Yacht Design 101 - About exactly as hard as you would think it is

Sometimes I am reminded of the fact that I'm not just working on building a funny little quirky floating apartment, but a rather sophisticated piece of engineering wizardry.  Due to the limited amount of information available on Creekmore Sailboats, and mine in particular, it's not just as simple as assembly.  At this stage of the game there is actually quite a bit of serious calculating, design, and fabrication required before I can take 'ol Creeky out for a sail.  This is primarily in the design of the standing and running rigging (the cables that attach to the mast and the lines/hardware that control the sails).  While I could farm out the whole process to a naval architect or similar expert, it would be much more expensive than I can afford at the moment.  The cost of the rigging itself this summer will be more than enough to keep me broke.  I feel that it will be a huge benefit to fully understand the forces acting on the boat in any given situation.  This will help me to be more confident in the mechanics of the boat; but will also give me the knowledge to deal with any rigging failures down the line where I might not have a knowledgeable, English-speaking naval architect on hand.

So I'm doing the math myself.  The two books I am buried in right now are "The Complete Rigger's Apprentice" by Brion Toss, and "Principles of Yacht Design" by Lars Larsson and Rolf E. Eliasson.  Pretty light reading...

While I hope to to the bulk of the planning myself I will definitely get some input from more knowledgeable folks before trusting my assumptions and calculations.  My friend Jesse had a great idea: get in touch with a naval architecture professor and see if they could make it a student project.  Just waiting for responses now.  Thanks for the idea Jesse!

Another reason I didn't want to spend a bunch of money on a naval architect is that many of the dimensions that could be designed are already fixed.  The mast is 62', the boom is 18', the hull a'int changing at this point, and I already have all the sails.  There's also about 10,000 lbs of lead ballast epoxied into the keel.  My hope is that the bow will settle down a bit when the mast is installed, but if it doesn't I'm just going to have to deal with it and maybe add some more ballast towards the bow.  Even if I went with a naval architect and they told me they would do things differently, like add a mizen mast, I still wouldn't.  I am going to build the boat as Henry originally designed it, or as close as possible given the information I have.  I'm getting there.

One thing that has helped is the layout drawing of the hull with a view from above and from the side (down to the waterline).  This doesn't include the mast, rigging, or the keel, but I realized it was in 1/20 scale and built a 3D model using Google Sketchup.  So far I've just built in the more basic dimensions, but eventually I plan to model the entire boat.  For anyone that uses Google Sketchup, I shared the model in the 3D warehouse.  Search for "Creekmore 45."

Just playing around with the Google Layout rendering

Top view

This will be expanded on soon

Notice the boom angle.  That was specified in the notes I have.

Another side view

Basic, but not too shabby

Furniture expansion

I suppose I'll jump back into things with an update on my interior situation.  I realize that every time I make an update to this blog I talk about how late and overdue the post is, so from now on please just know this is the case.  I have been working on quite a lot recently, including the design and construction of some things to make the boat more comfortable and livable.  Progress!

First, I have to say that going with the Webasto Air Top EVO 5500 heating system was about the best investment I have made so far, especially with this frigid winter.  Since I installed it I have had plenty of heat at the ready with no humidity problems, great fuel consumption, and no hassle.  It has more than paid for itself already as far as I'm concerned.  It can take the boat from being in the low 50s to the mid 60s in about 10 minutes.  Awesome!  I can't wait to have the rest of the saloon built so that the vents in there can be flush mounted into the furniture.  Here are some more pics of the installation.

Here is the heater on the mounting bracket before wiring, fuel, and duct installation

Another shot of the same

Getting the combustion exhaust ready for installation

Insulating jacket for combustion exhaust added

Instead of spending almost $200 on a remote temperature sender I built one with a thermistor that I purchased for <$5 with shipping.  It works great.

Thermistor external temperature sensor installed in control panel

In addition to staying warm I have also been working on expanding my saloon furniture.  I have built out the single couch/bench/bunk to more of a wraparound couch with built in boat-office features like a printer drawer and filing cabinet drawer.  I also kept with the angled base to allow your feet to fit comfortably without kicking the outside of the couch itself.  Everything ended up fitting in nicely, but it will need some trim to cover a few small gaps due to the unique angles required for the installation.  That will come later this spring...

Here is the former aft end of the couch.  There was a built in "book locker" in this space, but I thought a place to sit would be a bit more useful.

Removing the paneling to install the additional bench

Poplar support cleat for aft end of bench

Some fancy 3/4" oak plywood from Home Depot...  It isn't marine grade, but it will do for interior use.

You can see the taper of the base taking shape

An idea of what the final product will look like

My friends Kent and Kyle were kind enough to let me make some cuts in their wood shop.  Thanks guys!  

You can see here that my plan to get all of my cuts made so I could fit the wood inside before the snowstorm was a little off-target

Better late than never?

Adjusting the support cleats to match the angle of the bases

In the end I had gone a little overboard with the angled cuts.  I'm still trying to find places to use the leftover angled cleat stock.

Ready for assembly!

Closer

You can see the nice counter-sunk screws here

BOOM!

Here you can see the printer drawer/shelf I built.  Not sure if I'm going to hinge the top in addition to the drawer yet, but I'm leaning towards yes.

Gorgeous!

Here is the printer feeling at home

I need to get some more lumber to make drawer fronts (and build a lower drawer)

Here the forward part of the bench is taking form.  It is a bit shorter due to the taper of the hull.

Some more cleat work

Some creativity to deal with the angle

More creativity...

Pen storage?

There will be a filing cabinet drawer here which will hide the angled cut.

I'll post some more pictures of the more completed arrangement soon.  I also built a mockup of the mast and put it where the final mast placement should wind up so that I can get used to working around a giant mast in the middle of my living room.  It makes a huge difference.  Thanks Tim for the suggestion!

The next major interior design project will hopefully be to install 1-2 recliners, seriously.  I have been in touch with the manufacturers of the reclining mechanisms that get put into Lay-Z Boys and other reclining furniture and it seems feasible to fit at least one.  The plan is to build the metal reclining mechanism into a large box on the port side of the saloon.  It's hard to describe at this point, but I should have some drawings or pictures that will tell the story soon.  Here's an idea of what the mechanism looks like at least.  This is designed to recline in close proximity to a wall.  To accomplish this the whole base moves forward instead of out in both directions.  If it fits it will be pretty sleek.  What I'm considering are the Omega 4106 Zerowall (www.omega-motion.com), the HSM 5188 - Zerowall - Manual, or the HSM 5114 - Theater Seating - Manual (http://www.hickorysprings.com/).

Omega 4106 Zerowall

Any advice or suggestions are more than welcome.