Yes plywood is here 🙂

The organization of the plywood turned into the first adventure. For boat building you need certified marine plywood of very good quality. Fortunately, you can buy this very close by. This excellent plywood which was used also by building the ClassGlobe #01 i ordered in Italy. But the purchase was the first obstacle of hundreds that will come.

To explain for the overseas readers. It’s only 250 km but there are worlds in between european countries. Not that crossing the Alps is a big hurdle these days to get some plywood. No! It is the mentality and peculiarity of certain national borders that are the biggest problem in Europe. And the corona situation is the icing on the cake. The service of the company nord compensati was very professional and very nice. After waiting some hours and aid money for customs clearence the mircale happens. I was finally able to cross the Italian border. The import documents for Switzerland were done in a few minutes with digital help from the customs app. So I recommend everyone to avoid the time consuming and bullying customs in Italy and have it delivered by professionals. Despite everything, I was happy to finally have my plywood at home in the workshop that evening.

I planned to start building with simple tools that I already found in my workshop. Soon I realized that it wasn’t really fun when I was annoyed about the poor quality. In my profession I always follow the dogma of my professor: Material and tools must never fail. Keeping an eye on my health made me buy quality tools … a little more expensive but worth the money.

For boatbuilding a powerful sander and efficient suction system is a must have. I trust in the products from companies Mirka and Festool.
Since i have to clean up the workspace / car parking lot every time i finished a working day and for better health protection i decided not saving money on a good suction system. The very expensive Festool CTL 26 model with cyclone filter on top is in every day use and i never regret the purchase. In combination with the Festool suction system the Mirka ecentric sander does a very efficient clean job.
To plane the oregon pine timber to the necessary dimensions a stationary planer is very useful. I really enjoy this Metabo DH 330 planer who is doing a great job. Instead of a chop saw i use a hand held custom made mitre saw to cut the timber. Equipped with a Japanese saw blade, I get precise cuts in a second. Less noise and more manual work…. i love it.
For the remaining standard woodworking i count on a basic set of tools in my workshop for example small work bench, drilling machine, cordless screwdriver, jigsaw, circular saw, band saw, router, Japanese saw dozuki / ryoba, chisels….

I chose Oregon Pine (Douglas fir) for the basic structure. It is traditionally used in boat construction for centuries. This wood is hard and straight grained and has good rot resistance. It is easy to work with, machined well, strong for it’s weight, bends well.
The availability in the shops is usually good in spring when many people starting their outdoor construction projects in the garden.

However the quality you can buy is often poor. Most of it is „plantation wood“ and grown too quickly / soft under these conditions. You have to make a good selection and carefully sort out each piece. The better quality is fine-grained max. 20 rings to the inch (25mm) and without knotholes.

Better to choose fine grain oregon pine max. 20 rings to the inch (25mm). Pieces below with coarse grain.

In cross section make sure to choose pieces with straight grain (parallel and 90° angle to the surface) from bigger trees. Avoid the wood from small trees because the pieces have mostly curved rings (inner rings from the tree) which gives possible twisting.

Straight grain in cross section gives less distortion problems (top piece of wood above in the picture). The pieces below are from smaller trees. You can see the curved rings from the tree core.

Step 1 (January – March 2023)

• Frames
• Rudder / Skeg
• Dagger Boards and Daggerboard supports
• Ordering and collecting parts

Step 2 (April – Oktober 2023)

• Jig
• Set up frames
• Stringers
• Planking
• Epoxi coating
• Sanding / paint work
• Upright the hull

Step 3 (February – Mai 2024)

• Deck
• Interior work
• Rails / Bow sprit
• Electrical installation
• Deck gear
• Rigg assembling

Mai 2024 launching ceremony and go sailing 🙂

To get an idea of the construction, I first studied any information i can get on the web about the ClassGlobe 5.80. Especially the video from B&B Yacht Design (https://youtu.be/0AuIdhvyFss) is a very good opportunity to understand the design. So I got a good overview what to expect. Everything about this boat and the simple construction fascinated me. The Facebook page, the detailed construction blog from Piotr and others encouraged me to buy plans and start building my own ClassGlobe 5.80.

I decided not to order a CNC kit for various reasons.

1. I don’t have any space to store all the kit parts in the beginning of this project.
2. I didn’t want invest a large amount in the project right from the start.
3. Without the kit, I am free in small but important specifications in accordance with the class rules.
4. I want to do a lot of carpentry myself because i love woodworking.
5. I live only 250 km away from the plywood factory in Italy with excellent quality.
6. I found so many blogs and gentle colleagues around that I have gained confidence to be able to build without prefabricated parts (Thank you so much for your kind information #103 Christian #98 Severin #88 Etienne 28# Renaud #20 Dan and many others)
7. I roleplay my childhood in which I spent hours and hours building model airplanes according to a plan 🙂

Since it is a do-it-yourself project and I have to handle the budget carefully, I would like to use my own infrastructure first. According to the absence of a large workshop, I plan to take the first steps with building frames and the small parts at home in the car parking lot and basement of my house. Not very funny for my family and neighbors but I count on their sympathy for the project. I planed 4 months (September – December) for this first part of building process. After this there will be silence at home for a long time – i promise i will be night and day in a rented bigger workshop for the assembling, epoxy coating and paint work. Later of course sailing.
So the boat building project will take place in several steps. I envy you all who has a big workshop for boat building at home. At this point I would like to ask you about the opportunity to rent a garage. Any offer would make me very happy.

As many other good things started in the bedroom i began to draw the 1:1 plans right here. Hopefully there is coming as good stuff as our two kids and It`ll be done after 9 months 🙂

I have drawn each frame on a separate piece of carton so I keep a good overview to any dimensions and angles every time even later when the boat is set up and floating. This way i learned more about the construction and was able to imagine the build process of the frames. I bought 1,5 x 10 meter drawing carton (200g/m2), 1 and 2 meter long steel rulers and large triangles to make the drawing easier and precise. I need them anyway later for the woodwork. The knee pads were my best friends while crawling on the floor. Thanks to the excellent posts from Martell Marine on the Facebook builder`s page I also drew on carton the lengthways section of the whole boat for being sure about all dimensions https://www.facebook.com/groups/528251277862424/permalink/785100125510870/. Since this job has to be very precise and is most important for the build, I recommend doing this drawing work with concetration on a weekend in the morning and taking a break after 2 hours. Don’t think about doing it in the evening after a day at work.

Some call me crazy. But let me explain.
I love creative work. Just buying things is to boring in my mind. I always had the best moments and lot of fun with objects I built myself. The dream of building my own boat has been with me for a long time.
Suddenly there was this Mini 5.80 design by Janusz Maderski appearing in the press. Combined with the class association and Don McIntyre’s Transat adventures. From that moment I was thrilled. Now or never.
This design is exactly what i need for sailing. And above what i don`t miss…. a 45ft lump of plastic with diesel engine, electronics from here to there. I want to feel the elements and not push buttons on a control panel. I’ve seen so many boat building projects that take up to 20 years. So many sailors don’t have their time on the water because of their broken diesel engine or were in danger.
The frame plywood construction is suitable for inexperienced amateur boat builder. Thanks to the community and the many classmates who have already made great builds i learned a lot. The information on the website, Facebook page and in the Globe 5.80 forum is enormous.

A big thank you to Don McIntyre, Janusz Maderski and all classmates for all your work and information. I can’t wait to sail with you soon.

Go small, go simple, go now. (Larry Pardey)