The varnish work on the cabin sides continues, and the outcome is fabulous. Ruben finished the wood work a week ago and José has been hard at work finishing it. Here are a few snaps of what she looks like now. We're really pleased with the way the dark mahogany cabin sides bring out the curve of MAYAN's sheer.

I spend the morning removing all the sails from MAYAN, we have new sails coming in the next few weeks. She looks a little odd with bare booms, but this will give me a chance to re-paint the booms, replace the worn rigging for outhauls and topping lifts, and generally clean things up before the new sails arrive.

Gluing The Splines In The Locking Scarf

Yesterday we (meaning Ruben) fit and glued the splines into the locking scarfs on either side of the trunk cabin. Having made the gap between the planks straight and of even width, Ruben hand shaped piece of Honduras mahogany to fit. The picture to the right shows the locking scarf prepared for the splines.




In the photo below you can see the work Ruben has put in matching the color and the grain of the wood, so that the resulting repair will disappear after varnishing. We'll come back to this once it's finished, in about a week.


The third picture, on the right, shows Ruben holding up the spine being slathered with gorilla glue just before tapping it into the slot in the side of the cabin. Each piece is press fit and doesn't require clamping.


In the final picture the spines have been inserted and the excess Gorilla glue is pouring out. This is easily cleaned up and we will go after it later today.  The next step is to hunt down all the small imperfections in the cabin sides and fit them with small dutchmen or wood plugs to fill years of damage to the wood.  We should be able to start sanding and the initial refinishing early next week.

Gluing The Cabin Side Planks

Glueing in the new panels:

First, after everything is cut to a nice press fit, both sides get covered with glue. The glue in this case is what Wayne calls "Golf Club Glue" for the center of the piece. This is a two part 50:50 glue of some sort, and I have to investigate exactly what it is. Wayne and the guys use it to double plank hulls (Which is their standard approach to fixing sad caravel planked hulls.) and they used it when MAYAN was rebuilt in 2005. It is a stretchy form of glue, that will hold well and dry while also letting the wood move more than West System. 

The outer edge of the piece and the lips covered in West Epoxy that has been thickened with Honduras Mahogany dust, heaps of it. One of my jobs was holding the angle grinder in a trash can with a piece of wood and grinding it into dust. It took me a while to get the hang of grinding a piece of wood with a powerful grinder, one in each hand, without being able to see anything as the top of the trash can is covered with a blanket to contain the dust. You grind until the grinder starts to overhead, which is darned quick, and then stop and clean everything out, capturing the dust.

Here's Ruben putting the port side plank into the cabin side.



Next it is time to clamp the plank down. Pressure needs to be built up in the center first and then towards the outside to allow the glues to migrate towards the edges. We were in luck with MAYAN, she has a large bulwark and it is at exactly the right height. On the port side Rubin had rigged up his normal clamping system, and I helped out with some braces and wedges to the bulward. He liked that so much we did the entire starboard side with just braces and wedges.




In the picture above you can see the clamps, with the forward one reaching through the port hole and the after one reaching over the cockpit combing. The plank that is between the clamps is a piece of beautiful Honduras Mahogany that is an off cut from two covering planks that we were installing. "Don't break that by tightening the clamps too tight! We need that wood for the next pair of dutchmen." said Ruben.

According to Ruben, clamping is a big challenge and often more difficult than getting the bits of wood and the hole for the dutchman exactly right. "If we were installing this repair in a painted surface, we would simply drill holes and hold all this in with wood screws. Then we'd plug them later and no one would ever see it. But, you want this to be varnished, so we can't injure the wood like that." Ruben is from Peru and his syntax is often more flowery than ours. "Injure the wood" I like that.

Once we'd started the glue flowing it's all hands to the clean up. Putty knives for the big ugly bits and lots of shop towels with alcohol for the final clean up. The biggest problem I had was a real knack for getting the glue on the back of my hands, my knees and my arms. Ah well, I used to have the same problem years ago building stuff with epoxy; somethings never change.

Now, it's off to the starboard side to repeat the process.




This plank is smaller so there wasn't a need for a central block in the ultimate clamping. I installed a central post and wedges while the glue moved/migrated and then removed it once we'd moved to what you see above. 

The posts and wedges are all made from scrap that I found laying around the boat yard. I was shocked to find that one of them was teak, old and battered, when I cut into it. Ruben says it came off the rail of a boat built in the 1890s, the wood was still oily and beautiful inside the piece. "You should save this" I suggested. Ruben just laughed and pointed at a stack of wood twice as high as my Mini, "You can put it on the stack with all the other old teak we've saved from boats that have died." It seems that Wayne and the guys save every piece of teak they can and that has allowed them to deck a number of 20 and 30 foot boats with the scraps left over from deck rebuilds. Ruben informed me that the beautiful 30' Danish cutter that is a few boats down the dock was due to be re-decked from the pile. "We like to use the old wood. It's stable and doesn't wander." Rubin continued.

After we've cleaned everything up, Ruben goes around with small wedges and adjusts the pressure to right where he wants it. In the picture above you can see the tiny wedges he has driven under the 2X4. Prior to using a 2X4 for this purpose, Ruben has used the joiner to insure that the surface is completely flat and true - a great use for what used to be the side of a palette that an engine was delivered upon. 

Below you can see a close up of the tiny wedges and the glue continuing to migrate out from behind the plank. The reason for the West with the sanding dust becomes apparent as well. While the Golf Club Glue is great for holding the plank, it is white when it dries. The West Epxoy full of dust will blend in with the varnished Mahogany cabin side and you'll never see the joint. Well not unless you're waking up from too much fun on the side deck. 




Next up will be filling the hook-scarf joints further forward on the cabin side. As I write this, Ruben is probably already at work cutting the odd splines that he'll need. Because the hook scarf runs across the grain at various angles, the spline needs to be cut with the correct grain angle to avoid being visible. It'll be interesting to see how he cuts these.

Back to work.

Progress on The Cabin Sides Continues

Yesterday afternoon we just about reached the point of starting to do the final fit the boards into the sides of the trunk cabin. The planks below are a nice tight fit, maybe a bit too tight. It's warm and dry here in Los Angeles, so this wood is about as small as it'll ever be. We'll leave a tiny bit more room than we would if we were fitting this up in SF and a lot more than if we were in the PNW. While this will be set in with epoxy, the flexibility of the epoxy will let the wood expand as its moisture content increases. The varnish over the joints will be plenty flexible enough to allow the joints to move a tiny bit.

Here are the planks of Honduras Mahogany which Wayne's team has cut. The wood for this has been hidden in Wayne's tug boat for well over 15 years, "Waiting for a boat that deserves this wood." Real Honduras Mahogany is terribly hard to find today especially in this size. There's more of this wood that he's "saving" for MAYAN's interior rebuild.



Here's the Starboard side cut. The round hole is for a bronze port hole. As you know, we're installing a Hurricane Combi boiler/heater for domestic hot water and heat. The stainless steel exhaust fitting, which is supposed to exit through the transom or hull side, is polished stainless and quite shiny. Wayne had a great idea. We'll put a port hole through the cabin side and mount the exhaust within the hole. When the weather is really awful, we close the glass of the port hole. The port hole is mounted backwards, with the glass on the outside. This is how Alden mounted the port hole into the engine room on three schooner's I've sailed on. Supposedly, it is mounted this way so that one can ventilate the engine room from on-deck, but it is also reputedly so one can open the port hole and squirt a fire extinguisher down the hole in the event of a fire. We'll follow this custom so that one can close the glass when the seas are rough or when washing down the deck so water doesn't get into the exhaust pipe. There will be a small gooseneck in the pipe also, to help keep water out.



This next picture is of the Port side cut. The round hole in this is where the AC power cord receptacle used to be mounted. I've relocated it down into the engine room and notched a hatch board to let the cord go below. I'm thrilled not to be looking at the thing and also thrilled to know that the plug won't be exposed to salt spray any longer.



On each side there are three 6" long bronze lag bolts that hold the aft edge of the cabin side to the corner post. We'll be documenting exactly where these are for future access, and then burying them with the wood piece. After this, we have two or three small dutchmen to put into the after side of the truck cabin, where it faces the cockpit, and then we're ready for the final sanding and finishing work.

Slowly Uncovering MAYAN's Mysteries

When Wayne Ettel set about restoring MAYAN's hull and deck in 2005, he was forced to replace many of her heavy white oak double sawn frames.  To avoid the rot that had eaten away at the oak, Wayne chose to build the new double sawn frames from Purple Heart, a strong tropical wood with many of the same characteristics of White Oak but without the tendency to rot.  This was one of many subtile changes made to make MAYAN even more resistant to the difficulties faced as these old wooden ladies age gracefully.

During the rebuilding process, the Keel, Horn Timber, Stem, Mast Steps and various other of the heaviest timbers were found to be in perfect conditions after 58 years of service, and are still doing just fine at 67.  Despite his tremendous knowledge of woods, Wayne was unable to determine what kind of wood had been used in Belize all those years ago to fashion these heavy timbers.

Sapodilla Wood

Today I received word from the grandson of MAYAN's builder, Robert Tewes, that the mystery has been solved.  In a conversation with Denys Bradley, Robert learned that like most boats built in Belize MAYAN's heavy timbers were made of Sapodilla wood.  This is a wood that is heavier than water, and thus sinks, is rich in sap and extremely hard to work on with woodworking tools.  All of this explains why the wood remains impervious to water and rot, and also why the paint flakes off it after a time as it is still secreting oil from within it's grain.

Ancient Mayan Sapodilla Door Jam

Sapodilla wood is so strong and durable that the MAYAN people used it to build lintels and beams in their buildings, many of which are with us today after centuries of use.  Today few Sapodilla trees are cut for wood.  Rather the trees are grown for their fruit, a favorite of the local people and the howler monkeys, and the sap is drawn to make organic natural chewing gum.

It will be interesting to see if future owners of MAYAN, a hundred years from now, can discover any degradation in the Sapodilla wood frames and timbers the comprise her backbone.

Building Out The Fo'c's'le - A Cabin For MAYAN's Small Crew

MAYAN's smaller crew is growing - we have one grand child and one more on the way.  Hopefully, these two will be joined by many others in the coming years.  As you know, MAYAN's mission is to take our family cruising with the occasional classic boat race tossed in.  A key piece of this mission is bringing along the next generation of sailors in the proper manner.  That means a proper cabin with the smell of tarred marlin, slightly damp anchor rode, kerosene lanterns, and the chuckle of waves under the forefoot.

Cutter SOL STRAALE - 23' LOD

In Beau's childhood he had the wonderful good fortune to spend many evenings in the small cramped fo'c's'le of the SOL STRAALE, sharing the tiny space with his younger brother, Tom.  It left a life-long impression.   

When we bought her, MAYAN's fo'c's'le was filled with lines, sails, an inflatable dinghy, an outboard, and various shelves and drawers filled with spare parts and tools.  Basically, it was serving as a typical domestic garage ashore in California; holding everything other than a car.  While it's a little handy to have such a space aboard, there wasn't anything stored there that couldn't be stored elsewhere or more efficiently.  

Small Door

Combining the needs of our growing extended family and the desire to sort out this pile of "stuff" in the fo'c's'le, we have re-designed the layout of the space to accommodate our needs.  

When John Alden designed MAYAN, this space was the the home to two paid deck crew.  With a settee below and two pipe berths above, a head far forward between the berths, and two hanging lockers aft. The fo'c's'le was accessed from the passageway aft, which contained the Captain's Cabin and the Galley, through the small door on the right.  The diminutive door is only about 20" wide and 4' 3" high, clearly perfect for our small and growing crew members.  The fo'c's'le was traditionally occupied during the summer sailing season by two young men working the months between college terms or by young sailors working their way up.  We will be returning the fo'c's'le to something much more like what John Alden had originally designed.

Two full sized fixed berths will run aft on either side from the newly built door to the chain locker.  They will meet forward where a cushion at the same level will provide a full width seating area and padded play space for the smaller crew members.  On either side, above the berths, pipe berths will be suspended from the deck beams and hinged at their outboard edge.  While the pipe berths will primarily serve to hold the Gollywobbler, Fisherman, Advance, Yankee and Genoa, those sails can be move on deck and two more crew can take their place.  Just aft of the berths we will be building a hanging locker to starboard, with drawers below, and a cupboard to port with additional drawers below.

Port Forward End of The Fo'c's'le

Demolition of the relatively modern shelves and cupboards in the fo'c's'le has been completed.  With only 4'6" of headroom under the foredeck beams, it will be the perfect private place for all the grandchildren.  The next step will be to strip the ancient paint, some of it appears that it could date back many decades, and refinish the ceiling. For those who aren't sailors, the "ceiling" on a boat is the horizontally planked surface that runs along the inside of the frames (ribs) and provides both a smooth surface to the interior and keeps gear and equipment from falling against the inside of the planking.

The varnished platform shown to the left will be extended to make the berths and the common space between them. We'll add mahogany doors over the chain locker entrance shown and a ladder that folds up to hang from the overhead when not in use. The ladder will be designed to double as a boarding/swim ladder.  Storing the boarding/swim ladder has always driven me nuts, the Wayne made the wonderful suggestion that we could dual-purpose the fo'c's'le ladder.  

Port Aft End of The Fo'c's'le

In the picture to the right, the broad space aft in the fo'c's'le will accommodate the hanging lockers and drawers.  We'll extend the top of the lower section of the drawers to provide a desk space.  

The hanging knee shown is part of the structure to support the foremast rigging.  The bulkhead runs across the boat just forward of the foremast.  Like all the structural wood in MAYAN these knees, the clamp, even the ceiling is substantially stronger than modern boat designs; this is probably why MAYAN is still here, after 67 years and tens of thousands of sea miles.

During the rebuilding process, it has become painfully clear that the wood working is the quickest and easiest of tasks.  It has been the plumbing, electrical and mechanical tasks that have taken the bulk of the time.  Or, as Wayne puts it: "If someone gives you a complete hull, deck and interior, you've only got about a third of a boat."  We're looking forward to building out the fo'c's'le in short order.