Cape Cod Catboat by Steve Ka -BlueJacket Shipcrafters - 3/4” to 1’

[Steve Ka]

Just beginning to build the Cape Cod Catboat by Bluejacket.  My kit was delivered in great shape and well packaged.  My first task was to look at all the bits and pieces.  Much of the kit is laser cut.  The wood is high quality.  There are a number of metal bits such as copper, brass, cast, etc.  All metal parts look to be high quality as well.

 

Once happy all parts were accounted for, it was time to read the supplied documents.  There is a nice history of the catboat series penned by Howard Chapelle.  As you can see in the photos, the plans are well drawn and very clear. The instructions are clear but the builder will be using a couple pamphlets at the same to ensure an understanding of the steps.

 

My own research in American Sailing Craft by Howard Chapelle says the catboat’s history is murky at best prior to 1850. Nevertheless, the catboat was developed and evolved from 1850 through the end of the century.  The Bluejacket catboat has very similar lines as the 1895 boats built by Manley H. Crosby.  Bluejacket did supply a propeller and anchor that would go well with a more modern boat build after auxiliary power came into vogue.

Edited December 30, 2024 by ccoyle
corrected log title

[Jim Lad]

A lovely little subject to build, Steve.

 

John

[gsdpic]

Not sure I’ve seen a build log of this kit, will follow along.

[JacquesCousteau]

Looks like an interesting kit!

[Steve Ka]

A bit of progress today.  The keel has been built up along with the centerboard box.  Keel and CB box have been shaped and sanded.  More shaping and sanding to come.  I built most of the keel with CA and some wood glue.  Wanted to prevent warping of the keel so glued most of it with the CA.  My preferred glues are wood glues.  I have used many from various manufacturers and find them similar in performance.  For this project, that will be Titebond.  For some reason I have had less than ideal experience using the CAs, but this is very likely user error. 

 

Centerboard has been shaped and sanded.  I wanted to be able to raise and lower the centerboard. It took some time to get the final shape of the centerboard so it will swing easily inside the box.

 

The formers/bulkheads have been fitted, sanded, and centerlines marked.

 

Next work session, I hope to have the deck, cockpit coaming, cabin roof, and some other wooden bits sanded and stained.  I am planning to use water based oak stain for the deck, coaming, and cabin roof.  I may use a water based walnut for the cockpit and or seats.  Unless I find another native wood stain that catches my fancy when I make a trip to the hardware store.  The kit came with mahogany trim so that will stay natural.

 

I am a slow builder so hope to accomplish these tasks during the next build session, but who knows.  I’ll get where I get.  After those steps, I can get back to gluing the formers to the keel.

[Steve Ka]

A little more progress on the cat boat.  I had been having difficulty fully understanding the instructions.  I had blamed that on my own abilities and some less that perfect photographs in the instructions.  I did contact Bluejacket about the photos.  Truly great customer service from Bluejacket.  I dropped an email to them on a Sunday evening and had a full compliment of digital photos in my email on Monday at 0930.  You just cannot get better customer service than that.

 

I spent a good bit of time glueing the bulkheads to the keel spine.  It did take a lot of time to square it all.  I started by carefully setting the keel up square, then attaching individual bulkheads to the keel.  Each bulkhead was squared vertically and horizontally with the keel. I also squared the bulkheads front to rear relative to the keel.

 

I used Titebond to glue the bulkheads because I knew I needed time to square each bulkhead.  I glued just one bulkhead to the keel and let it dry before moving on to the next bulkhead. Still, I often used quite a lot of time to get each bulkhead square.  Then I waited for the glue to set before beginning work on the next bulkhead.

 

Hoping to get the last bulkhead glued to the frame and then moving forward from there during the next build session.

 

 

[Steve Ka]

Tacked bulkhead number 2 in today.  BH number two is the second bulkhead back from the stem.  The bulkhead is made up of two “c” shaped pieces.  I took a suggestion from the directions and laid a temporary piece of wood between the upper tips of the bulkhead.  Still, there was a fair amount of fiddling to get the pieces in and square.  You can see in the photos a method I used to help place the bulkheads correctly and properly square. The bulkheads have notches where a bilge stringer will eventually be placed. I strung a couple pieces of string through the notches to help me visually ensure everything looked straight.  This after carefully placing and tacking the bulkhead in place. 

Edited Thursday at 02:15 AM by Steve Ka
Poor grammar and spelling on my part. SK

[Jim Lad]

A very neat start, Steve.

 

John