The rest of the week was quiet--nonexistent, really--project-wise.  Although the boat and the project are always in the forefront of my mind, there is little I can do at this point.  There's no rush, so there's no reason to brave icy temperatures and mess around with my low-slung tarps to get on board.  Demolition will begin soon enough, but for the time being everything will remain in a conceptual stage.

I received my new issue of Wooden Boat and was pleased to see any number of cockpit/cuddy configurations that are just like my Concept 3.  A couple of these photos have given me cause to revisit the concept once again, however, and attempt to massage the overall look a bit.  In particular, I noticed that many older boats of this general configuration feature a coachroof (for lack of a more descriptive term) that actually ends aft of the mast partners, sort of like the idea I had with my Concept 2.

Click here to see the new Concept 4 and my thoughts on it.

On Tuesday, I decided to untie the stern tarp and climb aboard the boat to check things out, and to look at whether or not the old backrests in the salon would come right out--a friend had indicated he was interested in them for his own Triton.  Once I untied several of the lines securing the tarp, it was pretty easy to clamber aboard.  I pushed the snow out of the valley between my hastily-erected frame running from the aft part of the cabin trunk to the stern deck, and went below, where I easily removed the backrests in about 30 seconds.  I stood there looking around for a few minutes, and then decided to head back into the shop for some tools to start dismantling the interior--it was a pleasant sunny day out, and it was quite tolerable inside the boat.  I was dying to do something on the boat!

Armed with some basic tools and safety glasses, I climbed back aboard and went to work in the salon.  In about an hours' time (maybe a bit more), I removed the galley module, much of the icebox, and most of the trim pieces in the salon, as well as wiring and some of the other mess.  Because of all the snow outside, I just threw all the pieces--good and bad--up into the vee berth for now.  Later, I'll remove all this junk and sort through for savable pieces (which are few and far between).  I ripped out the fine stereo, and found a bonus cassette from Great White or something.  Lucky me.

Click here to see some photos and additional description of the demolition.

It got much colder thereafter, and snowed every day this week except one, so progress on the demolition was pretty much halted once again after my brief foray.  I spent some more time this week working on the final design of the new deck--a fun, if amazingly drawn out (ha ha...no pun intended) process.  While the design is far from complete, it's slowly getting there.

Read more about the design process and finalization here.

With the design more seriously underway, I began to research wooden deck design and construction in earnest, using some sources I had on hand and ordering a couple more valuable books to add to my collection.

Boatbuilding and Design Resources

Log for the Week Ending January 19, 2003

I began the week by starting to research various shop options.  It is becoming more and more likely that I will construct some sort of permanent, or semi-permanent, structure in my backyard to house this project and future projects.  To start, I spent most of a morning online searching for metal building manufacturers, both nationwide distributors and some closer to home.  I filled out a number of quote forms and learned a fair bit about these efficient buildings.  With Heidi's full support, it looks like I am traveling down the road towards continuing with project after project during the coming months and years, as well as continuing maintenance and upgrades to our own boat, Glissando.  A real shop in the backyard sounds great, but we'll see what the costs end up like.  Given the high cost of portable, fabric-type buildings (close to metal buildings) and their general unsuitability for continuing and frequent projects, I'm not considering these very seriously anymore.  And a true temporary structure is pretty much out of the question, since I intended the daysailor project, from its inception, to be a project I would undertake in the winter months--therefore, heat and protection from the elements is critical.  

See my new boatshed research page here.

On Tuesday afternoon, despite a very cold air mass overhead, the temperature in the sun (with no wind) was quite pleasant, and I went back aboard the boat to finish off the icebox removal.  I ran an electric cord to the boat from the shop, paralleling the cord that runs to Glissando (I went aboard her too...it's hard to believe Glissando and Sea Witch are the same design--but Sea Witch brings back many memories of the way Glissando was when we bought her!)

Armed with my Sawz-all, a small hand maul, and a big crowbar, I again tackled what remained of the icebox.  With the new prying tools and some manual persuasion, I got the thing out in short order, and didn't even need the electric saw as I had thought I would.  With the icebox gone, I spend some more time aboard doing some smaller things, like removing the companionway trim and disconnection a few more things on the engine to help prepare it for removal as soon as possible.  I started prying the port settee out, but stopped after a minute when it became clear that I would need the saw--and, frankly, I just didn't feel like sawing away at that point.  I spent some more time contemplating what the hull would be like when rid of all this nasty, paint-peeling old junk.

Temperatures plunged the rest of the week, with the lowest I have seen here in a few years on Saturday morning--nearly 20 below!  With no pressing need to do anything on board, needless to say I didn't bother returning to do anything else on the boat this week.  Design finalization and construction specification process is proceeding slowly as I await a couple new reference books so I can better determine the deck framing setup.

Log for the Week Ending January 26, 2003

The cold temperatures continued this week.  This hasn't really been a problem, since I never intended to work on the boat that much over the first few months anyway.

Still, the weather was certainly conducive to lots of envisioning and planning for the new boat barn and other boat concepts.  I downloaded a JPEG image of the Triton hull profile and deck overhead view and spent some time adjusting the size of the image so that I could print out a 1/4" = 1' scale image, as well as a 3/8" - 1' version.  With several copies of these printed, I cut out a couple of the deck plans in the 1/4" size (actual length at this scale is about 7") and used them to better envision how one or two boats would fit together in the building.  I drew up a 1/4" = 1' scale drawing of the floor plan of the 30' x 40' structure, and was pleased how nicely the two boats fit, with lots of extra room--or room for a larger boat, should such an opportunity arise later.  

I also cut out a profile view of the Triton and played with that on a side view of the building.

To see some images of this process, and more on the building research, click here.

Other progress on the project was minimal or nonexistent.  This planning and thinking time will surely prove valuable once things start rolling later.

Continue to February >