For Less headaches Later, Start With a Clear Overall Concept
This is Part 2 of this series, Part 1 starts here The Molding Details Once the basic wants and needs have been thoroughly discussed, it’s time to dive into the overall cabinet and joinery details. There are many factors to weigh and balance in these decisions. Some are as follow. I like to, if possible, keep the dimensions of components within standard lumber thicknesses. This saves material and time, both add up quickly. Standard rough lumber comes in 4/4 ( 4 quarter) which is about 1″ and mills out to 3/4″ to...
read more4 Preliminary Steps When Starting a Yacht Interior Design
I firmly believe that interior design on a new yacht should start no later than when the hull is started. The following steps should be considered preliminary and set the look and feel of the interior, so it would be better to start them earlier, maybe as overall discussions about the project start. Please keep in mind that the following are a very much simplified overview of this process. Each one of these steps has many, many sub-steps, but it is a good starting point for a project. When starting a design for an interior for a yacht , I...
read moreShipwright Style Quick and Easy Bevel Board
A Quick and Easy Bevel Board I t seems that quite a few of the readers here are “hands on” boat owners and like to do as much of their own work as is reasonable. I think that is great and would encourage people to do so if they have the time and are willing to develop the skills. Yes, much of the carpentry on a boat is considered “tricky” but if you are prepared to plan out the steps carefully and have the patience to take the time that is needed, you will probably do just fine. Where am I going...
read moreCardboard and Sticks, Why an Interior Mockup is a Good Idea
What is a mockup? Generally it is a quickly built prototype. • a mockup gives a good feel for the real space • a mockup helps focus on usability and function rather than materials and small details • a mockup allows you to interactively problem solve • encourages experimenting, the materials are easy to work with and inexpensive Mockups are commonly used by designers and builders to get real world feedback on a design or space. Yes there are drawings, but those don’t give the full-scale walk through the space experience....
read moreMaple with a Few Variations
I thought that it might be interesting to look at a very common north American wood, Maple. Now there are actually quite a few different species that grow in North America but for most purposes they are broken down to Hard Maple and Soft Maple Hard Maple, includes sugar maple and black maple. It is a hard,dense, tough wood. The weight ranges from 40 to 45 pounds per cubic foot. The working properties are generally good. Being denser it tends to hold up to high wear areas better, you can damage it but not that easily. It is generally...
read moreIt’s Just Wood, How Many Decisions Can There Be?
Actually this may seem simple at first, but it is commonly a challenge to come up with the final choices. There are many factors to consider. Availability, color tones, grain patterns, density and workability are some of the decisions. Once you have picked the general species, you still have to determine the actual look, within reason, that you would like. Some of this will be solid lumber and much will be veneer. These do not have to be the same wood, often I like to use something simple for the background (cabin sides and bulkheads) and...
read moreCustom Yacht Tables, by Shipwright Style
The flier above is for my custom and semi-custom yacht tables. I enjoy building these and would like to expand more into this area. Part of what make these so enjoyable to design and build is that the variations are nearly endless. The small table at the top is intended to be semi-custom, the length can be adjusted but the width is fixed at 14″, 16″ and 18″. This helps keep costs down as there does not need to be new patterns made for each table. The solid wood, veneers and profiles can be tailored to mach your...
read moreA Table for the Salish Sea
This table was designed and built for the Salish Sea, the first of the Salish Sea Yachts IS48’s. We discussed many ideas during the construction of the vessel, folding, high/low, hinge up/down and various combinations of the previous ideas. None of the “normal” configurations really worked that well in the space. So how did we end up with this design? Read on. We looked at what features were really important to the owner. It needed to go well with the contemporary interior, a Northwest wood was preferred, as big as...
read moreVisualizing the Build: Passage Door Jamb and Casing Details
I‘d like to go a little deeper into drawings and documentation in this post. What we will look at, is part of the drawing package for a door jamb and casings on a yacht. The total drawing package is not the minimum to get a the parts made, instead, it is what is needed so that everybody involved will have a clear understanding of the process. We want to insure our outcome of getting consistent, built as intended parts in the end. So what factors do we have to consider when designing this set of drawings? Well, first most people...
read moreWhy Good, Clear, Drawings Matter
This graphic shows a design progression for a custom table (more here) that I designed a couple of years ago. The excerpts of the drawing package shown is only part of the set of build drawings. When I am building a piece myself, I really like to work from a fully developed set of drawings. When I am handing it off to somebody else to build this is even more important. If the drawings are not clear, it is hard to be to upset if the builders interpratation does not match mine or the customers. Often, what seem like minor deviations my...
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