The album of Ariel #422

[CapnK]

Updates and such: Due to extras on the commissioning job, weather, more other boat work, and whatall, I haven't started the serious deconstruction yet. There's a week of canvaswork ahead, then helping a friend deliver his Alberg 30, and after that the cutting starts.

Since I last posted, Frank Durant of "Revival" fame stopped by on his way back to Canada from the Bahamas, and we attempted - almost successfully - to drink all of the rum in this little town that night. Phew! (Note for future reference and edification: It sure is hard to keep up with a Professional, as Canadians seem to be in my experience. The delivery crew for the Catalina were Canadian as well, and they tricked me into a night of revelry that had me feeling the same the day after as when Frank was here. ) Anyway, Frank got to see the interior of "Frankenboat", as I refer to Katie in her current state, and he said that the size of my WC is nearly identical to that of the head in a Flicka. Kewl!

I'll be rewiring the boat, and am planning on building in the infrastructure for that as I de/reconstruct. Since I have also wanted to strengthen the hull/deck join, I am going to do similar to what Robert Lemasters did with his toerail rebuild - use PVC pipe to fill in the corner void there, and the pipe will also serve as nice high-and-dry conduit for the new wiring. Have purchased a new stereo, along with a VHF and command mic for the cockpit, and inherited a GPS chartplotter from a bro-in-law, so I have the electronics items ready to hook up once all that is done, and also to use for planning where to locate said.

Regarding mast support - one day, I looked at Commander interiors, and subsequently slapped myself on the forehead. Check out their open interiors, and look how Carl designed in mast support. I'll be doing what the Master did...

Last, and this sort of thing rarely if ever happens to me: Yesterday, a guy gave me a windvane. !!!!!!!! Better yet, it is currently mounted on a Triton, so I have hopes that the angle of the reverse transoms are similar enough that I can just transfer it over to Katie without having to go through mounting plate fabrication or any of that. Kewlest of all! I don't know what kind it is, it is a servo-pendulum style with lines that lead to the tiller, and is all stainless. The servo blade is not a foiled shape, and is connected to the vane by 3 (IIRC) little pushrods that in turn connect to a slim rod inside of a 2-3" diameter downtube from the vane. Supposedly this Triton is well-traveled, so I am in hopes that the vane works well.

Hope this finds everyone well, and almost ready for sailing season!

[frank durant]

Capt K's interior will be awesome...nice open feeling. The little head will be about the size of a Flicka's....cramped but serviceable. Took me until the last few weeks of the cruise to both go in AND come out with my shorts up: ...but heh..a little privacy on any small craft is great. As to the capt's comments..."we attempted - almost successfully - to drink all of the rum in this little town that night. Phew! (Note for future reference and edification: It sure is hard to keep up with a Professional, as Canadians seem to be in my experience. The delivery crew for the Catalina were Canadian as well, and they tricked me into a night of revelry that had me feeling the same the day after as when Frank was here. ) ....what can I say. The Capt seemed fairly well practiced and for being about 40lbs lighter than I....he could sure 'hold his own' His boat is in a really great marina with an awesome view...only steps to town....and a nice little bar.

[CapnK]

Like Ebb and Tony, I am keeping the progress pics to myself until good progress is shown, but here is an idea of what I've been building in. Sorry it is so wide.

Besides what you see obviously labeled, there will be water bladders below the stove and reefer (an Engel), a third aft under the cockpit (going for a total of about 60 gallons), and 2 sealed AGM 12V batteries immediately abaft the main bulkhead, as low as possible while still allowing for possible hull puncture protection.

On that note, I am putting in as much foam as possible, but not as I envisioned earlier via 'coating' the whole interior of the hull w/4" of foam (which IMO could still be done, I just don't think I am going to need it). I'll be relying instead on a multitude of sealable compartments to contain any penetrations/water, and having a minimal amount of 'floodable' interior. There is some foam going against the hull everywhere, just not 4" of it.

The mast support is made of steel, a squared, upside-down "U" shape that thru-bolts to the remnant of the main bulkhead. It's 2" square tube for the vertical members, with a 6" wide C-channel span between those directly under the mast, that extends ~2" beyond the vertical members. At present I am just using normal steel, well protected w/epoxy paint; we'll see how it holds up. Judicious application of Corrosion Block is doing the trick so far. Cabin top outside of this and down under the sidedeck to be strengthened with an extra layer of a FRP/foam core beam, just to make sure it is stiffened plenty.

The berth has a pull-out section making it wide enough in the head area for me + 1. Has been tested with my girlfriend and proven comfortable, but this might not work for 2 larger people (I'm 5'9", she's a mere 5'2", neither of us is rotund), although it is in excess of 5' wide at the head end. I may try to make accommodation for a 'non-girl' guest to sleep up forward, but am not too worried about that right now. Possible idea is to have boards for this which would serve dual purpose; they'd also be able to work as a 'coffer dam' at the main bulkhead to contain water in case of flooding.

The seat is a pivoting boat seat that puts my buns at about the level of the aft countertop, giving a good view out the deadlights, and will be useable while at sea if conditions aren't horrendous.

The head/wet locker is as pictured earlier in this thread, with low walls. Putting the portapotti outboard allows for a small flat area on the sole, and I made the 'wall' by the companionway jut out a bit, under a high-step that allows easy access into the cabin when there is a companionway board in place.

Funny: I have a small window unit A/C mounted through the after bulkhead (vents through cockpit locker) in the head right now, for dockside use. It was given to me, and proved a real pain to step over when companionway mounted, especially since I rarely use it (maybe 6-8 times this summer), so I put it there. It's in a high area of the cockpit locker that is otherwise unused (forward of the cockpit locker hatch, aft of the bulkhead, upper corner), so eventually I'll build walls around it and create separate cockpit and cabin access through sealing hatches; I'll have a mini-wetlocker there once I remove it to go cruising.

[CapnK]

Hark! What light thru yonder deck shines?

'Tis the sun, and where the chainplate be, the balsa 'tis dry...

[CapnK]

In preparation for a mast re-raising in the not-too-distant future, I thought I'd at last pull and inspect the chainplates. As discussed before, I want to replace the original bronze thru-deck plates with some hull-mounted stainless steel plates.

Imagine my surprise when I realized that these chainplates aren't bronze at all, even though they are in fact Original from the factory. Evidenced by having the same paint on them as the rest of the hull interior, and the same as what was inside the ex-hanging locker, where this plate was installed...

I did a search prior to posting, but found no reference to OEM stainless plates. Maybe this was a late-production run modification...

[CapnK]

I'll be pulling the rest once I finish this post, but if they are as good as this one is, I will be happy. It has a very small amount of surface rust, and that's all I can see that might hint at corrosion.

The thru-bulkhead bolts are also in very fine shape, with a very sharp 'ting' sound when tapped with the wrench. That leads me to believe the inside of the bolts is probably in good shape. Even so, they'll be replaced.

Other stuff:

Unable to get any response from the local really-good welder guy via any other method, I have resorted to blackmail.

I fixed his son's computer, and when the son asked how much he owed me, I said "Well, now. Let's us have a little talk..."

He has a drawing of what I need, and will be getting his father to weld it up for me from some very thick-walled aluminum tubing I am spec'ing. I am glad for this, as my prior attempts at getting this done by the father fell on deaf, sportfisherman-welding-only ears (read: my pockets weren't deep enough). Nonetheless, he does absolutely stellar work, so I am hoping to see the same for Katie's mast support. Hopefully it will only be a matter of a few weeks before I can at last put that back in. Last, I have been thinking that it would have to be done of regular steel by another, less professional welder, so it is really nice to know I won't have to deal with all those issues...

Other, other stuff:

The interior still looks like Frankenboat (fugly because it is mismatched scraps making do as a real-life simulation), but the overall layout has come together, it is exactly what I want/need, and I am piecing it together over time as I build it in.

And I've mocked up and will soon be building in the cockpit foot well mods. I've boxed out an area 24" aft of the original bridgedeck/aft bulkhead in the forward part of the well. It'll serve to reduce the amount of water the footwell can hold, and is convenient external stowage for, well, something yet to be determined. I'd thought to possibly put the propane tank in there, but it's not quite the right size, & wouldn't technically drain overboard.

Last, I cut through the after bulkhead and extended the port berth under the cockpit seat, an arrangement that I think is going to work well for a secure sea/pilot berth when things get rough. The port berth has been raised 8" IIRC from the original height, w/stowage underneath, and the forward 2' approx can drop down to form a seat there just aft of the original cabinet/drawers.

[ebb]

Goodle stuff here Kurt!
Your remodels are inspirational, unusual and right-on.
Have you taken a magnet to the plates?
We've talked much about plates and metals in other threads. With stainless you are always taking a chance, I'm convinced of that.
316L or megayacht stainless like aquamet is the only possibility for through deck aps.
They may be 316 if no magnets attract, or 304 if magnets do. Trouble is marine monel can be magnetic and highly resistant to just about everything at the same time.
We do have a history of monel being used on Ariels (front tank). Monel is nickel and copper alloy mostly with a small percent of iron usually.
You do have that expected flash of rust showing right where the plate is cut off from oxygen in the deck, but NO flash where you might expect on the face against the plywood bulkhead.
No deterioration in the balsa! I would guess your plates have finishing plates around them on deck. With good caulk I think those little plates do a lot to keep water from following the chainplates through the deck.

I think that if I had to use any stainless where some part of it had to be deprived of air I would squeeky clean the area with the best degreaser and SCRUB 5200 or better yet LifeSeal onto the surface with scotchbrite pad. Really work it in. Something similar to the bearing surfaces also, making absolutely sure no liquid of any description ever touch that place again on earth or at sea. It's the chloride we don't want soaking the s.s. in close spaces.
Choice of LifeSeal (silicone/urethane hybrid) is based on its expected flexible life, which is the best of all the synthetic caulks.


Snapshots of your interior!
Unless you got a patent on it.
Or some great ideas we might steal,
which I will!

[Tim D.]

Snapshots of your interior!
Unless you got a patent on it.
Or some great ideas we might steal,
which I will!

I agree stealing ideas is fun!

Judging by one of your pics Kurt you are well grounded

[mbd]

Snapshots of your interior!

Yeah Buster! How about a virtual tour? It's all about seeing the work in progress here, so others can benefit. Right Ebb?

[c_amos]

Goodle stuff here Kurt!.....Snapshots of your interior!
Snapshots of your interior!
Unless you got a patent on it.
Or some great ideas we might steal,
which I will!!

I have just returned from a tour of the fleet. I am happy to report Katie's interior mods are well thought out, and I believe Kurt is going to have a really great cruising interior. I would love to post some of the pictures I took on the sly.... but unfortunately a couple of goonish sportfishing buddies of Kurts seized my camera and deleted the shots....

.... Unfortunately when I took the pictures I failed to realize Geekworks had the boat wired with extensive security monitoring equipment....

[CapnK]

EMP does the job every time, sorry for wiping out your camera memory card that way...

Here's a pic, from back aways, I think Feb, but I added in some lines to show what's where (or going to be where). Right now I've started up in the vberth area, strbd side. After that I'll go to port, then the area behind the seat (which you can't see in the pic). That area is going to be the 'utility closet', and has enough vertical space to serve as a hanging wetlocker. The plan is to do the areas seen least, first. I am no skilled technician like Tony, Ebb, Geoff, and all the others that have gone before. I've also come to the conclusion that I am more than willing to have a less-than-perfect, more workmanlike finish, in the interest of getting it done a LOT quicker.

Also, a couple pics of the floaty-board-core material I am using for the interior construction. It's pink foam and either 1/8" door skin or 1/4" luan, bonded together with fiberglass and Gorilla Glue. The wood adds stiffness but mostly impact protection, and makes a construct tougher than just plain foam. I'll glass over the wood once it's all in place, for a bit more strength, and easy cleaning. The layer of glass between the wood and foam works *really* well - this is some tough stuff. It is almost unbreakable, even without the foam. I laugh when I hand someone a small piece of 1/4" cheap ply w/10oz cloth bonded on one side, and say "Break that". They always think it'll snap, but wind up having to use 2 hands and a *lot* of effort.

[mbd]

Alright! Kurt comes through with some excellent teasers. Thanks!

Love the open cabin! Can't wait for some pics of your enclosed Flicka-esque head too...

[Tony G]

Kurt

Fantastic layout! The 3-D models and pictures really help people like me visualize your interior plans. Now I can see, or maybe feel the flow through the boat and it is fanstastic. There are just so many ideas out there and you just can't fit them into one hull. When I see the pics of remodels like yours I start 2nd guessing everything I've done so far, layout wise. It's easy to lust after and desire a bigger boat. That would make things fit easier, but, we know the stats on bigger boats leaving the dock.

You did strike on one thing that concerns me with my remodel, weight. Vindo and some of the other Eurpean builders use foam composite laminations throughout their interiors for weight managment. Really gave that some thought while tearing everything out. I am striving not to put a significant amount of additional wood back in for fear of screwing up a sensitive balance that many refer to. I fear with all I've added to Dream Weaver she'll be too heavy to sail well. I don't really care about speed so much as being able to fill the stores with enough supplies to get gone for a while without turning her into a pig.

Really, really love the open interior and open main bulkhead. Gozzard's have capitolized on the not there bulkhead as well as many others. Now you have also!

Hats off to you, sir.

Check out www.genoabay.net there is another interior that is open with the wrap-around setee. Taurus is the boat I'm thinking of. Kind cool...

[ebb]

Tony,
Too bad plastic don't grow like wood.
The color, the grain and the smell is so much nicer

If you scroll to "Good News" to its thumbnails on the genoabay link...
about 4th row down there is a shot of its "Teller"
(Maybe that's where the word comes from?
TELL the boat where to go with this here branch.)

The fancicus rex tiller we see there is just about what I think Little Gull oughter have.
Note how ... W I D E ... the tiller is at its base!
It is a beautyful square section. A bit rounder for me on the handle. please!
And it appears to be scrolled from solid honduras with top and bottom ash laminations added for strength and good looks!
Interesting...


Kurt,
did you say you had a design for a FOAM TILLER???

[CapnK]

Ebb -

I found these potential foam tillers, they come apparently in both a straight and a curved model.