A Little About Me.
My name is Terry, I live in a small coastal village on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia.
I have been retired now for nearly 4 years, I am married with two daughters and three grandchildren. I have a little experience in boatbuilding and boat restoration. The Jarcat was the first boat I built from plans but I have restored a Heron sailing dinghy, two fiberglass trailer sailors, done repair work on a few friends yachts and recently built a nesting dinghy which neatly fits in the boot space of my car. I am currently building a CLC design called "Pocketship" (yes gone to the darkside with a monohull) I have started a blog on this build, check it out on the following link:
https://hookypocketship.blogspot.com/
Click on the link below if you would like to check out "Pocketship" on YouTube, I'm sure you will agree it is a beautiful little yacht.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qXQ4HJihr4
My hobbies and interests include, sailing, surfing, scuba diving, spending time with family and mates and I love the challenge of building in wood.
I hope the blog is interesting and helpful to fellow Jarcat builders, please note I built my Jarcat in 1992 and some of the pictures were taken with film so to reproduce the shots I have taken pics of pics, I apologise for the poor quality.
I am new at blogging so please bear with me as I stumble my way along, I am happy to receive any advise, comments and assistance.
Please enjoy the journey and note that while I am writing this blog now I commenced construction in 1992 so I am relying upon memory.
The Beginning.
After considerable research I decided on a Jarcat Six, I was drawn to this yacht for the following reasons:
- It's great looks
- Ease of construction
- Economical to build
- Suited my family size and age
- Roomy cabin and large cockpit, lots of room for weekends away
- plenty of storage space
- Good scuba diving platform
- It was fast
- Level ride
- Shallow draft
- Light to tow
- Quick to rig & launch
- It fitted in my barn
Plans.
The dream started with purchase of plans (plan No:75) from Ross Turner. At the time Ross put out regular newsletters with hints, tips and links to other builders. This was in conjunction with the assistance provided directly from Ross. He was always happy take take calls and answer any questions no matter how large, small or silly.
I studied the plans for a couple of months while purchasing plywood, lumber, West System epoxy resins, fillers and glass cloth. I stored the milled timber for several months to allow the moisture content to stabilise prior to any construction. I also studied the "Gougeon Brothers Book of Boat Building" and found it an invaluable resource of knowledge and experience. The book is available as a free PDF file download, click the link below
https://www.westsystem.com/wp-content/uploads/GougeonBook-061205-1.pdf
Building Stock.
I rented the corner of a workshop and used simple tools including a Triton workbench, hand held circular saws, drills and planes. The frames and rim pieces were constructed and sealed with Everdure. Next was the construction of the building stock, I constructed it from long lengths of chipboard strips which I laminated together with chipboard screws I took my time constructing this to ensure it was level and square. I used Oregon (Douglas fir) for the longitudinal keels, chines and gunnels which were milled to the correct length and size by a local timber yard, as indicated earlier I stored these for a couple of months to stabilise the moisture content prior to construction.
The frames and rim pieces were installed and care taken to ensure they were level and square. The keel, chines and gunnels are glued and screwed in place and shaped by hand plane to prior to sheeting the hull.
The port and starboard Centerboard cases were installed and sealed on the outside surface prior to sheeting as it would be impossible to get access to these areas again.
Sheeting the Hulls
The plywood sheets are screwed and glued into place.
Relocation of the Build.
Unfortunately the workshop is sold, time to relocate the build. It's loaded onto a 7m flatbed truck still connected to the building cradle and transported to my front yard. Time to work under tarpaulins now but it was nice to work outside. The boat and cradle was light enough to utilise the small crane attached to the truck. It all went very smoothly with nothing broken.
I continued sheeting the hull bottoms.
The bow stems were made from hardwood enabling them to sustain heavy nocks. The bow stem and hull sheeting are faired in....the boat takes shape.....nice lines.
Glassing the Hulls.
After hours of fairing and sanding a protective undercoat of everdure is applied over the hulls. Fiberglass cloth is taped into place and smoothed out to remove wrinkles. Small pots of resin are mixed and applied with a 100 mm rubber squeegee, you have to work fast as the resin goes off quick in the sun. The scarfed bridge deck is installed and glassed and the entire boat is undercoated.
Painting the Hulls
The hulls and bridge deck are give two final coats, the reason for the bright orange is so I could easily spot the boat when returning from a dive.....well that was the theory and to my amazement it worked.
Trailer.
I built the trailer with the assistance of a good mate who had excellent welding skills. Galvanizing was an interesting challenge, I towed it to the local galvanizing plant, disassembled it on site and labelled each part I wanted galvanized. I returned after two weeks, reassembled the complete trailer and towed it home. The rollers, winch, electricals and reflectors were installed, then it was off to a weigh station prior to registration.
Flipping the Hull
Now I had a trailer it was time to call on a few mates and flip the hull.
Surprisingly it was not that heavy
and easily lifted with four people.
We rolled it over onto old tyres.
The first time the inside of the hull has seen the light of day, it was certainly hiding plenty of mess and spiders.
The boat seemed quite large when on its side.
We gently placed the boat on the trailer, the complete process went smoothly no damage no injuries, time to celebrate with a cold one.
Top Half Construction.
The cockpit beams are fitted, I decided to install a built in esky in the port aft buoyancy chamber. My intention was to build in a well sealed and secured lid so it would (In theory) still function as buoyancy however I wasn't sure how that theory would stand up when it is filled with a slab of beer......we'll see.
Cabin top and side coamings installed, I also opted for a curved cabin front, this was quite a challenge but visually very appealing.
The cockpit seat coamings are installed with inspection ports for ventilation to the quarter berths and starboard buoyancy chamber. The companionway is yet to be cut out, this will be done after the cabin roof is complete. It's hard to believe the vacuuming helper pictured is my youngest daughter who is now 36 years old, that's a bit scary.
To enable roof insulation I installed a 3mm ply cabin liner. This provided a base for cabin top insulation which I made from old foam vegetable boxes.
Another view of the cabin top.
The cabin top hatch, companionway and port aft ice box are cut out. The cabin top and sides are glassed.
A bit more painting prior to window installation. I added a small aft window to provide some light to the quarter berths. I used Lexan for all the windows which were screwed in place over a bed of silicon.
Unfortunately I could not locate any more construction photos, so we skip forward to the completed yacht.
The Galley and Main Cabin
I was keen to construct a functional galley area that provided good storage and hopefully looked good. This was quite a challenge and lots of fun especially when faced with interesting angles and a confined space. All the timber trim was milled from cedar.
The galley consisted of a two burner gas stove and griller. A hinged lid served as bench top when down and a splash back when up. The underneath face of the lid was completely covered with a sheet of stainless steel providing a splash back and protection to the hull side and window. I also fixed a stainless steel sheet to the cabin roof above the stove to prevent heat damage to the cabin roof. Under the stove was storage and a timber curtain rod for a tea towel.
Next to the stove was a large stainless steel sink with pump action fresh and salt water faucets. A cutlery tray secured above the sink to allow the utensils to drip dry into the sink.
Two draws underneath to store cutlery and odds and ends. The cupboard space below housed a 45 lit. fresh water tank and another timber curtain rod for a tea towel.
Forward of the sink I constructed shelving on the hull walls and a large storage cupboard in the hull. The storage area had access from a hinged door on the front and hatches on the top.
This picture shows the plate storage rack I fixed to the side wall in front of the sink. It also shows the stainless steel sheet on the cabin roof above the stove and additional shelving and key storage on the entry bulkhead area.
For the cabin floors I used laminated cedar on plywood. A porta potti was located in the starboard hull.
Electricals.
I built an electrical board in a cabinet next to the companionway. I installed all the electrical equipment onto a 6mm piece of black perspex.
A diagonal shelf under the the electrical board and a storage at the bottom of the cabinet.
The GPS/Fishfinder was located next to the electrical
cabinet and was accessed via the sliding window from the cockpit, A nautical style shelf constructed and fixed above the fishfinder.
The cockpit is large and very comfortable.
The fully insulated and sealed ice box doubles as a buoyancy chamber when closed and locked......depending on how many tinnies are inside.
The boat has name and stripe decals fixed and the rig and sails are set up, everything worked well, the boat was quick and easy to rig.
Time to go sailing on Nelsons Bay NSW.
A dodger and boom tent provide a dry comfortable area for the cockpit. The dodger is forward of the mast and can be left up when sailing.
I hope you enjoyed the blog, If I find any more pictures I will add them to the blog, I'm happy to receive questions or enquiries by the comments section at the bottom of this blog
Cheers Terry
