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In March of 1998 I began my second project, a lateen rigged daysailer. The plan I chose was the "Skipjack" from Stevenson Projects Back Yard Yacht Club. I perused a pile of different plans (Bolger plans from Common Sense Designs, Glen-L etc.) and this design seemed to best fulfill my criteria of being a relatively easy and fast build (the box shaped like a boat principle!) that held 4 people and gave acceptable performance in a lightweight hull and still coming in under 15 feet.
The boat is built from 1/4" Luan for the side panels, 3/8" AC fir for the bottom and fir framing lumber. I again used East System marine epoxy and a pile of 6 oz. fiberglass cloth and tape. The hull is painted with Interlux Brightside enamel; it's expensive, ($35-40 per liter in Canada) but unbelievably tough! Since it covers well, the cost really isn't that bad.
I took over a different garage this time; Bill and Ginger's! They don't have the tools that my dad has, so I had to rely on my own modest but respectable collection of tools. Not having access to a band saw or radial arm saw created some difficulties for some of the compound cuts. But necessity is the mother of invention and I became quite skilled at using my circular saw for just about everything including picking my teeth. All it takes is determination and a rip fence!
Yes, this boat is now done!
If you've looked at my "Fanny" page, you'll notice that there are not nearly as many photos here. I just didn't take very many this time. I did most of the work myself and I guess that I got so involved with the process that I simply forgot to take more pictures. Oh well.
Thanks to my buddy Craig and my brother Rob for the evenings of help they put in, to Jerry and Michelle for storing the damn thing through the winter of 1998-99, to my wife Brenda for her patience (eternal) and help, and especially to Bill and Ginger for their help, their garage and their tolerance of my mess and noisiness. THANK YOU ALL! WANT TA GO SAILIN' DIS SUMMA?!?
Click on a thumbnail below to see the full size construction photo with commentary.
She was launched on July 27/99 on Flathead Lake in Montana. It was a glorious, clear day that had very light wind. This was fine with me as I have very little sailing experience and the prospect of capsizing a new boat with an audience didn't appeal to me too much.
The photos of Mr. B under sail were taken at Astotin lake, not Flathead. We didn't manage to get any stills of the boat under sail the day of the launch or in the week that followed (duh!). My long suffering wife Brenda switched to the video camera when the boat was launched and forgot about the 35mm Canon. Oh well, I plan to digitize some of that video when I get a chance. The day at Astotin was later in August of 99, and was a splendid day of solo sailing.
Click on a thumbnail below to see the full size photo with commentary.
OK. I acknowledge that it's a strange name, but I was watching the very silly movie "Austin Powers, International Man Of Mystery" and the name just seemed right to me. (Hopefully I won't get sued!)
For those of you who don't partake of such silliness, a
précis:
Mr. Bigglesworth is the cat that is constantly in the arms of the
arch-villain "Dr. Evil," the sworn enemy of our hero Austin Powers, a
gentleman-spy relic from the 60's. Dr. Evil is obviously a reference
to the character of Ernst Blofeld from all those wonderfully campy
60's Bond films as he was never without his cat. I watched many a
Bond film in my misspent youth and this parody made me
chuckle.
The film's opening dance scene holds special significance for Canadians of my (and Mike Myers) generation. It's set to the Quincy Jones composition, "Soul Bossa Nova." This particularly chipper 60's chestnut was used as the theme song for a Canadian game show entitled "Definition." Though Canadians are quick to defend their culture, they will happily admit that we produce lame game shows, and Definition was no exception. (You've just won an all-expense paid vacation to Taber, Alberta where you can tour the Sugar Beet plant!) Definition and Soul Bossa Nova were also the subject of the Dream Warriors early 90's hit "My definition of a bombastic jazz style."
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