Extending WAYWARD: Presurgical Notes

       T40x8                                                                        T32x8

Longer is better on this planet, Buddy!
-- Apologies to Tony Rice, who said 'Louder is better...'


Extending WAYWARD: Presurgical Notes

"Why don't we just lengthen WAYWARD?", my two sailing partners ask, "and add an aft cabin?"

That is to say, just add an extra 6 to 8ft cabin at the end of the hull.

I harrumph and blow. Hem and haw.

Well, the aft bottom curve would have to move aft, where it would really be too short on the new length. The labor-intensive, flush-deck cockpit would have to be removed for an aft cabin, and a new one built for the new mid-cockpit. Balances would be all wrong. The sail plan would have to be redesigned from the ground up.

I sputter and bluster.

In short, it seems durn hard to radically alter a fully integrated design. All the things that once worked together are thrown out of synergistic balance. The structural challenges are daunting.

Hmm. But...

Could we save the aft deck by cutting away below the upper line of the doubling plates, which then act as horizontal buttstraps for filler construction? If the aft cabin followed the old transom line, we could even keep the seats and corner posts, which would now butt up against the aft cabin face.

Yeah.

New construction - presumably a weaker attachment - would only be cantilevered 8ft vs 16ft... mechanical fasteners to back up glue. Rubrails and doubling plates span the join, and can augment structural tie-in and support.

I suppose that, if the aft curve had to be rebuilt anyway, a longer, easier (faster) curve can be built along the extra length. Of course, a fuller belly would help float the cabin and any extra gear we're likely to be accumulating with a third partner... more doodles to come.

And hey... if we duplicate the main at the mizzen location, a balanced cat-schooner or -ketch emerges, possibly abetted by a yawl driver dead aft. It looks not only balanced, but rather powerful.

Rudder and scull... well... the rudder gains leverage with greater distance from the CLR (Center of Lateral Resistance), so we could keep the lower blade. A taller upper would have to be made, but that's a simple piece. Probably steer a cabin-top tiller by wheel or whipstaff? The scull actually benefits from a lower fulcrum and correspondingly steeper angle.

The OCBs (Off-Center Boards) are already 'traveling'... we can merely set them a bit further aft to balance.

The final sails have yet to be built, anyway. All the investment in WAYWARD, inside and out, from the companionway bulkhead forward, would remain, with the cockpit deck, seat and hatches thrown in for 'free'.

And the clincher? We could pull this off with a fraction of the time, effort and $$ necessary for building a whole new boat.

It... Could... WORK!!!
(Gene Wilder in Young Frankenstein)

*****

Extra Credit for Boat Geeks

This diagram shows the cut-lines... breaks indicate lines which will be hidden filler pieces. Here's the likely de/con-struction order:

• The aft bottom curve would be cut away and aft doublers removed (doublers add hull thickness below the long, low horizontal line) to vertical line under Pilot House. 
• A horizontal cut is made below the top of the doubler line until it runs off the curve.
• A fill piece is added, below that cut-line and carried aft to 8ft fwd of the new transom.
• A triangular fill piece makes up above the lower filler (Payson butt above doubler?).
• The aft cabin walls and transom are framed and built (Payson butts and mechanical to old transom?).
• The new bottom curve is built.
• Doublers are added, buttstrapping the pieces they cover.
• Decks and details are added.
• Rudder and other gear mounted.
• Finish and go.

Not shown are rubrails and any other longitudinal stiffeners we may toss in for good measure. Will see how the glue and mechanical bonding 'feels' as we go. May augment with some tape n glue. Copper would be removed first and reinstalled last.

Winter Birds

By Shel Silverstien

Winter Birds

Autumn is a time of visible transition.

Verdant leaves funk or flame before skurriling to ground. Seawater clears, revealing empty depths where lately salmon swam and swarmed. Birds write their winged cuniforms across the lonely sky.

People, too, flow southward in search of sun. Or, with a hint of irony, snow. Those on the water, especially, if not driven by some economic necessity, leave the long straights and stretches to we few weird-birds who haunt them at the dark of the year.

But we're in good company!

We have a special place in our hearts for the birds who stay on... ravens, crows and eagles, owls, loons, herons, kingfishers, duck of several species, juncos, thrushes, ousels, gulls and cormorants. Geese and swans make their appearances, too, often lingering long. There are little brown birds whose names I don't know, working the bush for seed and the tideline for buglings.

I take special pleasure in watching them revel in winter, right through its sterner moments. They wash and preen and fluff themselves against the cold, chattering and flirting it up. As if this were paradise. As if they were born and bred for it.

It's true that nature extends her cold claw this time of year, culling the exhausted, the inattentive, the unlucky or those whose genes have bet the wrong way. Toes to the fire, I wonder at their thoughts through the long, boreal nights of rain and snow and darkness. But those who remain feed each day to keep the fires burning within their breasts.

And come spring again, their young hatch out into the waxing day.

Pop Up Tents

Commercial Pop Up TentsFrom springwire... toss in the air to unfurl

Live in the sunshine

Swim the sea

Drink the wild air

-- Emerson

Pop-Up Tents

Most of the barge/scow hulls in the world have wide open decks, with hatches as needed. Why? Cheap and flexible.

Most of the yachts in the world have fixed, trunk cabins as superstructure with fixed, furnished interiors. Why? Um. Well... at a guess? Tradition? Laziness? We're all wannabee ocean crossers? Harder to say.

Trunk cabins and furniture break up the open spaces and limit our options. True, they don't have to be set up at the end of a long day. Or in the rain. Or in the dark. In our boats, we've always chosen this style, but only after a good deal of waffling.

Of course, a mix is always an option. Just because we're designing box barges doesn't mean we have to stay in the box!  An aft trunk cabin, say, with the whole forward deck flush and extensible is entirely possible.

So let's take a look at open deck, flexi-space architecture, extended by pop-up tents. Here, I'll present three types I find especially attractive.

Hatch Cover Tent

This approach, shown on my T24x4,6,8 SANDBOX design, simply tilts the midships hatch up, then puts a custom fabric shell over it. The flap, shown, ties to the gallows to provide a vestibule of sorts.

The idea is to work with existing hatches, using the covers as structure for the fabric shell, and the hatch coamings as landingss for it. One could cant the hatch cover, as shown, split it in two for side walls, or raise it at both ends for a more horizontal roof.

Supporting struts for the hatch require a little ingenuity, but nothing others haven't solved for us, time and again.

Pram Style Tents
This one from mollusctents.com... check 'em out!

Pram style tents have hoops that go to a common point, and rotate around that point. They can be fully or partially erected for anywhere from stowed flat to full coverage.

Hoops don't have to be round, as shown here... they can be more or less squared off to clear rectangular hatches when stowed (with maybe a little arc on the upper edge for rain shedding).

These have been used on boats very successfully for small hatch openings (JESTER pram hoods by 'Blondie' Hasler and Scott McCleod), and for large, open spaces (TIKI tents by James Wharram).

Advantages are quick and easy set-up, many intermediate positions and fold-flat for low windage.

Lightweight Emergency Shelter
by Patrick Wharram

This third approach is by Patrick Wharram (no known relation to James Wharram). It's superficially similar to the pram approach, but the lower hoops do not go to a common point. This allows a longer run than is possible with the pram.

Alongside a hatch, a pair of tracks can guide slides at the bottom of the hoop Vees. This can be extruded aluminum or DIY wood T- or C- track. Like the pram style tent, this can be erected fully or partially, depending on conditions. Again, hoops can be squared off if desired.

Framed Structures on WATERPOD
Note fabric biminies and domes on framed structures

Here we see a fairly complex set of frames that spread fabrics along over the decks of WATERPOD. These can range from very simple to very complex (the actual build sports a geodesic dome!).

Frames can be multi-purposed to provide security for the crew, mount solar panels and other gear, even support rigging. Fabric can be stretched over set frames in different ways, depending on conditions.

Here's another example... a fishing boat from Lago Maggiore, Italy:

Trailer Style Pop-Ups

An intriguing option, especially for boxy hulls, are types that fold up and out of the box. They can be either hard topped or soft:

Hard Top

Soft Top

Note that platforms can be folded outward (possibly from under the hardtop hatch). They can fold fore and aft, and/or outboard. If outboard, consider inflatable flotation under their open position, where necessary. Windage will be high!

*****

So lots of options, not to mention just setting up a regular old tent on the flat deck.

Pop up tents can be tailored to the weather... open and airy in the heat. Cozy and insulated in the cold and wet. They may be aided and abetted by pop up or inflatable furniture - chairs, loveseats, tables, bunks and shelving - all deployed and arranged for the needs of the day.

Flexible spaces for changing needs.