Building a Skerry

Day 76 (11/15/03) - 3Hrs: Sewing the sail together is not difficult if you're goal is function. However, if looks are important... well, you need to be able to sew better than I can. Keeping the stitches straight is very difficult. As you can see in the pic below, mine tended to waver. This is obvious with my sail because of the dark thread against the light cloth. In fact Sailrite warns of this, and recommends light thread with light cloth and dark thread with dark cloth. But, I am going for a rustic look... and am willing to allow for "features" that indicate a homemade boat.

I decided that it was going to be easier to sew the corner patches on before sewing the sail panels together. This definitely proved to be the case. I did have to stitch together the upper-most panel and the next panel down since the "Peak" patch lays across both.

I found sewing to be a heck of al lot easier with two people (one sewing the other managing the bulky cloth). My wife and I took turns at the machine. Also. the cloth is easier to manage if you roll it up on either side of the stitch, and clamp the ends of the roll with spring clamps.

The panels are seamed together and the corner patches are sewn on

Day 77 (11/16/03) - 1 Hr: Today, I did a trial run of adding lead to the daggerboard (see http://www.simplicityboats.com/leadpour.html). For this, I used a piece of scrap plywood.

First, I cut out a 4" hole in the plywood. Then, I put 3/4" bronze screws around the inner edge of the hole. These will help to keep the lead in the hole, after it hardens around them.

Over one side of the hole (the side that will be face down when the lead is poured), I temporarily placed an electrical junction box cover, with screws.

I then placed two containers of lead split shot fishing weights in a tin can (my wife was not pleased to see me pouring an unused can of beef broth down the drain) and heated them over the ole' camp stove. (NOTE: Know the risks of melting lead!!! Take every precaution not to get it on you and to not inhale the vapors).

I chose to use split shot weights because I figured they would melt quicker than large weights. Well, they did melt fast (less than 5 minutes), but the difference in volume of solid spilt shots to that of liquid split shots, based on what I observed, is something like 6:1. I couldn't understand why the article suggested using diving belt weights... now I know. My 2 containers of split shots didn't even cover the bottom of my 4" hole. Ah well, that's why I did a trial run. It's actually a blessing. It means that I can get more weight into a smaller area then I originally figured. This week I'll go get some bigger weights and see how many it takes to fill a 4" hole. Then, I'll be ready to do it for real. I was figuring two 4" holes for the daggerboard, but maybe one hole will be enough weight.

Day 78 (11/22/03) - 1.5 Hrs: Finished up the sail. Put double folds on the head and leech edges and Dacron tape along the foot and luff. Adding the grommets was fun. One for each corner and then along the edge of the luff for mast lacing points. For now, I am not going to add boom lacing points. I can always add them later if I decide that they are needed.


Adding grommets. I could do it all day	...and the sail is ready (only 5 more months until it's warm enough to sail)

Day 79 (11/23/03) - 2 Hrs: Earlier this week, I purchased 1lb fishing weights (since the split shots were insufficient). I melted down about 10 lbs of weights which was much more than I needed to fill my test daggerboard.

I decided that a 4" hole was too large. It is more weight than is needed and would not be as structurally sound as a smaller hole. For the real deal, I did as before, but with only a 2" hole. What I found was that because the hole was smaller, the lead didn't seam to flow as well and seemed to harden in a convex fashion. But, the resulting "valley" around the inner rim will be a good place to put some thickened epoxy to assist in keeping the lead in place.

This process increased the weight of the daggergoard from 3lbs to 5lbs.

Day 80 (1/19/04) - 2 Hrs: What was I building, again? Oh right, a boat!!!! It's been a cold couple of months. Last week I picked up some Douglas Fir for floorboards. Today, I braved the cold garage and started work on the aft floor. This will be made up of two sections (as will the forward floorboards). Today, I cut and pieced together all of the straight boards. The next step will be to shape the outer lengths and add more cross supports underneath. The pieces have been screwed in place with #10 bronze screws. Later, when I know everything is fitting nicely, I will glue and screw the assembly.