#5 Pirate Ship Playhouse project - Construction 2010

HEY THAR!
Captain HighTide Here's

Spring- Summer- Fall 2010

Front Bow Cabin Construction and New Exterior Stain finish

The Picture above shows what was completed in 2009

In 2010, I begin building the front bow

by adding 1/2" thick Mahogany wood Planking

I was able to find a person on Craigslist not too far out of Sacramento, who just so happened to buy rough sawn Mahogany and re-saw and plane it down to the ½” thickness that I needed. (I love Craigslist!) Perfect timing, just when I needed Mahogany wood for the front bow planks.  Thanks Paul. 

 This was a whole new experience, learning how to shape straight pieces of board for new planking to the same contour of the existing original curved planks. The Bow Planks were a lot of tedious exhausting work in the heat of summer with a saber saw and a belt sander, I estimated that it took about 2-4 hours each depending on the length, to trace, measure and cut, then belt sand and then check the fit and then belt sand some more, and then belt sand a lot more and then do the final belt sanding finishing touches and then a few extra zaps from the belt sander here and there, and then wonder why it’s not fitting as good as it did the last time I test fitted the plank?  Start the Belt sanding process all over again, there now onto the next plank! %$#@&!  10 rows of Planks took me about 1-month of scattered evenings and some long weekends.

With the Planks installed it was time

to start building the Bow Cabin, walk around Deck

and Front Mast mount

In the series of pictures below, shows the front cabin progress including the walk around deck and front mast mount.

I will be adding 3 windows for the front cabin later

Front Mast Mount

The middle/Main Deck has not been installed yet and thats why the door to the front cabin looks a little tall

In the series of pictures below you can see the new decks on the front bow and Captains Quarters, Including the Safe-T-deck paint finish.  The Deck paint has small granules in the paint to prevent Slipping.

in this picture above I have added

1/4" Luan Planks and then painted the transition areas

with Elastic Barrier before I apply the Safe-"T" Deck paint.

This helps prevent leaks.

above picture shows the Safe "T" Deck paint finish

 

In the Pictures above and below you can see that I have re-sanded the exterior (30+ hours) and re-stained with a Fence-Deck stain that is very easy to apply and will be so much easier to maintain. The hardware store that mixed the color named it Pirate Ship brown.

The series of Pictures below show what was completed in 2010

and how the Pirate Ship looks now.

Lets Recap

October 2010:

Finished Captains Quarters roof/deck

Front Bow Planking and Cabin with Walk around deck

Front Mast Mount

Exterior Finish

Added extra mid-section support 2X6 redwood

Added exterior trim pieces

 

 

I’m almost there! The only problem is the 2010/2011 winter is coming and it’s that time of year where I start getting everything put away for the crazy Northern California winter weather.  Good thing I have all the decks sealed and the exterior weatherproofed. 

 If only I had 2 or maybe 3 more months of good weather!  Arrrgh! I guess I will just have to wait until next spring/summer of 2011. 

 4 years now of spring /summer months on this Project and each year I keep plugging away at it.

I know for sure that passion and dedication is what keeps me going and of course a good wife….. to make me lunch, dinner, and something cold to drink and bring out to the pirate ship when I forget to take time out for that kind of stuff.

Some nights I would sit inside the boat to rest for 20 - 30 minutes or so, before climbing out of it after working 8 hours straight.

 I have a list of things that need to be completed to finish this Pirate Ship project and I can say that I’m way past the half way mark.  I look at what I have accomplished, and I think to myself, am I really, REALLY, actually building a 36’ Pirate Ship Playhouse? Or is it my imagination?

Thanks for viewing me Ship Once again!

I will be posting some original stuff I have been saving up these past few months and possibly years?

Here is a sample of what I have to show you all:

I made some custom and very inexpensive portholes to install on the ship, but I don’t know if I’m going to use them or not yet.

Also since its Halloweeny Weekend coming up!

I bet your Jack'O'Lantern can't do....

 THIS!

 

#3 Pirate Ship Playhouse - continued

HEY THAR!
This Bee's
Captain HighTide

Pirate Ship Playhouse:

2007-Demolition & 2008-Construction:

 Let the Demolition begin!

2007

The first thing I did was remove as many deck screws with my cordless drill as I could because I thought I would save the teak decking for the rebuild. After I thought I had saved enough of the decking, I decided to make some cuts with the sawzall and remove bigger sections at one time because the one screw at a time plan was going to take forever. All the screws on the boat were made out of brass and I had a few pounds of brass saved up in no time.

And then it came time to remove the 2 engines.  I had to get a fork lift to lift them out. Everything went smoothly as planned and I was able to sell them as well as a few other items from the boat. 

With the Engines out of the way, I started on the Main section, (the Cabin)

I was cutting and prying and tossing huge pieces

of boat onto the ground for about 5 weeks

Then it was time to replace the missing Planks!

I added some extra support to the top of the midsection

(Main Deck of the Pirate Ship)

What was once a boat is now an empty Hull

Whew!  I'm Tired, Lets take a break Shall we?

A friend gave me a real cool item called a Binnacle for the Pirate ship...

 Binnacles are used for navigation at night or during heavy fog,

This will come in real handy during our late night adventures. 

 

 

Starting in spring/summer of 2008

I sanded the original finish off the exterior and then added

 the  stain and clear marine finish to the bare Mahogany Planks. 

Next I placed a transition piece I made out of Oak wood for the higher front Bow design 

(I'm raising the front Bow section up 5  planks about 20" higher)

Here I've added the Plank supports

This is about the time of year I start putting everything away for winter and getting the

boat ready for the wet weather  for 2008 

I bought a large tarp to cover the boat with for the winter that year. I installed a 10 foot pole in the middle to help the rain runoff and not pool up in a pocket.

Here in the picture above, I'm checking the rail height

(I will be adding another 12" ballaster rail above this first rail)

 

Well thats it for 2007/2008

Thanks for viewing

and Please check back each day because I'm adding more post as fast as My finger tips can produce them.

This is Captain HighTide saying:

Keep your sails Dry and the seagulls

out of the crows-nest!

Syanara,and Chow..mein

AYE! and Don't Forget, part #4 of the Pirate Ship Playhouse project will be arriving into port real soon!

OH WAIT!  ITS HERE!!!
CLICK THAT THAR LINK BELOW!
http://pirateshipplayhouseproject.blogspot.com/2010/10/4-pirate-ship-playhouse-captains.html