SV Tapatya
  • Blog
  • Sound and Vision
    • Music
    • Episodes 241 to 260
    • Episodes 221 to 240
    • Episodes 201 to 220
    • Episodes 181 to 200
    • Episodes 161 - 180
    • Episodes 141 to 160
    • Episodes 121 to 140
    • Episodes 101 to 120
    • Episodes 81 to 100
    • Episodes 61 to 80
    • Episodes 41 to 60
    • Episodes 21 to 40
    • Episodes 01 to 20
    • Behind The Scenes
  • Miss Molly I
    • The Start Of It All
    • The Lions Gate to Friday Harbor
    • Puget Sound and the Straits of Juan de Fuca
    • Neah Bay to Crescent City
    • Crescent City to Half Moon Bay
    • Betweentimes
    • Back to California
    • Mexico!
  • Resources
    • Other builders
    • Videos, websites
  • The tips jar
  • Shop
  • Blog
  • Sound and Vision
    • Music
    • Episodes 241 to 260
    • Episodes 221 to 240
    • Episodes 201 to 220
    • Episodes 181 to 200
    • Episodes 161 - 180
    • Episodes 141 to 160
    • Episodes 121 to 140
    • Episodes 101 to 120
    • Episodes 81 to 100
    • Episodes 61 to 80
    • Episodes 41 to 60
    • Episodes 21 to 40
    • Episodes 01 to 20
    • Behind The Scenes
  • Miss Molly I
    • The Start Of It All
    • The Lions Gate to Friday Harbor
    • Puget Sound and the Straits of Juan de Fuca
    • Neah Bay to Crescent City
    • Crescent City to Half Moon Bay
    • Betweentimes
    • Back to California
    • Mexico!
  • Resources
    • Other builders
    • Videos, websites
  • The tips jar
  • Shop













Mission Statement: To build a capable, affordable cruising boat with readily-available skills, materials, equipment and facilities.
If, like me, you dream of getting out there and sailing/cruising the world's waters, this blog/site aims to show my approach to how to do just that. Capable cruising boats should not be limited to the reach of the rich and privileged. If you accept the premise that a 25 year working lifespan for your boat is plenty for you to achieve your dreams (seems reasonable!) and are not concerned about such capitalist constructs as resale value, then the capable cruising boat is within the reach of a meagre budget. Go for it!
The Miss Molly I Adventures - the story of our Pacific cruising -Click Here!!

Toe rails and deck rails

24/6/2019

0 Comments

 
Working black locust and fitting it to the boat. The deck rails/stringers make a massive difference to the solid feel of the deck, and will certainly enable me to remove some material from the deck supports in the galley area, freeing headroom there.
0 Comments

Black locust and the deck hatch

17/6/2019

0 Comments

 
I've said many times now that I am not using any newly-sourced tropical hardwood on this build and that remains the case - I feel that it should be possible to build a durable boat from (relatively speaking) locally source woods, and so am restricting myself to woods of European origin/growth. A couple of weeks ago, I bought 3 largish boards of black locust wood (known here as robinia, or robinie, and otherwise known as false acacia). This has properties that compare favourably with the properties of teak and yet is grown commercially in Europe (and reaches maturity in 25 - 30 years). My intention is to use this wood for various pieces of exterior structural members and trim pieces. It does, however, have a reputation for being quite hard to work, so I must admit to having had some concerns when it came to ripping these 5cm thick boards down to the dimensions I require, particularly considering the cheapness of my table saw!

I invested in a new ripping saw blade to give the poor saw a bit more of a fighting chance, and set to. The results can be seen below!
0 Comments

The loss of "Bertie"

11/6/2019

0 Comments

 
I was very saddened to hear, last week, about the loss at sea of sv Bertie. As far as I understand, Bertie and her owners were underway on the east coast of the US, when they met some unsavoury conditions and were suddenly gybed by a big squall. Bertie capsized and, for whatever reason, didn't come back up again (she's a Spray, which, as far as I understand, don't have self-righting and probably has loose internal ballast). Fortunately, after a dunking, the owners were able to get up on the hull and, after a while, get to and activate the EPIRB. They were rescued by the US coastguard.

We saw Bertie in Half Moon Bay on our trip down the Pacific coast. She was a striking vessel, with a big junk mainsail, a lug mizzen and two jibs/foresails out on an enormous bowsprit. The fact that she had a stayed mast was probably instrumental in her downfall, as the junk sail was resticted in how far it could swing out to feather into the wind, but the owners had certainly sailed plenty of ocean miles in her. Of course, they have now lost nearly everything and have started a "GoFundMe" page here

Please donate - every little bit helps!

I wish them every success in whatever comes next.
Picture
sv Bertie, Half Moon Bay, 1996
0 Comments

Episode 90!!!

11/6/2019

0 Comments

 
Who'd ever have thought it, eh?? 90 episodes of the boatbuilding video series! Wow!

And.... Here it is!!
0 Comments

A place to launch

3/6/2019

1 Comment

 
Last weekend, we were invited to have a look at 2 things. Till had seen us on our YouTube videos and got in contact. A few weeks ago, he came down to visit Tapatya and we spent an enjoyable afternoon chatting about boating and European inland waterways in particular - Till has travelled these fairly extensively and had a wealth of good info for us. Then, last weekend, we went up to visit Till and his boat - a very pretty Dutch-build steel motor yacht.

He has this moored at the confluence of the River Elbe and the Elbe-Lübeck Canal, in an old working boat boatyard. We had a tour of the boatyard facilities and then a good look around Till's boat. 

The boatyard is ideal for us as a launch site. It boasts a huge hall with 2 gantry cranes of 32 ton capacity each. At the river end of the hall is a launch pool, with a big door that opens up to let boats out to the river and canal. The yard is only some 25 mins drive from our place, so about as good as it gets in terms of location. Excellent!

This week's video shows that and the recent progress on the boat. Enjoy!
1 Comment
    Picture
    Picture
    Subscribe on YouTube
    All videos, along with the writings, are 100% free of charge to everyone. If you'd like to support this project, please click one of the buttons above to leave a tip, become a patron or subscribe on YouTube. Thank you!!

    Archives

    December 2022
    October 2022
    July 2022
    March 2022
    November 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.