Jersey Girl

Houseboat update, Saturday, December 22, 2018 -- Jersey Girl is in hibernation for the winter, but while she sleeps her faithful builder is starting work on her Spring bonnet -- an arched roof that begins with symmetrically arched beams made of laminated cedar strips. The first step is to make a jig, a mold to set the strips against as I glue them up, the idea being to make all of them identical. The beams will be 1 1/2 inches thick, so I'm making the jig out of two layers of 3/4-inch plywood. The first step to get a nice fair arc was to establish a center line and decide the ultimate maximum height relative to the tops of the cabin side walls. Then, I used a batten -- a thin, springy length of knot-free wood -- to bend around the prospective top of the center line, between the two cabin sides. I traced around the inside curve of the batten to mark the line of the roof curve. I checked for symmetry by making a series of lines perpendicular to the base and measured out from the center line that I had established earlier. If the arc intersected at the same points on the correspond perpendicular lines, I would be satisfied; if not, I would start again. I made up my mind that I would consider variations of up to 1/16 inch "perfect." I needn't have bothered. They really were perfect. Next, I had to cut along that nice curve. From my earlier experience cutting the curve of Jersey Girl's bow, I knew that I could cut a perfect curve with a hand-held circular saw, if I set the blade at a depth of just a hair more than the thickness of the material. Any more than that and the chord of the blade that would be buried in the developing cut at any time would be too wide to effectively maneuver around the curve without binding and dangerously kicking back. As you can see from the pictures, I was able to cut exactly to the line, and my method worked perfectly. Next, I used the cut plywood as a pattern to trace on the second thickness.

Houseboat update, Sunday, December 23, 2018 -- Still working on the jig for Jersey Girl's laminated cedar roof beams. Yesterday, I used the first arc, cut from a piece of 3/4-inch plywood to scribe the pattern onto a second piece of ply, to give me a 1 1/2-inch jig to build the laminate on. Today, I checked for symmetry by reversing the first cut arc and flopping it down on the second drawn arc, and discovered they were not quite symmetrical. So I drew a new line at the asymmetrical places, and cut along that line, then matched the new pattern up with the old and trimmed the edge of the old to match the new. Now, I had a jig that I'd be able to use, but I decided to cut away the unnecessary inside to make the jig easier to handle. After screwing the two pieces together so they wouldn't shift, I used the batten again to scribe a line where I'd cut. It didn't need to be precise, and that's a good thing. I learned that there is a practical limit to the thickness of the material I can cut on a smooth, accurate curve with a hand-held circular saw, and 1 1/2 inches is beyond that limit. I'd say 3/4-inch is about the thickest a circular saw can handle with precision. Even for someone who has built a few boats before, building a boat never ceases to be a learning experience.

Houseboat update, Sunday, December 30, 2018 -- It's back to the drawing board for Jersey Girl's roof. My first attempt at design change, resulting in the dramatic, high-crown arch I published yesterday, does not do justice to Roy Schreyer's original design, I've concluded. My aim was to raise the headroom by about a foot, to allow more comfortable standing space on the aft deck, for entrance into the cabin and for showering. I still want to do that, but there's an aesthetically better way, I think. In the original design, the cabin sides are about 35 inches from the deck to the start of the roof, and the deflection of the roof arc was about 12 inches from horizontal (with additional headroom gained by raising the central portion of the roof), as seen in the first sketch. In my prior modification, I gained all the extra headroom I wanted by leaving the height of the cabin sides the same, but increasing the deflection of the arc to 22 inches, as seen in the second sketch. Not only do I think that looks disproportionate and ungainly, but it will also make walking on the roof, if I ever have to for any reason, rather risky. So I've decided to scrap the jig I've built and the first beam I've laminated, and start this part over again. As illustrated in the third sketch, I'm raising the cabin sides by 9 inches, to 44 inches, and setting the deflection of the roof beams at 15 inches. Not only does that look better and make the roof less dangerous to walk on, but it allows for taller windows in the cabin, for more light and better enjoyment of passing scenery. I'll start work on this modification during the first week of the new year. Happy New Year, everyone!

Houseboat update, Thursday, January 10, 2019 – It’s just too cold today to saw quarter-inch strips for Jersey Girl’s roof supports, so I retreated indoors for a little art work. Here's my hot-off-the-easel watercolor, Bass Rocks 2 (14x20 inches), followed by my just-started, third in a series of Hubble-inspired spacescapes, also a 14x20 watercolor.

Houseboat update, Monday, March 25, 2019 -- I spent the entire day plumbing Jersey Girl's forward deck drainage system. I started by cutting 2-inch PVC pipe and laying it out in the space under the deck, then putting the deck into place to make sure the drain holes corresponded with the plumbing as I cut it. Naturally, it did not, so it was cut and fit, add and fit, cut and fit, all day long. Finally, I got the pipes to go where they need to, to carry deck water under the seats and storage compartments and out out through scuppers in the port and starboard sides.By the way, that large hole amidships up in the bow is an inspection port, so I can check for any water and also to make sure the fastenings that hold the U-bolt for trailer winching stay good and tight. Now that Jersey Girl is officially named, I feel she deserves proper nautical nomenclature, So it's port and starboard now, not left and right. And it's forward and aft, or bow and stern, not front and back. Makes me feel properly salty. (Remind me to tell you the story of the old sea captain's life-long secret, told to me by the first mate aboard a Swedish freighter I worked on in my youth...)