Epoxy Encapsulation & Prefinishing in Montana!

We can go one step further with epoxy encapsulation: paint some parts before they get set up on the strongback. One of our kit builders is demonstrating this nicely in his Beg-Meil build. He lives in Billings, Montana and started the project this past summer. I advised him to layout all the parts from the kit and precoat them with 2-3 coats of epoxy. He took it further and precoated the bulkheads in his chosen interior color for the boat. This will be quite handy for the bulkheads that are trickier to reach.

You can imagine there is a little more work in tighter places if you do not precoat:

When you precoat with epoxy it is important to think about primary and secondary bonding and your timeline. If you precoat with System Three epoxy, you have a nice long 72-hour window where you get a primary (chemical) bond when you glue pieces together. In a small boat, you can probably put parts together in this timeline. However, with a bigger boat, since it will take longer, it is good to mask off areas that you want to keep as bare wood. This way when you glue those parts (e.g., the end-grain of the bulkheads and 3/4" or so along the sides for the fillet) you can get a primary bond. If you choose not to tape, you can rigorously sand the faying surfaces with 80-grit and get a very good bond, but it will be a secondary bond.

Quality Plywood & Epoxy Encapsulation

I am a believer in epoxy encapsulation of wood; I wasn't always. Encapsulation entails coating the wood with multiple coats of epoxy, saturating the wood surface and building up a moisture-barrier. The moisture barrier is key for bilges and underbodies as it keeps water out of a laminate and maintains a more constant wood moisture content in timbers. Wood movement and ingress of water is what often gives wooden boats a bad name: high maintenance. Encapsulating forms a stable base for varnish and paint. We tell customers to expect a 10 year life for their paint. After 10 years of normal use they may need to do a fresh coat. That is as good as any fiberglass boat maintenance.

What convinced us of the merits of epoxy encapsulation was a visit to my friend Steven's house. He has a faering he built with his son that shows the effects of different plywoods and of epoxy coating wood.

You can see three panels in this Faering. The darker plank is Joubert Sapele faced Okoume (varnished), the middle strake is Okoume by Joubert, and the lower plank in the photo is Shelman Okoume. All planks are finished with a Behr spar varnish.

This is the same boat closer up to one of the tanktops. It is Joubert Okoume. The neighboring plank is Shelman Okoume. Both were varnished the same. The tank top is more degraded and molded than the plank. The tank top along the edge of the plank is perfectly clear. This strip was inadvertently epoxy coated when the squeeze out from the glue joint was spread during the clean up process. The same thing happened in the next photo: can you see where the epoxy is?

The results? It is clear that the epoxy coated areas of plywood are making the plywood much more durable and holding up much, much better. The sheer strake is probably holding up better because it is higher in the boat and receives less foot traffic and a lower angle of sunlight upon it. The middle strake and tank tops get more direct sunlight. But the different brands of plywood may have to do with the difference between planks made of Joubert vs Shelman. It is too bad Shelman went out of business. Clearly, Sapele holds up great and Steven made a good decision putting it in as the garboard. With that said, I have also seen Sapele planked boats flake and shed paint after many years and these were boats that were not epoxy coats.

The moral of the story: epoxy encapsulation is a good thing.

Top 5 Thanksgivings at Clint Chase Boatbuilder

We are certainly thankful at CCBB for five big things:

#1: The new shop. The goal by the time we were sitting down for turkey was to be in the new shop and pretty well set up so we could get back to customers' projects with as little delay as possible. We are a few days off the goat but still pretty darn thankful for this 1100 SF space where we'll be able to build above 30' or have multiple smaller boats in construction, or new construction and a prototype, or one big boat, mastmaking, and oarmaking all happening under one roof for the first time.

The new shop on moving in day October 1st

#2: Our customers. We wouldn't be here without them. A handful now are out there building our boats around the States, from Maine to Washington, Montana to Texas. Thanks to those who have helped me start out and who help me keep on!

#3: The designers we contract with have been key to our success and I thank all of them: Francois Vivier, Michael Storer, Bruce Elfstrom, Eric Risch, Ruud Van Veelen, Rodger Swanson, Roger Long, and all those who have helped contribute to our grand plan.

#4: Casco Bay and Maine: Though we are in a semi-industrial, urban neighborhood, it is but a 3 minute ride to the ramp that accesses the most beautiful waters in the Northeast. I am very thankful to have access to these parts, the islands, the open ocean and the memorable rows and sails we've had.

Fort Gorges in Portland Harbor

#5: Of course my family who have been unbelievably supportive in my ventures, not the least of which is starting our business building beautiful boats, spars, oars and selling boat kits to others whose dream it is to build their own boat.

Drake and kids in Flanders Bay, Maine

Dories get some attention!

I signed onto the Wooden Boat Forum the other day and to my utter delight someone else had created a post on one of my boats, the Deblois Street Dory. At the wonderful 2nd annual Fall Shop and Messabout, I finally had an opportunity to sail the D St. D myself. First off, the talk and messabout was wonderful. We had special guests, Walter & Karen Wales, Sam & Susan Manning, and Thad Danielson. Over 35 people attended.

Together under one roof, the speakers represented about the most knowledge about dories alive today. Walter is infamous for his experience with the Marblehead Gunning Dory, using the boat all his life for the designed purpose of the boat: rowing to ledges and hunting ducks. Sam is renowned for his drawings of boats in general but, to my mind, especially for his illustrations in the Dory Book by John Gardner and Sam. Sam's drawings are what inspired me to design my own dory, the Deblois Street Dory. I very much would like to produce a kit for the Marblehead Dory at 18'. Who would like one? Let me know...would you like it at the originally drawn 19'6" or 18' or 16'?

How about the Deblois St Dory...would you be interested in seeing this boat available as plans and/or a kit? More photos of the D St Dory underway:

More on the 2nd annual Fall Talk & Messabout can be seen on the WBF thread "2nd Annual Shop Talk and Messabout at Clint Chase's Shop"

More about the WB thread on the Deblois Street Dory

The Perfect Rowboat, Sailboat, or Both?

Do you like the idea of a boat that can row and sail but they often don't like the idea of compromising on one or the other? It is a trade-off. A good sailboat's lines are not good for rowing and a rowboat's lines are not good for sailing. The latter is true mainly because the hull is quite narrow and fine on the waterline, especially at the ends. A fast rowboat's lines just don't provide the stability, often, for sailing and the addition of a slot for the board introduces drag and makes the boat slow for rowing. Wooden Boat's long time manager of their boathouse often cites the Joel White Shearwater as an example. Reluctantly, listening to customer demand, Joel White added the centerboard and it really made a difference in the sailing ability: it made it possible. But it also introduced noticeable drag when rowing: the boat was slower under oars. Drake is very similar to Shearwater, only narrower and longer on the waterline, no daggerboard, and therefore faster under oars. Drake sails downwind fabulously because of the moderate keel to provide some lateral resistance and enable excellent tracking for rowing. We don't have a centerboard, so there is no drag induced (though a tight fitting plug for a daggerboard trunk can fair the slot to the hull reasonably well). I've been asked a number of times, and I just will not add a daggerboard to Drake. She is just a blast to sail downwind and can sail as high as a beam reach quite fast. The sail adds tremendous range when you consider the sail as auxiliary power.

But if you want to sail upwind, and row well, you need a boat with a lot of flare in the hull and a shape that provides excellent secondary stability. Joel White's Shearwater and his 18' version of the boat are good examples. Another ideal example is the dory. What I love about the dory is that it is narrow at the waterline and flares out to a generous width, for a rowboat, at the rail, usually 4'8-5'. The Deblois Street Dry is nearly 5' at the rail. The stability this shape produces lends itself to sailing (see photo of me sitting on D St D's gunwale), but the narrow width at the waterline when the boat is not heeled means that it will row well. The double ended shape of the waterline on a dory keeps the ends fine for rowing ability. Drake shows a similar shape (see photo): narrow waterline, 4'1" at the gunwales provides secondary stability.

The Marblehead Gunning Dory is, to me, perhaps the perfect boat. If I could have only one boat (let's not think about that...what a shame that would be!), I would have a gunning dory or a Swampscott Dory. Come to my annual Shop Talk & Messabout to see both of these dory types in the flesh and meet two experts on dories: Sam Manning and Walter Wales.

Thank you to Chris Partridge, blogger in the UK: Rowing for Pleasure for bringing up the subject of rowing vs sailing characteristics in a boat

Invitation to Fall Shop Talk & Messabout in Portland, Maine

Please join me for the 2^nd annual – “It’s a tradition now” – shop talk and messabout. This year we’ll welcome our guest designer/builder Walter Wales. Also with him will be WoodenBoat’s Associate Editor Karen Wales (Walter’s wife) and renowned illustrator Sam Manning and his wife Susan.

Walter is an acknowledged expert on the Marblehead Gunning Dory originally built by Will Chamberlain of Marblehead, Massachusetts. Sam illustrated John Gardner’s “Dory Book”

Walter and Karen will bring their Gunning Dory REPUBLICAN, built in 1960 by Capt Gerald Smith from Will Chamberlain’s molds.

Walter and Sam will talk about the history, design, construction, and use of this famous dory type. In addition to REPUBLICAN we’ll have a couple other dories on site to look at and discuss.

You can read about the Marblehead Gunning Dory in John Gardner’s books, “The Dory Book” and “Wooden Boats to Build and Use.”

Bring a boat because afterward we’ll head to East End for a sailing and rowing Messabout. Snacks and drinks provided in the shop, but bring a lunch

WHAT: 2^nd Annual Shop Talk & Messabout

WHERE: 25 Deblois Street Portland, Maine. Deblois is off Brighton Avenue

WHEN: Saturday, Oct 23^rd 11am. Messabout after lunch. Sunday rain date (stay posted on my blog for weather update)

MAP: http://tinyurl.com/ClintShop

CCBB Blog ClintChaseBoatbuilder.blogspot.com

New Francois Vivier designed Yawl with Clint Chase

Francois Vivier and Clint Chase are busy designing a new dayboat/weekender. This has been a fun collaboration and we have a lot more work to do. By this time next year, it is planned that we will be building this boat in our shop for our family use and for showing in 2012. Francois's boats are designed with a CAD-CAM approach, meaning the drawings are done in the computer, files are generated, and these files can be used to do CNC cutting of all the drawn boat parts, such as bulkheads, molds, and planking. Some of the design requirements were:

· To be trailerable by an ordinary car, and therefore light, and be able to beach temporarily for loading/unloading.

· To have a large, wide and deep cockpit, comfortable, allowing for fishing and a place where children could be safe.

· To have a stable hull for family sailing but give excellent performance for weekend sails “with the guys”.

· To have a cuddy cabin, with a toilet for women and children, a small galley to heat some meals and two berths to spend a night or two on board, or for napping.

What I am most excited about is getting my kids out sailing again.

Free Goat Island Skiff Yawl Plan

Drake and family at the beach

Drake is getting built in the shop to test the fitting of the kit before they get shipped off to first customers in WA and PA. Kent Fosnes in WA will be exhibiting Drake next year at the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival. All kits are tested more than once to ensure everything goes together properly. Many of these CAD drawn, computer numerically controlled (CNC) parts are cut to the thousandth of an inch! Accuracy and precision are among a number of value added benefits to a kit. More info about CNC cutting and those benefits is forthcoming.

The first GIS Yawl doing the Texas 200 endurance event.

After the busy summer, I am back in action. Just finished are some plans for my GIS yawl that I am making available for free on my GIS page. Enjoy looking at the yawl and the other tidbits of info I include. Our GIS will be going together in October.

Day Three in Drake: The final day of the Small Reach Regatta

The final day was going to have big shoes to fill after an incredible reach and row day 2. The rowing group gathered at breakfast to scheme a separate rowing group to explore along MDI's north coast and down to Bar Harbor. We did just that with the generous support of the chase fleet whose member take very seriously there job to watch everyone, help us stay safe, and get us out of trouble when we need it. The sailing fleet (most of the boats) went to Bean Island just east of Hancock Point and the rowing group (5 boats) went south to Bar Island on an absolutely windless morning and a fast outgoing tide. After lunch on Bar, we had a rolicking return as the seabreeze turned on and was blowing a steady 15 kts. Drake shone again as we surfed down the white-capped, following sea. I had left the sailing rig ashore to be a pure rowboat today. The timing was perfect on the way back into Lamoine Harbor area: the entire sailing fleet was also returning. After a little racing in the rowboats, we coalesced into a parade of sails past the state park where onlookers marveled at the sight reminiscent of the age of sail when it was commonplace to see so many sails filling a waterfront view.

Learn more about the Small Reach Regatta

Small Reach Regatta: Day 2 in Drake Rowboat

I was a little nervous beginning day 2 on a long reach with a potentially gusty offshore breeze that would carry the fleet 8+ miles to the lunch stop. The cracked mast step was only glued back together last night. Would it hold? This was going to be the same tack that I was on when it snapped. I didn't want to ruin this sail!

While the rowboa

ts and sailboats waited for the whole fleet to be launched and hoist sail for the departure, I

lounged on the floorboards enjoying an egg sandwich made by the caterer who cooks for the event. The food is great and the camaraderie while dining is something I enjoy every year. I saved my sandwich for this moment, laying back on the thwarts in the morning sun watching all the sails around me skitter about waiting for the moment when the lead chase boat would say "every body is in, let's go!".

The sail was east to Flanders Bay where we were to lunch at a bar connecting Ash and Sheldrake Islands (family islands that I arranged for us to have as a lunch spot). The fleet sailed on port

tack on a beam reach for all 8 miles to the stop. It was a hoot to say the least. Drake was right up with all the Caledonia Yawls and other larger sail craft. People were quite surprised to see this long, skinny rowboat pass them or hold position next to boats with much larger sail areas. And to my delight the mast step held.

But this morning was proving something that I try to espouse whenever possible: a rowboat with at least some keel to it can sail downwind quite

fast, but not up wind. And you don't need to ruin

the lines of the boat for rowing and you do not need to add the complexity and drag that a centerboard or daggerboard introduces. Lee boards are simply not necessary for off the wind sailing. Drake has enough stability and keel to even sail without any slippage on a bean reach, and this was a revelation this morning on Frenchman Bay.

The lunch was quick as the tide was eating up the bar -- we arrived a little too late. But the scene was quite spectacular with MDI and Tunk mountain and islands all around. I was the first boat to the bar and the 50 or 60 boats sailing into the bar was just a blast to watch.

The return trip was a 8-mile row to windward, through Sorrento Harbor right by Hancock Point and dir

ectly to Lamoine State Park. Drake showed her stuff by being able to row a steady 4+ knots back to the start line and beat most of the sailboats that had to tack many times to get home. This is what she was designed to do: sail smartly off the wind and row efficiently upwind. If this were a real RAID I would have no doubt t

hat we could be very competitive and with a larger boat for two rowers, probably win. But I enjoy the autonomy, privacy, and relaxation that rowing and sailing alone can bring.

Drake in the Small Reach Regatta on the Coast of Maine: Day 1

The Small Reach Regatta was the next stop in my busy summer. The SRR is a gathering of 70 sail-and-oar boats, this year, at Lamoine State Park and put on by the Downeast Chapter of the Traditional Small Craft Association. Irowed and sailed (downwind) his rowboat design Drake and consistently finished in the front of the fleet (but of course it wasn’t a race!).

This event is an annual gathering and a wonderful chance to test and showcase the boats CCBB sells and builds to designs from around the world, for example Michael Storer in Australia, Francois Vivier in France, Eric Risch in Maine, Bruce Elfstrom's beauties and my own designs. We will be carrying kits and building boats produced by a Finnish builder, Suomen Puuvenepiste. These are unique, semi-exclusive agreements to bring new sailing and rowing boats into the US market as CNC cut kits, bare hulls, and finished boats up to 25 feet. My hope is to bring a demo boat from all these folks to boat shows and events like the SRR. Next year we'll have a Goat Island Skiff Yawl to show off like this one built by a kit customer in TX for the Texas 200:

The event was three days. Day 1 was a short windy upwind row and downwind return to a classic small Maine coast island. Every day features an interesting lunch stop, a wonderful opportunity to rest and to look at others' boats. Moreover, I see it as a learning experience to talk to the builders and owners of the boats. I learn something new from every one of the boats. For me, the SRR is about the finest form of professional development I can get.


On the downwind return to camp, a small squall came through and the force overcame my mast step..."WHAM!"...I heard the snap and the boat lurched and we nearly capsized. The first night was a quick repair with polyurethane glue while the sun set. Day two was to feature a long, fast broad reach to the lunch spot, and there was no way I was going to miss sailing that stretch! I was repairing until I couldn't see anymore boat...will it work?

Teaching at The Wooden Boat School: Tradional & Modern Oar Making

After work at Shaw and Tenney, I had my debut teaching job at Wooden Boat School. One of my favorite (and most labor intensive) specialties is oar making, so I was to teach the traditional way and the modern way, using composite blades. Each students chose an oar type of their choice to fit a boat they had or wanted to have. We had everything from 7' flat blade Spruce oars (for a Nutshell Pram) to laminated plywood spoon blade sculls to a Greenland style kayak paddle.

 

We were able to get out for two solid rows where CLint coached some fixed seat rowing and we all just enjoyed learning how to use oars and be comfortable in rowboats. We were able to use the school's fleet of rowboats, including this Joel White Shearwater.

 

Students quickly learned that oar making is mostly a wood removal activity, but they also learned some of my tricks, like adding decorative laminations on the outside of the upper looms. They also learned that there is a bit of engineering and art in making oars. Because we were able to get on the water, we also so the clear link between how we shape oars in the shop and how they react on the water.

 

Finishing oars after sanding is as much work as shaping them. One of my big pet-peeves is that oars are balanced and we spent a couple hours balancing everybody's oars with a little lead in the handle. It does not make the oar heavier, effectively, because the oar's weight is on the gunwale. Therefore, it is the balance that makes oars feel lightweight. Leathering the oars is a project as well as sealing and varnishing. Everybody left with the oars largely done. One student had a good challenge. He brought in a pair of hollow sculling oars and wanted to make a replacement (or back up) pair in a week. So, we made the loom solid, sized down, and laminated a pair or plywood blades much like I do in my shop for customer's oars, over a laminating jig. The blades are glued on the shaped loom and the finished result looks like this, and I might add he is very happy with them. In fact they are no heavier than the original, hollow sculls!

 

Mast making at Shaw and Tenney

The second iconic work spot of the summer was 2-weeks of mast building at Shaw & Tenney. Shaw and Tenney has been in business since 1858 making gorgeous paddles and oars as well as masts, boat hooks, etc for boats. Sometimes they get interesting orders like for this project building four 8" diameter laminated, Douglas Fir masts for a high-end playground in NYC. They asked me to come up and help them take on this project and I was happy to do it.



The masts were all cut, rounded, and sanded by hand. They weight a few hundred pounds in the rough and were a challenge to put through the planer. Their dimensions had to be very accurate. Like any mast, once the piece is 4-sided and tapered, we can start 8-siding as we are doing above with a small skilsaw. After 8-siding this way, the mast was brought to 128-siding with nothing but patience and my favorite power planer. After two days plus of the power planer, when I that machine down for good, I can recall my hand vibrating for several hours.



The final rounding was done with custom shaped foam blocks, a trick from boat school that I use on a lot of projects. This was followed by finish sanding with the Festool. The result was some very nice masts! It was a wonderful place to work and watch the masters do their trade. One of the guys has been making oars and paddles for 25 years. To watch him work was quite impressive. I look forward to doing more business with S & T. Recently, they chose Clint Chase Boatbuilder as their official builder of their beautiful Whitehall.



After this project it was back to Portland for an overnight to see the family and pack for the next iconic week: Wooden Boat in Brooklin, Maine. I was to make my teaching debut at the Wooden Boat School.

Wooden Boat Show Family Boat building

We are catching up with a nons stop summer of boating events and where best to start the series of updates than with the Wooden Boat Show in Mystic, CT. In 2 1/2 days, a father son duo built one of our Echo Bay Dory Skiff kits. They discovered that there is a lot of boatbuilding, sweat, creativity and work to do even starting from a kit.

 

They launched on the third day at 3pm. They were very proud and perhaps glad they had a break to enjoy their success. My former life was a teacher and instructing people to build their own boats. Getting new folks into small boats, building their own boats from kits, and experiencing success in everyway is the number one priority for our customers. Likewise, we felt this year's Family Boatbuilding was a success and will plan to do these boats again next year.

 

Birdsmouth Sparmaking Demo

Clint will be giving a hands-on demonstration of Birdsmouth sparmaking at the Wooden Boat Show at 1pm on this coming Sunday. Please come by. The show starts Friday in Mystic, CT.

See more at http://www.clintchaseboatbuilder.com/Birdsmouth.html

A new rig for a Goat Island Skiff, Spruce for Roger Long's Yawl Dory and more Birdsmouth Masts and Spars

The finished mast and spars delivered and stepped into John Goodman's Goat Island Skiff Yawl #1 in Houston, TX. John does the Texas 200 in a few weeks!

To find good spruce you need to go right to the source. I enjoyed some wonderful walking with a customer who is having a Yawldory by Roger Long, N.A., built and wanted the Spruce for the spars, masts, and oars (my job) to come from her friend's land. We walked (i.e., bushwacked) and tagged a few nice Spruce trees.

 

Birdsmouth Masts under construction for a Michael Storer Goat Island Skiff. With Michael's blessing, Clint drew a yawl rig for the boat.

 

Varnishing the Sitka Spruce/Northern White Spruce Birdsmouth mast allows the grain of the Sitka to deepen and develop the contrasting lighter-colored Northern White Spruce. You get some of the benefits of Sitka for half the cost by mixing it with the local spruce we get hear in Maine and Canada.

The two masts are for the Goat Island Skiff, a birdsmouth on the left and a hollow-rectangular mast on the right. The mast on right is a customer's that I took in to check for chafing and leathered the chafed areas to prevent more.

CNC Boat Kit Cutting at Harbor Sales; First Three Francois Vivier Kits Sell

 
 
 

Last week, Clint took a trip to Maryland where Harbor Sales is located and cuts our CNC boat kits. The goal was to oversee the cutting of three Vivier kits that sold, Youkoulili, Ebihen 16, and Beg-meil. Harbor imports the plywood and cuts the panels on any of their four CNC machines (one of which has a 10x23 capacity and the one pictured is a 5x12). They package and ship by UPS Freight the kits direct to the customer. Clint sends the building instructions and getting started materials from Maine. Francois send the plans from France. We get epoxy starter kits to customers from Duckworks in TX or System Three Epoxy in WA.

One of the special features of Clint's kits is visible in the close-up shot of the machine cutting the planks. You may be able to make out the 'NC scarf' being machined onto the end of the plank. These scarfs are snapped together and glued by the builder and fits such that the pre-cut spile and sweep of the planks are maintained and perfectly aligned. Hours were spent making this critical feature work perfectly.

Cutting starts in a room full of computers. The files are opened, modified and sent to the machine outside of the room. The cutter exits to a console next to the machine, calls up the file and commands the machine to do its thing. The machine moves fast and there is an automatic shut-off sensor in case you step too close.

Also in kit building news, the Drake Rowboat, winner of the Wooden Boat Show Concourse De Elegance in 2009, is on the bench as a 1/4 scale CNC model. This step always comes before cutting an actual full size CNC model which is test built and checked again and again to adjust the files until they cut perfect molds, planks, laminating jigs and whatever the kit components are for that design.