15 July, '07

I was up on the port side deck of Charlie’s Sundowner last week. He handed up a glue spread sheet of ply and we lined it up ready to screw it to the first layer of ply that makes up the laminated plywood cabin top. It’s a landmark sort of time in the building of the boat when that is completed, the cabin feels cozy and secure, the view from the cockpit is over the smooth curve of the cabin top to the foredeck and one can almost see the dark green background of the mountains in behind the gleaming white beach and swaying palms as the little boat rolls down the tradewind swells. Sigh!

I like sitting in that cockpit, and was very pleased to be able to take a prospective Sundowner builder up there and sit him comfortably in the deep and sheltered cockpit while he looked around eyes wide at the amount of space and comfort in this little cruiser, only about 2 ft longer and a foot wider than his own trailerable yacht. He climbed around down below, asking why and how about key features, moving about to get a feel for the space and I can imagine that he will be seeing the same sort of images of cruising destinations in his minds eye that I do when sitting in there looking out with unfocused eyes and wandering mind.

She’s coming along. Charlie is busy making the patterns that will go off to the foundry to be pressed into the sand making the moulds into which the molten bronze will be poured making the rough pieces that after a lot of filing, drilling and grinding will become finished fittings ready for the boat.

Around the cockpit area he has completed the quarterdeck and the area around the stern end of the cockpit. There are two mini sampson posts there. We have jokingly called them “Delilah posts“ as we have a bigger Sampson post up in the bow and we have all three so well braced that any one of them could support the entire weight of the boat. These after ones are not only there to provide tie up points for the mooring lines but they have to cope with the stresses of lying to a parachute anchor in a serious storm, or dragging warps so they need to be tough. More Kwila, one of the strongest of woods, and able to cope with harsh environments without paint or varnish to protect it.

That quarterdeck has a hard point built in that will be drilled and fitted with a hardwood pad that will mount a vice when needed. It’s at the right height to be able to attack a metal bar with a hacksaw, to spice a piece of wire rope or to hold a piece while shaping it with a file or chisel. A good workshop should have a vice, solidly mounted and accessible and a small boat that is going to be going where Charlie is planning to take Resolution really needs a good workshop. It’s a long way to go to find someone who can fix it for you so it’s all DIY and the cockpit will be a maintenance center, a woodworking shop, a rigging shop and an engineering works as well. So, a vice, a hardwood pad where things can be hit with big hammers, where the skipper can swing a spanner or big wrench, or chop with a chisel, is not only useful, it’s essential.

Much of this boat is two layers of wood laminated, the hull itself, cabin sides, cabin top, decks and quarterdeck are all done this way. As each part of the boat gets fitted and glued up she gets more and more rigid. Now that the “lid” is on she feels incredibly strong, reassuringly so and it’s a feeling that’s very comforting when the immensity of the planned voyage is considered. Hey, it’s big water out there and deep in the Southern Ocean, about half way from New Zealand to Cape Horn is the spot which is the most distant from land that it’s possible to get on this planet.

I think I prefer the coconut palms.

John Welsford
Designer

Photos by Charlie Whipple