Confessions of a boat blogger

This is just an off-topic post, thus the double post from the Department of Redundancy Department.

These are the lengths we bloggers will go to put our info out there, keep you readers satiated, and hopefully illicit an occasional email/comment/post on the various forums!



See, Im serious about keeping this blog alive! Sawdust isnt reccomended for drives, but its really just a matter of careful saw work, a vacuum on your sander, and true, dedicated devotion to the beloved READER!

E

Screw the cold.

I got sick of being frozen out of work. Its time for epoxy!

Daytime temps have been floating around...

Its been...

Alright, who the hell put &%(&(!@# Rocky mountain high on this computer? SERIOUSLY? How the hell do I blog listening to John Denver? Long Beach Allstars, thats better. Sorry.

The daytime temp in the shop has been hovering in the 10-20 degree F range forever. It warmed up to a balmy 34 the other day, so I pulled the trigger on the bottom panels. As previously discussed, Im building this boat without the ability to heat the shop, so your humble (?) narrator is heating the working surfaces only with radiant heat in an attempt to get curing temps high without throwing heat in the whole structure. Here is a shot of the (rather ghetto) setup.

My cheap version, 2 500W worklights. Theoretically 100W of heat, right? Theoretically Communism works too....



A bit more strategic and effective, the 1500W radiant heater:



Surprisingly, the lights are getting me 50F to 60F surface temps, and the big heater is giving up to 70F surface temps. No bubbles from offgassing as well. Its working well, so well that I have the second panel gluing as we speak. We will see if it sustains temps throughout the night as we expect 20 or less temp wise tonight.

While laying up the first panel, I cut out the two side panels...

WOW, I think the lead singer of Long Beach Allstars is tone deaf. Merle Haggard? Nah. Believe it or not, Moulin Rouge soundtrack. That works nicely.

The two sides are stacked aside, and look like this:



The reason they are sitting aside, and that I can only glue up one set of 'glass butt blocks at a time is SWMBO(google it)'s car MUST fit in the garage at night, otherwise said boat project goes away. It makes for a rather perculiar looking garage sight at night:



As you can see, in a two car you can fit a motor, 3 sea kayaks, 1 11' rowboat, a 25 foot long boat jig, 11 sheets of 6mm plywood in various full and cut phases, a gluing station with one panel gluing up, and the SWMBO-mobile. Tight, but it works.

For those of you who are truly committed to reading this blog will notice I had another hiatus. Comp crashed BIGTIME. New PC as we speak. What a hassle.

Bottom panels are to be stitched within the week, short break, then side panels and the complete stitchified boat!

E

We have power!

Granted, this post has no interesting boatbuilding information, but one has to blither incessantly somewhere, and my wife has heard all of it already.

The motor has arrived. It is a two part story though.

Firstly, I parted ways with my mistress. Shes Italian, incredibly sexy, fiery tempered, but curvaceous. My wife knew all along about her, but we both decided that between what it cost to keep her in my life (very high maintenance, but worth it!) it was best to part ways. She was very quiet about it, but left without too much of an uproar, at least until her new beau threw a little money at her.



She was a 1998 Ducati 748 Monoposto, which I had spent a great deal of time riding and caring for. We were very close. Its a sad loss, but it was time. Between the speeds that I learned to ride on her and the maintenance of a bike like her, when compared with how little I had ridden last year, it didn't make fiscal sense. We live with the decisions we make.....

The other bike, for my nutter friends in the UK, was a Triumph Sprint ST that someone stacked up pretty badly. I took her from ball of metal to streetfighter meanness in a monthlong building frenzy. Sold her for a bit of a profit, and just couldn't find another deal as sweet. Not to mention riding her was the dog's bollocks!




Part B:

With the proceeds of the bike come the new motor! I managed to find a 2004 50hp Yamaha 4 stroke tiller engine for the price of $3000 (By the way, if anyone is interested, please contact me, there are more available). It needs to be converted from a tiller handle to a remote controlled motor (steering wheel and remote throttle), but thats a bridge we will cross when we get there. Im sure its nothing a Yamaha dealer can't help with. These are used motors from RIB's used on tour boats. 400 hrs, industrial use, but with industrial care. It'e all you can ask when the motor is $1000 below book value.

One of the best cowlings:



For those who have had a pint or two, this will look normal. For the sober, this is the best I could do with the dead camera battery:



But for the exterior's poor appearance, check out the powerhead!



With the designer's blessing this is the largest motor the boat can handle. Though she's designed to move at around 15-18 mph, I am targeting 30mph based on a similar boat built in the UK to an older design (Atkin's NINIGRET). Their boat saw 27kts over land, and we are hoping to see similar results.

Really, this post is more of a gloat, O my readers. My apologies, but it will be a fundamental part of the build later on. We are expecting weather next week that will be unpleasant at best to work in, being that the high approaches 15F and the lows near zero. Ugh. What I wouldn't give for a real shop, with INSULATION! HEAT! Check back often!

Massive mistake, but disney ending.

Well the weather gods have shone down upon the ski slopes poorly, with rain up above 6000 ft, followed by cold. Makes more of a skating rink than a ski hill that way. Bad news for skiing, good news for the boat! Actually lucked out with some almost-50-degree weather, which is nearly unheard of in this area.

Double post this time!

Firstly, for those who work alone all the time, this might be a helpful tip. Having some car tools around made this exceptionally helpful remedy for my lonesome boat shop. Lifting the forms to the correct height while clamping 2 uprights to not only the form but also to the strongback can be a challenge. BUT! We have a solution!\

If we can lift from the center while balancing on the upright 2x4's, we only need one set of hands for clamping, thus:



Senor car jack to the rescue! What a time and labor saver! It is nearly micro-adjustable, will go precisely where it's told, and has wheels to boot. Odds are at least half of the readership have one of these nearby or borrow-able, so keep it in mind. It is a little heavy to move in and out of the strongback, but well worth it.

Here is the finished product of the jack's labors:




And now for the bad news:

I had one helluva time figuring out why everything was measuring up PRECISELY (less than 2mm off in all directions), but the transom was lining up 20MM CROOKED. I take the jig apart, I put the jig together. I take the frames out, I measure, I put it back together. I take the stringers out, I put it back together. NOTHING CHANGES! I finally have deduced it to the transom or clamping boards. Tape measure here, tape measure there, T square. Son of a.......

Turns out, while the bottom surfaces of the transom lined up perfectly, I was 9mm off on one side of BOTH clamping boards. &**)@#&%^*@&^#. After said swearing tyraid, I hung up the apron for the night. Slept on it, thought about it, and out came the circular saw. Set to the depth of the clamping boards but just above the transom, a cutting we will go.




Atrocious photo, I know. Coming up from the bottom you will see a dark line sloping downward from right to left. Thats the error. After some cutting, we spent a little quality time with the 1/2" chisel getting the last of the goo off the bottom without damaging the transom. All happy.

Let this be a lesson to any builders. Be willing to fix those errors no matter how tough it may seem. Try fixing it first before you rebuild. This error would have cost about $185 to rebuild the transom, but a little extra labor made it perfect.

With said error on the mend, let's get back to the 3D part of our saga. Over the past 2 days the forms have gone up, the stringers were set, and the first (A) frame is all thats left (which I will be doing as soon as I get done blathering on here). To the photos!

Superjig 5000:



This is how Jacques has designed the motorwell to go together. These motorwell sides are essentially screwed in place while the jig is built, since disassembly would be impossible as it holds the clamping boards into a notch. Pretty fancy if you ask me:




Another shot, of the nearly complete jig, transom and all:



Finally, this one is for Doug, and the others who will build this boat. Dead nuts straight and flat, eh:



As always please don't hesitate to ask if there are any questions or if you want to see something in another post. I am also working on my sitemeter, as the new format has changed some of the code. The more feedback the better!

E