Piccup
and start over again
04
May 03: Yesterday
I was wet and disappointed because the Quark
that I built dumped me in the Erie Canal when I launched
it. Today? Today I started another boat, one I've been
planning to build since sending away for the plans a
few weeks ago.
This
new boat project is the Piccup
Squared, another design by Jim Michalak.
I chose this design over Jim's Piccup design, which
is a multichine version that is assembled with the stitch-and-glue
method, which I am not interested in for aesthetic reasons
and also for pocketbook reasons. Rather than use even
more epoxy, I'm moving toward using more Elmer's
waterproof glue. The multichine
version of the Piccup is said to be better in rough
conditions; I want a boat that I can throw around by
myself; it needs to be of a size to stand on end for
storage in my ever-shrinking garage. I'll use this boat
in sheltered waters, such as behind the breakwaters
on the Buffalo waterfront on Lake Erie or the various
breakwaters on Lake Ontario. My next sailboat will be
a multichine project, but it will be a while, and I
may put a strip-built canoe or kayak ahead of that project.
Love this stuff!
Today
to start the new project I cut a pine 1x4 to 4 feet
in length and used it as a batten to join an 8-foot
piece of 1/4-inch bc pine to another piece just over
3 feet long. The Piccup Squared is 11 feet long and
four feet wide, with pram bow and flotation lockers
in bow and stern. I think it's a pretty boat, and Jim
sez it's a Bolger
Box, which means that the bottom curve
and the side curves are the same. Bolger examples include
the Micro and the Old Shoe, both of which I have the
plans for and like a lot. So now I have a mondo sheet
of plywood. The next step is to draw the side on this
sheet and cut them out. The center piece that will be
left over includes a temporary form that uses the pine
1x4 as its centerline and batten. Clever. I haven't
encountered a Michalak design that takes this time-saving
approach to batten use.
Time
spent so far: 2 hours to go to the home store
for wood and to make the mondo sheet of plywood.
Cost
so far: Four sheets of bc pine, 1/2 inch, at
$46.44; $3.49 for a 1x4x8-foot piece of pine; and the
half gallon of epoxy left over from the Quark project,
at $28; and $6 for a pint of Elmer's glue, for a total
so far of $83.93.
