Companion way

I still had one more major wood working job left on the lower hull that Ive been blowing off for a few months now, and that was finishing the companion way from the salon to the cabins below. In order to get the 12,000 BTU air conditioner installed along with the associated wiring, I had to get the companion way ( stair way) completed.

This is another busy area of the boat. The DC electric passes from the engine room to the helm via conduit and a junction box in the companion way. This includes the 2/0 cables from the battery bank, the main engine and generator wiring harnesss, the bilge pumps controls, high water alarms controls and whatever other DC wires I can conjure up. I installed six one inch conduits, two 3/4" conduits, and some 1/2" conduits from this junction box to the helm in this tight space.

The 12,000 BTU air conditioner will also reside in the companion way underneath the stairs. This 12000 BTU air conditioner is keel cooled and will be for the sleeping cabins only. Another marine air conditioner is in the lazarette, and will service the wheel house and salon. The stairs you see in these pictures are plywood stairs that Im using for construction. The final stairs will be made from Cherry, and will be closed stringers and risers ( with ventilation). The important part of the stairs you see in these pictures, and along with the final stairs, is that the stairs are hinged for quickly gaining access underneath the stair case. The hinging of the stairs is another one of the things I got right on the build and have proven to be fantastic in regard to getting things done quickly in this area. Along with the air conditioner, the ducts for the forward cabins will rise from the air conditioner via the companion way cabinet on its way to the utility chase that is framed between the ceiling the the hull liner.

The vent and fill manifold for the starboard water tanks are also accessed from behind the companion way cabinets via access panels.

The overboard clothes washing machine discharge piping along with the half bath sink above, and the sump discharge for the air conditioner leave the boat from this area. Just to make things complete, I installed two spare one inch above the water discharge points, and one more 1 1/2" above the water discharge point in this area. All of this is accessed from either underneath the stairs, or from inside the companion way cabinet.

Once you come down the companion way stairs, you land in the area where you either continue straight to the kids cabins dressing room, or you turn left to enter the master cabin. Since the outboard area of this landing was not much use, I decided to add shelves go get more storage. The shelves are fixed and have fiddles fixed to them. I have a vision of these shelves being used for can goods, but time will tell just how they evolve. I know they will need another bar going across the opening to hold things in place, but Ill wait on building that until I see what everyone wants to use them for.

The cabinet on the outboard side of the companion way came about as a way to hide the junction box and air conditioning duct work. I created two shelves in this cabinet plus sunk the bottom of the cabinet to allow storage of large bulky items. This will be a large item cabinet. Because of the hinge stairs, and wanting to keep the stair case width, I built these doors as a flush style vs the overlay style Ive built on the rest of the boat. The flush style is more challenging to build as the door must be fit in to the opening and all the reveals need to be consistent for the door to look good. Since the humidity has been high here lately, I gave these doors a 1/6" reveal. The doors are frame and panel construction using Cherry wood. When all is said and done, and the final stairs are installed, I want no more than a 3/8" gap between the hinged stairs and the companion way cabinet and opposing wall. This is why I went with the flush door method, and is also why Ill have to use drilled finger pulls ( holes ) to open the cabinet doors. I want this area to be easy to navigate down with no snags or things to bump against. I paid particular attention, using a plumb bob and good layout, to make sure these cabinets were square and plumb with the bulkhead that the steps will be hinged to. It is important to me that the steps swing up smoothly and do not rub the cabinets and wall given the tight gaps I want to hold on the casework.

I have two coats of satin urethane on everything so things should be protected for the rest of the build. I can now install the keel cooled air conditioner and check another item off of the list. This was a fairly large wood working job, and I have over a week in getting it completed. The last wood working projects for the lower hull are building of the passage doors and building the finish stairs for the companion way.

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Calculating displacement the old fashioned way

I like to draw on paper and create my designs the way the old masters have done it for centurys .

To me a pencil in your hand on a nice sheet of blank paper holds all the promise of the possibilitys of a clear vision. Today most all boats are created on a computer screen. This is ,with a clear vision the best way to go as the computers calculator does a lot of the math for you in a nano second. If you draw in an ugly skiff that is what it will spit out , but the numbers will be perfect dilineating your ugly skiffs proportions. It will not cough a bit and blink on and off trying to let you know that its all wrong.

Same thing on paper so you have to have your vision in your head in advance. Either way you need to start drawing or moving the mouse about till you get your skiff fleshed out. From here you can start adding up the numbers. I use an $ 8.00 solar pocket calculator to help me do the math. This I have done for all my designs.

I will say it here again before you start this process you need to have your weight list , your target draft number, and what you think your hull will weigh when built. A bunch of the current skiffs being created to day are just winging it by taking an existing proven design and changing it a bit so as to not get sued , and adding a few different details to hopefully improve on these past designs.

I am all for improving on past ideas, this is how things evolve . But I think its pretty silly when these new skiffs on the block are claiming to have reinvented the flats world with the best design ever when its so obvious where their vision came from.

What they should be advertising and explaining is what makes their skiff so special. The new details, things they feel they have improved and why its so much cheaper in price. Could be theyre nice guys and are passing on the savings to you or the skiff is just plain cheaper.

This is how  I calculate my designs by adding up the cubic inches in between each station section. 

You can figure the displacement out on an existing skiff by taking the lines off from the outside of the hull and then drawing up the skiff . From here you can then add up the numbers and from these you can then decide on what changes you will be adding or subtracting. This is worth your time as it gives you a good idea of where your skiff will float. It will not give you any idea on how your new design will perform but thats in your vision so hope for the best. I have all my past designs on paper with all the knowledge of what worked and what could be improved on. This gives me a very good idea of what Iam going to do next. When you are just copying and splashing others designs you are relying on your guesses of putty thickness and what you think will improve this skiff. I have done this several times in my career but I have done the math before hand so as to get a good idea of whats going to happen.

I encourage all of you out there to use my past designs as a reference . Iam looking forward to seeing the new skiff ideas.

What the ..... Look at all the station sections.

All assembled . You just trace around this shape very carfully to get the profile . Mark in each station section .

Here is a cut out station half section in three- D. The full half section you have to add up the cubic inches, then you go to the profile and work the numbers back. What you really do is just figure up one half and then just multiply by two. The black part on the wood block is what you are trying to calculate as close as possible. This is not hard. Once the whole boat is added up then you just divide 1728 by the numbers and that will give you your cubic feet. Then multiply by 64 lbs if going into sea water. This will give you your displacement , and hence your hull weight. 

Now if its not enough to get to your desired draft then there are several ways to add or subtract to get too your design goals. By placing the hull skin on the inside of the lines you can subtract or by putting it out on the outside of the lines drawings you can add significant flotation. But making the boat wider adds a small amount as its just a sliver. At this point you can then start thinking about what to change . This I do on paper several times before I get to making my half hull. When Iam at the half hull stage I pretty much know whats up . Once the half hull is made I can then see it in three dimensions. Of course on computers today this can be done in a split second but feeling up the screen to caress your new creation is not so much fun.

I do all my designs at the scale of 11/2"=1 . This means that when gluing up 3/4" spruce planking each plank represents 6" of depth. The glue lines are what are called waterlines. This method of getting out a hull shape has been done for some of most beautiful boats ever created. Its also very easy to use this scale when lofting and building your design as you can read everything right off your tape measure . Nice big numbers. Using the metric system is way more accurate and easy to use but try getting Americans to change over. Sheesh.

Have fun...and any questions just email me....... Get going, start drawing

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