June 3, 2001
More than a year after the start of construction, my Brick "Li'l Spud" was
launched in Wigwam Bay on the southwestern shore of Lake Mille Lacs near
Garrison, Minnesota, USA
The water stayed on the outside, the people stayed on the inside (much to
the disappointment of the spectators), and when the wind blew Li'l Spud
moved!
There are still a few minor details to work out but all in all it was a
success.
See more launch pictures here.
See below for the construction diary.
May 6, 2000
Purchase the materials.
- 4 1"x3"x8'
- 8 1"x2"x8'
- 2 sheets 1/4" luaun plywood
- 2 sheets 3/8" BC pine plywood
- 6 tubes of Liquid Nails construction adhesive
- 4 pkgs of nails
- 1 pkg of wood screws
Total cost: about $75
May 7, 2000
Mark up, cut out, and start attaching framing.
May 20/21, 2000
More work on the framing.
Bought tarp and grommet set to make the sail.
Cost: $23.15
June 24/25, 2000
The sides, transoms, and knees with framing glued and nailed in place.
The leeboard and rudder halves ready to be laminated.
The sides and transoms aligned and held with wood screws (No glue yet),
with my father-in-law looking things over.
Now the sides and transoms are glued and screwed. The bottom is held with
screws only.
July 5, 2000
Everything is glued, screwed, and nailed in place.
The leeboard brackets are attached.
The knees are attached.
The mast step is attached.
I have to install the bottom battens, yet.
The hull is almost ready for paint.
Closeup of the mast partner and mast step.
Someone was watching over me the day I built the mast step.
I had measured everything out, marked it up, and was getting ready to drill
several holes through the hull. The batteries in the cordless
drill I was using chose that exact moment to die. While I was waiting
to recharge, I took a few minutes to look things over. I looked at the plans.
I looked at the boat. I looked at the marks on the side of the boat.
I looked at the plans again.
I re-measured the marks on the side of the boat.
"Oh, $#!+", quoth I.
I had managed to completely screw up the locations for the mast step
mounting holes.
A few more triple-checked measurements, some new marks,
and a little tweaking of the shape of the mast step, and all was made right.
"I cut it off twice, and its STILL too short"
July 29/30, 2000
I fabricated and attached the bottom battens on saturday.
Each one is laminated from 4 pieces of 1/4" luaun plywood
1 1/2" wide by 8' long.
I also laminated the leeboard and rudder. I dont know how they're going to
turn out. The pieces used for the lamination were warped. I weighted them down
with all of the sandbags and cement blocks I could round up.
One coat of primer went on the inside of the hull. The glue in the bottom
battens needed overnight to cure before they were painted over.
On Sunday I finished 1 full coat of primer over the entire hull and started on
a second coat.
The rudder and leeboard don't look very good. They are warped.
I blocked them up and put weights on them to try to un-warp them. We'll see how they look in a week or so.
Aug 5/6, 2000
Weather was grey and threatening rain all day saturday. No progess.
The sun came out sunday and let me finish the second full coat of primer on
the hull.
The leeboard and rudder look straighter after sitting under weights for a week.
Only time will tell if it actually helped, or if they'll return to their
original shape.
No new pictures, yet. The hull looks pretty much like it did in the last set,
only its WHITE now.
Sep 30/Oct 1
The leeboard and rudder are still straight!
The hull now has 2 coats of latex house paint on the outside.
My father-in-law aquired a 16' spruce pole for me to use as a mast. I made a
sail from blue polytarp. A 10' length of 1 1/4" pvc tubing is my boom.
Two more lengths of pvc and some plywood created a pair of oars.
The rudder hangs from some screw eyes with a 1/4" steel rod as the hinge pin.
Lawn sailing, anyone?
My first mate in training
To Do yet
- Go sailing
- Figure out a cartop arrangement for my vehicle (in progress)
- Go sailing
- Build a kickup rudder
- Go sailing
Credits