About CABBSFounded in 1967, CABBS brings together people who share a passion for building, sailing, paddling, and motoring in boats. Through meetings, outings, and a lending library, members have an opportunity to learn and have fun wtih those who share a similar interest. Visitors are always welcome at CABBS activities.  Cleveland Amateur Boatbuilding and Boating Society |
February 1, 2004 Meeting PresentationPresentation on Building ANAWAGreg Chaplin
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RemindersDEC 14 2008 Monthly Meeting Guest Speaker:
Plans & Notes |
Greg Chaplin chose a challenging project for his third boatbuilding effort, a carvel-planked fantailed 23 ft. launch. The expensive plans came with little more than basic drawings and a table of offsets. By reading boatbuilding books and buying copies of much less expensive plans of similar boats that did come with construction drawings and narratives, he was able to pull together his approach to the effort. At first he planned electric propulsion but the steep cost led him to consider an inboard diesel. He eventually settled on a steering 9.9 Honda outboard in a stern well. Greg, an engineer by profession, used CAD equipment to create full size mold drawings after using the computer to fair the boat from the table of offsets. He also lofted the boat on the floor of his workshop.
The keel is of white oak purchased at Yoder Lumber in the Millersburg area. In hindsight, he'd have built the boat with much less rocker. The curved keel proved difficult to construct. Early trials demonstrated the boat had plenty of rocker to turn on a dime but eventually needed a skeg to stay on track. The backbone went together with silicon bronze bolts.
A turkey fryer, gas can, and radiator hose made a very good steam generating apparatus for steaming the white oak frames. A wood moisture content of 10 –15% achieved the best steaming results. Greg sprayed the wood prior to steaming day to optimize the moisture level. A couple of friends helped bend in the frames. That was the fun part. The hard part came at the boat's ends where the frames had to be sawn and beveled to make the steep curves.
Greg chose cypress from an area supplier for the planking. It has a reputation for absorbing water but he planned to seal the boat so well that this would not be a big concern. It was also half the price of cedar. Working from a table of traditional scantling dimensions, he found the recommended planking thickness to be .55 inch for a 23 ft. boat (remember there were no construction plans with this design). He milled the planks to .625, 5/8”. Nearly all the planks had to be backed out which meant using a disc sander to cut a 1/16” – 3/16” concave depression in the back of the plank so that it would seat flush with the curvature of the rib. The planks were hung with silicon bronze screws countersunk just enough so that a skimming of thickened epoxy would seal them.
By this point, Greg started to experience boatbuilder's foggy bottom funk. He became weary from figuring out for himself how to construct the next step, what's the best approach, and how the solution will align with following steps. He longed for someone to just tell him in no uncertain terms what to do next. 
On to fairing the hull. When his order for longboard sanding tools never arrived, he decided to break two cardinal rules mentioned in boatbuilding books. The books say never use a power planer or a disc sander to fair a hull; their aggressive nature can do irrepairable harm during a careless moment. He added runners to his power planer to keep it from twisting and digging in and he went at it. The planer worked well for taking down the big stock and then he started the finer work with a gentle touch on the disc sander. 
As the hull faired, wood screw edges became exposed and the planer nicked into them.. This didn't harm the blade, but it meant half the screws had to be pulled, countersunk a tad deeper and refastened. 
Seams were caulked with cotton and 3M 4200. A pizza cutter which was ground to remove the sharp edge and leave a 1/32" wide flat edge made an excellent cotton laying in tool. All pieces were coated with CPES as construction progressed.
The interior was coated with Elastuff, a two part polyurethane encapsulating sealer. Oak clamps were bent around the cockpit to form backing for the walnut coaming.
To achieve a strong, leak-free deck, each mahogany strip was routed with a ¼ X ¼ rabbet to hide a toe nail. The strips were also edge nailed to each other. Black Detco filled the grooves. Air bubbles in the compound were a problem until he discovered running a paper clip down the groove deflated them quite well. The hull was finished off with a two-part polyurethane paint.
Although not yet complete, the itch to launch the boat was too much to resist. A temporary steering console and seating were added to ready the boat for its first season.
Greg's wife Basha christened the boat ANAWA. It may seem a Native American name but it is Polish with the ‘w' pronounced as a ‘v'. The name was inspired by the title of a music CD by a Polish poet/songwriter.
Since pulling the boat for the winter, a motor coverbox was added and mahogany seating installed. Yet to come is a flat canopy top to complete the boat. Like many boatbuilding projects, this one took longer than Greg thought. Although he has been very happy with the results, he found carvel planking to be very time consuming. The next boat will probably be a simpler design and of plywood construction. But what a beautiful, sturdy, quiet, and peaceful boat he has built.