should be more then enough for local area lakes since I am only planning on anchoring close to shore.  Got the hard ware to get the rudder(s) attached once I get it / them built. I found dock line and sheets at a really decent price at Lowe's, I think it was. Got at least part of the hardware for halyards etc. Still need to get or make cleats and more hardware. All in all, we are pretty close to being good to go on those areas.

One of the big questions is how to rig this Junk sail.  I am really leaning in favor of Junq rigs as a permanent fixture based on what I have read for ease of single handing. This particular sail was originally designed as a flat sail with curved battens.
Realizing there is this HUGE learning curve for me,  I did some searching online. It appears  the original Chinese junq sails were flat with flat battens, so I'm thinking  to go with that and see how I do at least for now.  For the purpose of learning how to rig this sail as well as play on flat water for a while. I'm thinking use some 3/4 inch PVC just to get out on the water and see if I can rig it right to actually sail. YES I plan to HUG THE SHORE LINE IN VERY LIGHT WINDS. If needed I'll insert wood doweling into the PVC for strength.

Why am I using so much PVC ? It's a LOT cheaper then wood for this stage of things and it does not need protecting from water. This means I get on the water faster.  To quote something I read online, It is about sailing not sawdust.  Once I get the experimental parts figured out  ( read that as figure out how I want to do parts of this,) I'll go to wood if the PVC does not work.. If I stick with the PVC I'm not out any money. If I go to just wood and can't find a buyer for the "used" PVC, I can always donate it to the Habitat for Humanity. resale store. Either way it is a win- win situation. Those do not happen very often.
All things considered and duly noted, life is good.

May your winds all be fair and your anchors firmly fastened.