tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354134032011-04-21T16:23:34.490-05:00Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.comBlogger331100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-41966767870845161152008-09-03T19:57:00.002-05:002008-09-03T20:09:52.196-05:00

It's been a busy year and we haven't had time to get back out on the water... After a couple frustrating sailing trips last summer I decided to redesign the sail and buy an electric trolling motor. So on Labor Day we decided to take the sailboat out for the first time this year! The trolling motor is a WONDERFUL addition and well worth the $109. We spent about 3 hours exploring some nearby

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-12736624379253744372007-10-04T10:32:00.000-05:002007-10-22T14:08:11.329-05:00

This has been a very busy summer for us and we've only managed to take the boat out twice so far. Our second time out on the water was a bit scary due to the gusty winds... Anyway, having spent some time in the boat now, I've made a list of things that I've learned:Exterior latex house paint doesn't work very well on a boat (I repainted it with oil paint after the latex started peeling off).Make

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-14754807210066387602007-08-12T15:44:00.000-05:002008-12-11T05:52:58.128-06:00

This morning we set sail with the Nellie Sue on her maiden voyage on Chickamauga Lake. The wind wasn't very strong so we didn't go very fast but we did manage to get out in the middle of the lake where we jumped in and swam. The heat index for today was 108 degrees, so the water felt VERY refreshing!After our swim, we had a picnic lunch and sailed back to the beach from wenst we saileth. Here

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-28510467166445007112007-08-08T19:55:00.000-05:002008-12-11T05:52:58.592-06:00

Tonight we pulled the boat out onto the lawn and assembled the mast & sail for the very first time! I wanted to make sure everything worked the way it was supposed to and that I had all the correct parts before we hit the water...It really does look like a sailboat now! Maybe not necessarily like the stereotypical triangular sail sailboat, but nevertheless I am still very proud of my little boat

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-46568762735526387822007-08-06T22:19:00.000-05:002008-12-11T05:52:59.849-06:00

Woohooo! My boat is officially registered and legal to be out on the open water! With the registration process and rudder completed, it's essentially finished!On Friday I left work early and swung by the Tag & Title office. After waiting in line for about 20 minutes with people who were standing just a little bit too close to me, I finally was able to do my registration paperwork and pay the

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-81250190984862640552007-07-31T08:28:00.001-05:002008-12-11T05:53:00.420-06:00

Yesterday I painted the rudder (first coat) and made a tiller -- the long handle connected to the rudder that steers the boat. I didn't have any clear instructions on how to make the tiller, so I did some research online and saw a variety of styles. So I decided to take the sturdy but yet easy-to-build rout. It's not necessarily pretty, but it will do the job.The fork part of the tiller will

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-75167068581546313352007-07-29T21:24:00.000-05:002008-12-11T05:53:00.866-06:00

Today I painted another coat of paint to the inside of the boat, made a few additions to the mast components, and built the sail! I'm so excited now! I could practically drop it in the water today and go sailing... but I do need to connect the rudder and finish getting the boat registered first.To make the sail, I took a 12'x12' sheet of 3mil plastic and stretched it out on the garage floor,

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-74675387623785443682007-07-26T13:43:00.001-05:002008-12-11T05:53:01.138-06:00

I just wanted to say a special Thank You to those of you who have been faithfully following my progress over the past 9 months. Your comments have been very encouraging to me and have kept me continually moving forward. It would have been a much longer process without you!You have an open invitation to go sailing with me any time (once the boat is finished of course)! . :)

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-33431034866524126962007-07-26T13:22:00.001-05:002008-12-11T05:53:01.531-06:00

[Three weeks later...]Woohoo! I now have the Hull Identification Numbers for my boat! Now I just need to swing by the DMV and finish up the registration process and get this thing out on the lake. I'm getting so close I can almost smell the fishy water. Mmmmmm.... :)However, I still need to:make a sailinstall all the necessary hardware on the mastfinish up & connect the rudderpaint the final

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-49976022478055380372007-07-09T08:31:00.000-05:002007-07-09T12:16:01.438-05:00

I just got off the phone with the Tennessee Wildlife Enforcement Agency (TWEA) and in typical government fashion I was transfered to a new person about 7 times (explaining why I'm calling each time) before I finally reached the correct person, only to get their voicemail!!! Grrrrrr! Apparently to register a homemade boat (without a bill of sale) you have to go through their main office in

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-3290159759082369562007-07-08T19:19:00.000-05:002008-12-11T05:53:01.910-06:00

OK, so the maiden voyage hasn't happened yet...But, I finally put a coat of color on the boat! It feels like it's getting so close now. I also painted the inside of the boat and the top of the bow. I'll post pictures of that after the paint dries and I can flip it over again.I also cut out and glued the layers of plywood together to build the rudder. Now I just need to make the tiller (for

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-53182628408672218162007-05-25T21:37:00.000-05:002008-12-11T05:53:02.240-06:00

This week I put on the base coat of white exterior latex paint. I read somewhere that exterior latex paint was as good as (or better than) oil-based paint for boats, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Once it dries it becomes as waterproof as the oil based paint, and will actually last longer because it won't dry out and crack like oil paint will. This is Memorial Day weekend, so I might actually

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-68899430405901610562007-04-23T19:39:00.000-05:002008-12-11T05:53:02.839-06:00

As you probably noticed I quit keeping track of how many days I was working on the boat. I kind of got out of sync and lost count and gave up......but maybe that's a good thing because I've been making good progress! This Spring weather has been awesome (except for a week or so ago when it got down into the 20's and killed all our baby peaches and other flowering plants). Since my last post I:~

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-46273793267637107362007-04-13T21:38:00.000-05:002008-12-11T05:53:04.448-06:00

I've been very bad at documenting my progress on the boat and have done quite a bit of work since my last post... I don't know where to begin.The cold weather of winter kept me in-doors for several months and when it finally started getting warm again I started working as fast and efficiently as I could, and in the excitement I forgot to post pictures! Oh well, I think there are only 2 or 3

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-22646603454359874242007-02-23T20:04:00.000-06:002007-02-23T20:16:05.671-06:00

Several of you have told me that you've noticed that progress on the boat seems to have stopped... No, I haven't given up on my boat project. Sadly it is still winter here in Tennessee and my little workshop has no heat so I've put things on hold momentarily. The past several weeks have been near or below freezing at night and the workshop doesn't heat up much during the day.Trust me, the

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-59923974953602278642007-01-17T07:51:00.000-06:002008-12-11T05:53:05.124-06:00

On Sunday the weather was unusually warm for this time of winter. It was actually up in the 70's! ...so I decided to spend some time working on my boat.It's hard to believe that it's already been nearly a month since I last tinkered on the boat. The holidays really threw a wrench in the work flow... but now things are slowing down once again and I am able to find some free time to "play".So

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-82967770775417365222006-12-01T13:33:00.000-06:002006-12-01T13:48:14.783-06:00

Last night I spent a couple hours finishing up the main rub rails and tracing out the pattern for the middle seat. Earlier, I decided to make my rub rails out of whatever was conveniently available, and in this case it was 8 ft long 1" x 2" strips which I cut down the middle. Because a "1x2" from the store isn't exactly 1" by 2", the new rails ended up being about 3/4" on each side.I

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-16122861091364912252006-11-17T10:00:00.000-06:002006-11-17T10:25:17.776-06:00

The other night I worked on the boat for a couple hours (I'll post photos soon). I added 8 foot strips of wood on the top outside edges of the boat for rub rails and to give the 1/4" plywood some strength & stability. I also added a front "breast hook" and some "knees" in the back corners. These also add strength & stability, plus they make the boat look nicer to boot! :)~E

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-1162780322299751852006-11-05T20:17:00.000-06:002006-11-05T20:32:02.316-06:00

Today was Sunday and so I was able to work for a couple hours on the boat. I had to swing by Lowes to pick up some more epoxy and fiberglass cloth. I was able to finish all of the outside seams except for the ones around the back vertical panel (transom). I also brushed on a good thick coat of epoxy on the rest of the bottom panels. This will help strengthen the wood and keep it watertight.

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-1162603452343427562006-11-03T19:15:00.000-06:002006-11-05T20:35:57.500-06:00

I worked for another hour this evening and put on 6 more strips of fiberglass until I ran out of epoxy. Will continue the glassing after I get some more fiberglass cloth and epoxy (probably on Sunday).~E

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-1162438552984154582006-11-01T21:18:00.000-06:002006-11-01T21:44:12.826-06:00

Tonight I started glassing the outside seams of the boat. But first I did some last-minute sanding with the electric sander. I didn't get a whole lot accomplished, but what I did finish looks pretty good. I usually get home about 45 minutes before Janell, so I try to get as much done before she arrives and fixes supper. So I don't usually work for very extended periods of time (in the

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-1161980346010345412006-10-27T14:59:00.000-05:002006-10-27T15:19:06.023-05:00

I worked another hour or 2 fiberglassing the inside of the boat last night. I have finished putting glass & epoxy on all of the major seams and will probably start doing the outside next. Then I'll finish patching up the remaining spots on the inside of the hull.With the weather getting colder outside, I've been keeping the doors to my workshop closed which drastically cuts down on good

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-1161889245265173352006-10-26T13:14:00.000-05:002006-10-26T14:00:45.366-05:00

I started applying strips of fiberglass cloth to the inside seams of the boat. I mixed just enough epoxy for one strip at a time, and accidently got the mixture wrong for one batch (didn't add enough reactor to the epoxy resin). But I checked it 24 hours later and it seemed to be hardening... I will also add fiberglass to the outside of the boat so I don't think it should be a problem.~E

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-1161626690876108402006-10-23T12:27:00.000-05:002006-10-23T13:43:47.496-05:00

This is the day that I got to cut a hole in the bottom of my boat. This hole is for the daggerboard trunk to go into. After cutting out the 1.5" wide hole, I glued and screwed the daggerboard into place against the center seat support.Then I whipped up a couple batches of sawdust puddy and finished off filling the remaining interior seams. While I was mixing up the second batch of epoxy, I

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-1161224561447691882006-10-18T21:21:00.000-05:002006-10-18T21:25:09.303-05:00

I worked a bit more on filling the seams with homemade epoxy & sawdust puddy. It took a while to mix up, but I was able to do two long seams in two batches of puddy. I also glued the other half of the daggerboard trunk together with Gorilla Glue. Hopefully it is all water proof on the inside of the trunk now.That's it. Nothing much new today. :)~E

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-1161018920029493532006-10-16T08:26:00.000-05:002006-10-16T12:15:20.083-05:00

Yesterday I was able to work on the boat some more. This wasn't exactly my first experience with epoxy, however it was my first experience with this much epoxy! I started by mixing up 8 oz. of resin with the reactor (14 drops per 1 oz. of resin). This turned out to be slightly more than I could apply before it started hardening so I cut the next batch down to 4 oz. I used a cheep $.69 brush

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-1160835898823775612006-10-14T09:11:00.000-05:002006-10-14T09:26:46.293-05:00

Friday I was feeling pretty lousy (cold symptoms) so I left work early and came home to relax - ate lunch and watched TV for a few hours. Then I went out and started stithing the boat seams together with plastic zip-ties. It took me several hours to drill the holes and thread and synch down all the zip-ties. But it definitely looks like a boat now!I also started assembling the daggerboard

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-1160835042657956062006-10-14T09:05:00.000-05:002006-10-14T09:25:54.060-05:00

Thursday evening I came home and attached the bottom panels to the boat. My sister and her kids were coming to visit later that evening so I worked as fast as I could... In hindsight I should have gone a little slower, but oh well... The panels didn't go on straight which required me to make a few corrective cuts to the already correctly cut panels!!! DOH!!! :(It's going to be ok, it's just

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-1160536029227657512006-10-10T21:56:00.000-05:002006-10-11T14:45:34.083-05:00

Today I cut out the various seat supports from the 3/8" plywood. I drilled holes in the bow seam of the side pieces and loosly stitched them together with plastic zip-ties. Then I started the process of attaching the seat supports (which also give the boat it's distinctive curves). The 1/4" plywood sides bent very easily over the supports. I found that using Gorilla Glue and wood screws seemed

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-1160535352993021802006-10-10T21:43:00.000-05:002006-10-11T14:47:46.280-05:00

Yesterday I went out to see how the Gorilla Glue worked and found that one of the "butt blocks" had slid off it's original mark. My little workshop isn't exactly level, and evidently the glue created a nice hydrolic cushion for the butt block to glide on... Gravity did the rest. Having not used Gorilla Glue before I think I might have accidently used too much... This is what it looks like now:

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-1160354741184324362006-10-08T18:40:00.000-05:002006-10-11T14:41:08.240-05:00

Today I was able to finally cut out the first plywood panels for my V12 sailboat. The name "V12" refers to the V-shaped hull (not like a flat-bottom boat) and the "12" refers to the boat's length (12 feet long). A flat-bottom boat is much easier to build but a V-shaped hull provides better stability in the water.Because these panels are at least 12 feet long and the sheets of plywood are only

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-1159964563497994312006-10-04T06:59:00.000-05:002006-10-28T21:33:14.060-05:00

Last night I started tracing and cutting out the paper patterns for the large boat pieces. The plans say that this process should take only 2 hours. I spent 1.5 hours last night and I'm not even close to being done with this step of the process! I think that I might be doing it the long way...I bought a large roll of paper, which I am tracing the pattures onto. Then from that, I will trace

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35413403.post-1159842132805086452006-10-02T20:26:00.000-05:002006-10-11T14:38:46.783-05:00

The boat plans arrived today!!! Whoohoo!!! I'm so excited. It's feeling more and more like this is actually going to happen. The boat I've decided to build is the V12 Dinghy from boatplans-online.com. The plans took over a week to get here, (from Florida to Tennessee) so I wasn't very impressed with that. But the extra time waiting gave me the opportunity to clean up and start organizing my

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129564710731822715noreply@blogger.com0