Project: Pippi and Longstocking (Summer 2012)

And now for the fun project of the summer that is still continuing and unfolding ...

Pippi Longstocking or is it Pippi and Longstocking?

It became apparent last summer that all of us could no longer fit into the larger of the two dinghies we had. What to do? J. was also tired of towing one of them all the time. No, not one dinghy behind the other, but towing a dinghy behind MERGANSER. What J. wanted were two dinghies that could stack on deck (one fitting inside the other) but that might, just might, be able to also attach to become a larger dinghy. Hmmm.

J. liked the design of Charles Stayer's Longsplice (link here) but couldn't find plans anywhere. So, J. went his own way. J. borrowed ideas from here and there and from about four or five - maybe eight or nine - different designs, made some models out of cardboard and gave it a go. J. drew up some plans, then ended up modifying them slightly during the build. It was a comical project in some ways. Lots of fun, but we had to leave our "work area" as the folks for whom we were house sitting were coming back. J. then took a few days rest to work on some other MERGANSER projects (like installing the Nature's Head) before coming back to these two dinghies we had decided to name Pippi and Longstocking. J. ended up finishing them in the field outside the parking area at the marina. Then we launched! J. was a bit nervous ("Will they float? Will they leak?", but the pictures speak for themselves.

Sail rigs will follow, but we wanted to get out on our cruise first!

For some reason, we don't have any pictures of our laying out the sides and cutting the side panels, transoms and bottoms - maybe because the other half was busy sewing? L. had lots of help from E. while M. helped J. I. tended to float from one project to the other helping both L. and J. J. also had some help one day from a friend of ours and his two young kids. Fun!

 Here J. has got the hulls put together: No pictures of the cutting out of the parts. The hulls are zip-tied together at this point with duct tape on the outside to help keep epoxy and filler from running through - although the joints are fairly tight. The two transoms (in the middle) are clamped together. In the photo J. is in the process of filleting and laying the glass tape for the interior joint. He's already pre-cut the glass tape - hoping to keep the process a little cleaner. Notice the tarp protecting the garage floor?

Now J.'s helpers and J. are adding interior framing (a T-shaped seat in the bows and a seat in the stern). Some of these involve screw holes through the bottom of the boat that J. wanted to remove the screws (after the glue set) prior to glassing the bottom. 

 Nice to have helpers who put their feet to work holding down framing stock!
And yes, both dinghies are now facing the same direction. We did a trial run; they stack!

 More glass and tape ready to go to make waterproof bulkheads.

 All taped in. Only one more to go. When making two boats of the same design, supposed to be identical, J. found as soon as he finished one, he just had to do it all over again. Of course, he could have built three - the third would have been perfect!

Each outside edge had the duct tape removed, the zip ties snipped and rounded before being glass taped. Then the entire bottom (coming up the sides a bit,) the entire bow transom and half the stern transom got a coating of glass cloth. All the glass was set in epoxy. Along with the two layers of 1x2 making up the gunnels and seat framing, they are fairly sturdy.

The owners of the house are coming home!
There is just enough time to get a coat of primer and a coat of paint on before moving all the way out, right?

Notice the sidewalk chalk smiley face to welcome them home?

 Loading up for the trip to the marina. Here you can get an idea of the size and shape: these are about 7 1/2 feet long.

We made it! Loaded up all our projects and tools, having to leave behind our son's new-to-him mountain bike for another trip. (A few days before, the neighbors were cleaning out the garage. The son's/grandson's mountain bike was there and no longer wanted. Would E., our son, like a bike like this? "Yes!" he exclaimed. "Wow! It has 21 gears!")

When we went back to get it, about two hours later, the house owners had returned - about 1/2 hour before. We got out by the skin of our teeth! ;)

We also missed taking any pictures of the finishing up the boats out in the field. We added some transom supports and finished fitting the seats, etc.

Now for the launching and christening!We used coffee, of course, remembering the hilarious story of Pippi joining the women for coffee.

 Notice Pippi's face?

 Longstocking has long stockings and shoes, of course, which you can just make out.

What is all this fuss about?

What?! Those humans are in the water again in those floating things? What has the world come to? Am not expected to go in those, am I?

Do they know there is a diver under the boat cleaning our prop?

They do now!

Here's what they would look like together - nice to have a crew member whose sole responsibility is to hold it all together for you.

Sorry about the sideways videos, there's got to be a way to change the angle, but we're still working on it.

And the moment of truth ...

They fit under the stay sail boom!

Project: Covering Cushions (Summer 2012)

This is actually the end of a long drawn out project - which, like lots of projects, had a learning curve. When MERGANSER came into our lives, she didn't have any cushions. This is not a bad thing actually, as cushions often carry odors and who knows what type of odors we would have had then!

So, we started by looking at cushion material and bought expensive 4 inch foam. Then we experienced feeling the bunk bottoms through our hips and joints. This was not working. So ... walking down an aisle of a large hardware store J. noticed a role of carpet pad. Then J. remembered a piece of advice about using multiple layers of carpet pad as a cushion. We tried it out, and it worked great!

This winter, when house sitting for some other friends, and while working on the quarter berth project, J. also made plywood bottoms for the cushions. The idea was that we would use vinyl to surround the cushions and staple the vinyl to the plywood. The plywood was cut and painted (with holes to allow some ventilation) ... then put into storage, awaiting time to finish this project. We needed to move back onto MERGANSER. (At which time we also started this blog.)

So ... the major project took place - cover the cushions!

Turned out great, and what a difference it makes, too.

Here are the photos:

 Last winter, J. didn't make plywood bottoms for the v-berth, and we took the opportunity to do so now. The kids are sanding the holes.

Here are two shots of the finished product. The stack in the background is for the main salon (along with the ones leaning against the cupboard, in below photo). The other stack of three is for the quarter berth (where you can see how they were created by looking at the bottom board).

With the v-berth we decided to leave the originally purchased foam, and add some carpet pad to the top and bottom. These are awaiting the paint to dry on the plywood before getting covered.