No Work?

Hi,
You discovered this blog and then, that it's a dead-in-the-water project. Yep, I understand your frustration, I hate that too.

Well, the issue is that while building the Paradox I had a change of heart of two or three things of great importance. One, I realised that I was getting older, 55 next month, and I wanted to not "waste time" building another boat. The other realisation I had, was that I wanted to do more blue water sailing.

I rashly bought an old Folkboat that I've since named bohemian (yes there is a blog), that I have patched together for a sail to my home port. I then hope to fit her out for offshore cruising.

The good news for Paradox lovers is that, I'm still keen to complete the build. Once I get my Folkboat sorted and get some sea miles under her keel, I will return to the Paradox build. I hope to use the Paradox as as retirement sailing boat. One I can bring home on a trailer and put under cover, but also launch easily and sail without doing monkey dancing on a heaving deck. There's a really good Paradox blog by a Brit sailor, once every while he throws stuff on board and chuffed off about the coast. Sometimes he catches up with other Paradox sailors. His name's Jim, and I want to do what he's doing except on the Australian east coast. So until then.

Transom Vent Cleat and Baffle. Sound like a mouthful?

IThis bit of the Paradox sounds like a real mouthful and I did what I could to worry over it (unduly). I read The Guide several times and still didn't 'get it' mainly because when I first looked at The Plans I was blown away by the fact that there was a gaping hole in The Transom - I came away imagining a smile-shaped cavity about as wide as The Transom. 

So I kept trying to comprehend what was Cleat, what was Vent and what was Baffle, and nowhere could I see where or when the Vent (ie: The Great Gaping Hole Across The Transom) was to be cut out. So I kept reading The Guide and I was starting to get Really Annoyed with the author's willingness to get off topic. So I started making notes "scribe an arc ... make a Template for the angle of the Baffle ....". 

About this time, on my third coffee, I was in full procrastination mode because I just did NOT know how to proceed, I decided to have a look at a video I had of the completed build of JOHANNA. (I'll stop here and get off topic; if you love the Paradox videos that abound on line and don't want to download their files every time you watch them and you have two tablets, video the video so you have your own copy.) I checked my vid. file of JOHANNA, as the builder patiently showed her from each angle inside and out, and then the penny dropped, there is no Great Gaping Hole Across The Transom at all. In fact it's a nice little hole just big enough to allow the Tiller to enter the Transom and with the pivot point being close by, the tolerances are relatively small. Phew! 

So, I needed to cut out a curved piece of ply to match The Radius, making the lower edge a 35 degree angle to mate with the upswept Baffle. Once all my ducks were in a row, everything went surprisingly well. Having no 1"/25mm plywood hanging about, as per The Plans, I made two curves out of 5/8"/15mm ply and they are currently having a meeting over a nice blob of epoxy resin.  Baffle next.    

Baffle. I've just popped out a Baffle. The most difficult part was getting hold of a nice piece of 6mm ply. That done, I clamped the centre of the ply to the centre of the Cleat, then used ratchet tie downs to induce the bow, marked off 300mm width and cut it out. It needs a sand and epoxy sealing, but basically the Cleat is glued up now, but the Baffle must wait until the Hull is assembled. 

All held together with string at the moment. In real life it's much more curves. A nice design. 

Homemade Wooden Bollards

The winter weather is majestic, crystal clear skies and although the nights are frosty the days are warm and good for working on Paradox. Once the firewood and laundry are sorted, I'm pretty well free (most days) to devote to my build. 

Over the last couple of days I've been making wooden bollards. From a cardboard template I cut out the shape with a sabre saw and then routed a 3/8" (plus or minus), radius around the edge. Then the fun bit, sanding it all down, fun because the end result is quite beautiful.  Add varnish and it just gets better. 

There is a useful article in volume 25 of Messing About in Boats emagazine (which is issued as a free on their website), but the process is all pretty logical. 

So take up a spare piece of timber, make a template and go for it. If that's not good enough for you, these bollards are natural, homemade, recyclable and unique to you and your boat ... and they're NOT PLASTIC!

Epoxy Sealing - Bulkheads & Transom are now done.

Wow! I discovered Herb Payson only last night & I really like his writing style & what he has to say about tossing if all in to go sailing, & the Western consumer society. Brilliant expression ... after buying their boat his wife "Nancy wanted to organise a party. I could see it now ... Nancy was related to everyone on Long Island. The fact that boats were for sailing was beyond her". Should be a great read, Payson's expression is similar to my favourite sailing book "Princess: of New York" which was written by a New York artist in the early 1900's. 

I started the day off reading a chapter from Sven Yrvind's book (offered free on his web site), the one he was falling about why the Paradox design, particularly the flat bottom and chine-runners, are such good things from a simple cruising sailor's point of view. I can't really summarise it but would link to the article if anyone wanted me to. 

After housework & getting the knuckled down to their schoolwork, I went out back & worked on my Paradox. I think I'm now done with the Bulkheads & Transom, without wanting to tempt the black hand of Fate, I think they're all cut out correctly, the beads & cleats are in place, & the whole is coated with three layers of epoxy. Now I can get the Side Panels going. 

I have already cut out the rear sections of each side, now I need to buy two sheets of play for the front sections. And, I be had a change of heart, I'm not going Marine Ply, I'm going with oversized construction play. I think the trick is in the doing firstly, getting the boat made & wet. The next most important thing is keeping it dry, ensuring it's all securely sealed & the bilges are checked for dry & they are properly ventilated. Now matter how good your ply be, a damp boat will compromise the integrity of the wood. 

Do I have heroes?

I began sailing at age 12 years and have carried the interest ever since. After raising babies when my sailing was limited to off the beach type craft, my interest was stirred by reading about Mingming and more recently Mingming II. Here she is, all 23 feet of her, returning from her first voyage into the Arctic Circle, junk rigged, engineless, liferaft-less, with the understated Roger D. Taylor at the helm. 

           MINGMING II

"The voyage (from Whitehills to Kong Karl's Land at 79 deg. North) was 55 days long, and noon-to-noon positions totalled 3332 nautical miles. Mingming II was a delight to sail; quick, easily handled and relatively comfortable".

MM II can be described as a 23' GRP wreck that was refurbished cheaply & in the most basic fashion, albeit to the highest standards of seaworthiness. She has a recycled lamppost as a mast. 

Rear Side Panels

I've just cut up a perfectly good sheet of 12mm Marine Ply! The stingy, frugal side of me was very nervous about stuffing up the measurements for the Rear Side Panels. Both are made from the same sheet & they come within millimetres of one another so a misjudgement could lead to tossing away $120 bit of firewood. 

But it went okay thanks to some useful advice in the Paradox Builder's Guide. The advice, to mark both sides of the sheet while marking out, was aimed at having reference points on both sides of the sheet in order to make assembly easier. I found that marking both sides of the sheet acted as a blind test that the marking out was correct. Once the marks on each side of the sheet were cross checked, I felt a whole lot more comfortable attacking the cuts with a sabre saw. 

The only advice I would offer with marking out is to take your time; mark off twice & cut once was too cautious for my liking. I marked out & double checked twice over! Another tip when marking off curves is to put tacks into each strategic point on the curve to hold your batten against. This gives a nice fat curve, just make sure you pencil in on the same side as the tacks... 

Look, there are some tricky measurements on the Sides that you need to mull over before marking out. Basically. Apart from the scarf edge & the a Transom edge, both sides end up curved. Use the edge of the sheet as a reference to mark your Datum, I did my datum 28mm in from the edge, The Book suggests 50mm but I couldn't follow that reasoning. In metric countries, like Australia, the plywood sheets are actually smaller than in Imperial Countries, so a 50mm datum may produce only firewood. Don't rush it!

"The Book" also advises to cut 3mm outside each mark. This is excellent advice which I took & was glad I did. Back a few years before sabre saws boatbuilders used jigsaws, a lightweight version with blade width a maximum of 6mm. These skinny blades would wander to over 20mm offline on the underside of the cut if the blade was dull, the wood grainy & tough or thicker than usual. Of all my boatbuilding tools I had the least  confidence with the jigsaw. Nowadays, the sabre saw is way better, but it can still roam so give yourself a fighting chance, take 3mm less first up. 

Okay sides cut, I clamped them together for sanding. This saved time, but ensured I had to of the same Sides, the idea of having an asymmetrical sailing boat freaks me out. Imagine having to hold the tiller to port all the time? Okay if you want to circumnavigate islands by the right all the time I suppose. 

 TWO REAR SIDES BEING SANDED AS ONE

Finish Sanding & Sealing Bulkheads

Back at it today, my Mach II Bulkhead 4 is completed & just needs sealing. Sealing, for me, means giving both faces two coats of thinned epoxy resin. I reckon a few hours work, with drying times in between, are all that's needed to complete this part of the build.

Here you see my pile of four bulkheads (B4 on top - not sealed) & transom. My Plans book is there too, I just printed everything on recycled A4 paper & wallow in the "Apple-like simplicity" of this build.

What you may not see is that these parts are made from 15mm ply instead of 12mm. I found all the locally available construction grade 12mm ply to be warped. On the hull's Side Panels I am going for Marine Ply because I reckon that being in contact with the sea & being susceptible to damage, I prefer that luxury. I'd have to say though, apart from a fluffy surface, I am pleased with the quality of construction grade. If it's soaked in epoxy inside & out, I can't really see the need for marine grade. You'll make up your own mind, that is, what your fear of the sea demands & your pocket allows. Each to his or her own, as long as you're building or sailing who cares?

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