SV Abrazo: Alaska to Cape Horn: Construction Log: Laying the Deck

Laying Abrazo’s deck did not take long: Richard started in late March and finished by the 10^th of April, despite interference from the County’s environmental hearings about Chicago Bridge and Iron.

One reason the deck went down so quickly? The prep work had been going on for months. The deck’s foundation, of course - deck beams tied to sheer and harpin – had been completed in 1980, before the hull was planked.

Sheer clamp fastened through frames. Deck beams are bolted thru the Sheer and Harpin, which is also bolted through frames. Interior photo, taken 2016, also shows the white enamel underside of deck planks..

Materials for decking: Richard had purchased the Douglas fir in 1980. He and Dave Hartford (Dog Island Boat Works) shared a truckload of 2” x 5” fir cut by Arlington’s Summit Timber. The planks were cut to fill an order for Nord Doors, but a problem with the order allowed Baila and Hartford to buy the load. Both men planned fir decks for their boats. Richard started milling that fir in December, as soon as the hull was planked.

The wood was a mix of vertical grain and quarter-sawn, best choice for decking. Since wood expands in the direction of the annual rings, a vertical grain or a quarter-sawn (grain is less than 45 degrees from vertical) will expand vertically. You don’t want your deck planks expanding in width, only in thickness.

To prepare his decking, Richard sawed a ½” x 5” slab from the original plank, reserving this thin piece for interior work. He sliced and planed the remaining thickness to get deck planks to the size he wanted: 1 ¼” x 2 ¼”net. He made a jig for his table saw to cut the corking seam.

Once Abrazo's hull was ready for Dudley Davidson’s sanding work on March 26, Richard started spiling fir planks for the covering boards, the wide pieces that fit to the outer edges of the deck. Remember those 12" x 12" fir cants we struggled to lift to onto his truck for a trip to the mill in November of 1980? Planks cut from those cants became covering boards for the deck. "Anchor" pieces completed the span, joining the curved lengths of the covering boards.

Richard wanted his deck planks to lay "naturally," parallel to a centerline the length of the boat. This meant that each plank would be nibbed into that covering board, with a nib wide enough to be corked.

(An alternative method is to spring the deck planks to the sheer. Different shapes lend themselves to different techniques: in 1983, for instance, Richard would put a beautiful teak deck on Mike Logg’s boat, S/V Terrier. )

S/V Terrier's deck, 1983. Deck planks are sprung to the sheer, and nibbed into both covering boards and the central 'king' plank.

Before laying Abrazo’s deck, Richard completed coamings to define the boat’s cabin, forward hatch, and cockpit.

Cabin coaming.

My job was to sand the interior side of the deck planks he’d milled, and paint them with white enamel. Once the dust settled after a day of his shop work, I spent many evenings painting, with sawhorses set up to hold the current batch of deck planks for their first, second, or third coat of white paint. (Use cornstarch for that last sanding, before applying the final coat of paint.) I’m sure the painting of deck planks went on thru the first days of April, when I hustled to paint planks for the side decks, while he was laying the planks on the foredeck. Ai! The pressure of trying to stay ahead of the Boss!

Daytime work since November of 1980, when weather and other duties allowed, had included sanding and varnishing the interior three sides of the deck beams those planks would lay across. As I wrote to my sister, Louise, at the time, “It feels good to spend long hours sanding & varnishing the beams I’ll be living with for years to come.”

Richard began laying the deck planks at the center of the foredeck. Where the first plank met the curve of the covering board, he made a mark at the inner edge of the covering board. Where the second plank met the curve, he made the next mark. He wanted the nib end of the plank to be wide enough to cork … about half the width of the plank … so he measured halfway across the end of the plank and made a third mark. Those three points marked the triangle to be chiseled out of the covering board to accommodate the plank. A similar triangle had to be cut out of the plank end to make a good fit. Once the nib end was made, he could cut the plank to fit against the forward edge of the cabin coaming.

My best photo of the nib ends is from the corking stage, which didn't happen till summer, 1981.

As he prepared to fasten each plank, he painted dolfinite bedding compound on the faying surface, where the white-enamel-painted bottom-side of the deck plank met the unpainted upper surface of the deck beam. Did dolfinite ooze onto the white enamel? Yes, of course! One of my jobs was to skiff that ooze away without denting or scraping the white enamel. (I had already spent many hours inside Abrazo’s hull, scraping away the dolfinite that oozed between the hull planks. Mess Clean-Up was actually my primary boat-building skill, with sanding and varnish/painting my secondary contribution.) Richard used 3/16 SS screws, same as the ones he used to fasten the hull planking. He screwed through the decking into the deck beams, and covered the screw tops with fir plugs.

In the photo above, you can see a special feature of the covering board: Richard used planks that were 1/4" proud for those covering boards, and then scrubbed away the extra thickness where the covering board meets the decking. He planned to fasten bulwarks atop the outer edge of the covering board, and he knew that the joint where the bulwark meets that board is vulnerable to standing water. He had replaced enough bulwarks in his shipwright career to appreciate the value of a built in "waterway" to draw water away from that bulwark joint.

By April 10, the boat was decked. But weather in Bellingham continued grey and rainy … not good for corking. Under the protection of his great big tarp, Richard built the floor for the cockpit, and we began to have conferences about how the galley might be laid out.

In my collection of notes and journal entries from this time, I admit surprise at finding this paragraph in another letter to my sister Louise:

“The boat will be ready to launch before September, and we’ll move aboard for the winter under stark conditions: a bed, a stove a sink. We won’t try to sell this boat till after we’ve sailed her … next year. Best scenario would be to find a buyer who has his own design and wants R to build for him. I’ve been collecting receipts, but I need to compile the records of costs so Richard can be reasonable when he estimates the cost of construction for a possible buyer.”

Neither of us remembers giving any thought to wanting to SELL Abrazo back then. But the idea that a savvy buyer would see the quality of Richard’s workmanship and want to hire him to build another boat … that was a possibility, right!

Correspondence with Manuel Campos:

In mid-February '81 we’d received a card from Manuel: “I hope for news of construction.” He mentions that he had just received a request for construction plans for the boat, Gaucho, to be built in St. Petersburg, FL.

Then 3-27-81, Manuel wrote, “Without notice of your work, I am anxious to know how it is going? Can I help?” He enclosed an article from the Argentine magazine, La Nacion. The author cites Campos as famous marine designer of such boats at Legh II which was sailed by the “unforgettable” mariner Vito du Mas. He then introduces Campos fan, Julio Ozán, who linked Campos with el seňor Dick Baila of Washington, California. Baila commissioned plans for the new boat, and began to build last year, etc.

Richard wrote back immediately with photos showing construction progress. He included many of the specifications Manuel had asked for months ago:

4-7-81 Dear Manuel, My biggest problem is that I do not read or write Spanish! I received today your letter of March 27 with the article from La Nacion. I look forward to understanding the article when I can find a translator.

Over the past weeks I have been laying the deck on the cutter, which my wife and I have named ABRAZO. We have had a great deal of cold, grey rain here in Bellingham, and the winds, too, have made the work go slowly. Tomorrow I hope to fasten the last deck plank. Then to work on bulwarks and guards; soon I’ll build the cabin. The hull is caulked and ready for paint. My wife has been sanding and varnishing the deck beams.

The enclosed letter was translated for me by a boy from Paraguay who attends a local high school. I hope he has done a good job. Do you have trouble with my English or do you have a translator?

Following is the English version of the enclosed:
RE: your letter dated 7-10-80: Dear Mr. Campos, I must apologize for not writing sooner. The construction is progressing slowly. We finished the hull in January 81. In answer to your questions:
1) The weight of Douglas fir is 32/lb per cu ft. By my computation the backbone weight is 1500 lb and the ballast 7300 lb for a total of 8800 lb [express in metric]
2) the ribs are steam-bent oak and are 10” on center 2” x 1 ¾” white oak, approx. 400 BM at 53lb/cu ft. = 1765 lb.
3) For planking Alaska Cedar was used 1 ¼” net thickness approx. 1000’ at a weight of 31 lb/cu ft. = 2583 lb.
4) Weight of hull less deck = 13,148 lb. I will have weight of deck and house next letter.

Also we changed the deck layout slightly. The house stops aft of the mast – so the mast goes through the main deck. I would like to raise the mast 5’. Enclosed is my revised sail plan. Do you see any reason why this cannot be done? If you see anything that is not to your liking, please let me know.

The pictures enclosed show the deck layout, ribs, and planked hull. I will soon send you a photograph of the deck. Meanwhile, may you enjoy good health and pleasant weather.
May beauty follow you everywhere.

Manuel’s response, written 5-18-81: