ThistleDew's AB23

[ThistleDewDayDreamin]

Hi gang. Been a while since I've been around. Long story short, I was hospitalized the day after Thanksgiving with a nasty bacterial pneumonia in my left lung. Don't remember the first 10 days I was there, but the meds musta worked because I sort of came to on day ten and started raising he!! about getting outta there. Had to fuss for two more days till they sent me home with a bunch of oral antibiotics and strict instructions to follow my wife's instructions ( she happens to be an RN ) I had no idea pneumonia hurt so much. I've been through some pretty major hurts in my life, just didn't think an over grown chest cold was gonna be anywhere near the hurting I ended up with.

The holidays were kinda low key compared to normal. I just wasn't up to hosting our usual swarays. The kids both came home, my mom in law sorta retreats from the north to stay with us in Ole NC for winter, so we had a good family Christmas. There was one really nice surprise though. My oldest son (lives in Austin Tx ) conspired with the one still at home and their mother. He ordered me plans from this website and had them fedexed to the house here, his younger brother intercepted the fedex man ( I'm still moving a little slow ) When he flew home for Christmas the plans were already wrapped and under the tree, he didn't even have to smuggle them in. ( I can't tell you how it affected me to realize my 20 something kid thought enough to spend that kinda money on a set of boat plans, for me! )

Anyway, ThistleDew is now the proud owner of a complete set of AB23 Plans. Some of you guys, maybe peter, and CL at least may remember that was the design that got me interested in this forum months ago. Well, I'm wearing them thin studying them. It's probably gonna be spring till I can start the real boat ( cold and damaged lung are just not playing well together ) so I decided to transpose the plans to a cad model I can manipulate, complete the entire set on a single uniform scale ( if you own any of J's plans, you know there are always several pages with "NTS" in the titleblock ) and build a scale model. Studying the plans alone was leaving me scratching my head too much. There are some bends and twists in that hull that at first do not make intuitive sense. After a week on the cad modeling, some light bulbs started to go off in my head. I researched some similar hull designs, and then got real excited. This thing is going to be a challange for me, but it's sure keeping me from getting cabin fever while I'm recovering. It's not the same as really building the boat, but it's what I can do for now, and I should be very familiar with the design when I Can get to the real project. So, as the model progresses, if it's not too embarassing, I'll post some pictures. btw, has anyone, anywhere, started a build, full size, of this design? TTFN ThistleDew.

[Cracker Larry]

Good to see you back TD Sorry to hear about the problems but glad you're recovering and getting back to it. I don't think anyone has started an AB23 yet but I sure am interested in seeing one go together. I really like the design. A model is a good idea too. I'll be paying attention

[wegcagle]

Get on the mend and get on the AB23. I'm REALLY excited to see this one come together

But seriously, I am glad that you are heading in the right direction with the pneumonia. Sounds like you had a tough one. I'm a pediatrician at Med College of GA, and we have had WAY too many severe pneumonias this year. Seems like everyone got the flu, got over it, and then about a week or 2 later they are getting knocked down with secondary BAD pneumonia. Keep on the antibiotics 'til there done, don't lay around too much, and make sure you're eating, drinking, and sleeping enough. The body is a resilient thing. Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin"

Will

[Bluefish2]

Thistle,
There is another AB23 being built. In South Africa I think. They were asking about beach launching possiblities and strengthening for that purpose. The main technical section is where it was listed.
Hope your feeling better. Nearly lost my son once to pneumonia. Almost everyone has a horror story.
BF2

[fishin']

Glad to hear you are back and recovering thistle. My mom, neighbor, and landscaper all got the swine flu and then pneumonia just like wegcagle said, so at least your not alone. I'm really excited to see this boat come together, so rest up and get well so you can make some progress. Good Luck.

[Spokaloo]

Glad to hear you are on the mend!

But more importantly...

FINALLY someone is getting cracking on a fresh AB23. Can't wait to see this in 3 dimensions, and you are going to do a smash-up job of building it, so it should be a great boat. Very kind of the rugrats to pick that up for you, and just the kind of inspiration some of us need to stop yammering on about plans on here and start putting things together in the shop.

Looking forward also to the scale model idea, it is a time tested tactic from the old days to build half models to get a feel for boat construction of a new design, so you are walking down a well trod path.

Do as your doctor tells you, those directions are there for a reason.

E

[Bowmovement]

Glad you are healing well TD. I wish you a speedy recovery..

I, along with everyone else, is very excited to watch an AB23 come together.


Matt

[TomW]

Sorry to hear about the pneumonia but glad your on the mend. Like the others can't wait to see an AB go together. Continued best wishes on your recovery.

Tom

[chicagoross]

Can't wait to see you get started! Even if it's just an hour a day, you'll be amazed at how therapeutic boat building is!

[ThistleDewDayDreamin]

Thanks to all for the well wishes and the support on the AB23. It was 9 degrees here this morning, I stayed in and worked for a while on the model "strong back" and started Xacto blade-ing a little balsa for scale model Stringers and Station molds. Found a few mistakes in my transposed model plans already, and a couple of places with big "?" marks in the design. Not ready to say I found some mistakes in the design, no, no, no, not at all, but I found some dimensional "stack ups" that at first blush anyway, don't quite make sense in going from 2d to 3D.

I've decided on a single outboard with a kicker, both on a bracket. The bracket option changes the transom, motor-well panels, and the motor-well bulkhead moves aft and replaces / repositions the last standard frame, "G" i think it is. It took a little while to reconfigure that part of the drawings between plan details and notes, and single page drawings in the plans package. It leaves a span ( almost 46" vs. standard 36" ) under the sole just forward of the motor-well bulkhead and right behind where the helm leaning post - bait well will be. Not sure about that, seems to be a bad place for long frame spacing, guess I need to ask our designer. This exercise can't be hurting the real build when I get there, at least I don't think it can. We'll see, when I start bending balsa, worst case I'm wasting $2.50 balsa panels, and not $110.00 sheets of marine grade plywood. It's a good mind exercise if nothing else, sure beats staring at the vidiot box all day. I'll post some pictures if/when the pile of balsa and drawings start to resemble a miniature boat.