Cabin Wall Framing Finally

15.33 in and, Boat Plans, bow, cabin, eyes, finally, framing, stern, tiedowns, wall

Whew, finally. We get to constructing the cabin walls. This is the fun part for me. As a former carpenter, framing construction is well-within my comfort zone.

Initially, it looked like it would be easy as pie. I planned to simplify the standard stud construction to reduce weight: (single) sole plate + studs + (single) top plate + simplified door and window openings.

But as I started planning out the end walls, I realized I needed access to the space under the decks, and so the end walls had to work around that.

The side walls were a little simpler and more conventional.

I was using all recycled Doug Fir 2x4s from the salvage pile at the dump, ripped from 3-1/2 inches to 3 inches.

Looking one more time at my wall detail, you see that the coaming (labeled "edgeboard") is cut into the wall studs.  So I had to dado a sizable groove into each of my studs to accept the coaming.

Real woodworkers have tools for this, but I had to resort to some deft skillsaw work. And without a working wood chisel, I was sadly using a flat head screwdriver.  Embarrassing. But it worked reasonably well.

Next, I assembled the walls on the floor of the barn, and then awkwardly personhandled them solo into place in the boat.  Every connection was adhered with construction adhesive and nailed.

In the boat, the wall framing was glued and screwed.

Two walls.

Three.

With window framing and blocking added.

And finally four finished walls. In this last photo, you can see the doorframe to the head on the right.

A big day, for sure. Time for a cigar.  Next up, more mistakes were made.

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What the happened

08.38 in Boat Plans, cabin, finally, framing, happened, the, wall, what

You must hate me.

Last I left you with "Walls take shape" and then radio silence for six months.  Did I lose interest in the project? Get tragically killed by a falling jet engine?

No, Im not dead and the project is moving along albeit a little more slowly. I started grad school. Which means that I no longer have the time for such luxuries as eating and sleeping.  However, I still spent many weekends working on the boat.

So the blog is six months behind, but the shantyboat is six months further along. Things in store for you as I update the blog, walls, windows, roof, decks, steps, doors.  Cool things like that.

So feel free to send me an email urging me along with blog posts. Heres my commitment: For every email, I receive from a different blog reader, I will create a new shantyboat post.

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Cabin Framing More Mistakes Were Made

00.05 in a, Boat Plans, cabin, collection, float, framing, from, made, mistakes, more, non, of, photos, river, shantyboat, were

If theres one thing Im good at, its not being good as things.  But given my delightfully blinding optimism, I plunge on ahead anyway, learning a ton with each monumental goof.

You remember the cabin framing looked like this. Thats more or less an eight foot wall, with maybe 1 foot 8 inches below the deck of the hull.  The height was chosen more or less arbitrarily, based I think on having 8 foot two-by stock to work with for the framing.

At this point Im thinking all the great and rare 1x12 redwood we pulled from the decommissioned chicken coop was not going to be enough wood, and was gong to be too brittle, too bug eaten or rotten, and too heavy.  So I was pricing new redwood, though this was not my ideal.

When I got down to thinking about (and pricing) the redwood siding, I realized Id made a small but critical blunder. About 2-1/2 inches of blunder.

Had I made the walls a tiny tiny bit shorter, I could have used 6 foot long boards for the siding. This made a huge difference in the pricing since 1x12 or 1x10 redwood is already expensive, but longer lengths are even more so. With 6 foot lengths, I could easily cut 12 lumber in half, but the next common step up is 16 lengths, which were much more spendy and wasteful.

Well, the cabin already looked ridiculously tall, and I wasnt yet committed to the height, so I decided to do something crazy...

I cut the walls down 2-1/2 inches. I clamped my carpenters square to each stud to serve as a guide for my skillsaw and cut a few inches off of each stud.

Considering that everything was glued and screwed (or nailed), it wasnt easy. I had to remove the little stud nubs and glue and nail the top plate to the new tops of the studs.

It only took most of a morning to fix the height of the cabin.  Now the walls measure exactly six foot from the deck to the top of the walls.

As a consolation for my troubles (and perhaps reward for conscientiously correcting my mistake), I had a beautiful visitor that day.

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Shantyboat on the Mississippi

13.14 in Boat Plans, cabin, framing, made, mississippi, mistakes, more, on, shantyboat, the, were

In July, we are bringing the shantyboat across country to launch in the Mississippi River on an art and history expedition:

Thanks to espressobuzz for the historic photo

A journey to rediscover the lost narratives of river people, river communities, and the river itself. 

Secret History is an anthro-historical artists journey through the history of a river. It weaves together threads of adventure, history, art, and story. 

We take to the river, Those forgotten waterways that flow through most towns, hidden behind levees, shoved underground or behind the seediest neighborhood.

Just a few generations ago, there were whole communities of people living right on the river in shantyboats. And people living in the bottomlands that flood every spring. Now mostly all gone.

We are fundraising right now to help make the project happen. There is also a beautiful video we produced to give you a lyrical flavor of the project.

Support A Secret History of American River People Kickstarter

The Kickstarter campaign is critical for launching the Secret History expedition. It will help pay for final outfitting of the shantyboat and transporting it across country. It will make sure we have decent audio-video equipment to record our interviews in the river communities we visit.

Thanks for helping support the project.

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