Winter

Best wishes to all for New Year's and 2013.  I'll finish 2012 with this photo taken this morning.  Time to get out the ol' snow shovel!

BELLE under cover for the winter.  Time to start thinking about sailing next summer!

October in Maine

A bit of a chill in the air, but I'm still hoping for a few more nice sailing days this year...

Not much wind today, just an overcast fall afternoon down at the mooring.

Don't be fooled, there are a few boats still in the water, I've just artfully avoided them in my photos.

That's the Eggemoggin Reach off in the distance.

A few days later, a misty morning.

I bought some decent foul-weather gear this summer so maybe I'll keep BELLE in the water a while longer.  I haven't forgotten about Rigging Part 2--Part 1 is here-- I'm hoping to have that on the blog soon...

BELLE Under Sail

Just a quick post to let you know that I've added a new page called BELLE Under Sail.  This includes my favorite photos of BELLE sailing along, at least so far.  I hope to have more photos before the summer is over.

To see the page, click here or on the button above.

Until next time...

Q: Is BELLE based on a particular historical type or boat design?

This is just a quick post to mention that I've updated the FAQ page with the above question.  I heard it quite a lot while attending the Small Reach Regatta last week--a fun event, highly recommended--so please click here to take a look (or click the FAQ button under the photo).  In it, I discuss various design influences that went into BELLE's design.  There were many.

Until next time...

Small Reach Regatta 2012

The Small Reach Regatta was this weekend, it was great fun to attend.   Over 50 boats of pretty much all description--as long as they were propelled by sails, oars, or both--gathered at Lamoine State Park for four days of sailing, rowing, and camping.  For those who wanted it, there were even catered lunches and dinners cooked at the Park.  I tried one of the dinners, excellent pulled pork and ribs! 

Thursday and Friday had plenty of wind and terrific sailing, sandwiched by Friday which was quite calm with a lot of rowing.  Alas, most of my photos are from Friday since the other two days we were too busy sailing:

Arrival and set up.  Not shown:  50+ other boats of all descriptions:  modern boats, old boats, restored boats, sail boats, row boats, quite a parade.  

Brent hams it up out on Frenchman Bay.   (Photo taken on Friday.)

I too know how to point vaguely into the distance.  (Photo taken on Saturday.)

My "art shot" of BELLE sailing along in light winds.

Beautiful...but time to break out the oars.  That's MDI (Mount Desert Island) in the distance.

A very nice Oughtred cat-yawl with Bean Island behind her.

For more on this get-together of small(er) boats, there's the web site mentioned above and a Facebook page.  I'm hoping there will be many photos of the other boats, many of which were real beauties.

For the event I borrowed a pair of 8' oars which were definitely too short. Over the winter I'll make a pair of 9'-9'6" oars for next year.  I'll be able to store them in BELLE by hanging them by leather straps under the slatted seats, projecting a couple of feet under the foredeck.  At least that's the plan.

Up until now, I've been using a couple of 5' paddles for getting BELLE over to a dock from the launch ramp and stuff like that.  For the SRR, I knew there might be some more serious rowing, so I added oar locks to the coamings and rigged up a slip thwart (a removeable temporary thwart) to make rowing more comfortable.

Here's the removable slip thwart which stores under the foredeck when not in use. It rests on the centerboard case and seats and has a couple of cleats underneath so it doesn't slip side-to-side.  It's made of cedar and unfinished,  like the floorboards, so it'll turn a nice grey color after a month or two in the sun.

Until next time!

Rigging Part 1

It's been over a month since my last post, sorry about that!  Today was a simply beautiful day and I had BELLE out for a sail. This was the first time I "soloed" in the boat--including launch/retrieval at a local launch ramp--and I have to say it was a joy to be out on the water and zooming around the harbor.   So here's a few pictures of some rigging details.  I've have more soon.

Here's BELLE in the backyard for some rigging work.  I'm working out the lengths of all the parts of the rigging which even on a small boat adds up to a fair amount:  main sheet, two jib sheets, two main halyard (gaff rig has two), jib halyard, topping lift, reefing lines (which I haven't put on yet), lacing lines for both the gaff and the mast, and misc. smaller lines for lashings and such.

Whenever possible I've used simple lashings instead of expensive hardware.  This block will be lashed to the boom for the mainsheet.  These Tufnol blocks work well (I got them from R&W Rope), although some day I'd like to make my own from scratch.  Some day!

OK it's a bit of a mess, but here's what we've got at the base of the mast.   I promise I'll neaten things up for the next batch of photos!  Basically, the idea is I wanted all halyards to attach to the mast itself rather than lead to cleats on deck or on the bulkhead.  Why?  So that they would stay with the mast when raising/lowering the mast which I'll be doing every time the boat is launched.  So here we see the peak and throat halyards for the mainsail and, on the forward side of the mast, the cleat for the jib halyard.  Note the turning blocks on either side of the mast;  the two main halyards run through these blocks before cleating off.  The blocks allow the mainsail to be raised/lowered from pretty much anywhere in the cockpit rather than right at the base of the mast.  Note absolutely necessary, but it's been pretty handy so far.  (You can see that I haven't leathered the mast step quite yet, I've been using little mast shims in the meantime.)

Sorry for the blurry photo!  It shows a little thumb cleat on the forward side of the mast.  (I've seen these on traditional daysailers, so I stole the idea among others.)  The thumb cleat gathers up the lacing lines that attach the mains'l to the mast when the sail is lowered--as shown here--and also provides a place for a "support line" for the boom jaws.   I'm sure that's not the right word, but that's the line going through the thumb cleat which holds up the mast end of the boom (not shown) when the sail is lowered.  In other words, when the sail is down the boom is supported by the topping lift and this support line.    Seems to work well.  I'll try to have a better photo next time!

Incidentally, the rope is Hempex, a synthetic hemp-like roap that I got from R&W Rope.  I used 5/16" for the sheets and 1/4" for the halyards.  It is soft on the hands and seems to work well.

That's it for this time.  I'll have more rigging info. soon, plus I hope some more shots of BELLE under sail now that it's warm enough to sail without wool hats!

Launch Day Part 2

Here's a few more photos from Launch Day, many thanks to Doug Hylan for this batch.  (I also got photos from Ellery Brown which were shown in my previous post.)

Sarah does the honors, pouring Champagne on the bow to mark the occasion.

A bow-on view of BELLE under sail.  The boat in the background is a Hylan Point Comfort Skiff 18, looking very nice.

The wind picked up as the day went on, here she is moving along at a pretty good clip.   Of course,  I'll be tweaking the rig over the next few weeks, but I must say I was very happy with how BELLE sailed right out of the box.

It started getting colder--the wool hats aren't just for show--but Doug caught this nice silhouette before Nick (red hat) and myself  called it a day.

If you're on Facebook, you can see my page for a few more pictures. 

The end of a perfect day?  Just about. There are a few details to work on, but overall the boat has worked terrifically so far.  I'll report back on the tweaks as we go along.  Plus there's lots to learn about her performance in higher winds etc.  

Fair warning, there will be longer gaps between blog posts than in the past:  I may well be out sailing during times I should be blogging!  That said, I will be doing a post in the near future covering rigging issues.

Launch day!

Well it finally came!  After many last-minute details and painting and quite a bit of mumbling to myself about this and that, BELLE had her first taste of salt water today.  It was a very exciting day, I'm going to just post a few pictures for now and report later in more detail.  But suffice it to say that the it was great to launch the boat right in the creek in front of D. N. Hylan & Assoc., mere feet from the shop where BELLE was built as I've detailed in this blog. So many many thanks to Doug, Ellery, Matt, Nick, and Rick!  (I'm sorry I only have photos of me and Nick.)  Hylan also launched a boat just before BELLE, but that's a whole other story...

So here goes with the pictures.  All photos were taken by Ellery Brown, many thanks for doing the honors Ellery!  That said, the only photo of food in this bunch was taken by yours truly.  Typical.

First things first:  a bottle of beer and a wonderful Lemon Cake from Sarahndipity Pies!

Then to the launch. Nick on tractor, me fussing with something or other.  This creek is dry at low tide, so with the tide coming in nicely it's time to get her in the water.  

In she goes! 

Now to take her for a sail.  Let's see, I started building last March and the design two Christmases ago.  A lot of work, time to play!

Now that we're out of the creek and in the Benjamin River (right off Maine's Eggemoggin Reach), time to raise the mainsail...

...then the jib....

...and off we go!  It was a brisk day, I'm at the helm (blue wool hat) and Nick is tending the jib sheet (red wool hat).  Feeling great so far.  The mainsail seems to be setting nicely.  

A nice breeze let us put her through her paces a bit. Here I've relinquished the helm for a minute or two.

Back on her trailer, in front of the shop, awaiting further adventures.

It's been quite a day, I think that's all I have energy for right now.  In a few days I'll have more thoughts and photos on the launch and various small projects to keep me busy until the next sail.  Maybe it'll be a bit warmer next time.

So long for now.

Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is launch day!  This morning I trailered BELLE over to the boatyard, put the mast up (no problem for one person to do), and got her ready to launch on tomorrow's afternoon tide.  High tide  is about 6:30PM, but there should be enough water in the inlet where the launch will take place by 4:30PM or so.  Here are a couple of final "dry land" photos of the boat:

A coat of bottom paint ("Shark White") and a bunch of rigging details taken care of for launch.

With the mainsail laced to the mast (no mast hoops), I decided to leave the end of the boom down for the night and securely bundle the sail to the spars.  It's quite blustery today, with more wind expected overnight, so I thought it would be safer to do it that way.  Plus I don't have the topping lift in place yet...soon! 

I realize I've been remiss in reporting on the various final details of rigging, bottom paint, etc. I'll make up for it,  there will be photos, etc., of various aspects of the final work on the boat to come soon.  Stay tuned!

In the meantime, though, I'm hoping to have some nice photos of launch day here within a few days.  Wish me luck!

Sails, trailer, and another move

I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post.  With a new job, I haven't got a lot done of BELLE recently, but there's been at least some progress:

I picked up a Load Rite trailer from the nice folks at B&D Marine this morning and loaded up BELLE for the short trip back to the house.  For the last month she's been luxuriating in a fine storage shed at the boatyard, but from now on she'll have to sleep rough under a tarp in my back yard.  I was pleased to note that the ol' Subaru (197K miles, going strong, knock on metal) seemed to have no problem towing BELLE, even up a fairly steep hill between the shop and the house.  The 2x4 sticking out of the window is destined to be the ridge pole of the boat cover. 

Here she is parked back at the ranch.  Home at last!  I'll be able to raise the mast and do final rigging right here in the yard.  The weather is supposed to be very nice the next few days, I'm going to try to take advantage and get a lot done. At some point I'll roll the boat into the driveway, lay down a tarp, and do the bottom paint too.

The other thing I got done is driving down to Bohndell Sails in Rockport to pick up the sails.  Here's a photo of the sailbag in the boat, just for fun.   I'll be rigging them on the spars shortly.  Last weekend I spread them out on the lawn to take a quick look, and I must say they look very good. This is the second set of sails I've ordered from them, about 10 years ago I also ordered sails for my Joel White  Pooduck Skiff from Bohndell.  They seemed to hold up well and sail well, so I went back to them for BELLE.  (They don't seem to have a web site, but their address/phone/email is available through Google.)

The warm weather we've been having this year (the "new normal"?) has got me thinking about getting out on the water about a month sooner than usual.    Just a bit more work, and I'll be there.  I'll post photos of the rigging process, so stay tuned.

Bye for now.

BELLE waits patiently

BELLE is now in a storage shed, waiting for the sails to arrive.  Then comes rigging, bottom painting, and final details...

Very warm today, for mid-March in Maine, so now I wish I had ordered the sails a month earlier.

I'll be putting together a cover for the boat--she's only in this nice shed temporarily--so I bought a 12'-long 2x4 ridge pole and a tarp.  The black stuff on the coamings is foam pipe insulation (available at hardware stores).  It should protect the coamings from chafe once the tarp is on.  

Sails might come next week...I hope so!


À bientôt / until next time!

Deck hardware, seats, etc.

With the sails on order, there's just a few more things to take care of before launch day:

Time to bed down the plywood seat-locker tops.  I'm bedding them--rather than using epoxy--so that I'll be able to remove them later for any necessary repair/maintenance. I'm using goopy Life Caulk for the job.

This photo shows both seat-locker tops in place. 

With a second coat of finish paint applied to the deck, the jewelry--I mean hardware--can be bedded with old-fashioned Dolphinite.  Also time to install the slatted seats and floorboards.  The seats are screwed down to the cleats on the seat-locker tops shown above.  There's really just a handful of screws, so these seats will be easy to remove in the fall before wrapping up the boat for the winter.  (For now I anticipate storing the boat outdoors under a canvas tarp.)  They can then be varnished in my "workshop" (OK dining room) at my leisure.

After four coats of varnish (or was it five?), I flat-sanded the transom and put on one more coat.  The red cedar is really starting to look good.

With the mast temporarily stored in the boat--I just discovered the top end fits nicely in the sculling notch I cut in the top of the transom--I can take a breather to take care of some "real world" business...I start a new job on Monday!

In the above photo, note how the mast only overhangs the transom a few inches.   This is a benefit of going with a gaff rig--or lug rig, for that matter--with its relatively short spars compared to a marconi rig.  


I'm putting together a list of "Year Two" updates/changes for the boat, things I'm willing to put off a bit so I can go sailing this summer.  One thing on the list is the various hatches for the under-seat lockers.  I've got them cut out and rough-sanded, but they still need a bit of fussy work (including making a bunch of thumb cleats) that I think I'll put off at this point.  They'll make a nice winter project next year.   Ditto the canvas dodger and boom tent that I plan to make.  The dodger will snap onto the coamings at the forward end of the cockpit;  the boom tent will be a simple tarp tied down to various cleats on deck to keep rain out of the cockpit.

Well that's it for now.  As mentioned above, I'll be taking a little vacation from BELLE until the sails come in.  With luck, they will be done in mid-March, then there will be some rigging work, and then I'll have her in the water not long thereafter.  Almost exactly a year of part-time work...but who's counting!?!

Outside for some rigging

Just a quick update this time to show BELLE outside for rigging/hardware work!  It was a warm winter day, so I rolled her out of the shop and put in the mast.  No problem for one person.  Then I worked out the final location of fairleads and such using odds and ends of rope.

Here is BELLE rolled out of the shop, ready for rig/hardware setup.  

Mast in place, I'm using pieces of old rope to get final measurements for various pieces of standing/running rigging.  Only two coats of varnish on the spars at this point, I'll get a couple of more on before launch day.

Here I'm locating a deck fairlead.  My plan is to use a modern low-stretch rope (Spectra) for the side shrouds instead of wire.  These will run through blocks to small cleats on the side decks.  The lozenge-chaped piece of oak in the photo will hold one of the staysail camcleats to the coamings (see next photo).

Back in the shop, here's one of the staysail camcleats installed on the coamings.  The coamings need a couple of more coats of varnish, then I'll get another coat of paint on the decks and rubrails.  

The sails are now on order from Bohndell Sails in Rockport Maine (sorry, they don't have a web site or I would link to it), and I ordered a bunch of rope from RW Rope.  The sails should take 4-6 weeks, so I've got a few more weeks to varnish and leather the spars and do various detail work.  With the sails in hand, I'll then be able to do the final setup of the rig...and take her for a sail!  Weather permitting, I'm shooting for the end of March.  In the meantime, there's more paint/varnish, of course...

Details details...

A boatbuilder said to me the other day:  "Why does the last 10% seem to take 50% of the time?"  So true!  Once the hull and major parts are done, it's a mad dash to the finish line.  The last few weeks seem to go on forever, as you get more and more anxious to see her in the water and take her for a sail.

 Lots of details left to do, here goes:

Here's the bronze centerboard pull in place.  I left it a bit long for final in-the-water testing.   I'll be able to notch the bar to allow a couple of intermediate centerboard settings, in addition to the usual all-the-way-up and all-the-way-down.

To test the centerboard pull mechanism, I lifted the boat up using a strap and an overhead chain hoist.   It checks out fine.

Here's a couple more bronze pieces ready for installation.  First, I fabricated a jam cleat for the mainsheet using a standard closed-base bronze cleat and some brass sheet (top piece).  Then, for the mast, I made a tang for the throat-halyard block with some leftover bronze half-oval, a short piece of copper tubing, a washer, and screws (bottom piece).  The throat-halyard block hangs from this tang, which holds it away from the mast.  A detail found on a lot of gaff-rigged boats.

The boom jaws are glued and screwed to the boom, with one copper rivet too.   Since this photo, I've completed the jaws for the gaff too, and sanded everything (locust "burns" easily as you can see) and started on the varnish.  The final touch will be to tack pieces of leather to the jaws (to protect the mast) once a couple of coats of varnish are dry.  I have some rugged dark-brown leather that should work well and look good various places on the boat that are prone to chafing.

I also used locust for all the cleats and reefing blocks (if that's what they're called) for the mast and boom.  All the cleats on the spars will be locust;  the cleats on deck will be bronze.  This picture shows the cleats just after bandsawing them to shape and just a bit of rough sanding.  The very top cleat is the first one ready for varnish.  Simple paper patterns as shown are used to mark the locust for cutting.

Next week I'm going to run the boat outside on the trailer, pop in the mast, and get various dimensions for the rigging.    I've also mailed out a couple of sail plans to local Maine sailmakers.  Once I hear back from them, I'll place the order for the sails.  I considered making the sails from a Sailrite kit, but I eventually decided to buy "ready made" sails.  I just don't think I have time to finish the boat AND make sails before the spring!  Until next time...