Almost Ready to Set Sail!

This past week has basically been a furious push to finish this crazy project! As we continued to put finishing touches on the ship, I came to realize that I could have very well given it another name: "The Overkill." That has been the theme of this entire project, from conception to planning to execution!

Did I need to build a 20' long pirate ship in my backyard? NO.
Did I need to use enough carriage bolts to keep a foundry busy for an entire year just for a simple playhouse? NO.
Did I need to make a crow's nest out of an old whiskey barrel to make it look realistic? NO.
Did we need to build a dock with boarding ramp to make it more "authentic?" NO.
But, did I want to do all these things? YES.

As I have mentioned before, I have inherited this trait from my family to over-think, over-design, over-promise and over-execute. It is just the Byers way. And my training as an engineer has only exacerbated this problem!

Daddy and Pop showing Little Dude the proper fastening technique

Trying by himself!

I sincerely hope that our Little Dude and all of his friends get many years of fun out of this unique project! I know I will never forget the many trips to Home Depot/ Lowes, the hot summer afternoons and the late nights thinking about the next steps on the project. Until then, these few pictures are all I need to know it has all been worthwhile!

Swabbing the decks!

"Hey Chesney, come up and play!"

Ready to go down the slide!

He just couldn't wait to put on pants and a shirt!

Currently we sit at ~90% complete with less than 4 days to the party. The only major items that are left are to mount the stairs to the captain's quarters, stairs up to the dock, the rope rails, the swings and of course, the captain's wheel!

The dock and boarding ramp

Almost there!

Stay tuned!

TWB

All Hands on Deck!

There has been a significant uptick in progress over the past two weeks, mostly because we are in crunch time with less than 10 days to the christening of The Becky's Revenge. My wife had to go out of the country for a little over a week for a school research project, so my parents were able to work out their schedules to come visit Little Dude and help out with this massive construction project. Luckily my Dad has previous playhouse construction experience (as well as countless other carpentry and woodworking projects,) so we have been able to kick it into high gear over the past couple of days. Also have to give a shout out to my mom as she has played the important role of toddler wrangler (which is not an easy job!) So far we have been able to complete the deck, get the port side of the hull attached and do some other minor clean-up work.

The Becky's Revenge weathered her first hurricane-strength storm this week with 70+ mph wind gusts!

Front of the ship!

Port hull being attached.

Little Dude checking out the height with Pop.

"Whoa, Daddy, this is awesome!"

Over the next couple of days, we will be finishing the starboard side of the hull, working on the ship's railings and installing the stairs/ ramp. Wish us luck as we run out of time!


Stay tuned,


TWB

Ahoy Mateys, Raise the Main Mast!

It seems to have been relatively slow going recently as we are finishing the main structural items and are moving to the outside or decorative items. It seems like most of what we do is discuss the best way to do this or that. I guess you will have that when there are no plans besides the ones that are in your head! It also seems that the other thing I have been doing is going to Home Depot or surfing Amazon for more supplies. Those pre-fab playhouses that are set up at Lowes and Home Depot seem less and less expensive now!

Over the past week, however, we did accomplish a major task - we got the crow's nest and Jolly Roger flag installed and the main mast permanently attached to the ship. The crow's nest is half of an old Jack Daniel's whiskey barrel. It is just the perfect size and scale for the Becky's Revenge. However, the addition of the crow's nest on the top of the mast immensely increased the weight. I had to wait a couple of days for my brother to come up and help me raise it so I didn't fall and break my neck while trying to hoist a 16' long 4x6 with ~100 lbs of added weight added on the end of it!

We are currently working on the final framing of the front of the hull, the access steps and the decking! Only 3 weeks left until the christening of The Becky's Revenge and there is still a lot left to do!

Profile view of the ship prior to adding the crow's nest.

Little Dude trying to help measure the hull framing

The awesome drill bit I found to drill all the holes for the carriage bolts (Home Depot is a dangerous place!)

Inside of the crow's nest prior to reinforcement.

The main mast is ready to hoist!

This is as far as I got before I decided it would be prudent to have an extra set of hands to finish lifting it.

Mast hoisted and attached!

Stay tuned!


TWB

All Framed Up

Another weekend, another milestone on The Becky's Revenge! We were able to get the entire floor framed up by finishing the bow of the ship. After a slow start while fighting with multiple angles at the front of the ship, we got the rest of the outer joists attached as well as the inner joists at the front. We were also able to get the lower deck line attached to the back of the ship. We even had enough time to dry-fit the bowsprit (I am becoming an expertly shipbuilding terms) and the main mast! While standing on the upper deck, we realized that we can see 2-3 yards over. This is quite the project! I am currently working on setting the railings all the way around the ship and we will be working on the ramp up to the ship next!

  

View from the upper deck

 

I have my concentration face on!

 Trying to decide on the angle of the bowsprit

Chad doing his best Titanic reenactment. No icebergs in sight!

 Front view of the ship

 

Testing the height of the mast

 Stay tuned,

TWB

Going overboard

Over the past couple of weeks I have been able to make significant progress on The Becky's Revenge. I have been getting about 45 minutes of work done each night after Little Dude goes to bed and before it gets dark.

Mid-last week, bow of the ship is rough set!

 

Little Dude checking out all the angles at the front of the ship

My wife was nice enough to take time out of her homework schedule last Sunday to watch Little Dude so I could have an entire day of work. As I continue to build the ship out, it has become apparent to me that I may have gone a *tad* overboard in the size of the ship. My wife tried to warn me, but true to form I over-designed and now Little Dude is going to basically have a Spanish Galleon in the backyard once all is said and done! Luckily we have a pretty decent size yard, so it doesn't dominate the entire landscape.

 

~75% of the hull ribbing is set after a full day of work on Sunday

 Looking head-on at the ship

Close-up shot of the hull ribbing near the front corner

Almost all of the hull ribbing is complete and about 30% of the post railings have been set. After I finish the basic railing frame around the ship, we will be starting the "boarding ramp" up to the ship and working on the mast. I am really proud of how everything is coming together and barring any major setbacks, we should be on track to christen The Becky's Revenge by late June for Little Dude's buccaneer birthday bash!

That's all for now,

TWB

"Joist" 2 Months Left!

So we are not in crunch time yet, but I am starting to feel the pressure of Little Dude's birthday party being ~2 months away. I have realized that Sunday afternoons alone are not enough time to get this project finished by June, so I have had to resolve to work on the Becky's Revenge every night after we get LD to bed, even if it is only for 30 minutes at a time. That is the only way I have a chance to get this done: piece by piece.

Over the past couple weeks, we were able to get the floor joists set for the lower and upper decks. All that is left to get the floors framed out are the joists for the bow of the deck. That will take some imaginative engineering to get all of the angles worked out properly, but we will get there!

Joists for top deck installed, lower deck started.

Little Dude inspecting the lower deck joists (Shhh, don't tell Mommy!)

"Hey Dad, the top deck is pretty high!"

  

We have also made some progress on the "top-sides" design. We decided on a ramp (think dock ramp) for the main entrance to the ship as well as a climbing ladder to access the upper deck (once LD gets a little older, of course!) While at Home Depot yesterday, I picked up some items for the main mast, including the mast itself, the cross braces for the sail, flag pole for the Jolly Roger Flag and the crow's nest (half of an old Jack Daniels barrel!)

Mast materials picked up!

Next up we will be working on framing the bow of the ship and starting to build out the skin to frame the hull of the ship. Stay tuned!

TWB



Starting to Take Shape

So I know I have been a bad blogger recently with no new posts. But that was mostly because we had been stalled on progress over the past few weeks. Between travelling, weekend errands and rainy weather, we hadn't done anything until last weekend.

Due to a minor brain fart when buying materials, we accidentally set 4x4's for the main swing posts when we actually needed 4x6's. So another trip to Home Depot was required to buy replacement posts, additional cement and the materials for the floor joists. With the additional cement and correct posts, we finally got all the structural posts set last weekend! The only remaining posts to be set are the masts that will be added before we get the floor installed.

Little Dude checking out some high quality dirt.

Leveling the new swing posts.

Cleaning up after helping exploring in the mud and dirt!



Then this past weekend we had a very ambitious goal: to attach of the main joists to the posts. Before that, Little Dude and I decided that we needed to finally get the extra dirt from the post-holes moved so we would have a (semi) flat surface to work from.

"But Dad, I am king of the mountain!"

"So the dirt goes in here?"

"Wheelbarrow's full, time to go dump it!"



Once we got all the dirt moved, it was time to clean up for dinner. Unfortunately, Little Dude did not want to wait for Daddy to help him! I was still down in the yard when I heard water running. I ran up to the house to see this!

"Look Dad, unlimited water supply!"

The next day Unc-da came up for the day to help attach the joists. First we had to make sure the first level was low enough to accomodate Little Dude's new slide. It definitely met his seal of approval, but he was not too happy to see it come down without him getting to slide on it!

"This looks just right!"

"I don't think it is steep enough to slide on, Dad!"

Drilling the holes to attach the main joists.

All the main joists are attached, it is a little easier to envision the two levels now (hopefully.)

 With most of our work done for the day, our foreman decided to show up and check out our work so far.

Looking for his tools.

"Alright you bums, hold one end of the tape so I can measure all of this out!"



I guess everything was satisfactory to Little Dude (that, or dinner was ready and he was ready to go eat!) That's all for now, next time we will cutting off the extra lengths on the posts, fastening the swing cross-post and fastening the deck cross-joists.

Until next time, Cheers!

TWB