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Hull No. 1 Rollover at Roeboats

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Finally I and a few helpers rolled over the first Roeboat hull. It’s a John Atkin designed Ninigret 22′ outboard power boat. I thought that I would post a slide show of the rollover. Let me know what you think of it. Four people were able to lift the hull but there were seven of us to roll it over. It all went very smoothly really, we rolled the whole shebang out of the workshop. Took it off the strong back, lifted it up on to its side on some cushions and dropped it down on its bottom. Placed it back in line with the workshop door rolled it back inside and closed the whole thing back up again. So a big thank you to all those who helped, I quite obviously couldn’t have done it without you.

Roeboats, Ballydehob, Co. Cork, t:+353 (0)28 38973 m: +353 (0)86 158 69 37 e:roeboats@ymail.com

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Baltimore Wooden Boat Festival

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Here are some photos I took at this weekend’s Baltimore Wooden Boat Festival. I was out sailing on Saturday so these photos were taken on Sunday which was one of the best days so far this year here in West Cork.

An Itchen Ferry ?

An Itchen Ferry ?

Itchenferry

First off we have a very nice little boat that the owner believes is an Itchen ferry built in Falmouth but a long time resident of West Cork. It had a cabin previous to this owner but it was converted to a very nice open boat.

Heir Island Lobster Boat and Galway Hooker

Heir Island Lobster Boat and Galway Hooker

Here a Heir Island lobster boat and a Galway Hooker fight it out at the finish line.

Cormac Levis' Heir Island Lobster boat Saoirse Muireann

Cormac Levis' Heir Island Lobster boat Saoirse Muireann

Cormac Levis who owns this boat has written an excellent book on the history of Heir Island lobster boats and the men who worked them.

Bantry Bay Loongboat Unité

Bantry Bay Longboat Unité under sail

The Bantry Bay longboat is the basis of the Atlantic Challenge an organisation that “every other year sponsors a friendly contest of seamanship in Bantry Bay gigs, held in a different host country.”

Baltimore Boatyard

Baltimore Boatyard

And this finally is what remains of Ireland’s premier boat building school and builders where famous boats like Conor O’Briens Saoirse and Ilen were built. It was also the site of the Baltimore Fishery School which is more recently in the news as a result of the Ryan Report. Here is a newspaper article about it and the report can be downloaded here.

Torturing plywood and myself as well

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Well finally got all of the chines, battens and inwales fitted; so it was time to start sheathing the bottom with the 3/8″ ply. I had expected the bow panels to be difficult to fit as the plywood has to twist through 90 degrees. Not an easy thing to get plywood to do. It wasn’t going too bad making the templates and indeed getting the ply to fit loosely seemed doable and I left them like that for 2 days, to take the shape and they did.

Planking so far

Planking so far

But when I started to clamp it down into position that’s when the fun started with slipping clamps and more than once I got a slap in the face as the ply sprang out from under a clamp and I broke a panel, it went off like a gun shot. After struggling like this for way too long I decided to go for it an glue and nail the panel into place. The first one was actually okay to do but when I was half way through the second one it decided to explode. You can take it for granted that at this stage I was trawling through some pretty rude sailor talk to come up with an expletive I hadn’t used in the previous two days. Anyway back to my fine mess of glue and broken ply. I just had to call it a day. I walked out the workshop door and I realised that more than once I looked at the solution. It was a plain as the nose on my face but not as ugly. Rotate the ply by ninety degrees so that there were more veneers with the grain parallel to the bend than against it. That simple. And it was that simple. I redid this on the broken panel and it went in no bothers. Well I suppose it was the third or fourth time I had done it. The rest of the bottom planking went on without much fuss at all. I’ve started planking the top sides today and have the motor well framed out. As bob the builder says Yes we can.

Roeboats, Ballydehob, Co. Cork, t:+353 (0)28 38973 m: +353 (0)86 158 69 37 e:roeboats@ymail.com

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Assembling Frames

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I have been very busy finishing this project and building the boat. Despite this I’ve been able to fabricate the frames and bevel them; now all that remains is to assemble them. I am about halfway through at this stage. The temporary cross beams have to be attached and the excess glue and fingerprints sanded off before they can be set up on the strongback. Here’s a photo.

frames

Behind the doors is my new extension.

And just to keep me organised a list of things to do before setting up the frames.

  1. Finish glueing up frames and bulkheads
  2. Decide location of and plane,cut and attach cross beams,
  3. Scarf up chines, battens, inwales and apron,
  4. Shape, joint, bevel and assemble keel
  5. Build and level strong back

Oh boy that’s a lot of stuff to get done so I’m off.

Roeboats, Ballydehob, Co. Cork, t:+353 (0)28 38973 m: +353 (0)86 158 69 37 e:roeboats@ymail.com

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RTE radio covers Roeboats

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Quick post to let you know that Roeboats was mentioned on Seascapes Irelands national adio programme covering all thing marine related. You can listen here it’s about 15 minutes into the programme. Hopefully there will be more to follow.

Roeboats, Ballydehob, Co. Cork, t:+353 (0)28 38973 m: +353 (0)86 158 69 37 e:roeboats@ymail.com

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Finished Lofting!

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Finally finished lofting Ninigret. I had to spend some time finishing up outstanding jobs that I had on as well. With the lofting complete, I now have all the frame and stem bevels, and transom projected so it will be full steam ahead making from now on hopefully. Here’s something of interest, I came across this at Woodenboat; it was their boat of the week. It really appealed to my conceptual sensibilities, I have always been a fan of people like composer John Cage and the Fluxus group. Anyway here’s a picture of an unmanned boat that can “sail” directly into the wind. Quite a technological feat really. I think it looks fantastic maybe we should all be building boats like this.

Windvinder

Windvinder

Roeboats, Ballydehob, Co. Cork, t:+353 (0)28 38973 m: +353 (0)86 158 69 37 e:roeboats@ymail.com

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Lofting Ninigret 22′ Dayboat

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Well I’ve spent the last few days lofting the lines and construction plan for Ninigret; the 22′ fuel efficient day boat I’m building. It’s been a long time since I did a lot of hand drafting; makes you appreciate the convenience of computer modelling. I would do it on the computer but the old girl isn’t up to running up to date software. Anyway the lofting is going pretty well. I decided to loft to a one quarter scale as it was big enough for details and I could store the finished drawing easily for future reference. I’ll have to loft the stem and body plan full size but that won’t be too difficult either. Here are some photos of work in progress.

lofting

As you can see I’ve used different colours to make the drawing easier to read. Once the frames and stem are lofted I’ll start lifting the bevels and making up the frames. I’ve decided to use Resorcinol glue for the Oak frames as epoxy doesn’t like tanin that much and the dark glue lines won’t be noticed.

lofting2

Roeboats, Ballydehob, Co. Cork, t:+353 (0)28 38973 m: +353 (0)86 158 69 37 e:roeboats@ymail.com

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Dog bowls and storm rations

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Normally when I’m sailing on bigger boats I find the best thing to eat out of is a dog bowl. I got this tip from reading Pete Goss’ book Close to the Wind.

Dog Bowl by Keenan Pepper via Flickr

Dog Bowl by Keenan Pepper via Flickr

On my own boat I don’t have to go to these extremes as the motion is not as severe, this can be explained by physics so I’m not going to here. Anyway I usually get some very funny looks from my crew mates when I arrive with my dog bowl so when I saw this bowl on Grass Roots Modern a design blog I follow for my other business. I thought the inner child in me could find a good use for it. In fact it could probably adapted for all kinds of uses on a boat.

Loopa bowl

Loopa bowl

It is a weighted bowl set in gimbals that are all held in a handy ring. Designed for kids; but sloppy adults like me could probably use one. Oh yeah and when it comes to storm rations you can’t beat yogurt and muesli, it’s very healthy and extremely thick and sticky. So stiff and sticky in fact you can turn the bowl upside down and the spoon and contents stay in the bowl. It reminds me of wet concrete but it is a lot tastier.

Why use wood to build boats?

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Photo by rick rowland via Flickr Creative Commons

Where lightweight and strength are needed wood is the best material to use.

Wood is stronger than than steel, most fiberglass and aluminium pound for pound.

Wood is stiffer than all fiberglass, kevlar and steel.

Wood absorbs vibrations and this includes sound, so wooden boats are quieter.

Wood does not fatigue with repeated loading,

Wood is a renewable resource and the growing of wood removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Wood is eco friendly in that it can be recycled, fiberglass cannot.

Wood looks good.

Wood allows economical, in both materials and cost, custom production of boats.

Wooden boats require similar maintenance to fiberglass boats. Gel coat is not the wonder material it was thought to be

So why are most boats for sale today made of fiberglass?

There is one reason most boats are built from fiberglass; that is cheap labour.

It requires skilled craftspeople to build a wooden boat, whereas semi-skilled and unskilled operatives with proper supervision can manufacture a fiberglass boat.

Fiberglass is not renewable and non-recyclable,

Fiberglass requires similar maintenance to a wooden boat. Gel coat is not the wonder material it was thought to be.

Update: 2-May-2010

I came across this article by Lawence W. Cheek in the Seattle Times today and he says exactly what I want to, but better.

“We willingly pour the considerable labor and love into building, maintaining and restoring wooden boats because they lead us to participating in something greater than ourselves. I have nothing against fiberglass, but a boat made of synthetic material simply reflects human culture back at us. It is purely a product of technology. A wooden boat is a partnership. It’s not literally a living thing, not quite, but it evinces respect for the life that exists outside the clubby circle of human intelligence.”

Photo by Botheredbybees

Photo by Botheredbybees via Flickr Creative Commons

Tús maith, leath na h-oibre

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A good start is half the work. Well let’s hope this old saying or seanfhocail holds true. I thought I might start at the beginning and show you some views of where Roeboats is located. We’re located just off the N71 in the leam a mhádra (dog’s leap) valley overlooking Roaringwater bay and the Fastnet_Rock. I’ve been living in this area for almost ten years and as you can see it’s an easy place to stay in.sunnyhouse1

I moved to West cork to build boats but got a little sidetracked and have been making fine wooden funiture for the last ten years instead. Check out my furniture at Tiernan Roe Fine Woodworking, as you can see I’m a big fan of blogs. However I aim to update this blog a lot more frequently.sunnydrive1

Previous to moving to West Cork I worked in Berlin and Dublin as a special effects model maker making tings like rubber armour and 9metre 35′ statues of liberty for the top of Checkpoint Charlie on the old Berlin wall. Which was very interesting and used a lot of the skills needed in boatbuilding like mold making, fibreglass fabrication and some complex wood work; one project recreated the art nouveau interior of Maxim’s restaurant in Paris.

Roeboats, Ballydehob, Co. Cork, t:+353 (0)28 38973 m: +353 (0)86 158 69 37 e:roeboats@ymail.com

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