The 2019 Salish 100, preparations

It all started with a conversation at the 2018, Wooden Boat Festival

in Port Townsend, WA.

Marty Loken, a local small boat enthusiast and director of the Port Townsend Pocket Yachters, made the announcement that he was thinking about organizing a new small boat cruise on Puget Sound (also known as the Salish Sea). After having missed a number of the Pocket Yacht Palooza "Palooza Crooza" events, I just knew that I could not miss this exciting opportunity. He called it The Salish 100, a small boat cruise from Olympia, WA, to Port Townsend, WA, a distance of almost exactly 100 miles, with as many as a hundred boats taking part, coming from all over the country! It sounded like so much fun I instantly signed up, and prepared to join the adventure. Of course, the first thing I had to do was get a boat!

Vanilla

Enter Vanilla, a 1984 Montgomery 15 sailboat. I had owned one of these boats before, and my sailing partner Arnie had actually bought and refurbished my previous boat, so the idea of sailing in tandem on sister ships was irresistible. Vanilla was in great condition, and was small enough to trailer behind my Subaru Outback, so I grabbed her from a seller in Port Townsend, and started outfitting her for the cruise. I vacillated back and forth on towing a dinghy, but in the end decided that the flexibility it would afford was worth the extra trouble to tow, so I added Cupcake, a 7 foot wooden dink to the fleet. (This decision was going to come back and bite me, but that's for a later chapter...)

Cupcake
Don't let the cuteness fool you, she is evil to the core

The cruise was set for June 21st, through June 28th, 7 days to travel 100 miles. It seemed do-able, but I was very concerned about being on a 15 foot boat with no inside sitting headroom for a week straight. What if it rained the entire time? What if the winds were too strong for my little boat? Did I have enough fuel if there was no wind? Would I be bored? Or lonely? How much food should I bring? What clothes should I bring? Would my anchor hold? Where would I go to the toilet?!?!?!? All of these questions were sorted out, (or ignored) and on Friday, June 21st, Arnie and I hitched up our little Montgomerys, and set off for Olympia!

On the road to Olympia

The trip to Olympia was an easy drive, and after rigging the boats in the Swantown Marina loading area, we launched from their very steep ramp at low tide. (After, I must say, what could only be described as a PERFECT job backing down. I'm still learning how to back a trailer smoothly, and I wish someone had a video camera going for that one!) Someone had stolen our reserved slip, so we just tucked in where we could and made ourselves secure. It was so exciting walking around and seeing the huge variety of boats already there, with more arriving every minute. Sailboats, row boats, powerboats, kayaks, and even a paddle boarder were taking part in this incredible adventure!

Vanilla, ready to go!

Arnie's (and my former) Montgomery 15, Iku Turso

A Welsford Penguin, with a beautiful canoe for a dinghy

Many boats had less accommodations than even this

So many cute little boats!

Grasshopper, the media boat for Off Center Harbor

Bunny Whaler, a former R2AK participant

A Hobie Cat?! Seriously hardcore, and he had a guitar with him!

A Michalak Scram Pram

A beautiful wooden cat boat

Montgomery row! There were a lot of Montgomery/Sage 15's and 17's on this cruise, 

they are very popular in Puget Sound

Sigh, one of my dream boats, a Welsford S.C.A.M.P.

Arnie had had the good sense early on to not only find us a place to leave our rigs in Port Townsend, but also secure us a shuttle with a friend of his, so the three of us took off for PT to drop off our cars and trailers so they would be waiting for us when we arrived at the end of the cruise. (Assuming we arrived. Gulp) It was a long drive after having already driven from Everett to Lake Stevens, and then down to Olympia, and it was unfortunately made longer by a horrendous motorcycle accident that shut the two lane road down for over an hour. We eventually made it though, and after dropping off the rigs we hopped in Bob's uncomfortable BMW, and drove right back down to Olympia! That much sitting in a car could only be offset by a massive pasta dinner, and being sailors and cheapskates we stormed Olive Garden for some mediocre Italian style food. After gorging ourselves we could hardly keep our eyes open, so we said farewell to Bob, and crawled into our cramped cabins for our first night aboard of the cruise. I didn't think my nerves would let me sleep, but I was so tired I turned the lights out around 9pm. Despite the noisy gurgling of the water against the lapstrakes in the hull I was soon fast asleep.

We were really going to attempt this thing.

Building a Skerry

Booooriiiing!!!

• Day: Who knows, I lost count
• Total Build Time: Don't know, don't care. See above

I really hate fiberglass and epoxy. What was I thinking building a "wooden boat" that is fully covered in the stuff then? And I was only halfway there or less. Hey, it's only been a year! Give me a break! 

Of course, I actually did have a reasonable excuse. I had shoulder surgery February 7th, and the recovery was just as long as everyone had warned me about. But, I was finally feeling good enough to get back in there and get to work. It was time to sheath the interior in fiberglass and coat it in epoxy.

Sheets of fiberglass are cut to rough size and placed in the boat

Excess will be trimmed off once the epoxy has been wet out and cured slightly

The first fill coat goes over the fiberglass

It's important to try to get as much extra epoxy out of the weave as possible

Here the epoxy has started to cure...

...allowing me to trim off the excess fiberglass.

Once the fill coat of epoxy had cured overnight, I was able to return the next day and roll a coat of epoxy over all the interior surfaces, as well as the gunnels. Because the sides of the boat are so steep, trying to chase down runs was a constant battle. In the end it didn't really matter, the epoxy ran and glopped and in general made a mess. There was nothing for it...it was time to sand.

This is not the face of someone who loves sanding

At this point, the boat is about as ugly as it can get

The sanded epoxy looks chalky and hazy white

The bow and stern are covered by seats making watertight compartments so no sanding is necessary there. 

I found that for the interior my palm sander did a better job than my Festool random orbital

Sanding outside while I still had decent weather

For the final fill coat of epoxy, I decided to hoist the boat up and create a flatter area in the hopes the epoxy would run less. This meant doing it in three stages, but if it makes a better surface I don't mind the extra time.

My method for connecting a strap to the side of the boat

And the resulting finish is going to be much better!

Once the final coat of epoxy cures I can start working on the interior components and start making this into more of a functional boat! I will be so glad to move past this incredibly boring part of the build and on to more interesting things than sanding, and sanding, and sanding...and sanding....and.....sanding......

-Update as of September, 2019- I sold the Skerry as it was at this point. The Seattle housing insanity of 2018 and a landlord who jacked our rent $700 in 4 months meant we had to move, and I had nowhere to finish the boat. The person I sold it to offered to sell it back a few months ago, but was asking too much, so I let it go. Very disappointing not finishing it, but as future blog posts will show, it all worked out for the best. I would much rather sail boats then build them. I had also sold the Duckpunt, but when the person who bought that one offered to sell it back to me...I bought it back!

A Fat Trike is born!

I had finally put together (I thought) all the parts needed to finish building my trike. The first step in getting this beast rolling was front wheels, which I decided to build from scratch so I could use my favorite Sun Ringle Mulefut rims. Azub had provided the trike specific fat front hubs so I took the components to the shop for assembly. Calculating the spoke length was tricky because although there was no necessary dish (offset) to the wheels, there was also no locknut with which to measure for spoke calculations! I finally decided to use a thru axle adapter to create a point of reference and managed to get a spoke length I hoped would be correct. It turned out they were probably one millimeter too short, which doesn't seem like much, but in wheel building can be problematic. I'm sure they will be fine, but I wish they had that extra millimeter. Mounting the tires was literally a snap. The Mulefuts and Schwalbe Jumbo Jims are very easy to set up tubeless, which was one of the reasons I wanted to use that combination, and they popped right into place with no leaking whatsoever. 

A little Spoke Prep on the threads, colored so you remember right from left!

The massive amount of offset made for an unwieldy build but makes a really strong wheel, although the nipples are under tremendous stress with the bracing angle

The first wheel, laced up and ready for truing. The wheels are built offset dishless using only one set of spoke holes.

And both wheels ready to go!

The next step was assembling the frame components. The frame plates were thoroughly greased and torqued together using the excellent threaded alignment pins

Definitely more secure than a folding frame design

Then I was able to mount up my newly built front wheels.

I really need to build a trike repair stand!

Both wheels on

Here I have to point out one of my first minor criticisms of the Azub Fat Trike...the quick release skewers. They are right and left hand threaded, which I guess makes sense? But they are very awkward to use and the leverage is either too tight or too loose, it's hard to find the sweet spot. And as the axle doesn't reference or "key into" the king pin in any way, trying to get the QR in the right spot to close so it's facing back under the frame crossbar just right is an exercise in frustration. Perhaps if you carry a Torx wrench, which is an uncommon size, to align the axle just right, but who wants to carry an extra tool just to install your wheels when the whole point is that they are quick release? I was just going to swap the QR's out for stainless bolts, but one of them being reverse thread eliminates that possibility. Maybe there is a trick I don't know, but I doubt it.

The next step was to mount the brakes. I ran into another snag here because the trike uses 140 caliper mounts even though the rotors are 160, or at least that was what I was using. And, of course, I only had one 140 caliper mount. Dammit! Well, I could at least get one mounted.

Having fussed with the QR's and mounted the front wheels and right brake I came upon my first major setback. The Azub rear frame is spaced at 190mm, the same as my Carver fat bike frame...I thought. Dammit! The Carver frame is 170, not 190! The beautiful Hope Fatsno rear hub I already had was useless, meaning the entire wheel was useless. I had to order another rear hub and rebuild the rear wheel, crap. Fortunately, the distributor is fast so I had another hub in no time and built and installed the correct rear wheel.

Wrong rear wheel just sitting in the frame to see what the trike looks like

My trike build stand. Right QR is wonky as usual.

In order to install the crank, I needed to install the boom, which went together with no problems. I wish the boom had a center mark on it to make centering it easier, but there is nothing there so you just have to eyeball it or use a level. I eyeballed it.

Boom installed. The rack mounts to the seat, which makes taking it off impossible, even though it has quick releases to do so. What is it with the QR challenges on this trike?

The Race Face Next Sl crank I was using was set up for a fat bike bottom bracket width and the fat trike has a standard bottom bracket width. Fortunately, the Next Sl crank is "future proof" and has a replaceable spindle to accommodate different frame standards. Swapping it out was simple enough with a youtube tutorial, and Race Face even provides the tool necessary to do it, nice! Once the spindle was swapped, I realized one of the tools I did NOT have was the Race Face proprietary bottom bracket splined tool, so there was no way to install the bottom bracket. Sigh. A trip to the shop to borrow the correct tool and I had the BB installed and ready for the crank.

Next Sl crank with old spindle removed and new one waiting to be installed

The finest crankset on the market!

I really like having bar ends on my trikes. It gives you a very natural place to rest your hands when riding on the flats and uphills, although I don't recommend it for the downhills! I was also excited to have internal cable routing in the bars, meaning I could run my brakes and shifter the "right way up" instead of inverted like you usually have to do on a trike.

Right way up brake lever and comfy bar end

Ready for cable and housing and final adjustment

While I was waiting for an opportunity to get the trike into the shop for cable and housing I mounted up the auxiliary bag under the seat. I was so psyched they made this adapter because I had an Ortlieb handlebar bag that had been sitting around for years without my being able to use it. With the adapter, it is a perfect fit and is a great place to put those things you need ready access to while riding.

Ortlieb handlebar bag

Mounted under the seat on the wonderful Azub bar bag adapter

Almost ready for adventure!

Glamour shot

I finally had a free day to get the trike into the shop and cable it up. I started with the brakes. The front brakes are fairly simple, although the left brake caliper is mounted upside down so needs some creative cable routing. I ended up using V-brake noodles to simplify the cable run. The shift cable housing was a little bit more of a challenge because Azub only provides one cable guide on the bottom of the frame so you have to run a lot of zip-ties along the frame to keep the housing run clean and tidy. I'm not a big fan of zip-ties along the frame, I think it looks janky and I would much prefer to have integrated cable guides.

Internal routing is so nice and clean

Plenty of room for two pieces of housing

Azub provides a caliper mount for attaching a rear disc brake as a parking brake. I really like this idea so that was the way I went. I came up with another challenge here though in that I could not figure out an acceptable way to actuate the disc parking brake. I ended up buying a Paul downtube shifter adapter and mounting it low on the left bar with a Dura-Ace shifter as a brake lever. I'm not at all happy with it, and the holding power is terrible, but it is the only thing I have been able to figure out for now. I'm sure I will come up with something better at some point.

Rear disc parking brake

Paul thumbie with Dura-Ace shifter as a parking brake lever

And last but waaaaaaaaay not least I needed a chain. Well, not "a" chain, actually THREE chains! It takes a lot of chain for a recumbent, much like a tandem. But with the chain installed and some minor tweaks to the shift adjustment, the trike was ready to ride!!!

Get out of its way, this thing ain't stopping for no one!

As I have said before, I am extremely impressed with this trike. There are a couple of little nitpicky things that I think could be improved on, but overall the design and execution of this trike is incredible, it really is a marvel of engineering. This is going to be an amazing back country exploration machine, I cant wait to get out there and have some adventures! 

Stay tuned for an update on my opinions after getting an initial ride in on this trike. Much more to come!