Keel Questions

The keel on Atkin's Valgerda may be the most controversial element in his design catalog. Yesterday I received an email from Tom in Georgia, who is about to order Valgerda plans, but needs shallower draft than the 18 inches drawn by Atkin. Here's part of my reply:

"I looked at the Atkin keel and decided to go with a little deeper version of what a traditional faering would have. Faerings, according to Atkin's own account, had a 4-inch keel that ran the length of the boat. I deepened that to 6 1/2 inches and included about 100 pounds of ballast. Without any keel at all the boat draws 6 inches, so I figure mine will draw about 12 1/2 inches. It also looks better to my mind than the Atkin keel. No doubt his would go to windward better, but not much better, I'll bet. The decrease in the wetted surface should improve performance under oars and all points of sail other than hard on the wind. That's my justification. For more on my thinking on the keel look at this post http://valgerda.blogspot.com/2009/09/ravns-keel-part-one_19.html and the two that follow it. You can also look at Rick Nardone's excellent build at http://ricksboatshop.blogspot.com/2010/04/closing-in.html and the comments following it.

"I did think about a centerboard, but not for too long. In the second issue of Boat Design Quarterly O'Brian talks about a Valgerda that he rowed and said it was a fine boat "except the builder ruined it by giving it a centerboard." I understand your need for shallow draft, but not having a centerboard opens up the inside of the boat in a wonderful way. I think it weakens the boat to have a centerboard and the board is always a maintenance problem and the case usually ends up leaking. That said, I'd love to see a Valgerda with a centerboard. I bet, with a proper foil, it would go to windward better than the original design. But, I think what we are taking about here is a full redesign.

"If I wanted a boat like Valgerda, but with a centerboard, I think I would build a Ness Yawl. They are beautiful boats and designed with a centerboard and kick-up rudder. Check out the voyage of my friend Giacomo from London to Istanbul in a Ness Yawl http://www.manontheriver.com/."

Rick Nardone and I have discussed this as well. His solution (unless he sells his boat and the new owner wants something different) is to go with a 4-inch deep keel like the original faerings had, but include the lead ballast into the keel. Since Atkin's lines are true to the original faerings it will need some ballast. Workboat designs need additional ballast because they were designed to carry cargo. I much prefer to have my ballast built into the keel than have it loose in the bilge. Having it in the keel means more room in the boat and less danger of loose lead damaging the boat or the crew in a knockdown. Having the lead lower means better righting moment too.

Valgerda's keel was a hot topic on the Wooden Boat Forum. The thread started in January 2001 and went on until late 2005. (http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?t=11679) I'don't think you could go wrong building the keel according to the design. I also think the Vikings knew a thing or two about boats. Whether my solution is a good one or not remains to be seen.

Paint the damn thing!

There are some projects on a boat the will go on for ever if you let them. Such is (was?) the figurehead on my boat. I could not leave it alone! I would walk by the bow of the boat on my way to do something else and grab a carving gouge or my patternmaker's rasp or a scrap of sandpaper and an hour... or two... or three later I would still be at it. I worked like I was in a trance.

There are at least two dangers in this: one is that you don't get anything else done (which happened to me since I was supposed to be building a cradle for my new grandson, Corbin, who came two weeks early) the other is you can get carried away and ruin what you are working on -- a slip of a carving gouge could really have set me back.

I decided today that I would allow my self 30 minutes for some final sanding, then I would paint the damn thing. In the background of this shot you can see the spray paint can containing the primer. Right after I took this picture I finished masking it and primed it. Now I can finally move on to other projects on the boat and finish the cradle.

I missed the first wooden boat show of the season in Depoe Bay so I could go to Washington and see my new grandson. This lets me procrastinate finishing the boat a little longer. I am feeling the pressure to get it done because we are beginning to have some very nice days. Days that would be great for sailing and rowing.

Finishing

Got some finish on the thwarts and combings. I'm trying to make all the mystery mahogany look somewhat coherent.

I had some problem with a batch of epoxy: it did not kick. After three days it was still sticky. Luckily, it wasn't an important joint, just some filler around the base of the figure head. I scraped it all off and mixed another batch, which kicked off like a champ.

Heads and tails

Last weekend I spliced on Ravn's figurehead. I've been putting it off for a couple of reasons. One reason was that I wanted to get the curve of the dragon's neck to flow into the stem. Another concern was just getting a nice-fitting splice so it would be solid. But most of all I was beginning to doubt the wisdom of putting it on at all. A couple of weeks ago I shaped the stern stem and I think it turned out real nice. I simply couldn't go wrong replicating the same shape at the bow.

I guess if you peeled away all the layers of the onion, my real concern was: Would it look goofy? I have no doubt that many will think it does, but I decided I like it. Those who don't, can just go hang.

As I was fairing the neck into the stem I realized that I carved this thing 10 years ago. At the time I had not decided for sure on a design. It's been a long journey.

Furniture

A furniture commission has kept me busy in the shop and slowed progress on the boat. I did manage make time to install the rest of the boat furniture, however. I epoxied in the risers for the rowing thwarts and made the thwarts and the mast bench by March 6 when my oldest son, Ethan, and granddaughter, Maddy, visited. I talked them into the photo above.

Atkin said the original faering from which he drew the plans had removable rowing thwarts. "Our forefathers knew a thing or two about making boats handy," he said, so he retained that feature in his design. I determined early on that I would keep that feature as well on Ravn.

What I discovered is that the thwarts are close enough in size that it's easy to mix them up and get them turned around. My solution to that problem was to use a scratch beader to scratch a single bead in the center thwart and a double bead in the forward thwart. I put them on the forward edge. They looked so good that I decided to scratch beads in the mast bench and the "princess seat" as well. It's a nice touch that serves a practical purpose, but it was another unplanned project that took time away from finishing the boat.

Man on the River

Even though we've never met, I feel a special kinship to Giacomo De Stefano. The two of us have developed an on-line friendship spurred by our mutual love of faerings and faering-inspired boats.

Giacomo lives on a boat in Venice. A few years ago he rowed and sailed up the Po River, Italy's largest river, in a Ness Yawl, a boat similar to the one I'm building. He did it "by using only the resources donated to us during the voyage. Its purpose was to make people aware of this river that is dying, and of how to live in a way that is both light and slow."

Now he is engaged in an even more grand project. This time he will go from London to Istanbul by oar and sail with the goal of zero environmental impact. This new journey will be more than 3,200 miles starting in London, going down the River Thames, along the southeastern coast of England, across the English Channel to Calais, through French canals to the Rhine and then the Danube to the Black Sea and then to Istanbul. Giacomo plans to leave London in April 2010 visiting England, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldavia, Ukraine and Turkey in about six months.

"There will only be the wind and a sail," he says on his Web site. "All of this not for a sporting achievement but to build a new relationship with nature, water and rivers." And, no doubt, the people he will meet him and help him along the way.

Giacomo views himself as more than just an environmentalist. He defines himself as a “new world traveler.” Like an environmental missionary setting out without purse or script, he will use the “gift economy” and rely on the food and other items given to him to complete his journey. He plans to live aboard his open boat, sleeping under a cotton canvas tent and cooking on board with a small stove made from a used beer keg. He will have a small solar panel on board to charge his telephone and radio. His budget for the trip is 0 Euros.

His 19-foot Ness Yawl is under construction now in Italy in a company's waiting room. Upon its completion, he has an arrangement with a shipping company to have the boat sent to London when the courier has room on a regular run to keep his carbon debt as small as he can.

“I wanted to show that it's possible to travel and have a good time, while respecting nature and helping the local economies," Giacomo said in a Watercraft magazine article. "In 1999, I began to study the way mass tourism is destroying many parts of the planet. There must be a way, I told myself, to travel like Bruce Chatwin, Henry David Thoreau and other interesting people did in the past; a way to move without polluting too much. It's possible to have wonderful holidays, travelling slowly by bicycle, on foot and by boat, meeting people, tasting the local food and following the local customs.”

Giacomo is a great inspiration to me. I think of journeys I can take in Ravn that will build a new relationship with nature and the ocean and inspire me and others. More immediately, Giacomo's pending adventure and his encouragement of my building project has helped me recently as my family experienced some heart ache and as I faced some difficult tasks building Ravn.

Giacomo figures it will take him about a million oar strokes to complete his journey. I wish I could join him for all, or at least part, of that. My thoughts will go out to him each mile of his quest.

The Princess Seat

I can think of few things more enjoyable than spending time on the water while rowing face to face with your sweetheart. Rowing face to face with a good friend is a close second. The joy of being in nature, the seclusion of being on a boat together and the inescapable seating arrangement is bound to provoke intimate conversation and closeness. With that in mind, I paid special attention to the design and execution of Ravn's stern seat. I wanted it to be comfortable and inviting with a nice backrest and plenty of style.

In my previous boat, a Chamberlain dory, I added a carved backrest to the stern seat. It was one of the best projects I ever did on that boat. It improved the comfort a great deal and provided some handy storage behind it. A pair of carved dragon heads gave it a throne-like quality and my wife soon dubbed it "the princess seat." (See A Small Swampscott, Sept. 5, 2009 post for a photo.)

I'm happy with how Ravn's princess seat turned out. Today I spent several hours inside the boat sanding and scraping. I took a couple of breaks lounging on the princess seat. It proved to be very comfortable and secure. As I ran my hand over the curved surfaces of the backrest and reclined against the starboard rail, my mind drifted to a time in the not-too-distant future when Ravn will come alive in the water carrying a cargo of conversation.