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April 10, 2008
As the ice melts, the Boatwerks gears up for "Boat-building Season".

This summer there are a number of projects on tap. On April 2nd Jerry
Ebert stopped by and he and Jim put up the "in shop" boat-rack so we
can store a number of Renegades downstairs while they are being worked
on. Immediately two Renegade programs were loaded on. Jim has
various "touch up" projects with his boat (after the pre-ISA plank
tuning session), and Jerry Ebert wants to inspect the steering on his
boat and generally give it a going over.

Behind the rack, the jig still holds Jori's DN hull. There is steady
progress being made there again. Jerry helped glue the mast-step and
cockpit bulkhead in place a couple of weeks ago, and the nose and tail
blocks are ready for final bonding next week. We're expecting to have
Jori's boat off the jig in about a week. That will free it up for the
various mast projects in the works.

As soon as I have a free weekend, I'm planning to finish my trailer
project (from parts sitting on the mezzanine now for two years).

March 11, 2008
Tuesday was "Runner Night" at the Boatwerks. Grant Frautschi stopped
by with his Nite runners to decide if they needed any work (they
looked good for the upcoming soft spring ice). Jerry Simon, Peter
Fauerbach, and Jim compared and contrasted various Renegade runners
using the backlit Granite surface plate, 0.008" shims, and careful
eyes. In the end, Jim put the 36-grit belt on the sharpener and
re-crowned one of his runners slightly.




March 5, 2008
The past two Tuesdays have been spent tuning Jim's plank. Last week
Doug Kolner stopped by and we measured the plank deflection, as well
as the relative deflection of the plank and the spring board. From
that we determined that Jim's plank was slightly stiffer than the
springboard, causing the boat to angle up to the front as the rig-load
increased. This measurement, combined with comments from the NIYA
regatta about Jim's plank not bending enough, convinced Jim to soften
his plank (slightly). During the week he rounded over the leading and
trailing edges.

Today Grant Frautschi and Jerry Ebert helped re-measure the
deflections and found the rounding-over had made a slight, but
insufficient, change. While the boat was loaded up with bags of salt,
Jim kerfed the plank and planned off a small thickness. Remeasuring,
things looked much better, and the plank seemed to be a bit more
"lively". Jim's planning to sand a epoxy the raw wood before the
regatta's this weekend!

December 27, 2007
Note of Thanks From Jori

I can't thank Geoff Sobering, Jim Nordhaus, Jim Kalupa, Dan Hearn, Wayne Schmeidlin, Don Anderson, Bill Mattison, Byron Tetzlaff, Bob Rast, Deb Whitehorse, Conor and Aran Lenon, and Pat Lenon enough for their assistance, advice and patience this fall. Especially Pat, who doesn't complain when I feel the need to drive across town on icy roads late on a Tuesday night just to glue one piece of wood to another piece of wood. I will have likely spent a little over $2,000 by the time this ice season has ended. And then next summer, there will be the hull, plank and their hardware to finish. (Suddenly, those used DNs for sale aren't looking so bad...) Yet in the end, I will be able to call iceboat parts by their names, instead of calling everything a "thingie." Well, that, and I'll have a nice new boat to sail! There is no way I could have done this without the support of the 4LIYC. Thanks, everyone, and see you on the ice soon!

December 26, 2007
Saturday Jori and I stopped by Bill Mattison's shop to have her DN
stays finished up (thanks Bill!).
We spent Sunday afternoon at the Nordhaus Boatwerks setting up her
boat (with a boom borrowed from Wayne Schmeidlin - thanks Wayne!) and
checking the rig. Everything looks "good to go" above the deck; the
Bob Rast mast seems to bend nicely. All we need to do is double check
the runner alignment, get a few blocks, a boom (all on-order), and it
should be ready to sail.
Today, Dan Hearn stopped by with some "close-out priced" high-tech
line he'd bought at West Marine. I showed him the tricks for making a
chain-stitch DN mainsheet. He was kind enough to leave enough line
for Jori's mainsheet (thanks Dan!) and I knotted it up this afternoon.

December 20, 2007
Lack of news reports from the Boatwerks aren't due to inactivity.
Since September there has been steady progress on a number of
different projects. Last night two of them came together. Dan has
been working on a new DN over the summer, and he brought it over the
shop for painting. Last weekend he got the final coats on, so Tuesday
it was time to mount the final bits of hardware. Jori has been
assembling pieces and parts for her DN (a new Bob Rast mast, a loaner
hull, new rigging, ...). The mast arrived late last week, so this
week it was time to put it all together and make final rig
measurements so Bill Mattison can attach the terminals to the shrouds.
It's always impressive when you can finally see something that looks
like a boat emerge from lengthy preparations. Jim Kalupa stopped by
to work on bunks for his trailer, and he got co-opted to help out with
the boats.

Over the past couple of months there has been progress on other
projects, too. Jim Kalupa stopped by one evening to sharpen his
runners, and was drafted to help trim the mast-step assembly for
Jori's "under-construction" DN hull. I spent a number of long days
and weekends modifying my boom so the blocks mount to a sliding car,
giving me finer control over mast rotation than last year.

Once the rush of final preparations for this season are done, we'll
get back to working on Jim Nordhaus' and Jori's DNs. Jim is ready to
attach the bottom skin and deck, and Jori will be gluing the mast-step
and internal structure into her hull.
 

September 6, 2007
Live From the Nordhaus Boatwerks!

Jori has uploaded six videos from the Nordhaus Boatworks. This is a shot of Jim Nordhaus' DN under construction. You can see all the videos here.

June 26, 2007
Tonight Jori, Jim, and I took the first major step in assembling Jim's
DN hull: forming the cured sideboards at the stern. Jori and I
covered the jig in wax-paper, while Jim trimmed the pieces of 1/32"
basswood to slide into the saw-kerfs that split the aft-most three
feet of the sideboards into three layers so they can be bent together.
Finally, working quickly in the warm temperatures this evening, we
coated all surfaces with glue, inserted the basswood into the slots,
and clamped the two sides into the jig. Whew!



The jig with both sides clamped in place.

Detail of the sideboards and inserted Basswood filler.

June 19, 2007

May 21, 2007
From novice iceboat builder Jori Lenon:
Lesson No. 1 in the new Nordhaus Boatwerks "Anyone Can Build a DN" Series: Make sure the next guy's pile of wood is out of the way before you start spraying shavings all over it. (Fortunately, with Geoff and Denise Sobering and Jim Kalupa on hand, clean up was a breeze!)



April 24, 2007
Last Saturday Byron and Jori visited McCormick's Lumber Yard and
picked out boards for their upcoming projects: Byron's new Renegade
and Jori's DN.

Tuesday, Eric Kurz stopped by the Boatwerks to do some more prep-work
on his DN. All the hardware is removed, and all the seams that need
opening (in preparation for re-gluing) are clean. Next step is
removing the old finish before adding a new bottom skin.
 

April 11, 2007
Things are getting rolling over at the Nordhaus Boatwerks. There's one cruising DN in for some repairs to the plywood bottom skin (don't leave your boat out where it can get wet!).

A couple of weeks ago we had a "kick off" cookout; Jim brought Chicken and grilled it (...well, Jim got it started - but business distracted him, and Mike Mullarkey finished off the cooking - thanks Mike and Jim!).

Dan Hearn has been around working on his new Renegade mast (a collaboration with Wes Wilcox and Jim). He and Wes have developed a very neat router jig for shaping the mast. Dan was trying it out on a mast-sized piece of scrap wood, and it looked like it will work very nicely.

Byron Tetzlaff has been around, working on his 440C stainless steel insert runners and making some modifications to his new DN boom. He's also working on what look suspiciously like Renegade bulkheads...

There is quite a collection of boats planned for the "building season". Jim and Mike have a DN sideboards ready to assemble into hulls, Jori Lennon is planning to build a new DN hull, and rumor has it there will be a couple of new Renegade sticks going together, too.
To top it all off, we're hoping to put together a couple of Ice-Optis to help with the junior program Dan is putting together... In order to accommodate multiple projects in parallel, we're assembling a stand-alone base for our DN fuselage jig.

December 26, 2005
Well, much has happened in the month and a half since the last report
from the "Nordhaus Boatwerks".  Byron's and my new DNs are done (and
have been driven almost to North Dakota and back...); they were quite
the sensation at Battle Lake, as many people stopped by to ask if they
were "the boats from the Internet".  Patrick Mullarky's new DN is
coming along nicely (with some minor assistance from his dad,
Mike...).  The grab-rails went on last night and the deck will be
going on soon.  The Pok's (Carrie and Kevin) are building a new
C-skeeter mast to round-out Kevin's Renegade program (with help from
almost everybody who's been in the shop over the past few weeks).  Daniel Hearn stopped by and painted two of the three new boats coming out of his shop (his DN and two ice-Opti's).  One Opti is still in primer,
but the other two boats look great!  Keith has been making all kinds
of pieces for his land-sailer->Skeeter conversion, including the
dramatic process of shaping the runners and putting an edge on them.
The 2-seater (now officially named "The Doubler" since the graphics
have arrived) is nearing completion.  Most everybody has helped finish
the mast, including smoothing on (and sanding off!) many coats of
filler to get it "just right".

November 14, 2005
Saturday night (and into the wee hours of Sunday morning) Jim painted
the current "Boatwerks" collaborative project, completing the major
part of the restoration of what's become known simply as "The
2-Seater".  This will probably be the longest running Boatwerks
project (although my Renegade may be in contention...).  I think
almost everybody who's been around the shop for any length of time in
the past five years has worked it.  I know that on my first Tuesday
"boat night" I cut out a pattern for one of the cockpit bulkheads!  It
sat in storage for a couple of years while a few Renegades came out of
the shop, but this spring Jim pulled it down and the work started in
earnest again.  Stop by the party and check it out!

From this....

...to this!



Who are these people, and where are they working?

Some other summer projects nearing completion... DNs -
Byron's (right) and mine (left).

October 18, 2005
There were "good eat'ns" at the Boatwerks Tuesday night!  Kevin and
Carrie Pok made their monthly visit and Jim cooked up a "mess 'o
chicken".  Byron brought cake, ostensibly to celebrate the IDNIYRA
rankings for local DN'ers, but the coincidence with his birthday seems
a bit much...  After dinner, the projects came out.  Kevin installed
the rebuilt air-compressor so we don't have to keep using Jim's
portable unit (Thanks Kevin!).  Various bits of the 2-seater were
sanded and epoxied by Keith "from Milwaukee" Ligler, Wayne Schmiedlin,
and Jim.  Near the end of the evening, the mast came down from storage so it can be prepped for paint, too.  Keith is actually working on
pieces to convert his land-sailor to the ice; he's currently working on
the plank chocks after consulting with Bill Mattison on the best
design.  Mike Mullarkey installed more bulkheads and other internal
components on his DN hull.

Byron and I spent much of the weekend in the shop working on installing
the knees in my boat, milling the cockpit grab-rails, and starting on
the boom for Byron's new boat.  We had great fun coaxing Jim's "seen
better times" bandsaw to resaw the sides for "La Boom-ba", but it
worked out well in the end.  Byron started gluing bits and pieces boom
together last night.

October 11, 2005
Well, with all the news coming out of the Cabbage Patch, Willy Street, and even Kau's shop, I thought it was time to send in a "Boatwerks" update.
Things are moving along on a number of projects.  Jim's 2-seater is
almost ready for paint.  It turned out looking way better than
anyone expected, and we're all excited to give our friends and family
a taste of iceboating with it.  A number of people have put in
countless hours on the restoration, mostly Jim, Wayne Schmeidlin, Keith
from Milwaukee (I really need to find out his last name!), Jerry
Ebert, and various members of the Mullarky family.  Greg Whitehorse
stopped by and helped out with "softening" the plank.

DNs are everywhere in the shop!  Byron's new hull is almost done.  All
the internal pieces are securely bonded together, and the deck should
be going on "real soon now".  Geoff's is coming along "slowly but
steadily", and should have the cockpit done soon, with the deck going
on shortly afterwards.  Mike's hull is also moving along nicely; the
internals are almost all in place, and we should be attaching the
bottom soon.  The jig is cleared and we're getting ready ready to
start on Wayne and Jim's new boats, too.  Parts have been ordered from
everywhere (it seems!), and they're arriving daily (with a large
shipment from Sarns coming at the swap meet).

August 27,2005
Report and photos from Byron Tetzlaff
Last Saturday, Geoff and I stopped off at the shop of the Milwaukee mast-meister Bob Rast. After sailing one of Bob's sticks last year, I decided the new boat should have another one of Bob's masts.

August 23,2005
Report and photos from J. Lenon.

Mike and Patrick Mullarkey's new DN above left and Jim Nordhaus's renovated two-seater skeeter. From the left, Patrick Mullarkey, Michael Mullarkey and Keith from Milwaukee.	A peek inside Byron's new DN.
Geoff adds a backrest to his new DN
Patrick, left, and his dad, Mike Mullarkey, have the newest DN in the 'Werks.	Mike examines Jim's two-seater.
Sparky approves of the two-seater's plush interior.

July 17,2005
Things are going along gangbusters at the Boatwerks.  Byron's been nearly living at the shop, and it shows.  His DN hull is nearly done,
mine is about half completed, and and we're starting to fit the basic
internal structure into Mike Mullarky's.  Jim and Wayne's are "on
deck" to start gluing soon.  Jim and a whole crew of people have been
plugging away at the two-seater; the steering is in and the deck
should go on in a week or so.

Cockpit of Byron's DN waiting for the floor.

Work stops for nothing... (note Byron in the lower
left-hand corner.)

Busy night: Byron works on his DN in the foreground, Jim and
Jerry Ebert work on the two-seater, and Mike's DN is on the jig

Mike and Byron confer about DN mast-step construction

April 12,2005
Jim's joiner got an "extreme makeover" this last week.  Over the
weekend, Mike Mullarky worked on all the moving parts and transformed it from something that sounded like is was trying to take-off into a finely tuned machine.  Tuesday Wayne Schmiedlin spent the evening removing the blades (Jim couldn't remember the last time they'd been changed), cleaning the accumulated gunk out of the cutter-head, installed new blades, and carefully setting the alignment.  Now the jointer makes perfect shavings.  Byron, and I spent the evening setting up my rough-cut sideboards in the jig and playing with various cockpit widths.  Everything looks like a "go" for starting our sideboard bending soon.  Dan Hearn stopped by to look at the jig and talk DN construction.  Dinner was some great chicken brought over by Joe Frattinger, and slowly grilled all afternoon by Jim.  Yum.

There's been a discussion about DN and Gambit construction on the
Yahoo! Iceboating group.  I wrote up more detailed of a discussion of
our jig for that:
http://iceboating.net/node/view/1194

April 10,2005
After seeing Dan Hearn's great building jig at the Junior-Program
meeting Thursday night, Byron and I decided we needed something like it to help us with our boats over at the Boatwerks.  Today we got together and made a table to fit over the Renegade jig, and mass-produced a bunch of angle-brackets to help us bend and glue the sides for our boats.

April 7,2005
The chips have been flying around Jim's shop in the past two weeks.
Last week, Dan Hearn brought over both of his projects, a full-size DN
and ice-Opti.  Both are gorgeous; awesome construction details.  I
shot a ton of close-ups of various critical areas for reference when we
get to the stage of building the internal structure on out boats.  We
all "test fit" Dan's cockpit to help us decide the dimensions of our
new boats.

Byron and I spent last Saturday in the shop prepping our boards for
edge-gluing.  They cured over the weekend, and Monday we stopped by
the shop and planned my sideboards down to final thickness; Tuesday we
did the same to Byron's.  For awhile Tuesday we had "dueling planners"
going, as Jim and Wayne Schmiedlin were planning the saw-marks off the
boards for Wayne's boat at the same time that Byron and I were
finishing his sides.  Right now there is wood for five DN hulls in the
shop in various stages of preparation.  Byron and I will hopefully
finalize the sideboard profile this weekend and start cutting out our
sides.

Bill Gillen stopped by the shop Tuesday.  He just got a set of
Renegade plans and will be starting a "boat project" soon.  He was
looking over the jig and runner-sharpeners with a critical-eye as he
was planning his new shop.  He has some walls to "fix" (i.e. remove)
in his basement before he can get started, but in a year or so there
should be another brand-new Renegade in the club.

Everyone's excited about the Junior-program meeting at Dan's tomorrow night.

Dan Hearn's two hulls  (ice-opti left, DN right)	Byron cleans up his sideboard before edge-gluing
My sideboards

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