|
The Great Nymph Challenge! My daughter (10 years old) and I are building a Rubens Nymph in a reasonably short time. And according to Dynamite, we should never be in a hurry, so we promise not to be. In any case, I thought you might like to check back now and again and see if we make the deadline, which is August 5. That's August 5, 1999. Yes, this is July 5, 1999. I work most days (not on boats) and I'll be away for two weeks on vacation out of the four. So this is a respectable challenge. I'll post updates whenever I get anything major done. Wish us luck! [Update October 2: Fat chance....We didn't make it of course, but we did build the hull in under 50 work hours, and had a great time! Full account below:] |
July 5, early evening. |
|
Day two: Frames drawn and cut up. It is easy to project the patterns on to the plywood using the plans, and an architect's scale rule. We haven't perspired yet.... |
July 6, 9PM |
|
Day three... Drawing and cutting out the sides not a problem. Still no perspiration ... |
July 8 PM |
|
Day four ... Here are all the pieces cut out. That went very easily! (The garage is actually very neat. I cluttered a few things around so viewers with hopeless garages wouldn't feel intimidated :) |
July 11 evening |
|
Day five ... You have to click (expand) this one to see it better. This is clearly the tough part. I see why Jim Evans calls it "tortured ply..." It's hard to twist the plywood and hold it in place long enough to nail it. Sample dialogue:
I'll put in more nail blocks (and I'm tempted to use drywall screws...) next good work day. So far, each work session has been an hour or two after work. Hoping to get a whole day or two before deadline. We're off for two weeks now, so take a break! |
July 12 evening |
|
July 30 Another 2 hour session (can't seem to get a whole day to work!) Using Drywall screws and blocks, we've got the sides and bottom onto the frames. Hooray! |
July 30, evening |
|
July 31, Another short session. We fixed the bilge panels down and drew the lines underneath for the final cuts to shape. |
July 31, evening |
|
August 1, Another spare hour. Bilge panels reshaped, cut and fastened into place. Masking tape applied to block leakage of fiberglass goop, and also to hold her together for glassing! |
August 1, evening |
|
We've had some re entry problems, but have begun to glass the inside seams. We've slipped our earlier deadline of August 5, but not to worry. As far as "labor time spent" we are still on a roll. Most work sessions have been one hour so far. Our final ultimate deadline is Saturday, August 22, and it is touch and go. Stay tuned! |
August 8 |
|
Taping the inside seams is done. (I don't really like fiberglassing; I hope that doesn't shock anyone...) |
August 10 |
|
August 13. Great progress, and we're back to reporting in something like real time. In this shot, the outside seams are taped, and the whole exterior hull is covered with resin in preparation for the glass cloth. Yesterday (no photo) I ground down the hull to prepare for this. It's nice to see the smooth edges take shape. These two days are the first sessions that went two hours or so. |
August 13 |
|
August 17. We ran into a problem with drying resin. I had mixed a batch using Harold's advice of 1/2 teaspoon hardener for 1/2 pint of resin. It was a pretty warm day and the resin kicked in its container. I put in a little less hardener next time and .... we lost a couple of days until it set up. It's clear we aren't going to make the deadline, but we'll have the thing done before long, and we're having a great time! I am reminded of something Harold said to me last year, when I first came to him for plans for the Nymph. He recommended the Teal instead, explaining that it was faster and easier because it didn't have the additional step of fiberglassing. I went for the Teal, and it was done by August. Right about now I am thinking if we'd built the Elegant Punt this year, we'd be finished already. |
August 17 |
|
August 20. Putting on the gunwales. Structurally, this is one of the last items. Grace is holding a maul to back the nails I am pounding in. How many C-clamps does it take....? The instant gunwales take quite a bit of bending on the short boats like this, though on longer ones like Windsprint and Zephyr, they are much easier. |
August 20 |
|
We're back at it. We had a talk in August and decided to just swim and play the last few days of summer instead of missing it trying to rush the boat. Now school has started and we're taking it easy and finishing up in the evenings. We had a period of muggy weather and the resin based sealer (from Harold's recipe) just wouldn't dry completely in the high humidity. We had to let the boat sit up for four days at least. "Is it still sticky, Dad?" Yep, still sticky..." Finally the weather changed and it dried in an hour or two. Here we're putting on the mast partner. The clamps are for the strengthening strips. (Pay no attention to the second hole for the mast in the wrong place...optical illusion...:) the very last construction step..... I thought..... |
September 4 |
|
September 8 We were all set to paint and I realized I had forgotten the leeboard cleats. We had to seal them after installation so we lost another day on an hour's work! |
September 8 |
|
September 11 Finally painting! |
September 11 |
|
September 12 You must stay with this until you see the chosen color scheme. (Hint: it's not white....) |
September 12 |
|
Here she is! The leeboard still gets a color (not white, not purple), and we haven't put her in the water yet, but we're pretty prowd of ourselves! (About 50 hours work, all told, but we really took it easy.) That's the Teal's sail on her. |
September 25 |
|
We launch this weekend, if the weather holds. She'll be running this rig, off an old cold-molded dingy my friend Stu Deihl put to rest this year.
Drum roll, please..... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Two days later, it snowed!... |
|
|
