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Back to the Goose The Depoe Bay Boat Show is rapidly approaching, and that's when we want to do the first public display of the Goose. Our little Tik Tak build was a short distraction, now it's time to get back to work.
I got to the Boathouse a little early, and there was a pair of moppets peeking through the windows. Dave was there to open the doors and they slipped inside before I could snap a picture. I think if you look closely, you can see a foot disappearing over the threshold.
Hannah and Sam. Sam pops in every once in a while, usually at the boat shows.
They started out in the newly renovated Bea. Learning to paddle is always more fun with more people in the boat.
Once the kids were occupied, it was time for me to turn to. The noses of the Tik Taks weren't perfect - we had to do some adjustment during construction. This is most likely due to me not making sure the bits that go on the sides were not exactly 2x the width as the bits that go on the ends. Some of the ends came out OK. Go figure.
Too much error to fill with glue. I used my Japanese Pull Saw from Duckworks to make a nice, clean cut. If you don't have one of these, you should - they are great.
There was still some deviations in the end, so I filled it with PL Premium and slapped some packing tape over it. The packing tape will help push the PL Premium into cracks as the glue expands while curing.
Speaking of expanding, it was time to scrape off the excess from the sides and do a little cosmetic work.
The hard corners take a beating, so I rounded them off a bit - first with a 1/4" roundover bit. then a sander.
The corners on the ends take a beating, too. I rounded them a little more aggressively with a 4" angle grinder (best woodworking tool there is.)
Kids were back, complaining the canoe was too hard to paddle - the other person was always doing it wrong. I put them in a Tik Tak Too (12' version) and sent them out again.
Here they are doing speed tests. They were no more successful in controlling the Tik Tak than they were in controlling the canoe.
Dave was back, in his garb for a Pirates of Penance showing. He looks very pirate-y, if you ask me.
Paint paint paint. Fill in the screw heads with paint.
NOW I can work on the Goose. I wanted to get the rudder squared away. This will be a kick-up rudder because I am a terrible navigator and am prone to running aground. The rudder is laminated 1x material - 3/4" thick. The gap between the cheeks is a little less than 1", so the rudder can swing freely, and the cheeks are 1/4" thick. I am using these fantastic pintles and gudgeons from Duckworks, and they will fit the rudderhead perfectly. Man, those are heavy duty.
Here's my tiller - laminated from strips of Alowood (because I like the color.) It will rotate, pivoting on a bolt about where the clamp is on the rudderhead. This was my dryfit test.
There's my glue up. You can never have too many clamps. Note I covered the rudderhead in wax paper so it won't be glued to the tiller - that's an important step.
Now, on to the Goose. I could fiddle around with it endlessly, or I could get it finished. I decided I'd better get it finished. I taped over all gluing surfaces. The bottom, decks, and seat tops will be "bright," everything else will be Clipper Ship Blue.
We have a visitor! Mike came down from Astoria, so I put him to work, painting the unpainted bits on the Tik Taks. You might remember Mike from when he visited our armada on the Columbia 150-ish in 2013.
Oh, my! That's a blue boat. Glidden Porch and Floor (tintable - this link goes to Steel Gray - all I could find today) tinted to Clipper Ship Blue.
That was enough for today - Mike helped me wrangle the boats in for the night.
It spit rain and wind all night, but most of the boats were safe and sound the next morning. I say "most" because the Tik Tak Too got blown into the water and floated upside down until she was found later this day.
Here's another problem with boats on the Oregon coast: As good as boats are at keeping water out, they are much better at keeping water in. Always turn 'em over - if you can.
So here's the tiller after removal. I sanded it down, ran the edges through a 3/8 roundover on the router, and got it ready for epoxy coating.
Here is one reason of use Tik Tak Kayaks in a boathouse: The stack away nicely, either on their side or one on top the other.
I was having trouble sanding runs on the rudderhead - the epoxy was still slightly gooey and was turning black under the sander. I tried something I'd only read about: Heating epoxy with a heat gun and scraping it off. It worked a treat.
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Mike came by, and I wanted him to fall in love with the Depot Slough, so I sent him out in the Yaquina Skin on Frame canoe.
While Mike was off paddling, I turned to the long neglected spars. It was time to sand off the bumps and get them ready for varnish.
Geoff showed up right on time and started fitting the seat tops. Seat tops are the last bit of the hull, once we get them done, we have a boat.
I found this laying on the floor. It looks pretty important, but I don't know where it goes. I put it in the cabinet in case I find a piece of equipment that doesn't work for lack of a spring-thingy catch. That's the extent of CSI: Boathouse.
Mike got back - having had a wonderful paddle to the tide gates, and took to sanding the fiddy bits.
About now, I was alerted to the Tik Tak Too floating upside down, trapped by the dock. I'd learned her upper decks were separating before, and tried to glue them back together, but it hadn't taken. It was time for something else.
The wood was soaking wet, but that's fine as PL Premium is activated by moisture. I am really not using it for it's adhesive properties here, more of it's gap-filling properties.
For adhesion, I am going with screws. The Tik Tak Too is a little heavier than a Tik Tak Ten-ish, and the deck around the cockpit is a little wider. This creates a longer lever arm pulling more weight, so trying to hold the deck to the side with a simple glue join just ain't cutting it. Mechanical fasteners be needed.
Work work work. Geoff fiddling with the seat tops while Mike sands.
Time to start varnishing. Here's some Spar Varnish from last year - is it supposed to look like creamy mashed potatoes? I don't think so. I tried stirring it up - no good. Off to the store for a quart of ACE Spar Varnish. A quart? Isn't that more expensive? Quarts are $17 ea, a gallon is $45, but what good is a gallon if you only use a quart?
Beautiful, man. That's the tiller, way over on the left. Why so long? Well, you want to sit in the middle of a Goose (or any small sailboat) so you need a long tiller. I can always cut it down - but they are tough to grow.
OK, here's the Goose, the Pride of Toledo, all I need you to imagine is the horizontal surfaces being a bright, gleaming, varnished wood with these wonderful, bright blue sides. Damn, she's a looker.
Don't forget all the foils will be varnish, too
As well as the spars. A thing of beauty is a joy forever. That's it for this week at the Boathouse. Join us next week when we attach the seats tops and decks and start getting her ready to sail.
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