Plan boat

Now that I have finish paint on the fore deck, I had a few bits I could wrap up and get them off of ye ole list.

The first item to wrap up was the door on the pulpit. This is one of those items I have to give an old WTF was I thinking when I designed this. The door part is OK as this will make a nice place to store anchor lines, dock lines and even a shore power cord. The WTF thing comes for why I put all those bolt holes in the door. All I needed was one bolt that I could use a large wing type bolt to hold the door fast. Im thinking I was planning on storing air in this locker, and maybe I was afraid the air thieves were going to stop by and get some of the old O2 I was keeping safely behind door number one. ??? I also had someone ask about the notch in the side of the pulpit for my air hose connection and my wash down hose connection. Heres a better picture of the notch I created in the side of the pulpit. I need to find nice looking flush, black plastic caps I can silicone in to fill all those bolt holes. The pulpit is framed out of 1 1/2" stainless pipe, and stainless plate was used for sheathing. Everything on the pulpit is stainless steel, so when I dont have to worry about rust from chipping paint while we handle the anchoring gear. I notched the bottom of the frame so I could easily hose out under the pulpit and make it easy to maintain. I had originally set this up for a chain windlass and I was afraid that water could get down into the pulpit via the chain hawser. The handle for the door is 1" stainless bar that I bent, and also doubles the step to get up on the pulpit. The door is hinged with fixed pins that I fabricated on the lathe so the door opens 180 degrees. I might need to add some gasket material to the door in case it vibrates or rattles... well see about that. I wrapped the handrail around the pulpit to help keep anyone on board when the need arises to to climb out on the pulpit and deal with something.

The other item I was able to finish was installing the guest cabin hatch. Early in the build, I had planned on making my own hatch. After I had the wood work finished in the guest cabin, I decided to use a commercially made hatch. Instead of re doing the hatch coaming, I modified it a bit and bought a Lewmar Ocean Hatch. I like the hatch, and it seems to be well made and robust enough for what I intend to do. Theres really not much I dont like about the hatch. It dogs down tight and compresses the gasket, it has adjustable tension on the hinges to hold it open in any position one would want, its lockable, and it opens from the outside as long as it is not locked. Im glad I did not try to fabricate this hatch.

The third item I have completed are the vents for the guest cabin. These vents are what I would call a dorade style vent. Because of the Portuguese bridge, and the high bulwarks, it made no sense to have the vents on the deck. To get the vents up where the air is going to be moving, I welded six inch pipes to allow the vents to be higher. The dorade end of this contraption is some boxes I fabricated out of stainless, and that I can bolt to the pipe/bracket/pad I welded to the deck and Portuguese bridge. The basic layout of this box is that the air enters the vent, and goes travels down the six inch pipe into the cabin. I welded a bulkhead in the frame to stop water from getting down the six inch pipe. I also held the pipe proud high of the frame as another damn to discourage water from getting in the boat. If things get real ugly, the cowl vents can be quickly unscrewed from the box and water tight deck plates then screw in. On the bottom of the box, below the cowl vent intake, I drilled a one inch hole in the bottom of the bracket. This hole is to allow water to drain out. To stop wasps from nesting in the box, I glued a piece of screen over the hole using some clear silicone caulk. Another reason I held the pipe proud high of the bracket, was so that I could use some hose clamps to secure more screen over the pipes to keep the bugs out of the cabin. I want to make sure that I can keep air flowing in and out of the boat while we are away from it while keeping it secure and weather tight. It also goes without saying that the more passive ventilation there is on board, will make the boat a happy place to be. When were under way, the Lewmar hatch will be closed and the Dorade vents will be supplying air to the guest cabin. Im not a 100% happy with the way I came up with ventilating the boat in this particular area, and I wish the designer would have offered a design for this. I think its good that the cowls are up high where the air can actually get to them, but Im not 100% keen on how I did it. I think in terms of being hatefull to look at , the pipes are not too hatefull, but it could have been better. I was going to make the intakes integral with the Portuguese bridge, but this conflicted with the interior layout of the guest cabin. An integral intake would have also been difficult to fabricate, and would have been more difficult to paint. The Dorade boxes are held in place with four bolts, and are very easy to remove for future maintenance. The dorade boxes are also maid of stainless steel. All in all, I think the pipes work good, but Im just "OK" with how they look. One thing I can say is this design is extremely robust, and in a worse case scenario, I have another place to tie the boat off from. Im thinking after I launch, the pipes might be a good location to weld a bit too, and hang dock lines off of. I had a fan blowing on me while I was working on the installing the cowl vents. Once I was finished, I left the fan blowing, and went in to the cabin to see how much air was making it in. I was pleasantly surprised by how much flow was entering the cabin. It looks like the design will work. I think Im going to re paint the cowls, and make the inside the same green as the hull. I took a picture of the cowls looking at them from the wheel house so you could see a little more clear how I wanted them above the structures to get air flowing.

Im going to keep working aft, and knocking off these easy to complete finishing jobs. This work probably goes five times as quick while the boat is in the barn and all the comfort tools are handy. All this work needs to be done anyway to have her weather tight for THE TRIP TO THE LAUNCH SITE. Next item to finish is the Portuguese bridge wooden cap, hang the Portuguese bridge door, and install the waster fill ports, and the gray water pump out port.

Cheers

One of my future goals is to do The Great Loop Cruise.Youre probably asking," What is this Great Loop Cruise?" Thats a great question and one I enjoy discussing.The Great Loop Cruise,is simple a navigable loop that encompasses the eastern US and Canada with many interesting points in between.Many people dont know about this watery loop that has mostly existed since our country was founded.The following pic is from Captain Johns Website. I will be referencing his site, and giving credit to his site, for my first peak into the Great Loop cruisers world.



According to Captain Johns website,there are roughly 24,000 miles of water ways to be explored.Thats more area than a person can reasonably cover in a life time.My plan is to visit a few chosen places while taking in what I can.I would like to make the US loop in 12 to 14 months.If I can add in the Canadian loop,Id like to extend my time to 16 to 18 months.

Im not really fond of marina life.I am sort of a recluse.Its not that I dont like people.I just enjoy more face to face time with a few people.The hustle and bustle isnt for me.So I would be gunkholing a lot and fishing some.

Oh wait,you dont know what gunkholing is?Oh how wonderful this is.A lot of boat owners do this and dont know the "boaty" term for it.Gunkholing is simply cruising shallow water areas,usually in coves,and camping out,or over nighting.Wiki has a pretty good gunkholing definition.

Ok,back to the Great Loop.To do this, and keep cost as low as possible,I will be gunkholing instead of docking at marinas all the time.Most marinas have dinghy docks that are free.So Ill be anchoring, or dropping the hook, in a secluded cove and taking the dingy to port as much as possible.

There are many adventures to be had as The Great Loop passes through sooo many places,both large and small.If New York City isnt your thing, there are smaller cruiser friendly cities such as Oriental North Carolina.If you can imagine it,its probably somewhere around the Great Loop.I would say that most of the Great Loop is accessible by vehicle,if you would like to visit some areas before cruising there.Another interesting feature of the Great Loop are the historic sites.Remember US history and our country be founded by people come and going by water.Well there are a good number of historical sights around the Great Loop that offer lots of interesting entertainment.

So here we are on a boat and YIKES! We need to resupply.How will it be done?That dingy we carry can ferry people and provisions.I know youre thinking,but how will you get the freshly procured provisions back to port, to be ferried to the boat?Well,I walk a lot and I can walk far.A 10 mile loop around town getting provisions, with stops along the way, isnt a big deal.I do have other options.I love those crazy things that kids no longer partake in.What are they called?Oh yeah,bicycles.I own many and will own many more.Bicycle trailers have become cheap and quite large.One I was looking at was almost the size of a compact car trunk with a 180lb load capacity.The admiral, aka wife, and I can potentially haul 360lbs of provisions back to the boat.Think about it.360 pounds of groceries,paper products,and bath supplies.Plus the bicycles are easier to pedal than walking, while pulling a cart, that maybe capable of hauling 50 to 80 pounds of supplies.

Now that were ready to go,how shall we do it?Which way to go?Most do the Great Loop counter clockwise,or anti clockwise for those that may not use the US terminology.Im in South Carolina,so I would start by heading north up the coast around the first of April.I would like to land in the upper New England area around late June to early July.If it works out this way,I could spend July and August cruising the Canadian Loop.The end of August and September would be spent cruising the Great lakes and getting ready to make the run down the Tombigbee to the lower Mississippi River.Late fall should be the time to work my way back south to the Gulf of Mexico.This way I can spend the cold winter in warmer waters while working my way around Florida and back up the coast to home.

I guess I should have mentioned the Intracoastal waterway or ICW often referred to as the ditch.This is mostly a natural route protected from the Atlantic Ocean.Think of it as a highway for boats from Florida to New England.Its the chosen route for boating snowbirds heading south for the winter.

Believe it or not,there is an association for the madness.Its called Americas Great Loop Cruisers Association.Its better know as the AGLCA.I highly recommend joining the AGLCA.There is a wealth of knowledge there that can help with trip and route planning.People that are inexperienced at operating a boat, or being in big water, can usually connect with, and travel with a group doing the Great Loop.At any time,you can break away from the group without drama.

In any event,thats my dream and the goal that I am working toward.I plan to build the boat that I will cruise the Great Loop aboard.Health and finances willing,I will spend the end of my life cruising the Great Loop.

The Antilla 6.6 is a fiberglass production yacht that was built in Finland by AA Boats and introduced in 1971. It is a 1/2 tonner based on a previously built one-off. Its a great looking little boat.

Here are the plans.

Another early start on a promising winters morning. The temperature was a lot milder today at 4*C and a forecast of 3 to 4.