Rainbow Bridge - initial layout

Not the path to Midgaurd, but a pretty cool project from pintrest.

I got a deal on some nice ash 1/2 " ply at Woodcraft. A paint an made a good template to start the rounded ended with.

I used a few nails and tried a couple battens but needed to adjust to get a curve I was happy with. After tracing it, I eyeball measured about 4" in and reset my nails and batten to get the insid curve. Boat building skills starting to pay off!

Next to cut out the shape from both pieces of ply.

Birdsmouth pola - boom practice

I picked up a Birdsmouth bit from Lee Valley a while back and finally made time to use it tonight. In the book Gary Dierking shows the diameter for the pola to be 2 1/2". So I went to Duckworks and pulled an old article with a calculator to find the size of my staves. Just shy of an inch. Ripped some select pine and a cedar board, then set up the router with my new bit and went to town. Loving my Ultimate tool stand, one day I'll redo the router table and make a nice fence bit this is working great for now! Next time I can get out to the garage I'll cut it to size (9') and get ready to glue it up.

The bit was soooooo much easier than trying to do 45degree cuts on the table saw. Well worth it for future masts and paddles.

CLCboats.com Demo day on Merrit Island

I have been a huge fan of Chesapeake Light Craft for most of this century. Pretty neat that of the 2 demo days they have in Florida, one happened to be down the road from me. Their super gracious and knowledgeable staff were awesome to talk with. I also met some neat local paddlers and boat builders I look forward to hanging out with again, which is nice as we are relatively new to the area.

We made a bit of a day of it with a picnic and friends hanging out in Kelly Park. I'm pretty sure I tried every boat (at least the ones I could fit in). I came away a big fan of the Passagemaker dinghy, which would be a fun boat to have around to fish and tote people out to the nearby spoil island.

Some brought their own boats, which were just stunning. Particularly a bamboo decked kayak and a Peeler skiff. The Peeler is another one that would be neat to build and run around the river in.

Sea trials -couldn't resist

I couldn't resist trying the new safety ama and motor mount bracket. So Mojo and I took a little trip.

Nibbling away at some pieces on the Ulua

I was able to do some glassing on the safety ama, as well as get the iako finally coated with some epoxy. Lots of little things left at this point- rigging and foils still left to go. And finishing, lots more sanding and then the varnish and painting.

 I like to hit a few things when I have the epoxy out. In the background you can see: the motor/rudder mount, iakos, and precariously at an angle my birdsmouth SUP paddle prototype - this is the 4th time I've broken the blade, so I guess I should finally glass it. The shaft itself is light and strong though! Next one I will work on making pretty and smooth.

 I glassed the safety ama one half at a time, using painters tape to give me a clean line on each side. the next day I just ran a sharp knife down the line and peeled up the tape.

Sometimes I get funny looks when I go back into the house covered in sawdust...

Holidaze

Wooden boat building is therapeutic to me. We had some folks from all over in town during the holidays and managed to get out into the garage a bit among all the hub bub.

It was our 5 year anniversary, so it was nice to have my groomsmen there for a birthday/anniversary get together.

Here are some order images of the stuff that got worked on since the last time I posted.

Johnson shaped a really nice safety ama, which I just finished glassing. as well as did some clean up and painting on my original rush job ama. My buddy Chad did a ton of sanding too! Way too much beer was consumed - Florida Beer Company is 10 minutes away offers pony kegs of great bear for $45! And Bugnutty Brewing is 10 minutes in the other direction :)

There were plenty of onlookers as well. Some not so impressed.

Camping in St Joseph's Sound!

The spoil islands just north of Dunedin Causeway have been a favorite of mine to camp on for quite a long time. The last weekend of October shaped up to be a perfect weather weekend to celebrate a round of birthdays (some of us are entering into our 5th decade :).

Over 3 days we had 12 guys out there, everyone came on canoe, kayak or my buddies john boat.

I brought the Islands 17 out, rushing to get there and get launched by 4pm Friday. My sail out was heaven! I didn't even drop my trolling motor in, had the boat loaded up with gear, and extra gear as many folks were in from out of state. I was loaded with firewood, water, cast iron camping cookware, extra chairs. Not really camping, more like outdoor living.

I blasted out close hauled into a NW wind, bouncing over whitecaps and hiking out to keep her flat. Sailed right up to the beach where the early canoers helped me unload and buddy Johnson and I turned right around and blasted around until almost dark.

I ended up using the boat swap rudder, and the blade kept kicking up on the sail out. Johnson and I put a couple extra washers in it to stiffen it up and it worked great.


I was planning on camping on another island, and mooring to the trees, so I left my huge oversized anchor at home. We didnt have that island, so I had to keep hauling her in at night with the tide, and ended up high and dry until 10am. Johnson and I went out the next morning to try and pick up a few stragglers coming in. Drying out on the beach jammed the centerboard, and I jumped in to clear it, but it fell lose as soon as I went overboard. When I jumped back on and sheeted in POP, my windward shroud lost a wire. That ended my sailing for the weekend, exept for the sail back on Sunday, but that shroud was the lee shroud and not loaded. Time to learn how to fix that piece!

All in all it was a great trip, I didn't take nearly enough pictures, hopefully my buddies will send me theirs. Glassy and Joaquin each brought 5 gallons of home brew, which was damn good (Joaquin had a really nice pale ale, but Glassy's honey brown hit me just right that weekend).  I was super comfy in my Hennessee Camping hammock. The cast iron dutch oven provided; cinamon rolls, egg fritata, peach cobbler, and the lid made for a nice bacon and pancake pan on Sunday. This little Islands 17 easily swallowed all the gear I had, it is a nice little beach camper!