Bulkhead and Floor Support Stitching

In theory the rest of the stitching of bulkheads and floor supports should go quickly.  In practice there is a lot of tweaking and adjusting to get everything just right.  After a tough battled I prevailed.

Getting the transom just right required a lot of messing around.  The misfires have given me a few screw holes that I will have to fill in later.  In the end I was able to get it to fit almost perfect.

As the manual states the front will require the use of some home made alignment "tools".  I will tackle this in the next session.

Rechecked the alignment and everything seemed right.  The only issue being floor supports #5 not fitting as snugly against the trunk as I would like.  I'm going to readjust those during the next session.

I'm very impressed with the way things have turned out so far.  It hasn't been easy but nothing a normal guy couldn't deal with.

Hours this session: 6
Hours total: 100
Hours remaining: 302

Side Panels

The side panels seemed a little long and awkward working for moving around by myself.  So I had my son come over and give me a hand.  We wrestled the port side in first and I placed the ties while he came behind me and tightened them.

The only problem we had is that he wanted to tighten the ties down too tight.  I will probably have to remove some of them so that I can get the correct inner-edge to inner-edge final placement.  I've learned from my other two builds that it's easier to tighten the stitches just enough to hold everything together and then go back and incrementally adjust them tighter while adjusting the panels for a correct fit.  That's a minor complaint though because it only took about 90 min to accomplish what might have taken me 4-5 hours alone.  Thanks Sean!

After the side panels I stitched in bulkhead #4.  This thing really locks in nicely to the notch in the keelson and the recess in the front of the center board trunk.  Bulkhead #7 was also located at the rear of the center board trunk.  At this point I checked to make sure that everything was square and that the distance between the tip of the bow and the rear corners of the transom were the same.  It is a minor miracle how nicely everything goes together with the precut pieces.

The only problem is near the bow.  The manual tells you how to take care of this problem but It'll wait until after the other floor supports and bulkheads are stitched in.

The bow is the tightest fit of all.  Getting the lower ones to mate up requires much work.

Next up will be fitting the transom and the rest of the internals.

Hours this session: 3
Hours total: 94
Hours remaining: 308

 

Cradle Construction and Initial Stitching

The day has finally come to start putting all these pieces together.  Assembly of the cradle was very straight forward.  The only thing I did different was instead of using the particle board cradle cross pieces I used 2X4 cut to the same length.  This created a very strong base.

Getting the keel into the correct location in the cradle took some work.  The stern cradle was very snug around the keel and made sliding it to the correct location impossible.  I had to pick it up and put it down several times to get it to the right place.  And that keel is heavy!

Couldn't find any 18 GA steel wire, so I got 19 instead.  Just have to be a little more careful not to break them.  The stitching of the bottom panels is a little awkward since you have to lay down to tighten the steel stitches.  Only broke a couple.

If you look at the bow pictures you'll notice that it's a little weird looking.  The manual cautions that the stitching near the bow is trouble.  It is.  I still haven't gotten it right yet.  I'm gonna build a jig tomorrow to help keep the panels from sliding over each other.

An quick check of the alignment shows that everything is squaring up correctly.  So far so good.  Pressing on!

Hours this session: 7
Hours total: 91
Hours remaining: 311

Change of Plans and Lesson Learned

So in the last post I said I was going to use a router to relieve the unoccupied edges of the battens.  After a little experimentation with some scrap stock and the router I realized that the best was to do this was to simply use a sanding block.  It was much easier than trying to cut a small round over on a narrow piece of wood.  I guess if I had been a little smarter about it I could have done it on the router table before install.  But this looks just fine and less muss and fuss.

In the area of lessons learned.  I tried to mix up a batch of glue large enough to do the entire batten job.  Well, to make a long story short, I didn't have enough time to apply it before it kicked.  Even though I used the slow hardener, I still wasted about 8 oz of the stuff.  At the price of epoxy, that really hurts.

After install they were installed the battens needed to be sealed with clear epoxy.  I mixed up a small batch and thinned it with alcohol.  The thinning really helps since it is better absorbed into the wood and makes it less susceptible to water intrusion and rot.  It also looks nice and brings out the honey color of the cypress that I'm using for battens.

Hours this session: 2
Hours total: 86
Hours remaining: 316

Bulkhead and Floor Support Prep

When last I typed I was working on connecting the long hull sheets together.  I finished that work as above and moved on to the prep work for the bulkheads and floor supports.  Although these aren't covered with fiberglass they are epoxy coated.  Again I used peel-ply (except as noted below) to ensure an even surface.

I ran out of peel-ply with just one face of bulkhead 1 left to seal.  So I did it the old fashion way, a couple of coats of epoxy and lots of sanding.  The other pieces were much easier to sand since the peel-ply makes for an even surface.

I pressed on to adding the battens to the floor supports and bulkheads.  These battens provide a glueing support for the bow decking and support for the floorboards.  Some are mounted on the front and some are mounted on the rear face of the bulkheads/floor support.  You have to take care to get the orientations right and ensure that the hold for the electrical conduit is consistently on the starboard side of centerline.

Once the battens dry I intend to round over the unused corner so that it will present a less "edgy" profile.

Hours this session: 20
Hours total: 84
Hours remaining: 318

Finish Long Panel Construction and Fiberglass

Not many pictures.  Basically I just repeated the last steps for the other 2 panels types.  It all went as planned.  There was one place that was difficult.  The manual states that the preferred glue for the puzzle joints is epoxy thickened with silica and that it should be slathered on pretty thick.

The problem is that sanding that crap off is like sanding concrete.  It absolutely goes through sanding paper.  In the end the panels are acceptable but I could sure benefit from a technique or mixture that keeps this process from being so tedious.

Now that I had all the panels built I needed to fiberglass the inside of middle and top panels.  Here is a picture of the top panels.  As usual for me I covered the assemblies in peel-ply to reduce the amount of sanding.  Getting such a long piece of peel-ply to lie flat on sticky epoxy is an adventure of its own.

I'm sure there would be a technique to make this easier.  I think next time I'll lay out the fiberglass and then roll the peel ply up at one end.  Then apply epoxy to the fiberglass except at the end that has the roll of peel ply.  Then I'll roll the peel ply onto the wet epoxying and finish the end as a second step.  Might work.

Hours this session: 8
Hours total: 64
Hours remaining: 338

First attempt at splicing long panels

I spent about an hour "punching" out the bottom, side, and top panels.  Then some time scratching my head about the best way to clamp the splices together.  Below is the scheme.

I took one set of the one side of the bottom panels and slathered on some epoxy mixed with silica.  I got all the fingers in alignment and pressed down.  When I was happy with this piece I placed a plastic divider on top of it and repeated the process with the same pieces that form the mirror image.  Once the fingers were all glued and in line I placed plastic and then a board on top and then ran a clamping board under the table and clamped the two boards together at each end.

Then I placed weights (batteries) on top of the plank to evenly distribute the pressure.  The end result is that the two panel assemblies and the table are sandwiched between the two boards and the batteries provide extra clamping pressure.

Incidentally, these bottom panels turn out pretty long and wide.  It's the first real feeling I've gotten for the scale of the boat.

Hours this session: 2
Hours total: 56
Hours remaining: 346

First Milestone Complete!

Installed the keelson this evening following using the pastry bag method of dispensing the epoxy.  I'm holding it in place with drywall screws (to be removed later) and clamps.

I want to pat myself on the back.  The keelson lined up with 1/8" from front to back.  No warp of the keel as far as I can tell.  I'm very happy with the entire keel assembly and centerboard.  So far so good.

The glueing of the keelson completes the first chapter of the assembly manual.  It feels good to have 1 of the 8 chapters totally complete.

 Hours this session: 2
Hours total: 54
Hours remaining: 348

Centerboard Finishing

After trimming the fiberglass and repeating the fiberglassing process on the other side I filled the weave and then sanded.  Then I filled some small spots and went back over the whole board again.  Finally as per the manual I finished up with 400 grit sandpaper.  Made for a very nice smooth finish.  Sorry no new pics of that stuff.

I then returned my attention to the keel.  I fabricated the rear keel cap and glued it in place.  The real tough part of this whole process was getting the heavy keel up onto my shop table where I could more easily work with it.

Again lots of clamps and glue.

Hours this session: 5
Hours total: 52
Hours remaining: 350

Centerboard Fiberglassing

Before I could continue with the fiberglassing of the centerboard I needed to do a little cleanup.  I had some low spots in the lead pour that needed to be filled in.

In addition, as noted in a previous post there were some bubbles in the edge reinforcement epoxy.  I filled these in and then did a final sanding so that the fiberglass would lay smooth.

The epoxy went on smooth and looks good.

The leading and trailing edge came out very nice.  Too nice for something that in the end won't be seen by anybody!

While I was waiting for epoxy to dry I needed to take care of the over pour in the front of the keel.  I found a technique that worked very well without much muss or fuss.  I took a cheap 1" chisel and a mallet and simply chiseled out the overfill.  Much easier than trying to sand it out in this cramped space!  Didn't seem to harm the chisel too much either.  About 5 minutes on the sharpening stones and it was as good as new (although I wouldn't try this with one of my expensive chisels).

Hours this session: 4
Hours total: 47
Hours remaining: 355

Centerboard Shaping

I wanted to finish something so I thought it would be easy to get the centerboard finished.  The first task was to grind out the lead overfill.  Turned out this was tougher than it sounds.  Even with a belt sander it took quite a while.  Hint:  Keep the belt sander on low or the belt will over heat and break (voice of experience).

For some reason the leading edge developed quite a few bubbles in the epoxy reinforcement.  Pictured below is the biggest one.

But there are several smaller ones.  These will be easy to fill... just annoying.  Despite this I was able to get a just about perfect (IMHO) leading edge shape.

The trailing edge didn't seem to have that problem.  Might have been the viscosity of each pour.  I dunno.

I didn't finish the opposite side of the trailing edge.  Got tired and gave up for the evening.

Hours this session: 4
Hours total: 43
Hours remaining: 359

Lead Pour

I put on all the requisite gear, boots, long pants, long shirt, respirator, eye protection, welders gloves etc.  Fired up the turkey cooker and started melting lead.  I sourced the lead from a web site.  My wife supposedly had a "source" but it fell through so rather than trying to scrounge at the last minute I just took the easy (and more expensive) way out.

Below is my driveway foundry.  So with my daughter acting as a safety observer I started pouring lead.

I started with the center board.  I leveled it in all directions and started pouring.  I found it difficult to tip the teapot using only the handle.  First I tried to use a stick under it to help lift the rear.  Later I found a small pry bar in my garage that made it a little easier.  It took three pours to fill the cavity.  I over did the last pour a little so I'll have to sand it down later.

Then came the small pour at the front of the keel.  This one went a little better because I could rest the crucible on the brick and tilt it.  Although I did over do it a little.

While I was waiting for the keel to set up I took the backing off the center board to have a look.

It turned out pretty nice.  There are a couple of bubble holes that will need to be filled.

After the front cooled a little to be manageable I blocked up the front get the rear section as level as possible.

About eight pours later and I was done.

This was the first time I've ever messed with melting lead on a large scale.  It was a little bit more physically demanding that I anticipated.  The equipment was so hot that it was uncomfortable right though the welding gloves.  I had to take a break as for the first time in weeks there was some light rain here in central florida.  I guess pouring lead is like planning a picnic, or washing you car, as soon as you do It'll rain.

The lead that I purchased was unrefined and contained a lot of "dross" that needed to be spooned off before each pour.  That was hot work.

I can't say I enjoyed doing this part.  It was interesting and I guess I get to punch a new hole in my "man card", but I'd rather not do this a lot.  My back doesn't like the work!

Hours this session: 6
Hours total: 39
Hours remaining: 363

Centerboard Edge Treatment

Per the manual I wanted to reinforce the edges of the centerboard.  This involves excavating a groove in the edge and then filling it with epoxy putty that is high in silica.  Once the edge is shaped the hard epoxy protects the softer wood from dings when it comes in contact with underwater objects (in theory).

The groove was cut with the table saw.  The hardest part of this was keeping the awkward centerboard in true contact with the table saw fence.

I filled in the trailing edge first and let it set.  I should probably have used a "cake icing" bag to do this but I free handed it.  Was a little messy but not too bad.

Once it was dry I mixed up another batch of filler and did the leading edge.  The packing tape does a better job of keeping all the filler in place while it dries.

I didn't take any pictures but I did glue the puzzle joint of the keelson together.  It went very easy.  Used a large battery to weight it down on my garage floor.  I must say I was a little tepid about the puzzle joint but I'm a convert.  CLC cuts the joint so perfect it would be very hard to mess it up.

Hours this session: 3
Hours total: 33
Hours remaining: 369

Keel Detail and Centerboard Construction

Cleaned up the epoxy squeeze out from the keel and then applied the 1/2" round over router bit to the bottoms of the keel and the front of the centerboard trunk.  It turned out pretty nice.

With the keel and trunk finished (awaiting the lead pour).  I turned my attention to the centerboard itself. The first step was to excavate the ledge around where the led gets poured.  This, when glued to its mirror image creates a slot that keep the lead from falling out.

The laser cut pieces from CLC come partially pre-excavated.  But you have to use a router to remove the extra wood to create the ledge.

Lots of glue, clams and weight and the centerboard is assembled.

Next up I assemble the keelson.

Hours this session: 3
Hours total: 30
Hours remaining: 372

Keel Glue-Up

After checking everything about 10 times I mixed up some epoxy and went to work glueing and clamping.

first I glued the framing and the centerboard trunk to the starboard side of the keel.

At the same time I added the nose block and the little bit of framing that sits just behind it.

After that set up I then glued the port side of the keel to the assembly with some additional weight to get everything in alignment.

The finished product looks pretty nice.

The process wasn't quite as straight forward as above.  I accidentally glued the shims to the keel.  A little heat and little sanding removed this easily.  I was a little concerned because the rear area of the keel seemed to have a little warp in it.  I steamed it with a steam cleaner that my wife has and then weighted it to correct the small warp.  That worked perfectly and now everything is in alignment.

Next up:  cleaning up with some sanding and then rounding over the edges with a router.

Hours this session: 4
Hours total: 27
Hours remaining: 375

Keel Build Out

Ok.  I finally was able to get a nice taper on the back lower keel frame.  It required that I actually learn how to set up my new band saw.  After a few test cuts I got it dialed in and the rest was easy.

I've seen some other blogs where the builder has had problems with the keel coming off the lay up warped.  This might be related to the manual not telling you much about blocking up the back of the keel to make up for the taper.  I think it's mentioned only in passing.  I used the scrap from the taper cuts to block up the keel.  It seems to have worked nicely.

Next up I make this permanent.

Hours this session: 3
Hours total: 23
Hours remaining: 379