Backyard Pirate Ship - the small stuff

Good day to all,

and a special welcome to my first and only reader from Great Britain, whoever you are.  I get a kick out of seeing from what countries the blog gets hits from.  I'm still missing hits from South America so if any of you have any contacts down there, feel free to forward them a link to the blog.

Also, I'm sorry I lost your e-mail but to the gentleman from Somalia inquiring about purchasing 10 of these ships, please e-mail me again.  But let me be clear, these are defintely not sea-worthy so I do not know why you were asking about clamps for outboard motors.  And as for your question regarding purchasing additonal ammunition for the cannons???  These cannons only shoot water, and not at a very high pressure.  You basically attach a garden hose to these, that's the extent of their "power".  Anyways, do e-mail me if you were actually looking for a "playset".

Now back to the build.  It hit me yesterday that I haven't been sharing as many tips and tricks lately so last night when I was doing some more prep work in the workshop, I snapped some pics.

I was procrastinating, I guess, on working on the portholes but since it's dark out early now and I only got home at 8, only thing I could really do was work in the workshop.  I had 5 "frames" cut for some portholes but I hadn't done anything else to them yet.  Plan was to use plexiglass or I think the real term for what I have a sheet of is polycarbonate, instead of glass for the panes.

So, once again I got to pull out a tool I hadn't used yet on this project, my router table. 

Fortunately by backing up the guides on it as far as they could go, it basically gave me the perfect jig to route just a small strip on the inside of my frame. 

I did have to adjust the height of the bit as well as use a scrap of 1/4 inch plywood to give me the right depth that would match the thickness of the polycarbonate.  Take a look, I'm rather pleased at how this worked out and it only took me 15 minutes to set up and maybe 5 minutes to run all 5 frames.

So I then got my sheet of ploycarbonate and and pulled out my multi-tool.  Unfotunately, Canadian Tire doesn't offer this specific tool anymore.  Tood bad as I've used this one A LOT and it is AMAZEBALLS.  It's one of those tools where at first you may only think of one use for, but once you start using it you find all types of jobs for it.  I use it a lot with the plunger router attachement as it comes with a collar for standard router bits.  It's a little under-powered for big routing jobs but a quick setup for those quick jobs.  Here is is with various "Dremmel" type bits I use.

Now you'll notice I've got it laid out on a scrap piece of styrofoam insulation.  Styrofoam insulation is (I've found at least) perfect when you need to work on material that you want to cut but also need consistant support underneath while you're making your cuts.  If the material you're cutting is brittle, thin or just plain fragile, lay it out on some scrap styrofoam.  Make sure though, that if you're cutting material that's 1/4 inch thick and you're using let's say a circular saw with a cut depth of 2 and a half inches, that you either use 2 and a half inches of styrofoam or if adjustable, reduce your cut depth. 

The idea here is to cut through the material while your blade or bit slices effortlessly through the soft styrofoam underneath.  Now don't start heralding me as a genius for this, you can for other stuff but in this case, I did not invent this technique as I'm sure I saw it on some TV show or read it in an article, somewhere.

So I end up with a nice porthole pane made of "kid friendly" and "kid resistant", pretty much shatter proof material.

Take the protective coating off of it and VOILÀ!

Now I'm going to gluegun (yes, I've just invented a new verb.  THAT just happened!), these panes into the frames and at some point during this weekend the pirate ship will have some portholes.  They already look "ok" but I still need to do some sanding on the frames and for the aft of the captain's quarters / cannon room, I'm going to try and do something a little fancier than round portholes.

Probably no new updates for a few days but this weekend, weather permitting, you can look forward to seeing the aft mast completed with the horizontal boom and pullies (basically a crane) and hopefully some of these portholes installed.

Until then, as always, thanks for dropping by.

Backyard Pirate Ship - Days 18+

Allright, I know I haven't checked in in a while.  Combination of inclement weather and some hobby farm chores.  You see, Thanksgiving is coming up and some turkeys needed killin.  After they were all cleaned up, smallest one was 22 lbs and the biggest weighed in at almost 31 lbs.  Those are big frickin birds.

Anyways, back to the ship.  I think I mentionned this before, I'm now at a point where progress seems to be at a crawl, even when I spend a good day on the project.  Case in point, hurricane braces.  Never heard of them?  That's cause I just invented them, so to speak.  You see I was worried that once in a while, living on the sea, we do tend to get some pretty high winds.  I wasn't initially planning to anchor this ship into the ground but as it got taller and taller, I reconsidered that decision and decided to put in to anchors into the ground on the side of the ship that people don't tend to see.

So I started by digging a post hole 4 ft deep. 

Now this 4x4 is going to be encased in concrete so I got one of those cardboard tubes (I think they call them Sono tubes).  Now one hint about buying these cardboard forms, although they have a whole shelf of them saying they're 6 inches in diameter, there are wide variations, at least I found, in what constitutes 6 inches, and I said "Pardon?".  So I sorted through the various tubes on the shelf at the store and picked out the 6 incher that was the widest.  The 8 inch I thought was overkill.  These tubes were in 8 ft lengths so all I had to do was cut it in hal and one tube gave me my two forms for my anchors.

Now if any of you following the blog are certified contractors or whatnot, you might think that I do things sometimes that aren't really in the "book".  Some of the things I do I learned but some things are just "logical" as far as I'm concerned.  So when it cam time to put the 4x4 into the tube, I figured just encasing it in concrete wouldn't be enough if it was just fitted in like a sleave.  I needed some extra grabbing power in that concrete so I cut some pieces of rebar, 4.75 inches long and Mathieu and I drilled some holes into the 4x4's section to be encased.  My thoughts on this that although just small protrusions, they would anchor the 4x4 even more in the concrete.  One inportant thing I remembered reading somewhere though, I had to make sure the ends of these pieces of rebar didn't poke through the outer edge of the concrete, other wise ground water might over time rust them and compromise the concrete.

So our postready to go into the ground, I attached the top of it at the right place in the frame of the ship, then we mixed up 2 bags of concrete.

I know it's hard to see but this 4x4 is bolted on the inside to many of the structural ribs and plates of the ship.  it also serves as the top portion of the framworkfor the interior brig wall so this will provide some lateral structural integrity as well.  One last thing on this task, I usually do not backfill concrete work right away like this but they were calling for 40mm or rain that night and following day so last thing I wanted was the hole to fill up with water.

So a few days ago the weapons system finally showed up.  Let's just say they were worth the wait.

Oh and visitors are still stopping by to see the ship.  Kids play during the day and I'm thinking of hosting booze cruises during the evenings.

So now that the cannons were here, I was able to figure out the right dimensions for some cannon doors.

I like this feature as it's the start of "dressing up" the ship.  It's all the little details that'll make this stand out from other play sets.

I also put in the doors and some pull ropes to open the doors to get ready for attacks.

As you can see, I went with the black hinges again, matching the other hardware already on the ship.  On the inside, I played with the idea of comlpicated pulley systems and winches to open up the cannon doors but seeing as they're really not heavy, I just went with simple poly rope (resists water) and installed some rope cleats to tie the ropes to and keep the doors open.  Actually, Mathieu put in one of the cleats all on his own with the cordless drill.  I don't think you can see the difference.

So that's it for this weekend.  Our neighbour is welding some parts for the boom crane thingy this week and he said they'd be ready by mid-week so next weekend we'll be installing another fun feature.

Until then, thanks for dropping by.

A.

Backyard Pirate Ship - Day 17

Well what a momentous weekend this was.  The pirate ship had it's maiden voyage!  Meaning, Mathieu slept aboard for the first night ever.  Anyways, I'll get back to that.

Let's go back to Friday.  I took the day off to make this a really nice long weekend and I got to work on some finish stuff.  I wouldn't say that I hate finish work but it's definitely not my favorite part of the job.  I just find that progress is a little harder to notice once you're down to the finishing touches.

So the plan was to at some point this weekend, finally sleep on the ship.  I was not going to sleep in this thing without proper doors so I started with the back one.  Trimmed out the frame with some 1x4, made a nice edge and voila.

Viewed from inside.  Now I know this doesn't look airtight but hey, it's a kid's playhouse.  Besides, I am going to add some of that sticky foam strip to the inside of the trim so that should eliminate the daylight we see coming through the edge of the door.  On that note, one colleague lamented that I had not left any space between the boards when I covered the hull.  See how those board have dried up even more and I now have plenty of space between those board.

Now from the first pic I'm not sure if you noticed the poistionning of the hinges but from the next pic you can see that this door, when open, doubles as a ramp.  Now I still need to install some sort of a rope and pullie system with some counterweights so that a small kid has no difficulty in closing it, but this component is almost complete.

So that left the cannon room door leading onto the main deck.  Did the same here, trimmed it with 1x4 then made another custom door.  I have to admit that I didn't go with my first idea for this door but I'm glad I went this way cause I'm pretty pleased with the result.



Mathieu loves it because he's had a padlock for a few years now but with nothing of his own to lock, now he unlocks and locks this door ten times per day.

That's about all I got done on Friday.  Yesterday was a bringing in the firewood for the winter day and we had friends coming over for our labor day bon fire and fireworks.  And after everyone left, I was reminded by a 7 year old that I had said that once the doors were on we could sleep in the ship.  So I got the bunk ready.



Mathieu loaded up some snacks in the cooler now that the some of the beer had dissapeared, and he also made sure to get some pirate booty.

I know it's hard to make out but there's jewels and gold coins in there.  I finally tucked him in around 11 PM.  Temperature was going to drop to 8 or even 6 celcius so we opted for some tuques.  Always wear a tuque when camping in the fall.

Now he slept really good, I on the other hand have decided that this ship will very soon, be equipped with a fold down cot that will double as a table.  I will let you know the dimensions of this table once I have found an appropriate materass for it.

Anyways, he got up this morning, went through the forward hatch, unlocked the cannon room door and came down the rear ladder, opened up the cooler and poured us each a glass of orange juice.  Then he felt he needed to go to the bathroom and realized that make believe is all fine and dandy but when you gotta do number 2, you need to get back to the real world and find a bathroom.  He loved being able to sleep on his ship though.

So, we went back to the house, he went to do his business and I went up to bed, told my wife "tag, you're it" and slept for a few hours more.

So back to some ship business.  I've been getting a few e-mails from people about getting the plans to this thing.  Unfortunately, all I have right now are some rough sketches.  Once I've completely finished the project, I'll get some proper plans made.  Also, through various social networking sites and just plain search engines, I'm noticing some readers from as far as Russia, Germany and Australia.  Glad my blog is getting some viewers from around the world.  I started this thing so that co-workers and friends could follow the project but now e-mails and comments I get serve as motivation on those days where I don't feel like getting the tools out.  Keep em coming.

On that note, I bid you good night.

Backyard Pirate Ship - Day 16

Gooday mates!

sorry but not much to report this weekend. Did get everything out Saturday morning but there was a lot of traffic (people dropping by to see the ship) and it slowed things down quite a bit.  Then around lunchtime one of my cousins dropped by with his kids and they were headed to the beach so we decided to tag along.  It was something like 35 degrees with some pretty big waves out there so we ended up only getting home around supper.

On Sunday I didn't have much time either as we spend a good portion of the day with some farm related stuff.  I won't bore you with the gory details but let's just say some lives were lost, the freezer is little fuller and we ended up having turkey for dinner last night.  (and in my best Forrest Gump voice) That's all I got to say about that. 

Before I forget, there was an incident on Saturday that was a little concerning, it ended well but gave me pause.  You see with all the visitors coming and going around the ship, I couldn't keep track of everyone and at one point I could hear screams coming from the hold of the ship.  With my cat like reflexes, I was there in a second and this is what I found.

Yes, that's my neighbour Ron, who Mathieu decided to capture and hold for ransom.  Now while I didn't approve of real piracy, I am now getting my lawn mowed for free for the next two weeks so I guess it can be ok in certain cases.  I'll just have to keep a close eye and take it case by case I guess.  Ron was evetually released without any physical harm but the emotional scars of being bested by a 7 year old may haunt him for years to come.

Back to the ship, I'm at a point in the build where a lot of time is spent on areas where you have to look closely to really see any progression.  So I am now on doing trim work and I did get both the back door as well as the cabin door trimmed but I'm going to wait to install said doors to take pics.  Plan was to sleep in the ship this past weekend but no doors means that some critters might join us for a sleepover so we've postponed our plans to this upcoming long weekend.  So this coming weekend I should have lots of new pics so be sure to check in then.

Thanks for dropping by.

Backyard Pirate Ship - Day 15

Get ready for some pics, cause today was a good day at the shipyard.

Well, it was bound to happen, I am completely out of wood.  What you see here is what's left.

I'm getting a little ahead of myself.  I did start the day off with some wood, so let's go back to that.

Started the day by framing up the rest of the railings on the main deck as well as installed that front somewhat horizontal mast thingy.



Then Mathieu came out and although the brig isn't built yet, we had to put the first inmate in anyways, but unfortunately this poor soul is already past his expiration date.



Oh, and we had to install some of the props we found at the yard sale.



Those pullies will eventually be part of that back mast (crane) that he can pull supplies on to the ship with, but for today he just HAD to have them hooked up somewhere on the ship.

So once I was done framing railings (and out of 2X4s), I started to finish up with the pine boards.



And when I finally got to the back side of the ship, that's where I ran out of pine. 

 

Well almost, I did have a few 2ft pieces left to make the front hatch.

And to give you an idea of the size of this ship, here is a view from the bridge.



Out of pine, out of 2x4s, only substantial piece of lumber I had left was the top part of the main mast.

And it was high time I installed it. This was the second piece of rough 4x4 I had gotten so I got the electric hand planer out again.  Ran 2 passes on each side, then a pass on each corner.  Then the plan was to use a skillsaw (circular saw) to widdle down the 76 inches I needed to slide into the channel I had cut into the 6x6 main mast.  I was afraid that using that saw wouldn't be precise enough and I would end up with a crooked mast so I opted to take my time and shave down the 4x4 a but more with the planer.  I shaved about an 8th of an inch on each side for the length of the insert (76") and this gave me a width of 3 and a half inches.  Then I knew my channel was 2 inches deep, so at this point I used the circular saw to basically remove a 2X4 from the bottom of this mast.  The thing fit like a frickin glove! 



The thing is only fastened with about a dozen screws right now, but my neigbour has started making some metal components for me, two of which are 2 inch metal bands to secure the insert into the 6x6.

You know, when I started on the mast tonight I almost cut 2ft off of it because I thought it would be too high.  I decided to just install it and if it ended up being too tall I'd just cut the tip off of it later.  Really glad I didn't cut it because I think it looks just right.



And I was telling the wife tonight, I don't think I have ever built anything that is so level, so straight.  Here is a view from the front.  The masts line up so perfectly that the flag which is now hanging off the rear mast looks like it's off the main.  In fact, I can't even see the rear mast on this pic.



 So still not done, but getting there.  At some point in the very near future, now that this thing has settled on the base I laid out, I'm going to pour concret around two 4x4s in the ground and they'll be tied to the frame of the ship on the back side.  I know this thing is huge and probably won't budge, but I always over-build.  We get strong winds here and I'd like a bit of peace of mind knowing that this thing had some pilons 5ft in the ground. 

Next weekend I plan on working on some smaller stuff, like portholes and maybe some rigging on the masts.  Would like to get another door done too.

Till then, thanks for dropping by.