Hi,

I just updated my blog to share the construction of my Hazardous Zero 9 Merlin Rocket in Austin, Texas - USA. In February, I completed construction of the Centreboard Case, I survived the process of scarfing and bonding the forward and aft plank pieces, and became an official MROA member!

If you are interested in my project, use the link below to visit my blog. Comments are welcome.

Cheers!

Julio

Looks as if you starting to get it together, cant wait till you start the planking
Well done keep it up

Thank you, Rob. I'm having a lot of fun doing it.

Congratulations on undertaking this project Julio, really enjoyed reading your blog.

May I (tongue in cheek) offer my services to measure the boat for certification on completion.. Never been to Austin, Texas...

Keith - you may need to come as technical adviser..

GGGG

Thank you, Graham. I am certainly paying close attention to all Class rules to be compliant and following all of Keith's specifications. You never know, I might get it measured and certified some day. I think you and Keith would like Austin. Below is a link to take a peek. The lower Colorado river runs through it and it is a good place to sail. Above the dam, lake Travis offers a vast body of water to race them.

Julio

Graham, Keith

I'll carry your bags

Miles

Now when a Texan descibes a lake as 'a vast body of water' I can only think that it must be very large indeed. Sure enough, Wikipedia states that it is all of 65 miles long! This could be the ideal venue for the first Merlin Rocket World Championships.
Julio's blog is already being avidly read by a Hazardous builder in South Korea, who was at a loss to interpret my building plans.
Graham and Miles - when do we leave for Texas?

Thats twice the size of lake Garda....okay, I'm impressed. Keith - I can arrange for Susan to come along so that she can translate for us!

Dougal

Julio, I'm loving your blog!  When I was a kid all boats were built this way; nowadays plastics rule the roost, even in the Merlin fleet, and notions of craftsmanship and the inclusion of self into the boat being built are distant memories to us (and quaint and old-fashioned to younger folk). I'm looking forward to seeing further instalments and, eventually, your completed boat kissing the waters of that humungous lake!

I'm impressed by the workshop, what does it build in the working week?

Well, this is becoming the assembly of the Merlin Rocket Posse.

Miles, welcome. The more the merrier.

Keith, I've added pictures of the lakes at the end of my February update. Hopefully we'll get enough rain this Spring to end the drought and bring the lake levels back to normal in time for the fall when the wind comes back. Just in time for the big splash!

David, speaking of translations, I've decided to add a segment on boat construction terms in my March update to share my experience with all the new nautical terms. I believe you will appreciate it!

Derik, thank you for following my blog. Hopefully we can add a coolness factor to the boatbuilding process to encourage others to follow it.

Chris, it is just my garage overtaken by the tools I've accumulated over the years. No commercial shop here.

I think the Midland Circuit Trent Valley event should be held on that river!

Standing by our local puddle, looking at ice, wondering if I can face peeling the forzen cover off the boat.... or should I just go and fill in some job applications for Texas and emigrate!!

"Lone Star" would seem a good name for the boat.
The stars at night - are big and bright
Deep in the heart of texas.
The prairie sky - is wide and high
Deep in the heart of texas.
The sage in bloom - is like perfume
Deep in the heart of texas.
Reminds me of - the one I love
Deep in the heart of texas.
The cowboys cry - ki-yip-pie-yi
Deep in the heart of texas.
The rabbits rush - around the brush
Deep in the heart of texas.
The coyotes wail - along the trail
Deep in the heart of texas.
The doggies bawl - and bawl and bawl
Deep in the heart of texas.

Check out Storybooks band; brit band playing SXSW in Austen this week.

Hi Julio,
Great to know you are getting on with the build. I am now in my sixth year (!!!) of Hazardous 170 construction in Capua near Naples, Italy. I am currently fitting the garboards. I have all planks cut to size with a bit to spare and have been using the John Brookes, Ruth Ann Hill, publication "How to build Glued Lapstrake Wooden Boats as well as Ian Oughtred's publication "Clinker Plywood Boatbuilding Manual". It's been a long hard slog but I'm getting there !!

The trickiest part is knowing the tolerances and understanding that when things go wrong you know how to recover. As one builder told me, we all make mistakes, but its how you recover from them that defines the quality job.

Good Luck & Best Wishes

Ainslie French

Hi Ainslie,

Congratulations on your project. Looks like you have great reference materials to get you going. I might get some of those books. I agree with you on the tolerance. I am spending a lot of time studying the drawings and planning a few steps ahead. Keith, of course, is the best when it comes to answering questions.

I am close to catching up with you. Race you to the finish line!

Best regards,

Julio

Hi Julio,
Thank you for your invitation to race but I must sadly decline. "Festina Lente" - Hasten Slowly is my motto - I have found that every time I rush things and cut corners it takes 4 times as long to get them right - hence the 6 year plus build :-) My target it is to have a straight boat which is technically perfect.

The main reason I have taken so long is that I have built everything from scratch, measuring all the molds and checking with the table of offsets, then cutting each one out, planing and chiseling until perfect, idem for the planks which I have then spiled against the molds, carving out a solid mahogany transom, and similarly the inner stem, fairing the hog and calculating the varying angles as the hog emerges thru the planking at the bow, measuring and scaling up the centreboard case, tracing out onto plywood then cutting and planing etc, etc, etc.

I could go on for hours about the complications, checking the tools are all correctly aligned, sharpening the chisels, checking for square edges with setsquare and torch, the importance of having the light in the right place when cutting to the pencil line, the kind of pencil to use when transferring curves, how to measure with the steel rule, the importance of having one long metal straightedge to refer to, how not to stand on the building frame in order not to distort the molds, the importance of having three different procedures to arrive independently at a measurement to reduce the risk of errors etc, how to lay out a true centreline on the hog and keel etc.

Another very good old book is Creigh Osborne's "Dinghy Building" which was the inspiration to the John Brookes "How to build Glued Lapstrake Wooden Boats" where I have also left a review on Amazon and which I consider excellent.

Many of the tips are included in this book as well as an excellent section on what to do when things go wrong.

So, when you reach the finishing line ahead of me, I look forward to that pint of Guiness 

In the meantime.

Tanti Saluti from Sunny Southern Italy.

Ainslie French

Hello Ainslie

Are there any photos on the internet of your build, we all love to see merlins being built.

Miles