In the beginning

In 1981 my wife to be and I finished a Hughes 31 fiberglass hull, and cruised the BC coast; in 1986, we finshed the interior of a 39ft steel hull, sailed to Hawaii and honeymooned through a couple islands. Then life happened - two kids and jobs taking us across Canada separated us from ocean capable boats. But going offshore in dependable boats was in our blood, and the vision of sailing to Tahiti just wouldn't die - so in 2001 we began building the hull that will finally do that - in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. Construction continues today, in Campbell River BC - so we might not be in Tahiti yet - but we're getting closer!!

March 2018 update - came across Indonesia and the Indian Ocean late 2017, stopped at the top of Madagascar for a couple weeks, then ran down the Mozembeq channel and rounded Africa in Dec. It was a busy time, and DreamCatcher performed superbly under a wide range of conditions - saw white water to my knees at the mast in the Mozembeq, 200mile days in both Indian and Atlantic oceans, spent days under spinnaker working to keep my babe moving in very light winds.

Left Capetown mid Jan 2018, bouncing off St Helena and Fernando de Noronha islands as we ran up and across the Atlantic, landing in Barbados. Going to slow down now, and spend two seasons cruising the Caribbean before doing the Panama Canal. It’s an amazing life.

Nov 2016, Brisbane Australia.....not all that far from New Zealand! Spent bulk of the cruising season in Fiji, finishing with a pretty quick run through Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Boat doing great, still a stand out amongst the cruising fleet.
- if you want to keep up with our travel detail, look for Norm Facey on facebook - waaay easier to do updates with pics with marginal internet.

April 2016, Whangarei New Zealand aboard SV DreamCatcher....It still floats! Did Marquesas, Tuamotus, Tahiti thru to Bora Bora, Cooks, Beverage Reef, Nuie, Tonga and then down to New Zealand. Boat is great - though I do wish I'd gone with unpainted aluminum from a maintenance perspective (find I have to go around monthly to deal with paint chips to keep her rust free).


I loved building, and enjoy telling people "we built this boat" - but take a good look at the price of used boats before you start..... consider boat hunting in the Caribbean, and just sail a nice solid boat downwind - can save 10 years of building!

Tools

Tools! (I love tools)

Welders
    You can weld a steel hull together with most any process - stick and mig are the two most common. I started with stick, 'cause that's what my buddy/instructor liked. It's pretty simple, more tolerant for dirt and wind, and there's no moving parts to the welder. It is rather handy in that the leads can be almost as long as you like, so you set up the welder where it's safe, the ground where it's solid, and then only have to worry about the welding lead. Stainless is a 15 sec change-over; it's just a different rod. It's great for hard to reach spots, with the smallest 'head' of any process - and for me, it gave the greatest penetration. The slag is the downside - it tends to hide the weld puddle, you need to chip it off afterwards - and then you have to clean it all up.

     Here's the welder I used the most - a Miller Dialarc 250, capable of taking 240 thru 600 V input (remember, the steel mill had industrial power - think it was rigged for 440 V). Big heavy, stable unit - I never came close to using it's full range. Bought it used, and 12 years later, it owes me nothing. Still works despite lots of abuse - but I seldom use it anymore, as it's just too heavy/awkward vs my other units.






      I flipped to mig after the hull plate was welded because I was generally less worried about penetration, and tired of chipping & cleaning up slag. Picked up a Millermatic 180 and a spool gun. 180amps is barely enough to do a decent welding job on 1/4" steel - go at least 200amps if you're buying a boatbuilding welder - and keep reading.
     Forget flux core wire - if you're willing to deal with slag, just buy a stick unit - they're cheaper.
     Plain mig wire welding requires welding gas - the best set up for boat building is a nice big gas bottle in a location were it is easy to change the bottle out - and a gas line long enough to reach any place on the boat (I have a 50ft gas line - it's about perfect). Then You only  have to horse the welder to within 10ft of where you want to weld (my stinger was 15ft long). Not usually a big issue - mig is faster and cleaner than stick.

A spool gun lets you weld aluminum using your mig - which will come in handy somewhere. I used aluminum steps, hatch cover and turtleback, plus misc brackets - and tried my hand at welding aluminum fuel tanks with a spool gun to - don't repeat that mistake! If you want fuel proof welds in aluminum, go tig - which is why I ended up buying a third welder.... 




An Everlast Powerpro 205 - which if I had to do it all over again, would be the only welder I'd buy - because it's a combo unit - stick, tig and plasma cutter all in one - and it is GOOD at each process. My conscience is clear on all this one though - this welder option didn't exist when I started building.
I'd use stick with some long leads for tacking the hull together and most of welding out the hull., perhaps going to tig for a good percentage of the visible deck welds, most of the stainless and all the aluminum welds. Mostly I would use the tig to weld far more SS fittings to the deck - fewer holes, better joint strength at the cost of weld polishing. Tig is just so much more visible and controllable than the other options. 
      And the plasma cutter - well you'll just find those so handy - fast clean cuts in tight quarters with very little plate distortion. I had a separate dedicated plasma cutter - it was well utilized, but even then not as capable as the combo unit. I've since sold it.

Plasma Cutter
Wouldn't be without one - but today they're almost free if you buy a multi process unit like the Powerpro above - don't spend big bucks on a stand alone unit - do get a minimum of 28 amps (which requires a 240v feed). The Powerpro is a 50A cutter.


Welding Helmets
     Not a place to go cheap (ever try sailing blind??) - get a good auto darkening helmet, it'll save your sight and radically improve your welding, because you'll be able to see your starts. Speedglas were good, but are getting pricy - I like and use Miller helmets now.


Grinders

I found some cheap chinese welders when I first started, and thought they'd do the job - they did - for about a month - and then they died, just not up to the duty. I found Mastercraft (Canadian Tire) were good - mostly because they had a great warrenty (3 yrs) and there was never any argument when I took one back - about every two years - they'd just hand me a new one. My longest lasting grinder is a 5" Makita - 11 years and still going strong. Size wise, I did have a 7 inch grinder for hull grinding - but it got stolen, and I never replaced it - just too heavy. Ended up with a couple each rat tail 5" and stubby 4-1/2" which worked well -  made it so I could have different discs (cutting, grinding, wirebrush) set up so I saved time, or have enough grinders on hand when an extra body appeared to grind welds (you end up doing a lot of that).


Misc

Plate clamp, lifting sling, and rated shackle - these work together to provide efficient & reliable plate lifting. You really don't want to lose control of a big plate, especially if you have friends at risk


- the plate clamp is faster than making a tack for a lifting point - which will also have to be ground off at some point later - and is quick and easy to shuffle sideways a bit if you didn't get it balanced the first time. This unit handles everything from thin sheet up to 5/8" plate, and has a 2T rating
- also came in handy as a lift point when I was slinging the motor, gearbox and rudder around in the boat.


- you can use chain or rope to hook up your lifts - but a sling is lighter, faster and more secure - and cheap. mine has lasted the length of the job, and will go sailing with us - just plain handy.
- the rated shackle is huge overkill - but again cheap insurance - and having it is what kept the sling from getting cut up on any rough eyes you do end up using.








My favorite persuader - a hydraulic jack on a block of wood. Used all over   while lining up the hull plating - most always bringing stringers and plate together to maintain a fair line. Seldom needed huge force, a 2x4 could do the same job - you just need less hands once the jack is in place!
- plate on the bottom of the cradle is amazingly floppy, so there were many areas we had to bring it up to the stringers.





Bessy metal working clamps - most of the time we could get away with a heavy wood working clamp - but these units just have that blend of extra length/reach/strength that made them perfect when we were pulling in a tight curve - at the leading edge of the keel - leading edge of the skeg - body of the rudder

















more to come.

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