Afloat

H29 Layout in Vector Format

2013-03-11T13:22:00.002-03:00

I am currently planning some major electrical work on Salammbo. To help diagram this I thought it would be nice to have a clean, scalable layout diagram to use. Since the only diagram I had available is the one located here, I thought it might be good to do up a quick vector based version.

Note: The scale isn't confirmed as accurate but looks close.

You can use an open source editor like InkScape to manipulate this file.

I will post my electrical plans once they are completed.

Choosing a new radar system

2013-01-23T23:12:00.000-04:00

SI-TEX Radar with Standard Horizon CP190i Chartplotter

Living and boating on/near the Bay of Fundy means that fog is a regular problem. With this in mind, I have been looking to purchase a radar system for the last couple of years.

Neither Kijiji nor eBay offered me any real bargains in my hunt so this winter I got serious about the search and looking for new units.

Current Setup
My current electronics are very simple, yet effective. I have an old Magellan 315 handheld GPS, supplemented by an iPhone 4 with charting apps (Navionics). My depth finder is a vintage SeaFarer 3 that looks like something from an old James Bond movie.

This setup isn't fancy but has proven very effective.

Criteria for Radar
Given the success of my current setup my only real criteria for a new radar system was...well...that it does radar! A few other criteria that factored in:

Inexpensive - The new system should be worth less than the boat floating it
Relatively small dome
Relatively small display that will fit in my available bulkhead space
Options for charting (Not mandatory)
Options for adding depth sounder (Not mandatory)

The options

I soon realized that a single purpose radar screen, while available, isn't very cost effective. For a small amount more a chartplotter can be included and offers many more features. I quickly changed tack to focus on chartplotter integrated options only.

Each of the main manufacturers have similar offerings for chartplotters. They range from simple units to high-end large display units with tight integration with...everything. Of course each does there thing in their own proprietary method (I'll save that rant for another day).

For radar domes there are a few options but basically it comes down to the High Definition/Broadband options or standard models. Within each category you can choose between low-end systems with limited range or higher-end devices with longer range and better overall performance.

The Decision
I was VERY tempted to buy some of the higher end units. There are all kinds of features that are available for "just a couple hundred more". Looking at each unit and the next one up ...and the next one up, it is easy to get pulled into the cool features of the more expensive units.

In the end I dug deep and really analyzed my requirements. When it comes down to it, I expect to be out on the Bay [perhaps] 2 weeks a year. The rest is on the protected Saint John River system. Of those days on the Bay, only a few will be foggy and usually I would just wait out the fog at anchor.

Do I really need all of the extra features for that minimal amount of usage?

Also, I really don't have a great desire to install windmeters, fuel indicators, water level gauges or other electronics that would tie into a chartplotter. So the integration piece isn't important to me.

My final choice was to keep it simple, keep it cheap and go with a SI-TEX MDS-1 dome with a Standard Horizon CP190i chartplotter. This is about as basic as it gets for a chartplotter/radar combo.

I did a LOT of price comparison. I shopped around and compared prices at practically every online vendor in North America. I really expected that Amazon, Overtons or another large US retailer would be cheapest. In the end I purchased the unit from the local Halifax merchant The Binnacle. Their prices were second to none since the unit was on sale and since they offer free shipping. They have also consistently given me stellar service. In the end $1807 (including tax) got me my new toy.

The success of my plotter choice should clarify over the coming year. I will include details of my installation as well as my review of the product choices as I use them.

If you have opinions about these units, boat electronics...or anything else, please leave a comment.

Airhead Composting Toilet - Year 1 review

2012-10-03T16:23:00.002-03:00

The boat is out of the water, we've started to do our winterizing and it's time to sit back and reflect on our new place for sitting back and reflecting. Our composting toilet. As you may recall from previous posts, I installed an Airhead composting toilet this spring.

Overall our experience with the Airhead has been very good. We used the boat 1-3 days per week throughout the summer, averaging four people onboard. We also had a full 6 day cruise with the family, in the middle of the summer, that was a true test of the system.

Using the Airhead

We have had almost no issues with using the Airhead. We do make sure to take a couple of minutes to orient guests on how to properly use the system but, really, it is dumb simple.

The only use problem that we did have was with a younger child who insisted on opening the solid flap when it was a liquid job, if you know what I mean. That resulted in a smelly slurry being formed in the solid bin after a weekend of misuse. Adding extra peat moss solved the issue fairly quickly (a couple of days).

Cleanliness

We had no cleanliness issues. A quick wipe down on occasion and a spray bottle of water for occasional use kept the unit very clean.

Emptying the unit

I found that we had to empty the liquid tank approximately every 1 1/2 days with 4 people on the boat. This varied a bit depending on the amount of beer being consumed! Emptying the liquid tank is quick and easy. Don't wait for it to get full in the middle of the night though!

We did have to empty the unit near the end of August. I'm guessing that we could have gotten through the rest of the summer had we not had the above-mentioned 'slurry episode'. The extra peat moss added a lot of volume. Regardless, emptying the unit, was straight forward and no more difficult or unpleasant than a single pump-out would be in a standard holding tank setup. We emptied the contents into a doubled compostable garbage bag. We've set the bag behind our garden to give it some time over winter to fully compost.

Issues

There weren't many issues but there were a few:

Exhaust fan - The exhaust has stopped working 3 times throughout the summer. I simply had to take the vent housing apart and give the fan a little turn manually and it would start spinning again. I presume that there was little bits of dust that were clogging the fan. Perhaps a stronger fan motor would be in order. (Update [10/8/2012]: This part is under warranty and will be replaced by Airhead)
Liquid level indicator - There is a little clear tube that shows the level of liquid in the tank. It regularly gets clogged by small bits of crud that end up in that tank through normal use. Don't rely on the little tube to tell you the bottle is full!
Agitator - The agitator inside the solid tank doesn't always stir the full contents of the unit. This only became apparent as I tried to add peat moss to fix my slurry issue. Not usually an issue.

Conclusion

I would recommend an Airhead to other boats (I regularly do!). It certainly beats our old holding tank system. It is easy to maintain and use. It is also a good conversation piece!

If you have any specific questions or comments about our experience with the unit (or anything else), please comment below.

Composting Toilet Installation

2012-05-11T09:52:00.000-03:00

Installation of the composting toilet itself is pretty straight forward. Much more effort was required removing the old toilet and adjusting the floor than was required for the actual installation of the toilet.

Remove the existing toilet system parts, including:

Holding tank
Holding tank pump piping
Y-valve
Toilet and piping. Removing the toilet itself proved most difficult since the bolts holding it in place were stripped. A hacksaw was the final solution.

Test fit

Test fit the Airhead toilet. The back few inches of my head has a significant sloped area. This greatly reduces the working area of the toilet. After test fitting I decided to add a raised floor so that I could get the maximum front-to-back clearance.

Make raised floor. I made the raised floor out of 1/2" plywood, cut to shape using a cardboard template and supported by 1x3 spruce boards. I stained and varnished the floor to match the rest of my bright-work. I used brass L-brackets to hold the raised floor in place. This will allow for easy removal if I need to get access below.

Install Airhead unit. The toilet unit itself is literally as easy as screwing in 4 screws into the two brackets.

Installed with raised floor

Install air fan. I have an existing cowl vent into the bathroom. I simply screwed the fan assembly on top of the existing vent whole.

Fan assembly attached to cowl vent

Run vent hose. I used 6 feet of vent hose and simply attached it to the wall with 1 1/2" plastic pipe brackets. Once the pipe is tucked in properly it isn't as ugly as I expected.

Run wiring. I used standard 14 gauge wire (overkill I think) to wire directly from the fan to my auxiliary battery. I have two medium sized solar panels that keep up the charge on the battery. I don't even notice the load of the vent fan on my electrical.

Test run! I will update later with my production review of the toilet.

PVC Pipe Winter Boat Cover Frame

2012-05-02T12:35:00.001-03:00

After several years of mediocre success covering my boat with a traditional wooden boat cover frame, last fall I decided to change it out for a frame made from PVC pipe. Now that it is spring and the frame and cover have survived the winter flawlessly I figure I should share my design.

I decided to use 1 1/2" PVC pipe since it is only a little more expensive but much sturdier than 1 1/4" pipe. I also made the arbitrary decision to space my supports at 3'.

Determine the number of supports by dividing your boat length by 3.
Take a width measurement at each support location.
Use a Triangle Solver or some basic trig to determine the lengths of pipe required for each side given width and the angles (90 and 45 degrees).
Cut the pipe to length
You will also need to cut 3' lengths of pipe to go between each support and a length of pipe for each end.
Make the top 90 degree connector

I used a single 90d PVC female-female connector attached to a female-female straight connector with a machine screw.
Drill a hole in the center of the 90 and straight connectors.
Attach them together using a screw and nut.
I also drilled holes close to the edge of each side of the straight connector to fasten the connector to the lateral support pieces.

Glue the entire support structure and connectors together using PVC pipe glue.
Assemble the whole thing together with pipe glue using the vertical supports and the 3' PVC pipe sections. Do NOT GLUE!
Use additional screws to hold the 3' pipe sections into the connectors.
Cover the connectors with foam to prevent tarp chaffing.
Use tie-wraps to secure the frame to lifelines or whatever else you have that is sturdy.

This whole project took approximately 2 hours once I had the design figured out. Assembly took approximately 30 minutes. That is a far cry from the hours that my previous wooden structure took to assemble.

The slope of the frame seemed sufficient to keep snow from piling up on top. I didn't have to shovel it at all through the winter.

Prop Nut Zinc Anode

2012-04-04T12:56:00.000-03:00

My Hughes 29 has spent the vast majority of it's 40 year life in fresh water. Apparently electrolysis is still possible in fresh water but it certainly isn't fast acting. My boat hasn't had an anode installed (in recent history anyways) and shows no sign of corrosion. However, I do plan to hit salt water so I have been on the hunt for an appropriate anode.

The problem with the Hughes 29 boats (confirmed by other owners that it's not just mine) is that there is very little clearance between the prop and the shaft housing. On my boat there is only 3/4" clearance. That isn't enough room for a standard shaft mount anode.

After much searching, I found a source for an anode that would work. It is a prop-nut mounted anode. The following are the part number and spec for the anode.

CMPNCC10 - For 1" diameter propeller shaft. Complete set, zinc and bronze nut.

Shaft Size: 1" (25mm)
Length: 3" (76mm)
O.D: 1 7/8" (48mm)
Weight: 1.38 (0.63kg)
Thread Size: ¾"NC10
O.D.: 1 7/8" (48mm)
Fastner: 5/16-18x1 socket head w/patch

These anodes are available online at The Binnacle.

Why choose a composting toilet for your boat?

2012-03-05T20:46:00.001-04:00

The Preamble
I've recently decided to replace the toilet and holding tank system in my Hughes 29. This is the first of a series of posts that I am doing to outline my purchase decision, initial review (pre-installation), installation, short term review and finally a long term review. I will update this initial page with links to the other posts as I get to each step. I've also created an initial review of the [good] purchasing experience on my customer service blog here.

Some background
My Hughes 29 has a standard, manual pump, Jabsco marine head. This attaches to a Y-valve that has the option of either pumping directly overboard or pumping into a ~10 gallon soft holding tank (bag). I don't like the idea of pumping overboard and I try to avoid it as much as possible. So that leaves only the storage tank.

I have had my sailboat for 3 years now. Since the first weekend on the boat I have had issues with the head smelling. I have tried tightening fittings, adding additives to the holding tank and frequent pump-outs but I still have a lingering smell problem. Sometimes it is tolerable, other times not.

Last summer things came to a head (sorry!) because the only two pump-out stations nearby were both out of service for most of the summer. While I still had the option of dumping overboard, once the bag got full, that didn't alleviate my problem of having a large bag of sewage sitting under my bunk for most of the season. (I have no overboard pump connected to my tank.)

A solution was needed.

My first reaction was to simply start from scratch and put in a new toilet and holding tank. I removed all of the pieces of the system last fall with that intention. I didn't want to start with any of the old components because I didn't want to risk a remaining piece being part of the problem. Then a few months ago I stumbled on the [seemingly] magic of the composting toilet.

First things first, why a composting toilet? Here are the purported benefits (according to my research and vendor sites):

Odorless

According to all of the posts that I can find and the vendor documentation, these things are supposed to be odorless when they are installed and used properly. This was my #1 requirement. Apparently it is the separation of solids and liquids, along with the venting system that allow this.

Infrequent emptying of solids

The leading vendors claim, and posts online seem to re-enforce the fact that you only need to empty the solids bin once or twice in a summer season (every 3 months for a live-aboard). Liquids are separated and need to be emptied every couple of days. I can live with carrying a bottle of pee onshore every couple of days.

Space savings

I really like the idea of reclaiming all of the space that my current holding tank takes under the front v-berth. The toilet itself is only 1 1/2" larger in each direction than my current Jabsco toilet.

Easy installation

Compared to changing out all of my current piping, installing a new tank, venting, and a manual overboard pump-out solution (a requirement in my view); installing the composting toilet will be a breeze! Simply bolt it down.

Environmentally friendly

While I am very conscious of the environment, this isn't a huge factor in the decision for me. I don't believe that my boat (and small amount of discharge) is any more than a drop in the bucket compared to the local municipalities that dump [mostly untreated] waste into the same river system and harbour. But, it is a nice-to-have.

Cost

The vendors claim that their composting toilets are cheaper to install than a traditional system. I don't really believe that. The full cost of the composting toilet is around $1000-$1200 (after taxes and shipping). I can install a new version of what I have for around half that cost.

Less maintenance

Anything that can save maintenance time on the boat is worth its weight in gold. I don't mind doing maintenance but that isn't why I have the thing. Less is better.

The two main vendors that I examined (that were in my price range) were:

Airhead Toilets

Nature's head

These vendors appear to have similar products and each has good reviews in the Internet forums. I chose Airhead because of the resoundingly good customer service stories that I heard. That is important to me.

Stay tuned for my future posts about my Airhead. Time will tell whether this decision was as good as it seems.

Driftwood and Tile Table

2012-02-25T10:44:00.001-04:00

I built a kitchen table several years ago and people rave about it so I thought I should post the design and details. This table is large, heavy and a now permanent fixture in our kitchen. You should only make one of these if you don't plan to move it often. It is heavy...but pretty darn cool looking!

This project wasn't difficult, if you try it please comment below with your thoughts on how the design can be improved or post pictures of your table project.

Download PDF Plans

Steps

Find some driftwood! I found a large driftwood log that was between 7" - 10" in diameter on a beach on the Saint John River. This is very old wood and I have no idea what type it is. Make sure you dry the wood thoroughly. This might take several weeks or longer depending on how wet the wood is when you find it. My opinion is that the uglier the wood is the more character the table will have.

Trim the legs to the right length. Trim all of the legs to the same length and level them as best as you can. They won't be perfectly level probably but that can be corrected later. Use a reciprocating saw with a long blade, hand saw or chain saw for this task.

Attach the sqaure leg base to the leg. In order to secure the leg to the table you will need a piece of wood attached to the top of the leg so that you can bolt that to the table. I used left over 3/4" plywood and screwed and glued the piece to the top of the leg. Use long, large screws and good glue or epoxy since the legs will take a lot of stress. I used thickened epoxy and 4 screws per leg.

Cut the table top. The table size can be whatever you want for your space. We host a lot of dinners so wanted it larger than normal. Cut your 3/4" plywood to the correct size (and adjust other measurements as required if it is different than my size).

Attach Bottom boards. The 1/3" pine board around the outside gives a lot of extra strength to the table. Make sure you attach it with good glue (or epoxy) and plenty of screws so that it is strongly attached.

Attach the legs to the tabletop. Use lag bolts to bolt the legs to the tabletop. Make sure that the head of your bolts are sunk flush with the top of the table. Use bolts so that you can tighten the legs as materials shrink or move.

Attach decorative trim to the table edge. Make sure that the trim is higher than the top of the plywood, the height of your tile, so that the tile will butt against the trim at the same level.

Tile and Grout. I used 12" ceramic floor tile and made the pattern shown. Any tile should be fine. I like the floor tile because it is practically bomb proof. We hardly ever use coasters for our pots or hot dishes, we cut directly on it, etc. (note that there is a chance that the tile will crack if you put hot items on cold tile but we haven't had that issue).

Put felt pads under the legs. This table is heavy and it will scratch your floor. Use felt pads! They will also help keep it from wobbling if your legs aren't perfectly cut (which is harder to do than you think because of the wonky shape of the logs)

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions about this project.

Creating Adventure Race maps with Trimble Outdoors

2012-02-16T15:54:00.000-04:00

I have recently finished creating my first race course, and map, for a 5 hour adventure race (Nine Toe Winter Run). When I set out to complete the map I thought it would be reasonably straight forward process. I thought I would simply hike the course, import the GPX into some magical app and, voila, it would spit out a course.

The reality was quite different. I came to discover that there is no magic course building app. There really isn't any app that is well suited for creating Adventure Racing maps at all (if you do know of one, please comment below, I'd love to know about it). I tried several apps by Garmin, Google Maps, GPX Editor and several others with no great amount of success.

The basic problem to be solved is, combining many different GPX trails (but not necessarily joining them), many checkpoints and presenting them with numbered pins on a detailed topo map.

My final solution ended up relying on (surprisingly) an online map editor available at Trimble Outdoors. Their application isn't perfect (more on that below) but it did get the job done. I came across their application because I use their iPhone app AllSport GPS to track my own training.

First of all, here is the basic process that I used to create my maps:

Capture GPX files

I used a combination of AllSport GPS (on IPhone) and a Garmin handheld GPS. I captured each trail section as a separate GPX file so that I could choose which final trails to include on the route map.

Create a new map in TrimbleOutdoors

Upload each GPX file into the Trimble map

The little camera button allows for file uploads, including GPX.

Correct the trails

I found that most of the routes that I imported had stray points that created extra pieces on trails that don't really exist. Each of these had to be individually corrected. This is the most tedious part of the process in Trimble.

First, select the trail in the right hand list of trails. You, unfortunately, can't just click on the trail in the map. Once you have selected the right trail name you will be able to mouse-over the trail and it will give you a little square that you can click on to edit an individual point.

I found the easiest way to remove large sections of tracks (for example, if you had overlapping tracks) is to first "Split Track" and then to delete the newly created section. This is, by far, the most tedious part of the map editing process. Hopefully they will improve this.

Name your points

When you go to print your map, you have the option of choosing to display your checkpoint names, if you name them properly, they will print nicely on the map.

Save and print your map

Ideally you can now print your map with the "Print MyTopo" feature. This would allow you to have a nice waterproof map delivered to your house.

Unfortunately I had issues getting the map to display properly when I went to buy it. After several attempts with their support (and long wait times) I gave up.

[Note to Trimble: That was a lost sale that could have been avoided]

Instead, I had to print the maps myself. I found that the map labeling wasn't working properly when I did the printing from the site. So instead, I did a print preview using the MyTopo printing feature, did a screen capture using Screenpresso and added the checkpoint names manually.

I printed my maps on Rite-in-the-Rain waterproof paper.

Things that should be improved in the Trimble Outdoors map program:

The map editor should have an option for importing existing routes that are in the database. I had to export GPX files from the Trimble app and then turn around and re-import them into the race map.
Make it easier to select tracks. When there are a large number of tracks on a map it is difficult to figure out which one is which.
Make it easier to delete multiple track points at once.
Make the MyTopo print integration work!
Enable version control. People make mistakes, let them save versions so they can correct mistakes easier.
Allow track coloring

Tassimo - A bad idea made worse

2012-02-06T09:35:00.002-04:00

A few years ago we switched our office coffee maker from a regular drip coffee maker (with fresh ground beans) to a Keurig machine. I tend to lean towards the tree hugging side of values so I had some issues with this new machine. The Keurig is wasteful. However, everyone in the office loves the thing so I accepted it.

Fast forward two years. Christmas of 2012. I, and I'm sure millions of others, found a Tassimo machine under the Christmas tree. Specifically I received a Bosch T20.

Now, I admit that the Bosch machine is a sexy bit of technology. It is a sleek design and it is easy to use. However, that is where the good story ends. My experience with the Tassimo system has not been great.

First let's talk waste. While the Keurig is a fairly wasteful system, the Tassimo takes this to an exceptional level. With the Keurig I can get a full cup of coffee out of a single K cup. The Tassimo makes a half cup of coffee and it often, depending on the flavor choice, takes two of their T DISKs for the half cup. As shown in my post picture, two make coffee for a couple of friends it creates a mountain of T DISKs.

Neither the Tassimo T DISKs or Keurig cups are recyclable, re-usable or compostable. Millions of these things are being used daily (I'd love to know the number) and non of them are recyclable. The best you can hope to do is pry off the aluminum covers and compost the grounds. (I've tried this and it is a pain)

Next, let's talk cost. I used to buy bags of unground coffee beans. If you buy a good brand, it will cost you around $10 for enough beans to last a week or two. These T DISKs are brutally expensive. Depending on the flavor you can pay between $0.50 and $2 per cup. We've found that COSTCO gives the best deal on them but it still is crazy expensive compared to beans.

Last, let's talk flavor. I've had reasonably good success with the Keurig coffees. They are consistently mediocre and occasionally pretty good. Despite the hyped technology of the Tassimo, the results have been overall pretty poor. I think the best example of that is the hot chocolate. My daughter wouldn't drink her Cadbury hot chocolate from the Tassimo. If a little girl won't drink hot chocolate it has to be bad. She is usually very happy drinking the cheapest No Name brand stuff, yet this $2 monstrosity went down the drain.

We have 4 boxes of T DISKs left in our cupboard. When those are gone our Tassimo machine is going in the closet. Back to the bean we go.

Focusing on service

2012-01-11T22:19:00.000-04:00

http://staying.afloat.ca

I have been blogging on this site and posting content for approximately 2 years now. I enjoy creating this content and hope that it is interesting. Originally I started this blog as an experiment in blogging, SEO and advertising. Since I hadn't had any exposure to these areas I thought I should try it first hand.

I've been pretty happy with the results. I have a fair number of hits every month but, more importantly, I've gotten some excellent feedback on some of the articles I've written (especially the ones on boat building and my loft bed plans).

However, I've decided that I would like to write more about a career oriented passion of mine, service. Service quality is something that I deal with daily at my job. It is something that I spend a lot of time thinking about and I've come to have opinions about.

So, I have launched a sister site called "Staying afloat" (a play on words on my domain name and the topic). I will continue to post to this site with items that are related to general life, music, sailing, boat building and similar content. However, I will start posting (hopefully regularly) to the new site.

Come visit Staying Afloat (http://staying.afloat.ca) if you have an interest in service delivery and customer satisfaction. Otherwise, stay here and continue to enjoy this less focused content.

Vibram FiveFingers - A nice idea but...

2012-01-09T11:50:00.000-04:00

I saw a review on Michael Hyatt's site of his experiences with Vibram FiveFingers. I thought this would be a good opportunity to update my own review.

I have had my FiveFingers for almost 2 years now. Initially I was using them as my exclusive running/training shoe. I bought them in January and ran in them exclusively until April when I experience some foot problems. This actually turned out to be a fracture caused by repetitive stressing of my foot bones. This was a prime example of training in them too hard to quickly. While I thought I was easing my way slowly enough into longer distances, the break tells a different story.

Once I recovered from my break (8 weeks later) I took a hiatus from my Vibrams. I was a little gun shy. Eventually I pulled them on again a couple of months later and remembered why I loved running in them. However, I have kept them as a secondary part of my training. I run in them on a semi-regular basis as a supplement to my training rather than a primary trainer.

There is no doubt that barefoot running is a fabulous way to work muscles that you forgot you had and it has help modify my stride so that I no longer have knee issues. However, I am not convinced that it is the best option for long distance or technical running. I do multi-day adventure racing, I need a rock solid shoe that I can forget about.

I have since settled on Solomon XT Wings 2 as my primary shoe. They are a stellar trail running shoe and are almost bomb proof for long hard races. I will continue to use my Vibrams but probably not frequently.

Panasonic Sport Headphones (RPHSC200K) are brutal

2011-12-15T16:48:00.000-04:00

I do a lot of running, biking, and other active sports. I tend to do most of these carrying my IPhone 4 so that I can track my progress using TrimbleOutdoors.com app AllSport GPS (I really need to do a review of that app some day because I love it).

The only problem with this setup is that the earphones that come with the IPhone just aren't great for staying put when active. They are fine when loafing around but the minute that I start moving they are out of my head. I end up spending most of my activity adjusting them or putting them back in.

So, I decided that I would break down and buy a decent pair of sport headphones so I did some looking around online and perusing at FutureShop . My criteria when selecting headphones weren't elaborate. I wanted something with a reasonable sound spec and something that was in an in-between price range. My second criteria was based solely on the fact that I figured a cheap set wouldn't be any good but I didn't want to spend $100 on something that I would be beating around with outside.

I settled on the Panasonic Sport Headphones. At the time these were $59.99 + tax (they have since dropped in price). They were from a reputable company and met my criteria.

The performance of these has been less than stellar.

The sound quality is dismal. They have absolutely no bass output (despite what the package assured). They sound as though they are only half inserted (so I find myself constantly trying to jam them in further).

They sort of stay in when running but I still find they rattle out to some extent.

The volume control is laid out the same as a standard set of Apple headphones but the rubber coating makes them practically useless when active.

I would avoid these headphones. There are really no positive attributes.

Pram build - Step 8 - Exterior finishing

2011-07-05T13:15:00.000-03:00

Once the interior was finished I flipped the boat back over and finished the exterior.

The first task for the exterior finishing were the runners. I made these out of 3/4 x 3/4 strips of spruce. I used the dimensions on the plans to space them out, applied epoxy and screwed them into the frame pieces.

Once the epoxy cured I used a plan to share the front edge of the runners so that they slopped flush at the front edge.

I finished up sanding, filling, sanding, filling and more sanding until the bottom was fair and smooth.

I applied the same primer and yellow boat paint to the bottom of the boat. I used 3 coats of paint.

I applied a name to the back (because every boat deserves a name!) using black paint. I chose the name Mâthos since my sailboat is named Salammbô and Mâthos was her lover.

Once dry I fitted the remaining hardware (cleats and oarlocks) as well as adding a bump rail to the gunwales. For the bump rail I used 1" rope tie wrapped to the gunwales.

I am exceptionally happy with how Mâthos turned out. She is a very good rowing boat, pulls very well behind the sailboat and is remarkably stable. I can fit my family of 4, our dog and a days supplies in her and still have 6" or freeboard (approx 645lbs). I wouldn't want to go out in rough water with that much weight though! I've had her with one other person in heavy waves with no issue at all. A very dry tender.

I have also purchased a small 30lbs thrust electric motor to use on the back of her and it works very well for ferrying us out to the mooring with no effort.

I would highly recommend John Gardner's "A plywood Pram". The instructions in his book are a little sparse but the boat comes together well. If you attempt a build of the boat and have any questions about how I did something, please ask. I'll answer the question as best I can and update these pages as appropriate as well.

I would also welcome additions/amendments to my instructions. This has worked out well with my loft bed plans. Collaboration with a couple of builders has made the instructions much more useful.

Pram build - Step 7 - Interior finishing

2011-06-07T23:49:00.000-03:00

Once the seats and gunwales were dry I set about cleaning up the interior. I used thickened epoxy to fill in any gaps, voids or holes. Everything was sanded once the epoxy set.

I also used this opportunity to install a ring on the bow. This will be used for towing the tender so I wanted it to be sturdy. I was also impatient on a Sunday and didn't have access to a real piece of hardware. I used an old shackle and epoxied it in place. Seems to work well.

Once everything was cleaned up reasonably well I finished the interior with a coat of oil based primer and oil based boat paint.

I wanted to finish the interior first so that I wouldn't scrape the bottom paint later on in the process.

Once everything dried I flipped the boat over for exterior finishing.

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Pram build - Step 6 - Seats and Gunwales

2011-06-07T23:30:00.001-03:00

Once the epoxy work was completed on the outside I unscrewed the boat from the supports and flipped it over. I removed all of the extra bracing and build forms. The boat sits well on the 2x4 building jig so I've continued to use that as a working platform.

The next step was to complete the seats and install the gunwales. First the seats:

I used 1x4 stock that I had previously ripped out of 1x6 spruce to frame the seats.

I built the simple frames as shown in the pictures.The front and back seats were built off of the existing mold pieces at station 1 and 5. There were built to be filled with foam and sealed. The middle seat was built open so that items could be stored underneath.

For foam I used primarily some pool noodles. I cut them into shorter pieces and crammed them into the spaces as tightly as I possible.

The top of the seats are made out of 1/4 plywood. Everything was glued with epoxy.

Before assembling the seats I liberally applied wood preservative to the inside surfaces. Since the inside of the seats might get damp I thought it would help prevent rot.

The gunwales were very simple to assemble. I simply used 1 1/4"x1" strips of spruce. These were fastened with screws and glued with epoxy. I glued the gunwales on longer than necessary and then cut them off after they had dried.

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Pram build - Step 5 - Hull pieces and epoxy fun

2011-05-09T22:48:00.001-03:00

Drafting and cutting out the hull pieces was an aspect of this project I wasn't looking forward to. There is very little on the plans around the hull pieces. While it is possible to draft out the pieces, that would take a long time and would be difficult to do accurately. I decided to cheat instead... and it worked!

First things first, splicing the plywood. Unless you can get 10' sheets of plywood (we don't get it around here), you are going to need to splice together two pieces. The easiest way to do this is to simply butt the pieces together, tape and epoxy one side, wait for it to dry, fill and tape the other side and you're done.

Since I didn't plan this part in advance, and I didn't want to wait for the epoxy to cure, I decided to use a temporary method and join the pieces with a piece of 1x4 screwed to one side. Later on, once the pieces were assembled, I re-did the butt joint properly with epoxy and tape and removed the butt block.

Note: If you search for "scarf joint" on Google you will find all sorts of complicated ways to join plywood. I've used the tape method with a lot of success. I'm not sure why people bother with cutting delicate angles and other complicated methods...

Once I had my joined plywood these are my cheater steps that I took to cut out the hull pieces:

First I cut the plywood in half (and 10' long) so that I had 2 sheets of 2x10. The two bottom pieces fit on a single 8' sheet.

For each piece, I simply took the 2' wide sheet and temporarily screwed it onto my frame pieces. I crawled under the piece and traced out the shape of the frame on the plywood. I unscrewed the piece and used a jigsaw to cut it out. Each piece was screwed back in place. I repeated this process for each of the 4 pieces. It worked great! I used screws throughout the project, even though the author recommends nails. I prefer working with screws, no better reason.

Once all of the pieces were screwed in I used thickened epoxy to fill in any gaps that remained between the pieces. Each joint was then fiberglassed with 4" tape and epoxy.

A note on epoxy, for thickening epoxy I use a variety of materials. I do like to use the fancy West System fillers when it comes time to fair or do small fillings. For everything else I usually use sawdust. It's cheaper and does a good job filling but it's a little harder to make smooth.

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Pram build - Step 4 - Installing chines and keelson

2011-05-09T22:16:00.001-03:00

Installation of the chines and keelson is a little bit finicky but isn't too difficult.

I used spruce 1x6x10 as stock and ripped them into 1x1x10 strips.

These are the steps:

Trace notches onto bulkheads in each position shown on the plans. I fully notched the bow and transom pieces as well since those notches would be covered with fiberglass tape (and paint) later. This would make life easier now without affecting the finished look. If you are doing clear finish you will probably want to only notch halfway into the bow and stern pieces so that the ends aren't sticking out.

Next I used a jigsaw to notch out each piece.

I dry fit each spruce strip to make sure that it was fitting well and adjusted as required.

Finally I epoxy glued each strip into place.

When the glue had dried I planed each of the strips so that they were flush with the adjacent form piece. At the bow the amount of planing required was more significant.

Finally I adjusted each of the forms slightly to bring everything into proper alignment so that it looked reasonably fair along each line. In retrospect this would probably be easier to do before gluing the pieces on but there was enough play in the strips to achieve fairness.

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New home for loft bed plans

2011-03-22T22:15:00.000-03:00

I recently received some great feedback on my original loft bed plans. To make them easier to find and navigate I have created a new, more permanent home, for the updated plans here:
http://www.afloat.ca/p/loft-bed-plans.html

Please reference this new location for the most up to date version of the plans. If you have your own contribution to this page or any other of my posts, please send them to me or add a comment. I really appreciate the feedback!

Also, I appreciate any linking to the plans. Spread the URL around!

Thanks.

--Andrew

Pram build - Step 3 - Assembling bulkheads

2011-03-13T21:32:00.003-03:00

Once the bulkheads are framed the next step is to actually mount them on the building jig. I used 1x4 planking to mount the bulkheads but anything of reasonable size can be used. I cut my planking to 2' but that's actually longer than required. 18" is probably lots for these.

The height of the bulkheads above the building jig isn't on the plans directly but can be derived from them. This took me a little bit of time to figure out initially. To save you the same effort, here are the table of values for these heights. The last column has the values of interest, the others are for reference. All measurements are in inches (and fractions of inches):

Here are the steps:

Install the 1x4 vertical boards at each station. Make sure that they are square to the jig. I offset the boards by 1/4" so that the bulkheads would sit exactly at the station mark.

Next I installed a temporary baseline from end to end of the jig. This was used to validate my measurements against the plan measurements (since they are mostly done in relation to the baseline.) I used a simple piece of string strung between both ends at the baseline height (2' 21/2"). I also used this as a guide for centering the bulkheads as I mounted them.

I then marked on each of the verticals the height for that bulkhead. (using the values above)

I then mounted each of the bulkheads at the measured heights. I hung a plumb line off of the baseline in order to line up the bulkheads.

Since the bulkheads and temporary molds are different sizes it makes the whole thing looked a little wonky when you get them mounted. I checked the overall shape by using a long thin piece of wood and laying it from end to end at various positions on the bulkheads. Everything seems to check out well. I did adjust bulkhead #2 down 1/4" to make sure it was fair.

I'll cut off the extra bits of the vertical pieces once I've got my stringers in place.

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Pram build - Step 3 - Cutout and frame bulkheads

2011-03-10T15:55:00.002-04:00

I won't go into any detail around cutting out of the bulkheads. That's pretty straight forward.

The framing of the bulkheads provides a decision point. There are a few aspects of this that are unclear in the plans and description in the book.

If you look at sheet 1 on the plans, it looks like only the bulkheads have trim around them. This kind of makes sense to me since the other 2 are only forms for the building process. For now I have decided to not frame the #2 and #4 pieces until I see that its required.

The other thing that isn't clear at this point is how the keelson, chine and riser strips connect to the bulkheads. Looking at the bulkhead layout on sheet 1, it kind of looks like the bulkheads are cut out to accommodate the strips. Once I get the bulkheads positions I will explore this some before cutting notches in my nice bulkheads. Inversely, it does not look like the temporary forms are notched in this way. That seems odd that one would be and the other isn't. Time will tell. I'll update this section once I figure out the right answer (or at least an answer that works for me!)

Framing the bulkheads is straight forward. The plans call for 7/8" x 7/8" spruce but I have 1x8 cedar planks available. I ripped these into 1" strips for use. The actual framing was a little finicky because of the odd angles but it worked out fine. Approximately 1 hour to frame the 3 bulkheads.

Rather than epoxy, I used Elmer's Ultimate Glue (Polyurethane) to fasten the framing to the bulkheads. This project is my first experience with using this glue instead of epoxy so we'll see how it goes. The glue gets good reviews and it is certainly cheaper and easier to work with then epoxy.

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Pram Build - Step 2 - Layout bulkhead and form pieces

2011-02-19T20:45:00.001-04:00

Doing the layout of the pram is the part that I was dreading the most. Although the plans seem to have all of the details required, they aren't exactly as easy to digest as plans that you can buy from most of today's designers.

John Gardner gives his drawings in a traditional drafting format. This means that, rather than having all of the dimensions where they would be most useful, they are spread sparingly across all sheets drawings. While I understand the rational of doing it this way, it doesn't make it very easy for actually figuring out what to do.

Sheet 1 (Page 33)

I'm going to describe the steps that I've used to draw out the pieces on wood. If, like me, you aren't very comfortable with his style of plans then this might be helpful. Otherwise, you might want to skip to the next post.

Note: I've labeled each of the 3 sheets (to the left) with numbers to help with my descriptions. On the sheets in his book they aren't numbered.

Sheet 2 (Page 31)

Nesting
John's plans give indications on sheet number 3 on how to nest the pieces on the plywood for the side and bottom pieces. He doesn't do the same for the bulkheads.

A quick look at the table of stations on sheet #2 provides an important bit of information. Four of the bulkheads/forms have half-breadths that are over 2'. Obviously this means that we will have to lay out the bulkheads width wise in the sheet of plywood. I only mention this because I almost started laying them out length-wise...

Sheet 3 (Page 32)

So, here are the steps I took. I'll only put the steps for station #1. The rest will be the same. Note that some of my measurements below will be in the format of x-x-x which represents x feet, x inches and x eights of an inch. All of the station measurements are in this format on the plan.

First I used a chalk line to create a center line 2' 3 1/2" from the edge of the plywood. This is the distance of the longest half-breadth (station 3) as found in the table of stations.
Measure, on the chalk line, from the edge of the plywood up the height to the chine height (4") and draw a parallel line. (This measurement is found on sheet #1)
Measure across the chine-line the chine width.(1-2-5) Repeat on the other side.
Connect the chine to the bottom point on each side.
Measure up the chalk line the distance to the top of the sheer. 1' 3 3/4" (This measurement is found on sheet #1)
Measure across the sheer line the distance of the half-breadth of the sheer. (1-9-2). Repeat on the other side.
Connect the chine to the sheer on both sides.
Mark the line midway across the bulkhead (the distance from the sheer to the top of the bulkhead). In this case 6 3/4" from the sheer.

Station 1 layout

With stations 1, 3 & 5 the bulkheads don't use the entire area of the bottom to sheer. As noted on the drawings on sheet #1. This means that you can overlap each of those stations on the plywood to save on material. It makes the layout look kind of messy but it saves a lot of wood.

In the image above, the top 3rd of the section does not get used but it is required for layout to get the right angles.

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Pram Build - Step 1 - Build the Jig

2011-01-09T15:14:00.001-04:00

Building Jig

Step 1 of the pram build is to set up the building jig for the project. Actually, truth be told, step 1 for me was to clean up my garage/workshop/storage area so that I can fit the project in. They say that cleanliness is next to godliness. If that's the case, my garage is the devils playground.

Anyways, this step is very straight forward as described in Gardner's book. I simply set up two 10 foot long 2x4, on edge on two saw horses, 22 inches apart (on the inside), squared them and secured them together with horizontal 2x4 on the underside. I also fastened them directly to the saw horses to keep them in place during the build.

Time spent (not including 3 hours of cleaning time!): 1/2 hour

I hope it all comes together as quickly as this!

Once the jig was built I marked the station lines on the jig and squared them across both sides.

Stations on building jig

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Recipe: Chickpea "fish" cakes

2011-01-08T18:20:00.004-04:00

Chickpea "fish" cakes

By Andrew Jefferies

These patties are good when placed on sandwiches or by themselves as a substitute for fish cakes. They don't really taste the same at all but that was the concept that I started with. Anyways, here goes:

Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 5 minutes
Total time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

chickpeas rinsed, drained and mashed -1 Can
onion minced - 1/4
red bell pepper minced - 1/4
celery seed - pinch
curry powder - 1/4 tsp
Eggs - 2
mayonnaise - 1 tbsp
Olive oil - as needed for frying

Mix all ingredients together well. Make into patties. Heat oil in pan and fry until golden. It only takes a couple of minutes per side.

I used my patties in a baked sandwich with avocado, thin sliced apple, lots of jalapeño,Havarti cheese and honey mustard. Very tasty.

Published: March 11, 2011

John Gardner - A Plywood Pram

2011-01-08T15:30:00.002-04:00

After losing my Roar2 (still not sure what happened to it) this past fall, I have decided to build a replacement tender. I looked briefly at buying Zodiac style boat but thought that would be a bit of a cop-out.

So, I started looking for a good tender design. I enjoyed Jim Mchalak's Roar2. It was a fun build and it rowed great but it wasn't the best fit as a tender since it was long and a little tipsy. After much searching I've come full circle back to a book that I already own by John Gardner called "Building Classic Small Craft". I really like the look, and ease of building of "A Plywood Pram" (Page 30).

I really like browsing through John Gardner's designs in his book but they really aren't that easy to understand the steps in actually building the boats. (what can you expect when you get 46 plans in a $20 book.) I have a feeling that there will be a fair amount of figuring-out that will be required throughout this build. Rather than everyone having to go through the same figuring-out during their build, I'm going to document the build in a fair amount of detail in the hopes that it will make somebody else's life easier if they take on the same project.

So, grab a copy of the book, and follow along in my build. Hopefully it will get you through your own as well.

Follow all of the associated posts (as I get them written) by browsing the label "pram".

Step 1: Build the jig

Step 2: Layout bulkhead and form pieces

Step 3: Cutout frame and bulkheads

Step 3: Assembling bulkheads

Step 4: Installing chines and keelson

Step 5: Hull pieces and epoxy fun

Step 6: Seats and gunwales

Step 7: Interior finishing

Step 8: Exterior finishing

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