Last updated April 2004
By Adriaan Snyman.
Update early June 1998.
All of the sheet aluminum has been lofted and with the aid of a Skilsaw is now reduced, for better or for worse, to a stack of boat hull/deck-plates. There was a short period of frantic work to get all the plate cut and stacked for transport by mid June, to a new US city - this is one downside (the only one?) of being the spouse of a computing contractor. Thankfully there was a last minute reprieve for 3 months, as more work turned up here in Rochester. I have, I hope, until the end of August, to weld up the hull and deck into a transportable sail-boat hull. I have no idea if this is realistic, having never done this before but nothing ventured nothing gained. The building frame is complete and the latest is that I have started to tack the hull plate together. The bottom plate is in, as is the lower-chine and when the rain stops I will be out there again tack-welding plates together.
Update early October 1998
It has been a lot of work and a very busy, constructive and satisfying summer. I believe a few more months work next spring and I am in danger of getting myself a sailboat. There is a fair amount of metal work still to do, the keel, the rudder, the hatch surrounds and some framing inside, and ......... well I'm sure you get the picture.
Update May 1999
Well, I got nothing done on the Van de Stadt this winter. It was a somewhat more typical Rochester winter, cold and gray with plenty of snow, the previous two having been somewhat mild. I went back to South Africa for 6 weeks to visit fiends and family in December. When I returned in January, I looked at all this cold white stuff on the ground. I decided I had better look on the bright side and so went out to the local Bristol mountain resort and learned to downhill ski. I also got around to building a Joel White designed - 7' 7" - Nutshell Pram, in my basement. She is fitted out as a rowboat so as to keep her light.
Around the middle of March - rather early in the season perhaps - I took my motorcycle on a 10 200 mile exploratory ride down South into Texas and West up into California. When I got back mid-April, I varnished the Nutshell and launched her almost just as soon as she had dried. Ingrid joined me for a row out on Lake Ontario. With the sun going down on a perfect still warm day, I don't know who's smile was widest, but as both of us can attest - "there is nothing so much fun, as messing around in boats" - and Joel White designed a beauty.
The big Van de Stadt is back in build, now that temperatures are up, and at the moment I am welding up the keel. Struggling a bit, as I find I'm a lot less fit after the winter than I thought, but comfortable with the thought that now that I'm back at it, I should soon toughen up. I keep reminding myself to start slowly and work safely - it will get done, 'all in good time'. I am most fortunate to have started sailing again, with my neighbor Dave Murphy in his Ideal 18. The Rochester fleet is seriously competitive.
Update November 1999.
Boat building is over for this year - the weather has moved in again. The boat rests on her own keel in a custom cradle. Her keel is welded out and nearly 1/2 the lead ballast is melted and poured in. The rudder is made, the ribs, stringers and deck beams are welded in. The plywood bulkheads are epoxy coated and bolted to the ribs. Doesn't sound like much for a whole summers work but that's how long it took to get this far. There is some detailed welding to do, like the chain plates and the bow roller and stanchion bases, and much more besides. The companionway hatch cover is still to be welded up, now I have finished thinking through its details. However, I do feel that the biggest challenges in the building have been achieved and the rest is mostly woodwork and systems installation (real simple ones rest assured), something to potter over and enjoy.
Update April 2000.
After a long and cold winter I am back at it but the cold and rain is everywhere this spring. The biggest job so far has been to collect and pour the rest of the lead into the keel - in all 4200lbs (OA ballast 4400lbs). The detailed welding tasks are far more numerous than I at first thought. The weather isn't co-operating much, making progress with the detail welding outside on the boat slow. I decided to make as much of the fittings such as the tiller bits, companionway hatch, stanchion bases, the handrails and a bunch of other required stuff up, in the meantime.
Update December 2000.
It was a very wet summer by any standards (the local news stations spent the summer in a fit of weather news hyperbole). There were relatively few good days for welding anything outside, and though I got everything done that needed to be done, in the end, things dragged out. Looking back over the first two seasons I realize just how lucky I was to have excellent weather early on in the building. Getting the Lewmar hatches in and bedded on polysulphide, and the companionway hatch welded up and fitted with a garage and sliders was the first welding task. The boat is now bone dry inside, come rain or shine. I got the detail work welded up on the outside and the cabin area insulated. Also the joinery is just beginning to take shape. To date, I estimate that I have put around 1500 hours into the boat, though this figure is very approximate (and I'm not counting).
Update April 2004.
After a 3 year absence the Green Witch aluminum boat building web site is again hosted in cyberspace. I had abandoned it because it had outgrown "free" service providers and homepages, and at the time it was just too expensive to buy space by the megabyte. That has changed in the last year, and following a dozen requests I have bit the bullet, and launched a permanent home. Well as permanent as anything on the net. Hope you enjoy.
I am going sailing for a couple of months so don't expect too much more to be added in the near future. Perhaps I will find time later in the year to add more details and text.
Preview
Lofting and moving the 20'x8' plates
Cutting up the plates
Building the jig to hold the hull plates
Positioning and tacking up the hull plate
The hull
Getting it together
Welding out the hull
Foredeck
Side-deck
Cabin
Cockpit
Transom and lazarette bulkhead
Hull nearly done
winter 1998-99
Jacking up the keel to fit the keel
Making the keel
Melting lead for the keel
Removing the building frame and constructing a boat cradle
Making the rudder
Lazarette hatches and hatch surrounds
Companionway
Mooring bits
Interior floors & keel
Interior ribs and deck beams etc.
Lazarette hatches
Hatch surrounds for Lewmar hatches
Companionway
Mooring bits
Interior floors & keel
Interior ribs and deck beams etc.
Chain plates
Bulkheads
Deck fittings
Insulation
Galley
Saloon
Links to other sites.