The Passagemaker Dinghy I bought was not designed for the lug rig that I want to install on her, but luckily the modifications should not be to rough. I still have not collected the vessel from my friend, but some parts of this project will be do-able without ever seeing the vessel. Since I have a bit more free time now, I decided to get another piece of the project completed, the rig.
I have never built anything out of wood before that I expected to survive at sea. Luckily enough, I know an amazing carpenter, Keith, who has a love for sailing and has built his own vessel (and is currently building another). With his instructions in hand, I ran over to my local building supply store to find myself a board that would do the trick. They had what looked like a good selection, plus they were the only place within an hours drive that sold wood.
The Instructions
"Look for a board that has straight grain running the length of the board, not diagonally across, with tight grain. Also, if you can find one that is cut out of the middle of the tree with the pith in it instead of the edge of the tree, (look at the grain on the end of the board for the rings to go the short way across the end of the board, instead of from edge to edge or diagonally.) We don’t need the whole thing, so some wane or a couple of small knots are ok if the rest of the board is good. Don’t get anything that is cupped or twisted or really crooked. Stand at the end of the board and sight down one edge and you will be able to see if it is straight and flat, or curvy and twisted. Get Red Fir (Douglas Fir), they will call it Fir / Larch at the lumber store. Also, if you have a choice get a lighter board over a heavier board, you don’t need any extra weight aloft. Larch is very heavy. You will probably have to look at a dozen or two boards before you find a really good one, but it is well worth the trouble."
Well, it was no easy feat finding something that fell close to his description and I am sure I looked a fool to the folks working at the store. I was hoping to get a 2" by 12" by 12' board, so I had plenty of extra wiggle room, but there was nothing close to acceptable in that range of board. We looked at the 14' and 16' boards, but the only boards that looked good were on the bottom of the pile and I didn't want to move the 20 boards on top to check them. Amanda picked out a nice 2" by 10" by 12' and it happened to be the best piece we found. It didn't give us much room for error, but for $11.70 I figured I could go back for another one (preferably from another store) if we needed more.
This past weekend I popped over to Keith's shop, took the tour (I'll post pictures of his current vessel project soon) and then we got down to business. The booms were easy, cutting the best straight sections out of the 12' board, 1.5" wide. The mast was a little trickier, as boards are not actually cut to the size they claim (the board is less than 2" thick), so we took the best 2" wide sections out of what was left.
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| Cutting out the boom, gaff, and both sections of the mast from the raw board. |
The two mast sections had the least attractive side planed to prepare them for gluing. We then used a quick-drying glue and put two directions worth of clamps every few inches to keep the seam tight the whole length and the beam straight. Once it was glued up, we had plenty of time to take care of the boom and gaff while we waited for the glue to set.
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| Planing both halves of the mast. |
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| The mast all glued up and clamped. |
Next, we found the best 8' section on each of the spares and made quick work of shortening them with a reciprocal saw. The plans call for a bevel of both of the spares (boom and gaff are identical in this lug rig), decreasing from 1.5" to 1" on the bottom of each boom, over the last 20" of both ends. Easy enough, we marked the line with a square edge (big "L" shaped ruler) and cut off the material with a band saw. We hand planed the cut sections to smooth out the transition and then took a router to all four long edges. After that all that was left was installing the holes at each end with a drill press, two rounds of the electric sander (at 80 grit and 120 grit), and finally hand sanding with 220 grit (to remove the electric sander marks and finish the surface).
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| Hand planing the gaff and boom |
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| Planing the gaff and boom. |
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| Testing the router for depth and size. |
The mast was cut down to size, removing material from only one side (to maximize strength should the glue ever fail at sea), and then we used the router to round all four long edges. Sadly, the first time we gave this a go, the beam separated along the seam (it wasn't warm enough for the glue to set). We reglued and parts that came loose and filled in the slight openings in the seam with wood glue, then clamped the mast for the night. In the morning, all that was left to do was round the remaining edges, drill a hole at the peak for the halyard, and sand.
All in all the project probably only took 3 hours, of which 50% of that time was sanding. I must say though, they do look pretty! I still need to varnish them, but I'm currently trying to figure out what product the dinghy was varnished with, in hopes of matching the color. I'll add the finished photos as soon as I get the varnishing complete. All I have to say is that it was far easier than I expected and it was really fun! So what are you waiting for? Go out and start building a boat!
