And a new decade!!

Obviously this is not evidence of anything... and yet, I've been living here in northern Germany for over 20 years. In the early years, we often had snow in October and normally had significant snow falls and icy temperatures for at least several weeks, sometimes months, in the winter. As the years have gone by, the snowfall has got markedly less and markedly later in the year - recent years have seen no snow before Christmas. This year, so far, we've had a few frosty days and absolutely no snow; temperatures have remained (with a couple of small exceptions) on the positive side of the Celsius scale. Are we going to get any snow this winter? The forecast for the next 10 days says not.... We'll see!!

It certainly looks as though climate change is real. The next question then must be, "Is it caused by human activity?" Again, when you look at the industrialisation that's taken place over the last 150 years or so and its effects on the immediate environment, it's hard to believe it's not...

This, naturally, leads to the next question, "What to do about it?" Well, small changes are easy to make - a few years back we were all encouraged to change to "eco-friendly" light bulbs. As I say, easy... Has it made a difference? - Not much, it seeems... It really looks as though we have to tackle the big consumers of energy - industry, transportation, heating and cooling... And that, it seems to me, is going to demand a significant change in our lifestyles, and potentially even social and governmental systems....

The time arrived when I had to get the final sections of bilge painted. The weather played nicely, giving me a convenient 2 day time slot of temperatures around 10 deg C, so I went for it. The painting itself is easy enough, but the question then is, what to do in the 2 days that you're waiting for the paint to dry?

Well, I had a look around... Clearly, I could get on with the lazarette hatch cover, so I did... And then, there's that old Volvo Penta engine under the bench that's been beckoning to me for quite some time now. Kerry and I pulled it out and carried it through to the workshop, and I got to thinking that it needs a stand so I can get it up together and tidy and running.... Hmmmm....

After a good bit of thinking about it, a while ago, I made the decision to make all of my video content available to anybody who's interested (and indeed anybody who's not interested!) free of charge. In fact, this has been the case for a while now, as the video content that I have exclusively on Patreon is also public and unrestricted.

Now, these Patreon videos tend to be even more special interest than my YouTube stuff, so I suspect that they're not particularly interesting to many people, but, as an experiment, last night, I decided to see what happened when I made one of those Patreon-only videos publically available on YouTube. So, I opened up the video about drogues and boat design thoughts to the general YouTube viewing public - a bit risky because it really was aimed at patrons, but what the heck!

Perhaps unsurprisingly it has received a bit of a mixed reaction. There are quite a few positive and supportive comments from many of the delightful people who often comment on my vids. There are a couple of well-thought comments from people adding their thoughts on drogue deployment (excellent!), and, on the other hand, the video has more 'thumbs downs' than usual and my subscriber count has dropped slightly.

I don't (and never have) claim to be a font of all wisdom on boat design and sailing (or anything else). My thoughts are my thoughts at that time and can (and do) change as I learn. But I feel that airing thoughts and hopefully inspiring others to think about these topics (they certainly do not have to agree with me) is a positive thing to do, and I suspect that I shall continue to do that, as and when...

Here's the vid...

I've got the galley water pumps and handles in position, although they'll be coming out again to formica the worktops and paint out the cupboards before their final installation. The water pumps are old pub beer pumps and are solid bronze and quite delightful - they came to me as fittings on Miss Molly I, and will be staying with me, if I have anything to do with it!

I've also made a start on the lazarette hatch frame and, as a little side project, have begun to make an iron frame to mount a Volvo Penta MD1 that I have had for a while (also a Miss Molly I relic). I've also managed get the bilge painting completed; so things are ticking along nicely...

Here's the latest vid

I've made a decent start on the galley worktops and cupboards. the hard-chined hull makes fitting pretty straightforward because it's straight lines in 2 direction at least.. A sliding bevel gives you the hull angle and this can be transferred to the piece of board easily to cut the fitting angle. I'm using CLT (cross-laminated timber) for the bulk of the construction, together with battens and cleats of doug fir, and wood-on-wood gluing using Titebond 3. Gluing to the hull is done with epoxy and it's all being sealed to the hull to give a thorough monocoque construction - the whole thing adding strength to the hull structure.

Here's the latest video;

To celebrate this years "thank you patrons" day today, I've put another montage together with clips from all of the videos from the last year. Enjoy and THANK YOU!!!

The weather's taken a turn for the colder, but fortunately I've managed to get the closing-in of the boat essentially finished and I can now start working on the interior - I've got a small ceramic heater that takes the chill off, making it ok to work and glue down below.

I'm now in the process of fitting the galley and all that entails. The galley cupboards and worktops in themselves are not particularly difficult, but a lot of thought and measuring is going in to getting the various, very simple, systems in place. The Dickinson Bristol diesel stove - the very make and model recommended in the plans - cannot be fitted as stipulated in those same plans. According to the stove specifications, it has to be fitted facing either port or starboard (so the diesel level control system functions in a rolling boat) whereas the plans show it fitted facing aft. As the hard-chined side of the hull slopes in a straight line, this means the stove needs to protrude further into the galley than I would have ideally liked! It'll be fine though - it just has to be that way!

I'm using softwood CLT for the galley cupboards and worktops - the worktops will be covered with Formica. After some research and thought, I decided to use the the CLT as it's locally grown and D3 glued (waterproof, but not for immersion). I considered using CLT bamboo, but in the end decided against it as it's much heavier and is sourced in, and hence shipped from, China.

I've also noticed that I've got a bit behind with posting videos here, so here is a catch-up post;

It's rather difficult trying to give people an overview of this boat when she's being built in a shed that doesn't really allow whole boat pictures, but this latest video attempts to do just that. Probably my best effort thus far....

I stumbled across a couple of pics of the 1st boat I ever built recently so thought I'd post them here. She's a Selway Fisher Wren canoe; stitch and glue construction in lauan ply, with the joints all taped with glass tape and epoxy. It was great experience and I thoroughly recommend such a project for anyone considering building a bigger boat to help develop practices and ideas.

It's a funny ol' business sailboat building. You're working away; working hard towards some larger aspect of the build, and then, all of a sudden, that's done, or at least nearly done, and you're kinda disoriented for a little bit - looking 'round, wondering where it all goes next. You start thinking, researching, planning, measuring, researching some more, buying materials, doing little bits here and there around the boat, and suddenly again, you're off on the next stage of the build.

And that's kinda where I am at the moment. I've started planning the galley and researched wood for it, I've got some materials in for progress in the heads, I've got cast acrylic sheet on order for the hatch lenses, sealant ordered, glue for interior construction ordered. I've done a bit of sanding and varnishing inside and I'm generally waiting for the next big phase to kick off. It'll all fall in place soon....

Meanwhile, here's my latest video about the construction of the sliding hatch...

This last weekend has seen quite a milestone in this boat build being achieved, although, in a way, not quite. I have now got the second layer of the ply on the deck boxes in place and this marks the final piece of ply on the exterior of the boat. Except, not quite, because the cockpit floor still needs a 2nd piece, but that is so ridiculously easy and will only happen when I'm happy that I don't need easy access to the engine room. It almost doesn't count. So, the final piece of ply is fixed to the exterior of the boat!!! Well, sort of :-)

Here's this week's video for your enjoyment :-)

The push at the moment is still to get her closed up before the colder weather comes along. The first of the main hatch washboards is complete and now I just need to get the sliding hatch construction done. That will give me the final dimensions for the second, upper washboard, which will complete the close up :-)

Along the way, I'm doing a few other bits and bobs, particularly around the aft deck area. I'm working towards getting the deck boxes complete and have put some black locust trim across the aft end of the raised deck, which will prevent rain and spray water running aft into the cockpit/aft deck area.

Here's the latest video, which includes a look around down below on Hazel's Freedom 28. showing how roomy a small boat can be!

Who'd 've thought it! One hundred episodes of the SV Tapatya YouTube series!

We're just over 2 years into the build and it's coming along nicely and pretty much on target. Episode 100 is all about getting on towards getting her closed up for the colder weather that is surely heading our way. The forward hatch is fitted.

And hot on the heels of that, came, perhaps unsurprisingly, episode 101 - the companionway hatch frame and a few other bits n bobs.

Well, it's been a while since I last posted anything here, and there are good reasons for that. We had a little break, heading out to sunny Spain for a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, Hazel has been busy. She went over to England and did her RYA day skipper license and just after completing that she finalised the deal to buy her first sail boat.

It's a Freedom 28 ketch - originally cat rigged but converted to junk rig. Built in Rhode Island, USA, it's a very fine boat and comfy liveaboard for her.

A couple of weeks ago we headed out to the Isle of Wight, where the boat was moored, and sailed her back to Wilhelmshaven in Germany. The trip took 6 days and was great fun (if a bit tiring!!). The boat proved her seaworthiness, although it might be fair to say that conditions were pretty friendly. We shot some video of the trip that can now be seen here;

The rubbing strake base is in position. I had the option of either scarfing up a couple of 11 metre lengths and putting them on the boat in one piece or scarfing the pieces in position. I opted for the second of these, partly because the bend at the aft end requires either steaming or lamination from 2 thinner pieces - again, I did the second of those. So, with Kerry's able assistance, we fitted 3 pieces each side - 20 mm thick and 3 metres long, each piece - and then finished the aft end off with two 10mm laminates each side of approx 2 metres length each. It has all come out very well, though I say so myself :-)

After a good clean up, I've now put a fillet of epoxy top and bottom along both sides and sealed the black locust with an initial coat of clear epoxy.

This video also celebrates the one year anniversary since we pulled her out of the shed, flipped her over and pushed her back in - a major milestone in the build!!

The 3 boards of black locust have all now been ripped to various pieces and largely glued to the boat. The deck stringers are in place, with a cross piece at the main hatch forward end. The toe rail and rubbing strake base pieces are also complete and in place now. I have a few pieces left that will be trim at the forward and aft ends of the raised deck, and that's about it. I think I'll buy at least one more board to use for trim on the bulwarks, so it all matches nicely, and that'll be that. What it does is outline all of the panels of the exterior hull in prep for painting. Nice! Coming soon!!

The shop is open and our new t-shirts are on sale. They come in a range of summer colours and 2 sizes (L and XL). Other sizes are possible - drop me a line if you'd like other sizes!

Quite a few people have asked me what it costs to build a boat such as this, and this isn't the easiest of questions to answer accurately. I've attempted to break down the costs of the build so far and I present them in this video

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.

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!

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.

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

And.... Here it is!!

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!