What this is about

We live by the D'Entrecasteaux Channel in Southern Tasmania. It, and much of the Tasmanian coast, offer amazing cruising possibilities. Previously, we owned an old, sturdy and fast 33 ft Huon pine sloop that we loved. The things it didn't offer - easy portability to other waters, shoal draft, beachability and the simplicity of dinghy-like sailing - are the things we gradually craved more and more.
For at least a few years I have thought that I should build an open, or mostly open, 20-something footer that would satisfy these urges. After much looking around at designs, we finally settled on the Stir Ven.
She is beautiful, fast, seaworthy, floats in 25cm of water and is designed as an adventure boat on which one can spend a few nights.
We hope she will be ready for use by the summer of 2012/13!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

ready to paint

I have been very poor at keeping this blog up to date. Partly that's because all the little jobs after planking seem too insignificant to write about individually but when you list them all and then think back on the work, it seems like a lot:

- fill all screw holes where the temporary clamping blocks were for planking
- trim off the overlap between the garboards and the sole and get angry about how many times you have to sharpen planer blades as epoxy thickened with silica is just like stone!
- trim off the planks at the transom
- put epoxy fillets into the plank overlaps (paint the edge/end grain first with penetrating epoxy)
- shape and fit the outer stem. I used high strength filler (with fibres) and silicon bronze screws plus bolts on either side of the hole for the painter/winch strap
- fibreglass the sole and garboards. I used 300gsm -/+ 45o biaxial glass
- laminate, shape and fit the skeg. Just like for the stem I used swamp gum (Eucalyptus regnans) and then high strength filler and silicon bronze screws and threaded rod to attach it. This was further reinforced with 400gsm biaxial tape over epoxy fillets.
- sand everything a lot!
- coat with one coat of penetrating epoxy (bote-cote mixed with 20% TPRDA)
- wet-on-wet application of another coat of straight epoxy
- sand the whole boat with 120 grit paper to roughen the surface for applying the undercoat (I will be using Wattyl UC230 which is a high-build, epoxy primer/undercoat)
- sweep up the whole workshop to remove as much dust as possible in readiness for painting


I have learnt a lot about how epoxy behaves and how strong it is . It's amazing stuff. I think that there is little requirement for permanent fastenings in boats constructed like this so I have chosen to minimise fastenings and where I leave them in place use only silicon bronze ones. Stainless steel is probably OK but it must be exposed to air to be non-corrosive and I don't want to take the risk of rust potentially happening inside somewhere that will be very hard to access.
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1 comment:

  1. Vanessa Pike-RussellDecember 18, 2011 at 9:47 PM

    Nice boat but nothing compares to the ibis :) Just saw that you are the owner of the huon pine sloop my husband owned for many years. His name is Philip Russell and his father was Jack Reginald Arthur Russell. They sailed the Ibis to Bowen, Qld and back and took part in races in the Whitsundays as well as at home in Hobart.

    We have fond memories of the ibis and have always regretted selling but happy to know she is being looked after.

    Philip and I hope to be at the next Wooden Boat Festival. Until then :)

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