Capt. Edward du Bois here. I'm laying the keel of my newest ship "Black Dagger" and wanted to share the progress and delays. You'll see her being built and maybe we both can learn some lessons along the way.
I am way late in starting this blog so please bear with me.
Really folks, I'm Gary Wood and I decided to build a bowtop vardo. Since I do various reenactments (medieval, pirate, etc.) I was looking at the project as a ship build. I have based my build on the designs and plans of Timothy Lemke's American Vardo. He has a great set of plans, book, and website for building a 4' x 8' trailer mounted bowtop vardo.
I'm a big guy and weigh more than I should, so the small Harbor Freight type trailer wasn't the best choice for me. Me just walking around the bed of one almost got me seasick. So....
I purchased a new PJ 5' x 12' channel framed utility trailer (U6) with full sized tires and electric brakes. I had installed an extruded floor (for drainage), 16" OC cross members, six drop down stabilizers (one each corner and two on the ramp) and the spare on the ramp.
I'm fortunate to have a great place to work on the project. The reenactment group (Adiran Empire, Duchy of Bisqaia) I belong to has a permanent place to meet in Killeen Texas. The land owners are Bob and Deb Dewart (Sir Gillie and Dame Alinor). They own over 3 acres with a large (75' x 100') two story ag building we use as our meeting place. It has a great hall (seen in the 1st picture) with lots of room to work. Lots of great people and stuff to do.
Step One - Building the"Box"
The original plans called for one 4' x 8' sheet of plywood. I needed a 5' x 12' sheet. Home Depot and Lowe's were completely out (got some strange looks on that question). So my son-in-law, Joshua and I picked up three sheets of plywood and had them cut to 4' x 5' sections. The sides were a different issue as the plans used plywood and that doesn't come in a 12' length either. We used 1" x 12" planks instead. We lined everything up, put in the corner posts, pre-drilled holes, liquid nails and screwed it together. One coat of white primer and two coats of black barn paint.
DO NOT USE BARN PAINT. IT TAKES 24 HOURS TO DRY. EACH COAT! ITS LIKE TAR!
When the paint was finally dry we found out how heavy the box was. Got three other people to help, flipped the box over, put it on the trailer. Almost. The base of the trailer is 5' x 12' but the rails leaned in. Get a socket wrench, undo the nuts holding the rails on, drop the box in place and WHOOPS. The box fit like a glove but we forgot the end panels would make it longer and there wouldn't be any room to raise the ramp. Take off the front rail and plan for several more bolt down points on the sides. IT FITS...sort of.
We looked at our success and saw, of course, the edges of the plywood floor inside the box didn't want to stay together. Joshua and I looked at each other and went "Manual Adjustment. I am big and Joshua out weighs me. "One, Two, Three, Jump." The edges popped together..sort of. (There's a lot of "Sort of" in this blog)
