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Bits and Pieces

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Even though the skiff is now fit to be sailed, there's more bits and pieces to make for rowing and sailing.  I've decided to build my own mast, spars, rudder, sail and oars.

Date

     
22-Aug-01 Stop by Welbeck and pick up 2 carriage bolts, threaded inserts and galvanised mending plates to use as thole pins as well as 2 barrel bolts to use as pintles and gudgeons for the rudder.

 

7.39
24-Aug-01
Stern Wheel
Stern Wheel for transporting

Thole Pin
Thole Pin Installation
Fabricate and install the thole pin and stern wheel.  The stern wheel is just a caster that I've added to the notch on the aft end of the skeg to allow the boat to be dragged along pavement etc.   I've decided to use thole pins rather than standard oar-locks.  To make them, I drilled a hole in the centre of the galvanised mending plates, making it a bit oblong so that the carriage bolts can go through at an angle.  Set the plates in place about 31" from the stern, and mark the holes for drilling.  I drilled first for the carriage bolts and made the hole big enough to put a threaded insert into.  The holes were also drilled parallel to the outside of the gunwales so the thole pins will actually lean out slightly.  Fill all the holes with silicone sealant, thread in the inserts, put the plates in place with the thole pin (carriage bolt) threaded in and fasten the plates in place to the gunwales.

I chose this method since first off, I rather liked the idea of thole pins.  I used the steel plate and the threaded insert to provide strength inside the poplar gunwale as well as to allow me the remove the thole pins when they are not in use.  Possibly I can use these holes to attach my lee-boards later as well.  This method also allowed me to attach the thole pins without adding blocks for the oar-locks.
Note: During the launch, I found that the thole pins should have been mounted much farther aft.  Hopefully I can use these holes for a lee-board.

1.5

 
26-Aug-01
Sprit Pole
Sprit Pole

Oar Blanks
Rough Looking Oars
Fabricate a dowel for the sprit pole and start work on the oars.

Since I couldn't find any 6 1/2' long 3/4" dowels, I decided to make one out of spruce.  To do this, first I ripped a 3/4" X 3/4" piece of spruce on the table saw.  Then I set my say to 22 1/2° and ran the piece through several more times, rounding it off.  Sanding it then made it fairly smooth.

The oars were a bit more complicated.   The plans for the oars call for hand-shaping the oar handles and then using some of the scrap 1/4" plywood for blades.  Other plans I have found call for using 2X6 lumber and cutting the oar of that.  This would be fairly expensive and waste a lot of wood.  What I did instead was:
- Rip out two 1 1/2" square pieces from a single spruce 2X4.
-Mark off 21" from the end to keep square for the oar blades.
-Similar to making the sprit pole, I set the saw at 22 1/2° and the rip guide at 1" and cut off the outside edges, stopping at my 21" mark.  I wasn't able to get all my cuts down to the 21" mark, but it was close.
- Using left-over epoxy thickened with silica to glue two 21" long 3" wide (left over from the sprit pole) pieces of spruce to the square part of the oars.

Now I need to let it dry and then I should be able to finish shaping the handles by hand.  I haven't decided yet if I'll do the blades by hand as well.

2

 
3-Sep-01 Cut out two outside pieces for the rudder and trim the existing piece so that the rudder blade is sandwiched between the pieces.  The centre piece is left higher than the sides for attaching the tiller.
Set my table saw blade to 10° and maximum height and trim off the sides of the oar blades.  By adjusting the fence, holding the cut side to the fence, and getting some help to run them through I was able to do both sides of the blades.

1.5

 
7-15-Sep-01
Use the circular saw to cut the oar shape.  With my new bench-top belt sander, sand the end taper on the oars and work on smoothing the handles.  Since this was taking too much material off, I switched to my palm sander for the handles.  Set the table saw at 1/4" and the fence at 6" and nibble off material to shape the handles.

Spend 1/5 hour applying 1 coat of epoxy to the oars.  I'll apply spar varnish later.

Note: at 7 1/2' long, these oars are much longer than the plans call for and didn't work.  I'll need to make another set of shorter ones since I can't bear to cut these down.  I'll just have to build another boat that fits them.

2.5

 
       
       
       
       
       

Total

 

30.5

$153.40

OSS Construction Bits and Pieces OSS - Launched

DISCLAIMER: Because the construction of any boat is dependent on factors of materials and craftsmanship that are beyond my control, I can accept no responsibility for any item constructed based on information found on this web-site.

For more information, contact andrew@floatingbear.ca Last Updated October 31, 2005