Meridea by Walter Biles - RADIO - 34" CAD of boat at USN Severn River Repair Station c. 1969

[Walter Biles]

Michael, A Happy new year to you also!

Row, Happy new year to you and all my best wishes.

Patric, Happy new years and best wishes.

Mark, I know you'll be by, and a Happy new years and best wishes to you and Janet.  I'll be praying for you both. 

It is not at the admiral's prompting, It is just that since she is back home I need to get some of the things done for both our betterment, and now is the best time while she can be home for a while to get in her ideas about how she would like to see things change.  I have been too neglectful of getting on the stick and getting it done. 

Bob, You and the admiral both doing okay?  I hope you both have a Happy and healthier new year this year !!!

Edited January 8, 2015 by Walter Biles

[captainbob]

Walt, yes it’s too bad we can’t build all the time but the rest of life needs to be taken care of also.  I just started a Friendship sloop (click below).  Take care and keep in touch my friend. 

 

Bob

[mtaylor]

Hi Walt,

 

I make the same wishes to you and Linda.  I'm praying that 2015 will be better for all of us.  Anyway, take your time and make yourself and your bride comfortable and happy.  The ship isn't going anywhere and we'll be here. 

[popeye the sailor]

yepper Walt!    it's a hobby........not to consume our every waking hour.......{well........in my case...it's a lost cause  }

 

last night in my dream........I lost a ships boat......heard it hit the floor.  this morn,  I woke up..........and I STILL can't find it!   

[Walter Biles]

A brief update to my life for my friends here.

 

I check in from time to time.  

Family events of the holiday caused total chaos to my build setup.  I haven't gotten it straightened out yet.  

I still have 4 or so planks left on each side to finish the planking.  Since Linda's health has stabilized last August, I have been taking time for my health getting reviewed Since September.  .

I have been getting my diabetes under control, and I just went through nasal surgery in Feb.  Oh! how nice to be able to breathe through my nose again.  That is a lot better.

 

My time has been overloaded lately, trying to get my health back in hand.  Although I have thought about working on something, When I find the pile of disorganized stuff in my workroom, it gets put off.  It just seems too much to think about to have to reorganize everything, and try to do anything.  Maybe one day...

[Omega1234]

Hi Walter 

 

Nice to hear back from you and that you're taking more care of your health.  I know it sounds like a cliche, but health will always trump over our hobbies, so, take your time and make sure you're fit and well before getting back to your shipyard.

 

All the best!

 

Patrick

[michael mott]

Great to hear that your health is improving Walter, I look forward to seeing the next update. Regarding the workroom situation, I sometimes find myself in the same mood. I find that just putting one or two items away is all the kick I need to feel that I have accomplished a great deal.  One of my woodworking heroes James Krenov would simply pick up the broom and sweep the floor when this happened to him.

 

Michael 

[captainbob]

Glad things are getting better.  It's family and you first, then the hobby.

 

Bob

[mtaylor]

Walter,

 

Good to hear back as I was wondering if everything is ok.   When the turbulence settles, you'll know it's time to get back to the model.  I'm happy to hear Linda is stable and you're finding time to take care of you.

[Walter Biles]

Thank you all,  

 

I did go in to the hobby room and make a start.  I had to put some things back together on the desk, and that makes some room on top for some sorting and storing.  I still have a card table stacked high with I am not sure what, but it is a start.  If I can get the boat moved over to there, so I can start locating my tools again, and find out what I still need to clear off so I can get back onto my work table, then I may be able to start, if I haven't moved too many of my tools back out to the shop that I might need.  It is looking a bit more hopeful.  

 

My memory is still poor, and I only finished half of the shop bench repairs in the garage, so there is still much to finish before out there is usable, but I am going to work inside when the heat of Arizona is heavy on the land.  Once it gets hot out there it will be just as unusable as when it was freezing the last few months.  The shop is not heat nor cooling friendly.  If I can get some sheets of insulation to install in the walls and ceiling of the garage, it might become some better.  I don't have anything big enough to cool it or heat it enough to make it comfortable to work out there unless the outside weather is about right, which is hard to catch just that way.  I used to have a wood stove in my other shop at my former house, and the two story house shaded the garage starting a few hours after noon.  I used to be able to work in there 8-10 hours a day, but this one faces the sun all day and won't cool, and there is no insulation to keep in any heat during the cold part of the year.  I have been watching the community bulletin board for an AC unit I could install in the back wall, but have not found one since I started watching for it.  I did get some 2" foam sheets put in the metal panels of the roll down door a couple of years back,  that does help the afternoon sun from radiating in through into the garage so bad.

 

Well I am getting ready to get back to work on the Meridea, at least until I can seal it up to float.  I still have some rigging to do down in it's innards to make the sails work.  I am glad I left it where I can get most of the cabin roof open for working in it.  Once I get a chance to learn what will work for sails control, I may just build me another one without so many mistakes in it.  It has definitely been a work in progress, and a sort of trial and error sort of thing for me.  If I can ever get it working nicely, I would like to offer the corrected plans up to anyone who would like to do it.  It could be a very nice looking boat if someone can build the railings like they originally were.  I have learned quite a bit about it's structure since I started on it.  Although it was originally a fiberglass hull, I had to convert it to a wood frame, and ran into several complications with that, which left some work-around errors in mine.  I also did not have the actual waterlines right, and had to build out and downward to get the proper waterline back up out of the water when I tank tested it.  It would have been too low in the water, and probably unstable where the first set of lines were.  I like that I have the cabin so strong, but fully capable of being opened up.  I am thinking I would like to remake the masts so the sails could be raised through the masts right from the controls.   I feel that was the intention of the original build.  I think it was designed to be operational by one or two persons at most.  A test-bed to sail long trips, with a minimal crew.  I would like the model to be similar to that.  Then I would have accomplished what I first wanted when I took her lines that day in the basin.  

 

Edited February 29, 2016 by Walter Biles

[michael mott]

Thanks for the update Walter, it is good to hear that you are able to get busy with the various aspects of your workplace.

 

Michael

[Walter Biles]

Thank you Michael,

Your comment about just getting something started sounded quite true.  It helped me get started again.  A step at a time.  

I am slowly building my enthusiasm again.  The more sorting things out of the mess, the closer it looks to do-able.  

Edited March 2, 2016 by Walter Biles

[popeye the sailor]

good to hear your getting back up to speed Walt.  I hope the good health continues for you and your admiral.......hope to see an update soon  

[Walter Biles]

Thanks Popeye,  I got the work table cleared off, and now have to find where I was using the rest of my tools for some other task, so I can start getting set up to begin work again.  I suppose I should start with some current status pictures, as a beginning point, if I can find my camera.   Ah!  Found it.  Now just to find the rest of my hand tools, and those riffle files and dremel tools.  I hope my glues have not all dried up.  I may have to do some shopping for fresh adhesives.  At least my planks are all cut to rough size.   

Edited March 2, 2016 by Walter Biles

[Walter Biles]

I did need to get some new TightBond 3.  I now have 1 more plank and a 1:2 start on the next level on each side.  I am still having to try to find things I need for the job.  

[Walter Biles]

I found out that my camera download program has lost support, I can no longer download the usual way from the camera to the computer.  However, after much searching and with the help of the neighbor, I found that I can pull the mini SD card out of the camera, and with an adapter, I can read the menu of files to move them to my Pictures files.  Yay! I won't have to buy a new camera just for that.  Now I can get back to trying to get a little something done.  

[popeye the sailor]

did you get a CD to install the program?   even without an update,  it should still work.   I have a slot for the SD card in my computer,  but I can dock it as well.   for some reason,  my computer won't recognize the card any more,  so I use an adapter for USB.

 

we gonna see some pictures Walt?  

[Walter Biles]

Popeye,  No pix as yet.  I have not had time to take them.  Yes I had the CD for the download program, but the old computer no longer has the drivers it needs, nor can I get them anymore, and since the newer computers won't accept that program for downloading, I will have to use the SD card for transferring the poor pix it can take.  

 

I am getting my new computer up to run the newest version of Designcad 23 that I have, so I can get some frames designed for my America ship model.  I did get the glue for planking finally last month, but it still waits.  The plans from Blue Jacket that I got quite some time ago, have never gotten onto a computer that stayed up long enough to do anything with them yet.  I like this new DELL with W7 on it.  It seems more robust and stays out of trouble much better.  I had one setback with it, and had to backtrack to an earlier restore, but never got my CAD back on it until this week.  

 

I lost the files from mixing the thumb drive I had them on with my backup file from the HP, and have to redo what I had up to that point.  Anyway, I am working on some plans again, and hope to get the slip mate to Meridea started again.  That HP fiasco with W8.1 just about put me against the wall for awhile.  That computer now has W10 on it, with not much else left.  I did get it up with my financial program where I can use it for a backup for that, but was too discouraged to trust it even for that.  It mostly takes up desk space, although I sometimes watch movies on it.  It seems fairly good at that.

 

 I do have most of my tools returned to my work room, now.  I am hoping to find a better digital camera system so I can take clearer pix of the models.  That old 2MP camera didn't have much facility for close up pix.  I am looking to see if I can find one that I can control Depth of Field and aperature (spelling?) and still have crisp looking pix.  I have been looking at what is available, but might have to go with a used one, slightly older.  Before, when I had a good 35mm film camera I had started getting fairly good with stuff like that on it, but I need something digital so I don't have to pay processing all the time.  In fact I can't remember the last time I had film developed on that old one.  I lost track of it using the little digital one for taking pictures of the grandchildren. In fact I think it might have been disposed of when I moved to this house.  At that time I was unable to think clearly, and may have given it away as something I would never use again.  I lost so many tools that way.  

 

Anyway, I am doing some model work.  Just nothing so far that I can share much about.  

Edited April 3, 2016 by Walter Biles

[Walter Biles]

Here are the last two planks I added to the Meridea.  I now have a different camera which takes much more detail, once I finish learning how to work with it.  

 

 

[popeye the sailor]

she's look'in good Walt.........glad to see your still work'in on her.   still got a bit more to go though....it's the fun part  

[Walter Biles]

I'm trying to get back into building.  I got "Boatbuilding"  by H. Chapelle, and "Lofting a Boat" by Roger Kopanycia.  I hope to be able to learn more about what I may be doing wrong, or right in Lofting and building a boat.  I have the second book already, and should have the first within a few weeks. 

[captainbob]

Glad to see you're back.  Come see if any of my books will help.

 

Bob

[popeye the sailor]

glad to see your doing well Walt!   I thought you were doing great already {on the boat,  that is}!  

[Walter Biles]

This past half year has been tough.  My son died in July, and since then, my wife has been in bad shape.  Everywhere from 75-180 miles away.  She is now on dialysis.  I have put over 4000 miles on my vehicle trying to keep up with her.  She could not even get to my daughter's for Christmas, because of weakness.  Finally I am back home and the dialysis is helping her strength return a bit.  She is still in nursing care. 

 

I am hoping she can come home sometime soon on home dialysis.  Meanwhile I am "Home Alone".  Maybe Now I can concentrate enough to get some work done on my model. 

Edited January 5, 2017 by Walter Biles

[popeye the sailor]

sorry to hear that Walt.  I hope lady luck smiles on you .........I knew you've had it rough earlier......but I think this put the icing on the cake!  

       so sad........I wish you and the misses well  

[Walter Biles]

Thanks, Bob & Popeye

I have been too disturbed and upset to concentrate most of this year.  Now they are starting to find things they can do to help her, I hope to be better able to concentrate on something for a while at a time.  

[Walter Biles]

Thanks for all the likes, Mark and others.  I have been reading through the lofting book, and putting some cross referencing on some things to learn more about.  It has some terms for parts like HOG, for a part of the keel relating to the rabbet that I had never heard before except in referencing the distortion of the keel and hull.  It relates to a special board to make it so the planking along the keel has twice it's thickness to seat up against.  That would be a good thing to have for stronger and more water-tightness in the attachment of the planking.  It only seems relative in smaller craft with not large keels, although I will have to follow up to learn more.  The amount of work to get the table data is one of the things that my CAD program has been helpful with, however I can see that it would be very helpful to know how to use the table data when things just don't quite fit, although most of my scratch building did not have lofted drawings of any quality.  I certainly feel that knowing how to do lofting could help me in the future.  

[mtaylor]

I hope you can sort out the lofting, Walt.  It's still a mystery to me but there are good people here who can help.  You might check over the CAD area as there's a lot of them doing that.

 

My condolences on the loss of your son.  I'm hoping your wife can re-join you soon and this will be a better year.  You both are in my thoughts.  

[Walter Biles]

Thank you Mark.

 

I know you have also had a lot of similar concerns in your life.

 

My past experience in the Naval Yard shop only goes so far, because we seldom did new structures of boats.  Usually we spliced in broken framework, and I understood how to do that.  I have done pretty well with that, but if possible it would be nice to be able to take the tables to loft the frames.  This is one area that would make it easier in the future to find out how to derive the shapes and dimensions using them.  Since I mostly do my own plans, It would help to know what the expected parts do and how they are shaped.  Previously, I worked only with how a patch must overlap, and how to maintain the strength of the frame being repaired.  That way I will understand better how the CAD helps to show what should be there.  I hope that I can learn it.  Practicing the learning helps me renew the mental links that have been damaged.  

Edited January 9, 2017 by Walter Biles