Author Topic: And what went wrong?  (Read 12699 times)

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Steve Joyce

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And what went wrong?
« on: 08 Oct 2013, 20:34 »
Just in case the non builders out there think that home builds proceed without a hitch, I thought some of these recollections may amuse you. 

After assembling the outboard well, err shouldn't those reinforcing rings be on the other side? 

I made a great job of glueing the centreboard case in, and also gluing the boat to the garage floor! I now have a little hole in the concrete, strong stuff that epoxy.

Getting ready for bed after an evening glueing, I found my sock stuck to my foot.

I can't be the only one?
Storm 15 "Robin"

Michael Rogers

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Re: And what went wrong?
« Reply #1 on: 10 Oct 2013, 15:34 »
Well done, Steve. We needed a 'confessional' thread, and you've started one.

Actually I'm going to disappoint. I can't recall any serious howlers. Had a scare while building 'Cadenza' (my Storm Petrel - a double-ender) when bending one of the strakes round to the sternpost - quite a heave, lots of tension (in the strake and me), and a loud resonant 'craaack' from the hull (not me) as something gave. I can't now remember what had cracked, but that, believe it or not, was in the days before emails-for-everyone, and instant digital photos (phew, how much the world has changed in the last ten years!!!), and I had to do sketches and then post (remember that?) them to Nick Newland, to be re-assured - by phone, that had actually been invented by then - and told what to do next. A tower of strength was Nick-on-the-phone.

What did happen during both my builds, however, was frequent ruination of perfectly good sweatshirts, fleeces and trousers by smearing them with wet epoxy. It was a matter of 'bother, I should have put my overalls on'; 'i'll just do this bit and then put my overalls on - drat, how did that happen?'; 'this job doesn't need overalls ' (it did);'now I can take my overalls off, and I can just check that if I lean carefully over - blast, now look what I've done'; etc.

Michael Rogers

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Re: And what went wrong?
« Reply #2 on: 29 Oct 2013, 17:52 »
It's no good, Steve, neither of us have been able to get a single admission from anyone else that things didn't go entirely to plan. I don't believe it, but I was out-bid on eBay for that pair of thumb-screws, so there's nothing else we can do. Pity - there MUST be some good stories out there - ? Come on, folks, let your hair down!

Michael

Simon Holden

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Re: And what went wrong?
« Reply #3 on: 29 Oct 2013, 21:46 »
Having today launched 'Olivia Eva', my home-built Storm 17 I think I can now begin to re-live some of the brief, and in retrospect, amusing 'glitches' which I've experienced during the build....

Hull finished, now thinking about (and dreading) building the spars....builders working on converting nearby barn......I get home from work finding several short off-cuts of Douglas fir lying around. "Andy, where have my pieces of wood for making the mast gone?" - "Oh, I thought they were scrap and cut them up to pack out the windows in the barn".

Deep, deep depression (and change of carpenter!)

Simon




Storm 17 'Olivia Eva'

Michael Rogers

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Re: And what went wrong?
« Reply #4 on: 30 Oct 2013, 09:04 »
She looks beautiful, Simon. Congratulations, it's a great feeling, isn't it! Wish you many happy years of sailing her.

Michael

PS 'Scrap"!! Long lengths of Douglas fir!!! I'm speechless.

Clem Freeman

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Re: And what went wrong?
« Reply #5 on: 30 Oct 2013, 10:04 »
Simon, she looks lovely. I see you have a tabernacle, do you have any details for it, it looks like a good mod. PS, a bit spooky looking at the picture, you could be my long lost identical twin from the back. And both got s17's.

Simon Holden

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Re: And what went wrong?
« Reply #6 on: 30 Oct 2013, 21:39 »
Gentlemen,

Thank you very much for your kind comments. The sense of achievement is immense after such a lot of hard work. I still find it hard to believe that it's finally finished and feel a bit lost with nothing to tinker with of an evening!

All credit to Matt however for designing such a beautiful boat that sails SO well. Having read some comments I was worried that having an un-ballasted boat would prove to be something of a handful. However she seems to be light and responsive yet stable at the same time - her first outing was the day after the 'storm' when it was still blowing a healthy F4-5 in Norfolk!

Clem - sorry to disappoint but I'm the bloke standing on the jetty - your 'twin' is a friend who was helping out for the day.

The tabernacle works really well and saves a lot of rigging time.

The tabernacle itself is from a Bayraider 17 (about £90 I seem to remember). I measured everything up and cut the mast appropriately such that the lower portion of the mast fitted snugly under the kingplank. I fitted a blanking plate underneath the original hole in the kingplank and then screwed down into the lower section of the mast from above such that I could still remove it if needs be. I then filled the hole with a snug-fitting 'plug' of wood and then made up an angled deck plate (as seen in photos) onto which the tabernacle is screwed. I then strengthened the lower part of the upper mast section (with my previously mentioned 'off-cuts' of Douglas fir!) to ensure a snug fit in the tabernacle.
I then made up a support to carry the main mast, yard and mizzen whilst in transit which temporarily sits in the hole in the mizzen clamp. This seems to work really well, holding everything in place and preventing movement and damage once tied down.

Let me know if you need any further details

Cheers

Simon
Storm 17 'Olivia Eva'

Anthony Huggett

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Re: And what went wrong?
« Reply #7 on: 19 Dec 2013, 12:23 »
So far my worst mistake was using regular shelving battens instead of the inner gunwhales supplied for the foredeck on the BR 17.

Having tortured the foredeck into place I then discovered that there was no way the temp screws were going to work. Had to unscrew the foredeck and then the shelving battens (with chisel, sandpaper and heat gun).