building NINA

New location!

2011-06-29T08:28:00.001-07:00

If you ended up at this page, please come over to the new site, which has far better functionality.

www.stagboatworks.com

Allow me to introduce CLOUD CAP

2008-05-09T13:55:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gents, here she is!

I have slowed on posting for two reasons; one is that my camera has degraded to the point that it will only take one round of photos (maybe up to 10) before it decides that the AA batteries are dead, second is that I can't imagine people being too terribly excited about "hey, this is the third coat of paint, which looks just like the first and second!". Since our last good visit, she has received a handful of interior coats of Interlux Brightsides in Grand Banks beige, a final coat of red Bottompro gold, and a last coat of the beautiful Kirby paints' Grey Green.

After the administration of the smelly colored stuff, I went back through and assembled each part with a loving dollop of 3M bedding compound in each screw hole and anywhere a piece of metal touched the boat. In a few places I switched to 4200 fast dry where I thought it might be best for the compound to cure up in less than three weeks.

I am welcoming any questions via the comments section, or the forum at forums.bateau2.com in the LB22 thread. To keep from babbling on and on, Im going to just post MANY pictures of her, and let you decide!

She will be unceremoniously splashed either tonight (Friday May 9th, 2008) or tomorrow morning. She is registered at Jamestown distributors and boatbuildercentral.com. She requests that all information remain public and that you share the photos of her with your friends anytime you like.

I have succeeded at hitting my target of completing her before June, I just missed it by a year is all......

E

What?

2008-05-06T20:06:00.001-07:00

Friday.......

Big happenings are afoot

2008-05-05T15:20:00.001-07:00

Stay tuned, check back often, there will be a major post coming very, very soon.

E

I quit!

2008-03-24T17:29:00.000-07:00

I have quit.

Im done with all of the prep work, detail work, and general BS related to getting ready for paint. What a pain, dealing with the cold all winter long (one of the longest in memory here in Spokane). We have had flirtatious days of 55 degrees, only to be dealt a crushing blow of 7 days below 45 degrees and regular overnight snowfall. It melts during the day, only to come back and assault us yet again overnight.

Good news is, the last of the epoxy work was completed, and the splashboards on the bow are done! This was by far the most difficult fillet I have ever dealt with, being not only small, but delicate and difficult to get to thanks to the angles. It did turn out well, however.

After getting the splashboards up, set, glued, and filleted, I did one last detail sanding of various parts, then a nice long bath to get all the wintertime blush off. The fast and medium hardeners the epoxy needs sheds a blush when it cures, which is water soluble. This required a sponge scrub of the entire boat with mild detergent and a 3M pad. Afterwards, she turned out to be very clean and smooth, which was nice. It does, however, have what my friend Jerry refers to as "scobies" on it. These are the little balls of sanding dust and junk that have settled over time and made the boat a little "hairy" feeling. I think this week (since it is STILL too cold to paint) I might have to go out and give her a once over with the 220 grit, just to peel the scobies off and make it 100% buttery smooth for the paint.

Without further ado, here she is, ready for paint:

A sidelong glance:

Quartering shot to show the finished splashboards:

I had SWMBO's camera, with the big wide angle lens, so I shot some interior photos for the LB22 builders that might happen along after me, looking for ideas on how to do their aft seating and forward bulkheads:

Here is the finished splashboard:

I chose to run it inside the coamings so that the visual line of the coamings was uninterrupted. Obviously these splashboards are only going to be good for spray and rain, as a good sized wave will laugh at it just as it drenches the occupants of the boat. I did add some drain holes in the small pockets so they dont retain water and dirt. I think she gets a nice 40's flair from it, a very lean look. The windshield as-designed took away the armrests on the decks that SWMBO loved, so I chose not to add Jacques' windshield. Im always open to comments and ideas as well.

I have many more photos (including ones where I had sanded all of the lake scunge (a friend of mine's coined term for the green slime on the sides of our boats), if anyone is interested.

Now if it would only get over 60 so I could paint this thing.....

E

2008 boatbuilding season commences!

2008-02-28T18:00:00.000-08:00

The weather has finally reached an epoxy-able stage (only cooling to 33 tonight!), so we are off like a turd of hurdles (herd of turtles?)

I had been stagnating at the thought of cutting more holes in the poor boat. The hole cutting isn't too much of an issue, as after so much fairing and fairing and sanding with some fairing, I essentially despise my boat. Devlin says you need to hate a boat, well, deal.

The bow bulkhead (frame A) is supposed to be trimmed completely open based on the design, but I saw this as an opportunity for a storage compartment with a lid. This was also fueled when the initial plywood order over a year and a half ago was the wrong thickness. The A frame ended up being 6mm instead of the requisite 9mm, so the designer helped me fix the scantlings and utilize the frame I had. Today, we poked a hole in it:

Whilst feeling a little saw happy, the benches were just flotation tanks until this point, so I had the same festivities with those as well. The side seat is non-draining and sealed, so it received a vertical locking hatch, allowing some storage of sundry items (probably the keys/cellphone/wallet/dry stuff compartment). On the other hand, the aft compartment will have a drop-in hatch made from its own cutout. This compartment is the main drain to the bilge well aft. Obviously this isn't an offshore boat, otherwise large 1000gph ports would be cut into the sides. The bulk of its life will be spent in freshwater lakes and occasional excursions to the Puget Sound / San Juan islands, which are essentially overgrown lakes with a bad attitude on windy days. Do note that I painted these compartments EEONS ago:

There are other additions, such as the bow eye holes were drilled and an 8" long 1x1 mahogany wood backer glued in, so we will have a true bow eye and the ability to attach her to the trailer, a novelty in itself. I didn't take a picture.

My largest concern since about September is how I was going to do the windshield. I have wavered from Jacques' intended design of a Bolger-inspired sloped windshield forward with side windows (axed due to losing the armrest in SWMBO's seat), to nothing at all, to a Chris Craft looking Duvall style windshield. After much meditation (mainly on the toilet), and considering the costs associated with a CC windshield (from $450-$2000), I opted to step back in time.

Back in the 30's and 40's, many of the utility boats with this hull shape and open layout just used coamings of various types. Some rounded, some sloped, some shaped in odd and majestic ways. I opted for the saxboard/splashboard look of the ocean going vessels. This gives a dose of protection if a green wave is shipped over the bow (which will never happen), has a very jaunty look, and was relatively easy to do with scrap on hand. I am looking for comments on this, good or bad. Any forumites please post in the forums, otherwise feel free to throw a comment in here at the blog.

I think it's simple, understated, and cost effective. I couldn't justify putting a windshield up front that wasn't going to block any wind of consequence, as the forward seats get no breeze, and when I stand I get a face full of bugs on the way in regardless. For our needs, where being out in the sun is King, I think this will work out well.

Next up is finishing out the splashboard fillets, and getting her ready for paint!
I will have to wait a bit for paint, but once 60 degrees rolls around, we are going full tilt, paint, cure a week, and then add the lights/wiring/engine/controls.

Ahh, its nice to be moving again!

E

We are up to 40!

2008-02-14T15:29:00.000-08:00

Ahh, the weather is starting to break.

Its been an exceptional winter, with some news agencies placing us at 180% of our normal snowpack in the lowlands, and 130% in the higher elevations. Good for the skiing, the lake, and the fish. Not particularly conducive to the blogging boatbuilder. The current snowpack here at home is about 18", and its basically a monolith of ice, as the snow has been through many freeze-thaw cycles. What is nice, however, is it's ending!

Here is a good example:

Normal snow year:

This year:

Sun broke out the other day, many scurried away from the bright, horrible burning orb floating where the clouds normally are, until a few intrepid citizens found the heat to actually be a good thing. The snow from SWMBO's car melted into lakes, so I spent a good deal of time sweeping that out.

This instigated a little rejuvenation of the boatbuilding virus. Once the ice and snow and water were moved, well lets get this tidied up. Thats better, now let us clean this. Hey, these need to be put outside, but this needs to be over here on the shop wall. Okay, now that this is happening, let's get serious and pull her out of the garage to get things really tidy....

Ahhhh. Now Im thinking about how I can do this, fix that, get this sanded, recoat that, and lets get some paint on this pig!

I also took a few minutes and made a little more convenient clamp rack out of my last remaining sawhorse that isn't a motor stand. Pretty snazzy, eh?

A friend has donated some clamps to the cause temporarily, but I am getting far enough ahead to be able to call most of those my own. There is a rowboat project and a workboat project in the offing that will require more use of clamps than this one has....

Also working on SWMBO to help me develop a REAL webpage! Blogger is great, but there will be more boats, with more stories, and more mildly irritating banter, which all need to be compactly held together in one place. You will be the first to know....

E

You thought Id quit eh?

2007-12-13T15:46:00.000-08:00

Let's just call it slow going. Do you have any idea how boring it is for me to take thousands of pictures of the same damn boat over and over when the only thing that changes is how smooth it is?

You can't feel it, so it's pointless! "Look, that shade of grey is different than the shade of grey over there, he must have switched grits.... ooooo..."

Needless to say, it's different now. It is all greyish, silky smooth, and bordering on ready for paint. Yesterday after work, Shayne came up to help me hoist the motor out of the boat again. He's a kind soul, but gullible. Once the motor was out, it was time to press on again, and get this thing outa the shop.

First, though, let's look at what we are contending with:

It's a little cold out there. We haven't enjoyed temps over the freezing mark in, well, awhile. We did have a short spell, but snow has basically been on the ground since we ate that turkey and his yam friends. As you are well aware by now, I don't have heat out htere, let alone insulation. I have been trying to either find tasks that don't require heat, or that I can be basically stationary and get under the IR heater. Today was one of those days.

With the motorwell emptied out, I put my carcass in there, took a sander with me, and got the last of the open spaces prepped. The whole boat has now been sanded. I also put as much filler as possible in a heatable space (the splashwell) on the tape, setting out to have it cure sometime before the fat man slides down the chimney.

It was a little something like this:

A 250/500w work light turns into a 250/500w heater pretty readily. Its basically infrared heat with more light than usual. Still rather effective.

Throw a towel into the mix to retain more of the heat:

Voila!

I'm going to ski tomorrow, so don't expect me to work on the boat.

E

Fairly fair

2007-10-20T15:43:00.000-07:00

Every boat builder will be familiar with this statement. I have reached "Good enough". I think Sam Devlin had a good point when he said in his book "You have to hate a boat to finish it". Im so sick of looking at fairing boards, swapping paper, cleaning out the vacuum and getting the refrigerator dirty that its time. There are several little spots that could use quickfair. They would require hours of longboarding. There are spots on the fillets that are going to be wavy due to a lack of concentration when I was taping. Guess what, Im done fairing.

Let't look at it from another angle. I'm betting that most readers are either building a boat or will be building in the future. Some have spent the time and effort to actually go back through and read this blog from start to finish (if not, its getting cold out, its rainy, grab a mug of warm beverage, nestle in, and read it.) and can see how the mistakes were made, and why places aren't fair. If you are an astute reader, in the pictures you can see where the boat is seriously deformed and is now perfectly fair. I'm not going to tell anyone where anything is, because its my secret. I think that might be the point, in the end.

It will be your boat. You built it. If you feel that you are out to build a boat for show, then each infinitessimally small detail will be perfectly faired. To whom are you trying to be perfect for? Some need this level of perfection for inner peace. Others seek the adoration of onlookers. This is especially true of the mahogany runabout crowd. The beauty of the boat and the joy of its use is lost in the spectator's staring at the finish and nothing else. This isn't my style.

Other will go through the process in drudgery, and at the first possible moment slob on paint, not caring about smooth surfaces and unfair areas. Their need to be done and put their boatbuilding experience behind them is more powerful than going a few extra steps to make the boat last beyond next summer. These boats will be left out, destroyed by the elements, and relegated to sandbox duty.

Im somewhere in the middle. I like smooth lines, I like nice paint. I can't see doing any varnishing, though its beautiful, as my life is too short. I want a boat I can be proud of, but one I can use day in and day out (yes, we use our boat more than most, probably 5 or more days a week, 6 months out of the year). I don't want to worry about rafting it up with my friends and scuffing the paint. I want to be able to run it up on a beach and not give it a second thought. I built this boat to use, to enjoy, to take my wife out on evening cruises at 6mph in the fading sunlight. I built it to get 8 friends together and see both ends of the lake, hit the beaches, and be social. I want to go find that lunker bass in the weed edges, getting as shallow and close as I can. At the end of the day, I want a boat that will provide us with enjoyment, year after year, with low maintenance requirements, but one that I will still look longlingly at as I leave it at the dock at night.

I think we are there. It's a little imperfect in places, just like me. It is rugged and durable, great to look at, and the only ones who know where the flaws are will be myself, and people who build boats like me. Depending on the other builder, they will either find my workmanship below theirs, and feel better about themselves, or they will see the world as I do. They will understand that life is too short to sweat every detail. They will see the little flaws and smile, knowing that when they build their next boat, they will have a few too, and that it's okay.

So following that diatribe (its like talking to a diabetic about their eating habits. Noone will listen to what I said, but it felt good to say it) there are a few tidbits and some great photos to show this time.

Firstly, my wife loves me. She knows I have a boat problem, and instead of nagging and harassing me about it, she enjoys the fruits of it and supports me. It means quite a bit to me, as I know it can be hard sometimes with how often I work on it and what it costs. To show her support, she got me this for my birthday:

This is an original H. Chapelle's Boatbuilding from 1941. Fantastic read, with tremendous info for boatbuilders of all kinds. Highly reccomended.

Secondly, the boat got some new digs. I found the first trailer I purchased was going to be tough to set up for this hull. Craiglist came to the rescue, selling that trailer and picking up the newer one. Mobile bunk brackets, more length, better suspension, and brakes that function, Im happy, shes happy.

This is how a boat should be supported, not the bunk contact to the hull:

The bunks are also quite close together, as each side has two which are attached via brackets that pivot. One nice side effect of this is the skeg guides the boat onto the trailer, no matter how windy it is (when I switched trailers, winds were 25mph gusting to 40. The controls were not on the boat, and I did it with ropes only.):

Now its always a mistake to let people see the wood under epoxy as they will beg you to varnish the boat. Only after explaining the time and effort that goes into 25 coats of varnish do they realize why we paint. In the spirit of full disclosure, here are the last photos of the boat in her naked wood state, with 3 coats of epoxy. Note the fairing compound on all surfaces, and a thick coat on the sole which covers the wood:

Shes going in for her last sanding, this the finish sanding of 120 grit in prep for paint. Its good enough. If someone sees a flaw and points it out, im okay with that. As of today, we are very near 12 months total in the project. Mind you, much of that is wasted time in ski season, waiting for plywood, and using the boat through the summer heat. Paint will hopefully be next week sometime, or the first week of November. That might require heating the garage in some fashion, but thats a bridge to cross at that point in time.

All comments and feedback are welcome, either here on the blog, or over at forums.bateau2.com

E

muddling and dawdling

2007-10-02T19:49:00.000-07:00

Basically Id be wasting your time posting the daily process, as it goes something like "put on filler, sand off filler, rinse, lather, repeat".

So for a change of pace, I messed with Dave's windshield idea. One of the www.bateau.com forum members went out of his way to design a Duvall-style windshield for me. Nice guy. I tried roughing it in just to see how it would turn out with a little 2x fir and a couple little battens of ply to give shape to where the glass would go.

Here it is!

I think it looks pretty snazzy myself, so it will go forward in real mahogany here shortly. I might even bright finish it, just to prove to people it really is a wood boat.

Other things are eating up a little of my boatbuilding time such as a fishing competition over at www.washingtonlakes.com . The comp requires an o-tay sign, so thats why Im making the hand gesture with all the fish in the photos.

Smallmouth bass:

Perch:

Crappie:

Its a life, but someone has to live it I guess.

E

Bad form

2007-09-20T16:20:00.000-07:00

So the weather has turned here in Spokizzle. What was once a glorious indian summer with 85 degree temps in the middle of September has turned into cloudy drizzle adn 59 degrees. While it is the end of a season, its the beginning of another. Boatbuilding can recommence, and ski season is just around the bend. Not to mention fall fishing!

Occasionally a slip in judgement occurs. Sometimes you catch it soon enough, sometimes, just a little too late:

I had a feeling, but didnt check soon enough. Thats cured System 3 Quickfair, which has remarkable strength in 3 hrs when attached to human hair.

Erstwhile I had begun the fairing process, one which I am growing weary of, as this is a big boat with lots of surface area. Carpet keeps creeping into my head as a salvation to all the sanding and filler application. This is the general process.

First we lay fillets in places we haven't gotten finished yet:

Then we tape!:

Follow that with grinding off the selvage edge that keeps the tape together:

Now lets sand the buggery out of the whole stinkin boat. This step is required as I had done a pretty assy job of putting epoxy on the wood in a hurried attempt to play during the summer weather. It did the job, but it was an extra couple hours of sanding to fix all the drips and hooeys. Not terribly much fun, but at least its finished.

This morning's task was quickfair (though the terribly astute may have already surmised this outcome, my dear Watson).

So currently it is curing. Due to the temps today, I will probably have to let it sit overnight. I plan to also fill the weave on the floor and do an overcoat tomorrow, as it can sit curing over the weekend.

While you are here, lets talk tools. Steering wheel pullers cost money. Alot of money. Renting them works, but is a hassle.

I decided to make my own with what was laying around the shop. All it took was a section of 2x4, longer than the diameter of the wheel, two clamps, and a single large diameter carriage bolt type screw. Drill the appropriate hole for the root of the screw, get good purchase, and drive it in. Be careful not to pull the outer ring off the spokes of the wheel, but in certain circumstances, its plenty strong to get a wheel off of a tapered shaft.

That is all...... For now......

E

Why Im behind

2007-09-04T21:28:00.000-07:00

So one would think you could finish a boat in a reasonable amount of time once the structural components are finished. That person, during a hot Spokane summer, is wrong.

The boat has spent more time being used than being worked on. There are a few good things, such as ironing out some design and implementation issues, and a few bad, such as a little blister in one of my seats due to improper precoating of a horizontal surface. Such is life.

As far as progress, the only thing I have really done of any consequence is add a towing pylon for hauling skiers and wakeboarders. Mind you, she lacks wake of any consequence, but its fun to get out and get wet. Plus we are not annoying people and eroding the shore like most others...

Here, soak in the summertime loveliness! Photos courtesy of Ron Costa.

Out with the neighbors, Sean, Teri, and babies A and B:

This one might tip a few people over. Esp Jacques the designer:

Keeping in mind this boat is designed to go speeds around 12-18mph with 30 hp, this is abnormal. We see speeds, with 5 aboard and one wakeboarder, of 24 mph. 50hp yam 4 stroke is worth its weight in epoxy. That thing is quiet, reliable, and powerful enough to lug all of that around without a complaint.

The tower was put in by laminating 1/2" ply drilled and filled with studs to the keel in the motorwell area, then adding the legs through the decks with pins, while backing the pins up with a LARGE washer on top and a 1/2" ply backer on the bottom. Its stout to say the least, and shows no signs of flex in the boat.

I need to get it done, but we are waiting out the change in the weather.

Upholsterer has the seat pads, should be done this week.

E

New flibbidy flops

2007-08-08T21:20:00.000-07:00

As you, my loyal readers, have been watching this saga, this marathon, this epic, this odyssey of a build (is it an Iliad too?), what you didn't realize is that my flip-flops were wearing out. You see, I have a pair of flops that I wear out and about, the nice flops. I also have the pair with epoxy on them, the shop-flops. I have been waking up for the past couple weeks with sore feet. I decided to get rid of the shop flops. I buy the Teva "Mush" flops, because they are soft, squooshy, and they love my feet in ways inappropriate in Utah. Unfortunately, that also means they wear out faster than a streetbike tire.

I have moved on, we are on to shop-flop pair #2 for this build. I had hoped the build would only last through one pair of flops, but we are not doing that kind of build here. This is a trudge, this is something that requires resolve....

Basically today is just a progress report. We have a big party coming up (Saturday, for those of you in the greater Spokane area, email me or post a comment if you want to attend!), which I had hoped to have the boat finished for. Uhm, nope. So I finished out the decks, the seats, rounded off the sharp edges, and got her ready for another weekend of use while unfinished.

Our photos day include the seats (which photos have been requested by several):

Forward, showing the now-completed consoles, rounded edges, and still unfinished bow seating area:

And the posterior for posterity shot:

As they say in British Columbia:

Beauty, eh?

E

Water makes it best

2007-08-05T10:24:00.000-07:00

You know, work comes to a grinding halt when you vacation.

San Diego is nice. Its beautiful, its interesting, the ocean is warm and the surf is good. We saw some family which was a blast, we played in the surf, and we played some poker. All in all, a good trip to say the least.

This did, however, eat up a week. No sanding was done, no parts were added, nothing changed. As much as I tried, the boat didn't change state, though I had hoped.

So we are back to structural pieces. Lotsa carpentry.

In our last visit, we observed the two long boards creating the seat profile, next, we need structural support. This boat is set up light, so we need to frame it to be strong.

In this shot, you will see the aft seat framing, most notably where a wedge was required. I boofed the cut a bit, but a wedge of scrap epoxied in place did a fantastic job of repairing it:

On the port side, the same was done:

What you don't realize is that I had a pump failure on the last batch. The pump I used for the hardener decided to have a major mishap. The ball check valve in the bottom of the pump became lodged too high, and allowed fluid to drain both directions, halving the amount of hardener I added to the resin.

I literally pulled the frame out by hand, 3 days later.

Moral of the story, have extra pumps on hand.

After the major snafu with the fuel hose, this was boring in comparison. Easy fix, followed by some glassing.

Lastly, the decks needed finishing. The compartments have been painted previously, both aft hatch openings are in place, and all cable/hose routing had been finalized.

Dry fitting of the side hatches, with a 1/16" gap or less:

Once those are placed, the aft panel needed some "manipulation". Im not sure if it was due to the 4 stroke motor, the fact that it's 50hp, or if the lines for the motorwell need to be revisited for more contemporary motors, but the aft edge was not going to work. No room for the motor. I had to get creative.

I cut out a panel to cover the area (twice, mind you. I measured the panel and cut it out to a measurement across the transom. The boat is beamier forward. Im an ass.) and laid it up in a dry fit. Measurements were pulled off the motor in various states of trim to find an appropriate gap. Once the gap was finalized length wise, I cut an inspection hole shape right at the motor.

This allowed me to measure the radius of the arc of the engine. Laying that down on the panel, then stretching it so that it hits the edges of the stringers/motorwell sides, I cut the arc, and laid it back on top for another dry fit:

Alright, lets glue:

I then prepped and cut seat tops out of scrap 6mm ply. Light, but I think it'll be strong enough. No pictures please, no pictures.

I do have a little beef, there is a monster gap from the front of the motor to the E frame. This will have to be filled somehow, and might need to be addressed in the plans. Im thinking of a removeable, drop in cover that sits on battens. Not sure yet, still working it out.

We have a big party on the 11th, to which the boat needs to be really close to completion. Im thinking her official launch will be that day, we are still working out the particulars. It won't be done, but it'll be close.

Any questions? Comments? Let me know!

E

A place to sit.

2007-07-22T22:44:00.000-07:00

In light of the marathon read of the last post, I will keep this one a bit more to the point...

Im sure we all remember the tank fiasco. It was a depressing foray into the doldrums, a realization that major screwups happen. Here is proof that even a major bonehead move will not stop your project.

All that needed to happen was a quick run down to the House of Hose (yes, that really is the name of the joint), pick up ANOTHER $40 filler hose, bring it home, and get to work. One of the benefits of a boat that gets paint instead of varnish is the ability to fix problems without taddletale lines. A little filler goes a long way to protecting your boatbuilding ego.

I got out the saber saw, snapped the blade in half to prevent myself from cutting into the tank or any of the hoses below, drew some lines estimating where the hose fittings were, rounded off the corners with a pop can and a pencil, and went to town. A whopping 20 minutes later, the problem was solved, and we were back in business!

As I would be doing some epoxy and fiberglass work on the seats, I had some extra filler mixed up and just put the little bugger back together later on the next day. Eazy peazy.

While I had the fuel system on the mind, I remembered that due to the location of the fuel vent, and the lack of spray rails on this boat, I had a fair amount of water coming through the vent. To remedy this, I read a few pages, and figured out that I either needed a $30 p-trap type fuel system attachment, or I could just run a loop in the boat and protect it with gravity.

Done and done!

Hell, we are on a roll, lets do some other projects.

Another little project that needed doing was to precoat the compartments with paint before I close them up. The compartments are rather hard to paint through a hatch, so I decided to slob on a bit of paint while I had full days to work. The color is Grand Banks beige, which I find to have a bit of green in it. Love the color, used it in the rowboat with great results.

All the projects are moving fast, so I got into something a bit more involved. I planned on doing the seats per plan, but after using the boat a bit, I changed my mind and did the following mods: lengthened the port side bench to the console, thus it can be used as a lounge, ran the full back bench with a very small amount of added depth, and completely omitted the starboard bench. This gives the boat a more open feel, and gives a working railing for landing fish, hauling pots, getting into and out of the boat, and helps to trim the boat when Im alone.

First we rough everything in, getting a feel for what it will do:

Now that it is all set, we need to find a way to brace it in place so things don't move around while the epoxy cures. I like clamps with any scrap stock, moved around until the tape measure likes it:

Voila!

A little fiberglass tape and some epoxy precoating, and presto, we have seat boxes:

At this point, I had a shift of work to do, so I finished it out as best I could to use in the water. There are seat braces for each box, 2 per seat unit, to support weight and divide storage areas up. Mainly I wanted sturdy, sag free seats, but also wanted to use some of the 6mm plywood scrap as seats. Waste not....

It was toasty this weekend (94-96F), so she went back in the drink to test out the fuel system, the new trim angles afforded with the trim pin moved, a little ballasting change with 15 gals of fuel in it, and swimming. Everything worked flawlessly.

My lovely bride went with me (although I don't think she was terribly enthused, she was willing to humor me with a smile) to take a few pictures for my loyal readers. I decided to get some moving shots at different speeds to give you all (and Jacques) an idea of the boat and trim. Keep in mind Im not a small kid (6'3") so the boat looks a little smaller than it really is.

12 mph:

16:

22:

28:

As you can see, this boat trims out much differently than most, with that high bow carried proudly. This is all as a light boat, only 200 lb of passenger, so she carries too much of the boat out of the water. All speeds are gps. I typically can't keep occupants out of the front seats, so she keeps that sharp entry in the drink most of the time. Did I mention its only supposed to go 18 mph?

Short hiatus for some family doings in San Diego, but I will be back at it very soon.

E

Almost to tears

2007-07-16T10:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, every day for the past two weeks it has been over 90 degrees. This is uncommon for our area, which is normally a middle 80's average, with a couple days a year over 100. Its been HOT. I find that when you have a boat, and it't hot, you want to use the boat. This makes you want to have the boat finished to a usable point.

Completion can happen, but it comes with TERRIBLE CONSEQUENCES....

I planned on having it available to launch friday, so monday I started installing systems, and Shayne came to help precoat the boat with epoxy. Outstanding, I must say, on his part. The decks were finished out, and the filler was placed in the forward seating area:

Beauty-full, eh?

The system installation is pretty simple, just time consuming. The kit I used was the No-Feedback Teleflex single cable setup. I wanted smooth, easy steering, low maintenance, and no struggling against prop torque.

The kit includes a paper template. When combined with tape...

Pretty cake.

I poked the holes, then Shayne and I went to town precoating EVERYTHING, knowing that the boat is going to go for a swim soon.

Wednesday included the assembly of the steering system, which had its issues. The cable I ordered is 2 feet too long for my locations. I ordered a 15 foot cable, as it was measured out to about 14 feet from one end to the other. This is what they reccomended, as I rounded up to the next foot when I had extra inches. Yeah, much too long. I did get it wedged down into the aft compartment though, so it might stay that way until winter.

The console end of the install was painless, but the cable does have to take a bit of a torturous route in. It not only turns with a tight radius to get to the wheel (within spec, but tight), but it also hits the deck in that area. It will cause some issues with the coaming when I install it later, but that's for another day.

The console install:

I then worked thursday. This is where things went HORRIBLY WRONG.

We absolutely got our asses handed to us on shift. A good hot house fire mid-afternoon in the 100 degree heat, busy evening, and 5 calls after midnight gave us about 4 hours of total sleep. After work, I cruised over to the licensing office, received my HIN and license for the boat (0700 is my number, cool eh?) When I headed home, this boat needs to be swimming friday night (or sat morning), so lets get cracking, regardless of being tired.

I start on the fuel system, as it's easy to finish out. First, the filler hose was ready, and I placed the filler neck in the precut hole. As I eyeballed the hose in place, I picked out my spot to cut, looks good. I laid knife to hose, then clipped the coiled wire that gives it support. Stretched it back into place, and realized the error.

THE $55 HOSE WAS 3" TOO SHORT.

I used every word I could think of for carnal acts, bodily functions, blaspheming, and generally unpleasant language. I threw tools. In an attempt to make it work to have it in the water later that evening, I thought I could pull an inch off the nipple on the tank side, in its sealed compartment. As I gingerly twisted a short distance, I felt the nauseating pop of the hose slipping off the nipple, IN THE SEALED COMPARTMENT. I broke some unrelated items. I literally had to keep from crying. I have just given myself a full day of extra work. I now have to cut a hole in my seat tops forward. I have to buy a hatch that may not fit as flush as I would like. I hate myself.

I went outside for a moment, regrouped, and came back to the project.

The throttle assembly went in without a hitch. The cabling was easy enough, plenty of length, easy to install, messed around with cable length a bit, but it all worked out great. Except when the shop rerigged the motor, they left out the bushing that retains those cables.... ugh.... So I went to work making some bushings. They worked to a point.

After the steering and throttle were functional, I threw in my 3 gallon can from the tug. We were fuelled, controlled, and precoated. All is ready.

So then the wind blew. 30mph, gusts to 50mph. Severe thunderstorms. No Launch. I give up.

Saturday morning was warm, sunny, beautiful, light breezes, and the neighbors were headed out to get on the water. I think its time for sea trialing!

Broad daylight for the first time. This gives you a great perspective on the freeboard. Im 6'3" and standing on the sole:

I must say, I was rather atwitter.

Over to the launch (we have a personal one for the neighborhood) slowly, as the boat isn't necessarily well attached to the trailer, just a couple tiedowns over the transom. It just ever so gently backs in, so I popped in the boat, and Chris "beaverlover" Gielow finished the backing of the truck. Motor fires right up. Gently put it in reverse. It doesn't move. Back in further. More throttle, doesn't move. Ahhh, the tiedowns..... She pops up like a cork and drifts off the trailer without throttle.

This is a good day.

Working out the controls, making sure steering and all cables are kosher, trim, etc are all functional at the launch:

It's all a go-go.

I cruise over to the house, pick up Chris, Dom, and Sean, then off we go!

Here is a shot showing the freeboard on the interior, as well as the seating in the bow and its reference to the rest of the boat. Also, you will note, as promised, SWMBO in bikini:

So here are the particulars on the sea trial (these will be reposted at forums.bateau.com ):

5 people, 3 gals of fuel in the aft storage area
full throttle: 25.5 mph by GPS
cruising speed 70% throttle: 19 mph

Notes:

She runs away from her wake at 1/8 thtrottle, loses wake froth at 1/4 throttle, and has no hole, no strange planing movements, just slips from rest to any throttle setting comfortably. This thing is amazing. With a substantial load (2/3 of which were in the bow seating area) she left little wake, moved out with little effort, and plowed a substantial bow spray. It remains dry even with large chop and wakes, shipping only wind-driven spray. With the bow weighted, waves were so gentle as to not jar even a woman with back ailments.

The scuppers are not going to be a go as drawn, Jacques. With this load of people (about 900lb) the scuppers would be about 2" below the waterline at rest, and about 1" below green water when at full throttle. The decks would have been awash the whole time had the side scuppers been in place. I think the aft scupper is the way to go, through the transom, but let me know your thoughts.

The fuel vent is right below the gunnel, inside the port side cabinet. With this load, I probably shipped 1/2 gal of water. This is a blessing of the SNAFU on the fuel system, as I would not have seen this had I not screwed up the fuel filler hose. I think a ball check valve might work, in combination with high hose routing. Ill keep you posted.

2 people, plus food and drinks, 400lb payload:

full throttle: 27.5 mph
cruising speed, 70% throttle: 20.5 mph

When turning, up to 70% of full lock is okay at any throttle setting, but more than that will cause massive ventilation. The type of ventilation that stops the boat dead in its tracks until the throttle is backed off.

When light boat like this, she does pound at speed. Obviously we are only using the aft planing surfaces, so its essentially a 14' flat bottom. Sean was beside us in his boat, and noted that at least 2' of skeg is visible out of the water. We do not have fuel in the forward fuel tank at this time, but I am also considering putting in a water ballast tank forward (fat sack) for those rough nasty days, as this thing is a DREAM when the bow is in the water.

There are no rattles, no creaks, no funny noises at all. It sounds like a drum when it hits waves, with a nice quiet bump, no matter how big the slap.

It is a touch on the weight sensitive side abeam. A 200lb person can change the trim from one side to the other an inch or two when at cruising speed. Not a huge deal, esp once the seats are in place.

On the throttle, the boat moves in a relatively different way than I am used to. It's a deliberate rush, not a quick jerk, through the throttle. She's just too elegant to be in any hurry, but it gets to speed very quickly. There is no speed that I can find where she is uncomfortable or isn't efficient. When light, there is barely a hint of wake at almost any speed.

When off the throttle from cruising, expect a little longer drift than most boats. It seemed to be so efficient that it just kept on sliding through the water without any power.

The water moves away from the sides at the transom in a way I will try to photograph for you next weekend.

There you have it, she's been wet. It's not the launch, but the sea trials are complete, the list of fixes is long and arduous, but that's the nature of the beast. It will be back in next weekend when temps once again sneak over 100F. Until then, here's a nice parting shot of her wake with 5 aboard, at about 17mph:

Feel free to post any questions you may have.

E

A very busy boy.

2007-07-04T09:52:00.001-07:00

So since the first deadline passed, another came up. Useably floating by the time my parents get here on the 9th. Take them out for a cruise in the unfinished, but structurally complete boat. Lets see how the progress is!

We left off with the tank install, so naturally the next thing to do is get the consoles cut out and prepped for install. The gaps for the plumbing for the tank and the forthcoming controls needed to be ironed out asap.

Here are the consoles cut out and propped into place:

I made small locators out of doug fir that I had laying around, cut to the appropriate length, then screwed to the loose panel. Here is another handly little tidbit for the loyal readers. Sometimes you need the part to stay right where you tell it to, immediately. This is where you go in the house, dig into SWMBO's stuff, and steal her hot glue gun (or if your lucky, she has two, as in my case).

Very convenient and has plenty of holding power.

Here are the two consoles, with the fillets in place, and some woven tape laid down on the joints. My hands weren't sticky, so I took a photo:

Following those getting glassed, I finalled the tank install, with a tidy little wire job, then ran them through the bulkhead:

All is ready for the next big project, adding the bow seats. Previously we saw the cleats glued to the hull sides. This was a drop in install with butt blocks just like the sole:

A gracious Shayne stopped by one morning after work, for a trade. In exchange for taking his daughter Madison out on the lake, who was an astonishingly quick-to-learn rower, he helped me hang the motor which just returned from the local dealer. It took a rope and pulley system, along with some brute strength, to get it in the right spot.

After hanging the motor, it appears as though I may have to add some elevation to the top of the transom. I am having my cavitation plate appear to be 2" below the bottom of the boat. Thats a little too much drag. Still have to check the particulars on it, trim angles, etc, but thats how it looks now.

Next up, the decks needed to be added. The boat stiffened up some with the rubrails, considerably more with the gunnel cleat, and absolutely became bulletproof with the addition of the decks.

Bow deck being glued up:

First off, I need to once again apologize to anyone driving through the neighborhood, on the lake, or neighbors within earshot. I tried to figure out every word that either ended in K, made reference to a part of the body, or in some way called attention to a bodily function or blaspheming.

While gluing up the bow deck, the section at the very point came into question. The butt block was 1/4" too wide. AAHHH!~ Soaked in glue, I had to remove it, cut it, reattach it, then commit to swaring, throwing tools, and breaking things. Nothing went well, and the bow looks like it. Thank you filler, thank you. You will make it all go away.....

This little tyraid was chased the next day by putting the side decks on. I am running extremely low on filler, and low on epoxy as well. so its going slowly. I have small amounts of glue laying things up, plenty strong enough, but the fillets need filling.

The decks, from the position of the F frame:

So now its like 95 degrees in the garage, the wife comes home, the neighbors want to go out on the lake in their boat. I think I have about 15 minutes. There has to be some project I can squeeze in...

Footwell it is! With feet to test it. This seating area is surprisingly comfortable, and I think it'll get more use than most anywhere else.

Then, after the tour and taking the neighbor kids wakeboarding, then another set of neighbors wanted to go on a fireworks cruise at dark, I came back out to close up the garage. Which led me to taking off the clamps, then removing all the screws I had used as clamps. Then SWMBO came out, so I called it a night, shot a couple more photos, and passed out.

Bed by midnight. Oh, did I mention I work for the Fire Dept, and am working today (the 4th of July, and no I don't get overtime) on the hottest day of the year so far? Should be interesting...........

E

Every second counts

2007-06-27T21:49:00.000-07:00

I drove all over hell and back today. Parts are accumulating, money is dwindling.

Turns out the tank I purchased wasn't quite short enough. As designed the fuel tank filler doesn't have enough room vertically, so it was time for a modification. More on that later.

First thing, I pre-coated all the surfaces in the two aft storage wells in front of the transom, then glued in the soles in those compartments. I have decided to go the bilge pump route in the furthest aft center compartment below the outboard splash well. It made sense because the benches drawn for the boat preclude using scuppers. No way to drain the water to where it notes, so we will go bilge. The sole in both aft compartments as well as the main sole can all drain easily into that space, then the water can be pumped over the transom. Easy peezee.

The soles of the wells, with the SHS (some heavy stuff) clamp:

So today was fuel tank day. The tank had the aforementioned affliction of not enough headroom, so it was time to get that handled. I have a shop here in the Spokane area that does great aluminum work, and is a local family biz, so I try to support them as much as possible ( Bill's heliarc ). A few greenbacks and a couple hours later, we have a solution!:

Perfect, that was ironed out. Next the vent tube was another vertical fitting, but a 90 degree elbow fixed that right up.

So on with the tank install. This will be slightly tutorial-esque.

I purchased Moeller's tank strap kit, thinking it was straps. Nope, its metal tabs, which are smart, but a pain to build in place when you have a small space to work in. This will cause me to move the footwell bulkhead forward a couple inches, but that't the joy of stitch and glue boat building, you get flexibility.

Here is the strap in question, one of four:

We are going to need to make stud mounts, which isn't terribly difficult. Get the requisite hardware (in my case, 10/32 2" machine screws, stainless steel, with matching nylon locking nuts), some epoxy, and an hour or two.

Take your scrap ply (9mm) and use the bracket for a pattern. Clamp all four together, throw them in the vise, and drill all of them out at once. Saves time, increases accuracy.

Now due to the shape of the boat, the aft hardware pads were able to be glued directly to the boat, but the forward pads required some angled feet. Take a little scrap mahogany 1x1, cut it to the appropriate angle, drill a small hole, and nail them together with an annular ring nail.

Once we have our pads and our feet, throw the screws in the pads, then use some double sided tape to stick the strap on the pad, with the screws in place. Place the tank in the correct position, making sure its level and square. Butter up a nice thick batch on the bottom of the hardware pad, and gently use the taped-on strap to locate the pad. Press down firmly to get the glue seated, squeezing out the sides. Once there, gently slide the plate away from the strap to give yourself some room to tighten down against once you put the tank in for final placement.

Repeat for the bow, but up front we have to glue the hardware pad to the angled spacer, so we have a good hull interface. Same technique for location.

Here is the finished product, glue smashed everywhere and the whole deal:

Once it cures up, remove the tank and get the pads ready for precoating. These won't be seeing the light of day for a whole, hopefully a very LONG while:

Finally, I got started on rigging. The main filler tube can now go into what will be the port console, along with the vent tube and main fuel line. Keeping all these items on the port side allows all the steering, controls, and electrical components to run on the starboard, keeping the hot stuff away from the flammable stuff. Safety first!

Here is the hole, and location I chose:

Tomorrow, finish rigging the tank, get the bulkhead finished out, get the seat tops prepped, cut out some consoles, and go get the motor from the shop!

E

As fast as I can

2007-06-26T13:17:00.000-07:00

I keep working and working and working....

The job never seems finished, but I had a strange revelation while I was doing this work, more on that later.

I had to finish up some of the cleats that weren't done earlier, and get that sole finished out. I get out there as soon as I can on weekdays in the morning, and work until SWMBO gets home, the neighbor wants to go fish at sunset, or some combination thereof. It makes the work get done, but at this point in the game, and in the season, I really want it done.

Here's a shot of the forward seating area, with the tank in relatively the right location, where I am trying to figure out how I will run the hoses for the fill and fuel lines:

The tank, as drawn, only has 3" of space from the tank top to the bottom of the forward seats. The filler neck eats up an inch and a half of that, so I am trying to scramble and find a way to get a filler neck thats a 90 degree angle. Not the fastest filler, but the space is at a premium.

At this point, I filleted, taped, and glassed the sole with biax, all in one shot (7 hrs) yesterday. Its not particularly easy due to heat, fumes, and hunger since there's no time to stop, but it makes for a SOLID layup, all chemically bonded. Oh and I didn't take intermittent photos. I wanted to be done moreso than a documentarian.

The interior post-glassing, note the size of the overlap, I am using full width fabric, which allowed a little more overlap in the most heavily walked on areas:

A shot from the side showing the trim up the sides and the fillets:

I realized the other day that I had no photos of the boat in its entirety since the flip. Let us fix that.

Tomorrow: find a way to finish out the fuel tank, plumb it back to the motor, and do the overboard, finish the gunnel, start working on the decks.

Its gonna be floating just after the 4th.
E

Even on weekends

2007-06-24T18:59:00.000-07:00

Okay, I like my wife.

I don't work on the boat over the weekends typically. Its strictly an 8-5 M-F program when shes at work and Im at home. Unless The Thumb calls me to go fish, then it slows me down a bit.

This week and next, shes working on a big ad campaign which is causing her to work weekend days. Why not capitalize since we are so far behind the Dougster-named "Liveline". Might as well get some projects done, and a step closer to the finish line!

Big news this visit is the fuel tank arrived. I am having some issues figuring out plumbing routing as the space provided by the designer does not allow for the fuel tubing to come up as a normal boat would. This is going to take some fabricating or some modifying, not sure which yet. But the good news, its here.

For those on the various boat forums, this is the picture I promised of the clamps.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) clamps:

Well using that name is going to get me on some wierd terror watch list or something Im sure, with Dick Cheney listening in to my phone conversations and such.

I found that I prefer masking tape to the DHS clamps. For some reason it sticks more reliably. Who knew.

This is the framing for the forward seat tops. Lotsa pieces in there. I didn't want to drill through my faired hull, so I cut my cleats (1"x1" phillipine mahogany) into 8" lengths to glue more easily and make the curves without some insane clamping method.

Masking tape version:

The last of the gunnel pieces for the port side are on and curing as we speak. I took nary a photo. Scroll to another post, it looks like that.

Im off tomorrow. Plan is to iron out the fuel tank issue and get the fillets and glass in the sole area. We hope.

E

A detour

2007-06-22T09:40:00.000-07:00

Okay, so sometimes you need a couple hours off.

Got the sole placed, got the cleats for the compartment soles, and the neighbor says, "let's go fish!"

He has a problem.

We try some tested methods, with no real success. We decide to go troll a bit to catch some Northern Pikeminnow (the scourge of our lake, bigtime predators with no value). I don't have my go-to perch print, so I go to a lure that has never caught any fish. It's a white crankbait, of all things. I think its going to go poorly....

One big suckerfish, and a 5lb 8oz blackmouth King Salmon!

This lake is dam controlled, and does NOT have fish ladders. We are upriver of Grand Coulee dam, with another 2 dams between here and there. This is a resident fish of either our lake or Coeur d'Alene, but who would think to fish for salmon in a bass/crappie/perch lake?

Alright, Ill go work on the boat.

Back to pace

2007-06-20T22:38:00.000-07:00

I love having this thing right side up!

Things go so much faster when you can work on multiple projects as others dry, cure or require other tools. I have been working 8+ hrs a day, which is a luxury. Today I flaked out and only worked 7, but thats not such a bad deal.

Please enjoy this blurry picture while I think of something witty to say:

Firstly, the bow seating area needed the footwell sides glued up. Its a matter of finding the right project for the right tools at hand. I had the drill out, I had epoxy and woodflour from other stuff I had worked on, so off we went. They needed a bit of fitting as I didn't get the B frame quite as vertical as I should have.

For context, here is her ever-so-sexy caboose:

Per the manual, the sole needed to go in before anything else happens. The epoxy is curing very fast as of late (its been near 90 today), which makes projects go fast. Jacques wants a clamp glued around the entire perimeter for support of the sole, so that was a daunting task. It turns out that I had enough scrap mahogany from other boat projects that I could glue up everything I needed with Phillipine (bastard) mahogany. The sole is butt blocked together to make a solid piece, which I used more 9mm ply at 4" in width.

Here is a shot of the clamps glued in place and precoated with unthickened epoxy:

Panel numero uno in place (which takes a bit of acrobatics to get it down level without messing up the epoxy):

The final placement, complete with a little weight to get a good smoosh of epoxy:

I also managed to get the clamps cut and prepped for the aft wells, and the A frame is tacked in place (didn't put it in earlier, probably should have). Tomorrow the chompers get cleaned, and my uncle might be flying in with his RV-6 running a converted Mazda rotary engine ( http://www.weslick.com/RV6Index.htm ). That might eat up a little building time, but I have the parts laid out for a rapid recovery and progress!

Stay tuned, I might even have pictures of the salmon I caught tonight, 280 miles from the ocean, on a dam controlled lake with no fish ladders.....

E

To her feet!

2007-06-18T12:28:00.000-07:00

The primer took time to dry. A full day. Might as well find something to do while it dries, eh?

This is what they are talking about when you are drawing a fair curve. I use spring clamps, quck clamps, and nails to get the points, and bend an aluminum 1/8" x 1" batten around them.

I felt good about that, so I took a picture. It was progress, so I needed proof.

I decided life is to be spent enjoying it, not quabbling over a mirror finish. To hell with fairing, lets prime!

I laid on System 3 high build primer ( WR-155 ), one coat one evening, then two coats a day later. This had two different reasons. First, thats all the time I had. Second (and this might have been more about justifying it, but it sure sounds good on paper), I think the bottom layer cured up a little, which makes it harder to sand through. Who the hell knows.

You can see the wavy lines, but I dont care:

Here is a considerably more finished looking transom, almost like its supposed to look:

I then proceeded to longboard this for about 8 hrs. It ended up with a bit of orange peel/knockdown drywall texture. Nice to fair into, but just more work, I think. Alright, Im sick of longboarding, so out came the ROS, vac attached, and 120 grit disks.

Did I mention I left the camera inside?

Everything ended up smooth, but still with some waves, no hard edges to the fills, but you can see some altitude changes. Ya know what? WHO CARES!! This isn't a $100,000 mahogany runabout. Life isn't about finishes and perfect mirrored surfaces. This is a boat, first and foremost, that will be used daily. I mean that. My neighbor put 208 hours on his boat in a year. We will rival that, as the fishing season is 9 months long, not to mention I have friends in various places on the lake which requires transportation.

I don't want to sweat a little nick or rub here and there. I want to be able to dock anywhere. I want to be able to put it on the beach. I want to be out in the salt sometimes. I dont want a boat that isn't USABLE.

Oh, and I forgot the camera for another phase.

Well here is where the camera comes back in, photos by SWMBO:

What happened? Its like a peacock! She has sprouted colors everywhere!

The bottom paint is West Marine BottomPro in red, laid on by myself (1st coat) and Jerry from down the lake (2nd coat). Massive mixing issue with the first pint. Get it mixed at the shop. If it has any solid masses in it, switch to another can, use the better paint, and have that shaken or replaced. It went horribly due to the solids coming out of solution. Jerry laid on the 2nd coat, but the 2nd can was fully suspended and required minimal mixing.

Topside paint is Kirby's Grey-green. I highly reccomend Kirby's for one particular reason; this stuff is literally fun to paint with. It lays out smoothly, it cleans up easily, it hides brush strokes well, and with a little penetrol, becomes very smooth. It is a semi-gloss to hide imperfections and the inevitable damage later. A little goes a Loooooong way with this paint. I used less than a pint for one full coat.

Two coats of bottom paint, one coat of topside. Due to this being the first of its kind built, I am not putting the waterline in place until its actually in the water, loaded. Thus the lines are a little here and there. but you get the general idea.

Once again I recruited the crew, Pete, Brady, Shayne, Ron, Sean, Tom, and myself (with a little assist at the end from Shayne's girlfriend Stephanie, the greatest cake-maker in the world). These people have been a tremendous help by coming over at short notice, giving of their Father's day to help me flip this thing. On with the show!

There is a ton of interior bracing built of 2x4 inside the boat to allow rolling it on the gunnels like this:

Add some 10' doug fir studs for handles:

To the trailer! Note Brady isn't pulling his weight, so Pete is stuck with a big load:

Stephanie helping out, and getting it up on the trailer:

All in all a fun event. Big thanks to Jerry, whom I had planned on purchasing the trailer from, but was unable to get bunks built. He saw the issue and built those monsters from supplies he had at his house midday sunday. Huge help, and I hope he doesn't mind that I just drove down and stole the trailer from him.

Thanks again to everyone that helped.

Oh, there is so much work to be done now.....

E

Not sanding

2007-06-05T17:06:00.000-07:00

Okay, the title is a bit of a misnomer. It's not that I'm not sanding, I just didn't sand exclusively today. For the first time in about 3 weeks, I had tasks other than fairing. Let me tell you, what a nice change of pace.... Above you can see the current state of our subject in all her post-deadline glory.

On an aside, one of my frequent readers has renamed it a "liveline" instead of a deadline. I thought that was a very good way to put it!

Well I laid on another batch of quickfair from System 3, and needed it to harden up, so I started pecking away at other tasks. I also had a lift that wasn't going according to plan (non-square pads right at the transom) so I needed to remove some humps and bumps to get it right.

Under the boat with the drill we went:

I used a piece of scrap with a hole centered at 3" and bored for a pencil. Marked out all the interior lines per plans, then drilled holes adjacent to them on the inside. These holes were then connected with a straightedge and re-measured for squareness on the outside of the hull.

Transom curves marked out:

Same goes for the bottom (excellent no-look photography):

And now, ladies and gentlemen, the scariest cut I have made on the boat to date:

That one will give you an ulcer, Doug.

Onward with the tools, I used the circular saw to hack the straight lines, and used the jigsaw VERY SLOWLY to cut the curves. These are by far the smoothest curves I've ever cut:

Then finish out the cut to near the transom, which is to be finished with a handsaw:

This is a particularly good time to see just how good your craftsmanship is. All of your construction transgressions become very apparent when you cut directly through the joints you made many moons ago. Unfortunately my camera was of the opinion that the towels in the background made a better focusing topic, but you do still get a good view. Note the plywood joint, the fillet, the glass layers, the rounding of the ply to accept the glass on the outside, the filler making the edge for the transom, and filling the atrocious hack job of a stern section I made:

After these festivities (and lunch) I finished out that lift where the plywood had dipped. Its the lovely quickfair brown. Unfortunately our weather went from 90 and sunny to 58 and rain, so the quickfair didn't harden up in the 2 hrs advertised. I will let it set until I get back from work:

So the day was winding down, nothing was curing to sand, so I took up another of the need-to-do projects, the rubrails. Jacques reccomends using 6mm ply laminated in 3 layers, so I started the process. I have a bevy of clamps on loan from a friend, but as in all boatbuilding, I don't have anywhere near as many as I need to do both sides, so I just got one side glued up tonight:

There you have it folks, actual visible progress! You have no idea how nice it is to see something change unless you have been mired in fairing for too long. The rubrails will continue to be laid up one layer at a time for the next week or so, the last of the sanding comes thurs and fri, which leaves us primer mon-tues and paint thurs-fri. Lets hope for good weather!

E

Intersection of dissapointment and hope

2007-06-01T16:47:00.000-07:00

Sorry, the photos will have to wait as I am at work and it looks the same (only slightly less lumpy).

Here we are, June 1st, 2007. This is the smell of failure. I have spent COUNTLESS hours on the boat (probably in the 200ish range now), but have not succeeded in getting her wet by the titled date. The bowels of sadness smell worse than I thought.

Several factors contributed. I ski heavily in the winter, so there goes a majority of work days. That was figured in, however, in the final date. I had a 5 week wait for plywood. That wait was unplanned, and had a horrendous effect, as I couldn't finish the jig or do any other projects while I waited. Perfectionism, and the inability to see certain errors compounded one another. Mistakes were made, but others could not be blamed, as Im the only one working on this pig.

An inventory of the current situation:

I have the motor, but it needs to be converted from tiller to controls.

The exterior surface of the hull is complete structurally. I have one more day of sanding and filling to do. Then primer and paint.

The interior framing is in.

I do not have a trailer, but I have a line on one.

I am getting the fuel tank this week.

I am sick of sanding.

There is, however, a bright side.

I am only a sole, bow seat tops, 2 consoles, and a deck away from a functional boat. It will be stiff enough, once assembled, to use. The motor will be ready in a week or two. I will attempt to get the rudimentary electrical equipment in so that it is a running, working boat. Once I have achieved a whole structure, I will put it in on weekends to use, and have it out on weekdays to complete it.

July 4th.

This is the current "usable" target date. It may not have a windshield, or a coat of paint on the interior by then, but it will be wet, and it will be used. From then on, I will peck away at the finish work, getting it done when its done, not rushing to do tasks and doing a poor job.

The moral:

It will rarely be done when you plan on it. A boat you build is a living, breathing entity. It requires nurturing, its going to give you headaches, and it will be worth every second in the end. It will not be done when you teil it to be, but it will be done when its finished. Bearing that in mind, if you build your own boat, it will never be finished. There will always be that little improvement or missing feature you want to add. There isn't a thing wrong with that.

Keep posted, it will be finished.

E

I knew I forgot something

2007-05-23T22:11:00.001-07:00

I know, I know. Sometimes we get wrapped up in life and forget to do certain things. The fishing has slowed down, but there have been some extra shifts at work. Went to Moab for a long weekend (highly reccomended). Blah blah blah.

Fairing is the time when a majority of boat builders lose interest in their projects. There is the tedium of filling, coating, sanding, fairing, recoating, sanding (sanding) {sanding} [sanding] and then sanding. There is the specter of how long they have worked and how far away the end is. There is the layering of projects that need to be finished.

None of those have slowed me down. I just have been too lazy to post. I post in the evenings, and I would rather hang out with my wife than sit and stare at the computer.

Oh, and the photo at the top is a stirring stick that I forgot one day, and stuck to the boat. Oops.

ONWARD!

So with little fanfare, Pete, Brady, Sean, and the Toddler came by to give the el-rollo treatment to the considerably heavier hull. So little fanfare in fact, that my photographer (who stated she couldn't help lift due to her being the photographer) didn't snap any shots. Ah well.

So first she was back on her lid and on the jig (in combination with the uber sawhorses assembled underneath):

Then add some baby-poo:

Or was that phenolic balloons and silica...

Knock it down:

(scroll back to the top and note this is where I stuck the stirring stick, with a mighty bond, to the boat)

Then recoat, though I did a rather ass-like job:

Then sand again...

Then forget to take photos on that sanding.

Then slob on ANOTHER coat, this time with a little silica, microspheres, and a little talc to make it sand nicely.

Then forget to take photos of the coat.

Then SAND AGAIN.....:

Then bust out the quickfair for the low spots, mix up some microsphere and silica goodness for the fairing of the transom and the aft end of the bottom to remove the tape induced hook:

Here is a linear look down the hull to get an idea of the fairness (though it looks better in the photo than it is):

As it sits tonight:

Over the past week Ive burnt through roughly 75 50 grit sanding pads, 10 sheets of 60 grit stick on 1/4 sheet, 4 sheets of 9x12 50 grit, and a roll of carpet tape. Oh, and my rotator cuffs. Its been a good deal of work since I tried to longboard most of it. As it turns out, that takes a LONG time. Longer than I have. I got back aboard the random orbit sander wagon, although it has left me with a wavy surface. Thats not necessarily due to the sander, moreso due to my inept, random, unfair, and anti-smooth application of fairing compound. Do not, under any circumstances, have me do your drywall.

On that note, has anyone looked at the calendar lately? Its like a week and a half to June. I am a miserable failure. We now have two choices. One, accept the loss as one of laziness, lack of skill, and repeating projects due to idiot mistakes. This is the course of builder error. Two, we can blame outside factors. Started in Oct, and had exceptionally poor weather, not gonna get any epoxying done when it was 10 below zero at night. Or the plywood issue. My long term readers may remember my 5 week long wait for plywood that was stuck at the border.

I vote we blame everyone else! It can't possibly be my fault we are behind schedule. Or yours, if your project is behind. If we blame others, then we can continue working with no remorse.

Due to contributing factors, I am going to add the 5 weeks I missed to the finish date.

July 4th.

Wish me luck.

Anyone in the pacific NW that wants to help out, see the boat, or help flip it over, just send a comment and let me know!

Im gonna go rest now, Ive got sanding to do tomorrow.

E

Fumes

2007-05-04T08:26:00.000-07:00

Normally when these blogs get bogged and beleaguered, lost and left alone, its because the project has decelerated, been neglected, or stopped. Not This!

Since the surgery, I was feeling pretty puny, but better each day. I also have to shave at work, so I haven't been while Im off. Thoughts?

Instead of slacking off like most bloggers due to apathy, I have just been so stinkin' busy on the boat that I haven't had time to blog. Part of this is because I work on the boat until 5 or so, then blog until the beautiful bride shows up from work. Lately other things have been taking this time up:

The bite is ON! Sean has been hosting all this spring, we developed a system, and reliably catch 2-6 of these pigs a night!

Sean with his:

Another monster:

Isn't this a boat blog?

Shes gone from a hollow shell of a boat, albeit right side up, to a stiff, strong structure thats ready for bottom fairing and paint. Let's dive in!

This is my filleting tool kit:

One homemade filleting tool, one stirring stick of scrap ply, and one mail-provided plastic card. The stirring stick is convenient to have in a wide width and about 4" longer than the cup you will be stirring in. The card is great for cleanup and for smoothing areas that the filleting tool can't get appropriately. When you travel, keep your door cards. They have personal data you don't want to share, and they make a GREAT tool.

I've been asked about the filleting tool before, so here it is. It was a piece of hollow dowel that held a railing off the wall in my house. I cut a 1/4" slice off it, and epoxied it to a scrap of mahogany taper that was going to be burned anyways. This tool makes smooth, clean fillets in just about any corner, it's just a hair bigger than what the designer reccomends, but just makes beautiful fillets. I reccomend making one.

All the guts mocked up, tape cut, and prepped for fillet/tape:

Bow sections filleted and taped up:

Laying fillets in the passenger area:

Filleting the engine compartment and slopwell:

Taping begins in earnest... The main passenger area:

Taped up motorwell and splashwell:

I was fumed up and feeling artistic. This is one of the flotation/storage wells on the side:

Feeling triumphant at the end of a 9 hr glassing frenzy:

Anyone wanna help me flip this thing over tonight or sunday?

E

Cramped

2007-04-26T18:59:00.000-07:00

This was one of the tougher pieces of glass ive ever had to lay. Due to the fact that I was going to lay both sheets in one day, and I wasnt going to climb around all over one wet one and one dry one, I laid both simultaneously. Not easy, but effective.

Doug -- Use the sheet remnant from the BOTTOM panel as a template for the INSIDE sheets. Makes cutting this to fit a snap!

The bow sucked, not very easy to get everything perfectly tight and dry. Im glad I switched over to the medium speed hardener. It did however get put down and relatively close to a 50/50 resin-glass ratio in most places. The corners, eh, not so much. Little wetter.

Finished product:

The bow overlaps:

From the front showing some of the sexy curves on this boat:

Closer to see the weave:

Today, we start fitting in the guts!

E

Fortuitous timing

2007-04-25T18:24:00.000-07:00

Another day, a new lease on breathing, and progress!

Felt good this morning, the air goes in and out, the blood goes round and round, with very few exceptions. Im finally feeling up to medium sized tasks, and the doc says just to not get nuts, so Im back at it.

Filleting was the plan of the day. Fillet the inside of the hull today, tape tomorrow, glass friday. Should be a good schedule, not too much to ask.

Filleting went well. There really are relatively few places that need a big (13mm or 1/2" radius) fillet laid in, so this was cake. Nice mixing Marinepoxy from www.boatbuildercentral.com really did the trick.

I didn't think about taking pics until after the filleting was done. Ironically, it was done at about 11:30 this morning! I hadn't anticipated it going so smoothly or quickly, so I was enthused. A whole afternoon left....

Out came the prevously cut tape. Started rolling everything out, checking fit here and there. Hell, why not, I bet I can get this taped today too! I threw one layer out, then remembered that I do have a camera, and a blog that occasionally gets read by moderately interested people.

The transom fillets:

The bow fillet (note how it tapers to nothing as the bow gains its fullness):

Then began taping in earnest. The fillets were still quite tacky, but not wet anymore. This (if you are doing a similar project) is a convenient fact to keep in mind. I could immediately lay my tape out, even in the 2 and 3 layer fashion required, and stick it in place loosely until I got the saturating epoxy on it. EXTREMELY helpful part of working "wet on wet" as they say. Saved me at least an hour or two of prep work, and a couple hours of sanding time.

Picked up the camera during a glove change:

When I finished all my tidying up and cleaning off of the supplies, I then degloved to shoot pictures of my handiwork. This is partly for your informative pleasure and mostly for my inflating ego.

The weave a little closer:

Shot down the bow to show the fillet covered with glass:

For the fortuitous part:

I had set out on my plan for fiberglassing happening friday. I then posted a few questions over at http://forums.bateau2.com/ concerning the interior fiberglassing. On certain designs you can use the remnants to sheath the inside in strips. Unfortunately for me, I would have to make too many little strips and odds and ends, so I chose to order up another roll of 20 yds. This is a whopping $175 or so, and in the grand scheme of the boat a mere drop in the bucket. Plus I will use the extra to build other projects in the future (that boylesboats jonboat Ive been lazing around thinking about). I asked the guys over at e-boat (from whence the plans and all supplies came) if they could get the rolls to me by friday, to which they said no prob. My order was taken, processed, and dropped at DHL in the course of 3 hrs. I got my first shipping notice from DHL an hour later, saying my goodies should be here thurs. PERFECT! Huge help, amazing service and a good crew.

Flash to today. Lo and behold DHL pops in a full day early with my glass! I will be cutting, prepping, and laying glass tomorrow......

Jacques, Joel, Dave, Thanks!

E

Follow up post (2nd today)

2007-04-23T15:12:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to tidy up the loose ends.

Went out and finished up the prep work on the inside of the hull. Its looking quite ready for glass on the interior! All the tabs have been sanded down, the butt blocks roughed up for adhesion, and the edges raduised a scoche for my own personal sanity.

Overall:

One up the bow, one down. The one down shows where the bow fillet needs to be finished out (packed with more epoxy) from when it was filled exteriorly:

More Gratuitous Frontal Nudity:

Its like 70 out, Im gona go fish.

E

Feeling a little better

2007-04-23T08:42:00.000-07:00

Well now that Im not quite feeling as poorly, its back to the blog.

Recovering well, have had some throat issues with all the blood and "healing secretions", fatigue, etc, but its on the wane. Time to post a few things from before I was laid up.

First off, Shayne finally got bit by the bug. Coming to help flip the boat (and some anti-social issues at home) catalyzed him into building a boat. He decided on a simple jonboat built out of construction grade wood as cheaply built as possible. I think we are in it a grand total of $125. 15.5' long, 52" wide, should be perfect for a 9.9hp motor. Boyle's Boats out of Louisiana provided the plans.

Of note is the notched trowel method of spreading glue for a lamination. Shaynes first boat is going to be a butt block built boat with 1/4 lauan sides and a 3/8 fir keel. This pair of photos shows why you should use a notched trowel to spread your glue:

And a closeup of the glue:

Afterwards, we laid them out on the joint, used a rubber laminate countertop roller to get the glue pressed in and the air pressed out, then nailed up the 3/8 stuff with ringnails for stiffness. Should be a fun little boat for he and his daughter(s).

On Nina, I piddled around with a mockup using the jig structure. All the internal framing went in and was test-fit. While it was in, I leveled the boat off, made sure all the keel sections were flat, parallel, and where they needed to be. I then braced the transom, amidships, and the bow. This bracing will protect the sheeting and stabilize the boat while I add support structure and fiberglass.

A quick glimpse of the interior structure in place, and the transom braces on the jig:

The bow bracing is 2x4 screwed and braced, followed by 1/4" plywood pads to stabilize the vertical structures. The pads are hot-glued in place to the bracing so that they have a little flexibility.

Gratuitous frontal nudity:

And a shot to close, just showing the sheer of the boat, and her overall size and shape (starting to get a little excited at this point):

Gonna finish the interior prep work for laying glass today.

E

El Rollo

2007-04-14T19:07:00.000-07:00

It just kinda happened.

I decided it was a good time to roll, so I hinted at a couple people around here that I might need a hand. I figured one or two extra hands, some bracing here and there, blankets, etc.

I called Sean, he came with his son Bret and a friend. Shayne from work stopped by to drop off a router from craigslist. Then on the way, Sean's father in law happened to show up. Then Bryce and his brother Ray across the street decided to join in. Just about the time we get that work party ready, Pete and Brady from next door pull up. Poof! We had ourselves a boat flipping crew!

Alycia, my wife, brought out the BIG camera, so the photos are a bit larger. You can also see her photography work and web design at http://alyciastaggs.com

The instructions:

Man this thing is light:

Many hands make light work:

It then sat in the yard for about 15 minutes while I attached the new bunks on the jig to support it. 2x4x14' with bracing, seems to do the job, and I will be adding some more bracing here and there. It also apparently collected 3 gallons of water.

Time to put her to bed:

Big thanks to Shayne, Sean, the boys, Pete, Brady, Teri's dad, Bryce, Ray, and my wife Alycia. I really appreciate everyone's help.

Next up, fillets and tape, after I build up the jig a bit. I also have some surgery coming up, so if I dont get a post up for a few days, please cut a fellah some slack, eh?

E

Now its stuck on

2007-04-13T10:44:00.000-07:00

Little bit of progress every single day.

The skeg is complete, glued up, and ready for service. I wanted a nice strong skeg, as the area we live in has some shallow mucky areas that might try to get their grubby little hands on our skeg.

Our friend the skeg needed to be not only glued up parallel to the centerline of the boat, but also vertical, as well as straight. The board I purchased had a bit of a hooey in it, which complicated the task slightly. It did work out fine though.

Here you can see the clamping to the 2x4 to hold the skeg straight. To get it vertical, the long level was run up to the rafter, trued up with the board, and clamped to a truss. There are perks to not having your garage completely finished!

After the initial cure, here is how it looks (frail, in my opinion):

Next, its time for filleting. My original mixture sagged out, which was a bummer. Instead of wasting the epoxy, I ended up scraping it off quickly, throwing in some more silica, and making it VERY stiff. It went back on, and turned out to be a pretty decent fillet. Not my best work, but not bad. I figured out a better idea of what it should look like when its right for a no-sag stick.

If you have ever made bread (or if your lucky like me, the wifey makes foccacia), you know exactly how it should look while stirring. It gets that floury texture while stirring in the last of the powder, then saturates into a nice dry putty that won't sag for anything.

Mediocre first fillet, after remixing:

Eh, not that stellar, but strong.

Other side, some of my best work:

Im proud of that one.

Here is a view from aft of the fillets with glass laid up, almost like a cutaway:

Cool huh.

A nice perspective, taped up:

Finally, the bow end, which is going to have the glass trimmed up this morning. I wanted it semi-blunted so that if something strikes it, its unlikely to splinter or break the end. I think the extra silica should really make it strong if we bonk some debris:

Off to trim, and decide on this fill the weave or flip it over thing.

E

Skeggs

2007-04-09T20:43:00.000-07:00

Some people mispronounce my last name. Some misspell it.

Today, I built a misspelling of my name.

First, we measure it:

Then a few cuts and some radiusing of the edges, and voila!

This perspective gives a better idea of the size of this hunka goodness:

The day today was spent running to town to get some mahogany (cheaper than vg fir), then to pick up some oar buttons for the little boat, then into the tug in a very blustery day (winds of 20-30 mph gusting to 40). Down to Ron's to pick up some fumed silica and some cabosil to do our fairing compound. Im not sure whether to lay a coat tomorrow, then clean it, or to just finish mounting the skeg and leave it so that its wet on wet for all the fairing layers for thurs and fri. The latter seems like a better idea, but I just dont have the time to waste, esp 3 full hours.

Makes you want to build a boat, doesn't it.

E

Committed.

2007-04-07T10:37:00.000-07:00

So there I was, laying fiberglass. Beautiful sunny day, temps in the 60's outside and the 70's in the garage for the first time this year. Glass is going down nicely, epoxy is flowing and curing just like one would hope. Im working on the wall side of the boat, having finished the car side about an hour ago. Then it happened.

I hear a strange popping sound, like a section of wood relaxing. Pop, crack, pop pop, creak, crack, pop. Instantly, I think "hmm, that can't be good". Well, whatcha gonna do, I have wet glass, a wet edge, and a full pot of epoxy to spread. I figure anything that happened couldn't be so bad.

Before, while I was starting the wall side:

After, when I shot some more pictures and figured out the cause of the popping:

Id love to go off on a swaring fit, throw tools, break things, such and so-forth, but this is one of those problems that just gives you an ulcer. It seems that the joint I glued at 24 degree temps and a heater (with pretty poor alignment) wasn't prepared for the stresses once it warmed to over 70 degrees. Since this occurred under green, still soft glass, it didn't spread or get too out of fair.

Light tells the story, nice weave though:

So naturally, its time to fix it as best we can. The joint was held by the same type of glass on the inside, so who's to say it won't stay together if we get it held in the right position? Time for some creative ingenuity!

Twofold, the bracing, and a shot of the final fiberglassing:

This will be, from now until eternity, known as the "water-passat" clamp.

I sure hope this works.

Here are some gratuitous photos of the boat and the glass work:

I will report back later with the results. Any comments or ideas on keeping this hull fair, please send them, I will post them on this thread.

To answer a commenter's question, I need to have the boat done by the 1st of June because I like my wife and she wants to go out on the lake. She will be in a bikini, fair trade.

That is all.

Something is sticky

2007-04-05T22:22:00.000-07:00

What a difference a day makes! I cant tell you how convenient it is to have a 24 hr shift schedule. You can get so much done.

I managed to get the bottom sheeted alone. Other than one pot of epoxy that I managed to fill with 7 pumps of epoxy and 3 of hardener... Lost count, short swaring fit, decided not to risk it. 12oz of epoxy wasted is much less effort than scraping a section of fiberglass off the hull, BELIEVE ME.

MANDATORY ATTIRE:

Small garage + noxious fumes = short term buzz, long term stupidity.

Its an organic respirator suited for paint/glue fumes. Still had a pretty wicked throbber going on afterwards, but Im sure its better than if I didnt have it on. Gloves also, unless you want to develop that sensitivity hives thing. I suppose if your into the leprosy look, whatever your into.

I borrowed Ron's epoxy roller as the only one I could get around here was the Worst Marine plastic jobby for $18 plus Wa tax. Not worth it. I decided that for one person working, there needed to be a hybridized version of the wet method. I spread out one sheet of fabric, wet from above to saturation, then got out the roller and squeege. I wet out areas of about 4-6 sq ft at a time, using about 8 resin/4 hardener pump batches. Seemed to work out well with a wet edge transition. I just couldnt wet out a big enough area to work on the wet method being alone all day, so this seemed like a good idea at the time. The fabric laid wonderfully, and this technique allowed me to stretch the fabric out where I needed and use a reasonably small amount of epoxy. After its said and done, 2 gals of epoxy and 1 gal of hardener did both bottom panels and all the tape. I think with the current epoxy usage rate, Im going to get relatively close to Jacques weight. One can only hope.

8 hrs later:

Okay, now your a tiger!:

Results with my method:

And a close up of the weave:

Well lets burn up some bandwidth while we are at it. Both sides of the bow:

The light color of the fabric in the bow isnt dry area, it is the overlapping of up to 3 layers of fabric in certain areas. I did manage to get some milkiness in the bow area epoxy trying to get the last layer to lay down correctly, but its tight, there are no air bubbles, and its *relatively* smooth.

Tomorrow, round 2, the sides.....

E

Tape it all together and you turn yourself around...

2007-04-02T18:12:00.000-07:00

It has happened.

Ski season ended sunday at Red Mtn where I ski, so its time to go full time (30-40 hrs a week) on the boat. First day was a dooz.

Last week I piddled around a bit with the bow fillet. I was a tad uncomfy with the proposition as I had never made and external bow fillet. As it would turn out, it was a misconception that it would be difficult. With a little duct tape holding the drip-through, I filled the space betwixt the sides, and made what I feel to be a nice looking fillet.

You be the judge:

In profile, you can also see where I had to fill gaps on the side panels:

Finally, in context with the boat, and with your humble narrator's shadow:

All it really took was multiple layers laid as each one turned green, then when all was green, and hard, but not cured, I went out with the trusty sure-form and shaved it down to a respectable shape. Trick is definitely to add more material than you need, and shave it back down to what you want. Worked like a charm.

Now, on to the glassing!

Big breakfast, long deep breath, and out came the jugs of epoxy. I started with the centerline strips, which are 2 layers of tape staggered over the joint. Everything was precut earlier last week in order to save time at this phase. The pieces shortened up a bit when rolled, but the joy of this 45/45 biax is it just stretches and stretches. The initial wet-out was interesting as I had never worked with a fabric having such a voracious appetite for epoxy. Took about an hour to figure out what was dry, what was wet, and how much to put where. Once the curve leveled off, I was off to the races.

Laying up th centerline strips, I ran them about 18', then quit. I then laid the sides completely down in order to seal the edges of the chine strips under the doubled bow strip. Tidy glass equals less fairing work for lazy boat builders. I had made it through that 18' when Ron, my neighbor down the lake a ways, shows up wanting to know what I was working on. No sooner are we BSing about layups and his ideas for boats when I throw a set of gloves at him and put him to work!

Ron brought his glass roller with him. What a great tool! Above you can see how he is pressing the fabric into the epoxy we rolled on, and just dabbing a little in the wet spots really sucked it down tight to the wood. We switched to the wet method as it only really works well with two people. Between rolling out epoxy first, then a little wet out on top, then rolling it with that little bugger, we really cut down the amount of epoxy in the layup. No starved areas, everything wet out well.

Thanks Ron, I appreciated it!

An extra set of hands really sped up the process.

Here she is, taped up for the dance:

Pretty eh?

This is why I laid out the tape how and when I did, very tidy:

Two pics depicting my dry method layup (top) with Rons wet and rolled method (bottom):

You can see how much less epoxy is required.

Here is another example, the aft (right) section was done with a brush and squeegee, the bow (left) section with the roller on wet:

Much less epoxy.

All in all, we only used 3/4 of a gallon of epoxy for the entire exterior taping program. I am shooting for using even less on the interior as I will try to get some peel-ply and that roller for round 2. Less epoxy makes for a lighter boat!

Expect more rapid progress now that Im not pissing my days away in BC staring at a hillside. Wednesday should be grinding prep for sheet glass, and hopefully all the sheeting will be on by friday afternoon. Well, we hope, as it will be in the 70s and I might want to go fish.

E

Addendum: The movie!

2007-03-29T09:12:00.000-07:00

Here is the film shot by one of the helpers. Ive started calling it "the great skycopter rescue" ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077634/ ):

Thanks again to all the helpers, and enjoy the show!

E

A shovel, scissors, sander, and a helicopter.

2007-03-25T09:47:00.000-07:00

You know how the strangest things can happen when you are in the middle of a project? We finally get this GREAT week of weather (mid 50s, no rain) that Im stoked to be doing some fiberglass work in. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be.

First, the reason it wasn't going to go down.

A wakeboard boat, out on a nice midday jaunt, didn't realize just how shallow it can be in our lake when the shallows aren't covered in their normal lilly pads. He managed to park the boat in about a foot of water. Not good when you are in a V-drive MasterCraft that draws 2'. Oops. I happened to be at the station that day, so I couldn't go out and help.

Fast forward to the next morning when I get home. I cruise out the wee tug and leave a note stating to call me when they get there. I have a tugboat, and have seen this before. When they arrive, one of the guys yells to the boat owner "hey, call this guy, he has a tugboat!". He calls me, so I head out in the wee tug. As I learn later, they see the tug from a distance, noting its not terribly large. As I get closer, they realize that this is no ordinary tugboat! Loathing turns to laughter as they get a true perspective of the proportions.

As the days progress, the boat goes from a foot of water, to 3", to dry.

Finally, the owner decides to just plunk down the cash, and get his baby out of the water. Where he decided this plan, Im not sure, but it was interesting to say the least.

The rescue crew:

The big helper:

Teaching a Mastercraft how to fly:

The precision drop at the dock, quite impressive:

And a short pull back to the boat launch:

That can put a dent in your boatbuilding....

So the boat progressed slowly. It took 3 overall tries to get the right amount of tabs put in the inside to hold her fair, just how I want it. It was worth the effort as she turned out very fair. I then took the ROS and sanded the chines and seams to a nice fairness.

Afterwards, the prep work began. There is no better way than to get EVERYTHING cut and prepped before you even consider laying epoxy down. I have cut all the tape, all the fiberglass sheets, and all the little odds and ends that will need to be laid on the bottom. Every lap has been cornered and trimmed so it lays flat. This saves time and effort both in laying and in sanding later.

Firstly, get the fabric nice and flat (a bubble or two when dry is no biggie):

Don't forget your overlaps!

Then using a batten and a metal ruler, I laid out the 12" or 152mm overlap on the chine, its the small black line:

Then simply trim it up:

Rinse, repeat until you have a pile of individua LABELED rolls, ready for epoxy:

This week we are expecting highs in the 40's and lows in the 20's, so there is a possibility that the epoxy work might get slowed or even aborted depending on the overnight conditions and how early I get the goo put down.

What fun! I get to start sanding soon! yay.......

E

Fairest fair.

2007-03-11T13:38:00.000-07:00

I guess right off the bat I should explain why its been a while since I have posted. The lake was empty and the dock had sustained some considerable damage from an ice sheet jacking and tipping the legs over a year ago. No drawdown to fix it last year, so it had to be done this year. A level dock makes for a happy wife. Like she always tells me, " Happy wife, happy life! ". Tugboat not included.

The last of the general carpentry on the hull is finished. I took out roughly half the stitches holding the boat together now that I have the shape I want. The full number of stitches helped to get the panels in the right place, then once satisfied I removed a bunch, taking the ones that are less important or were somewhat loose anyways. Much was done to make the panels suitably fair, including trimming panels, tight stitches, loose stitches, weights, 2x4s, lifting from below, and just sitting in the moaning chair staring the boat down daring it to relax. This, and the removal of the bow mold got the lines fair and happy. The bow mold was either misshapen, or just wasn't ideally designed as it was holding most of the front of the boat's weight on the bow mold, pulling the A frame out of its location and making the bottom unfair. Removing it remedied many little nuances of problems, and Im quite happy to show you the results.

From the bow, complete with excessive lighting!

A little closer, from the bow:

From the transom, along an 8' long aluminum straightedge showing the trueness (probably going to need some quickfair when its fairing time), just as the camera died:

I have ordered my glass and epoxy, so with the temps bubbling along in the 50s, its time to get serious about this build!

E

Bilateral sides.

2007-02-27T15:01:00.000-08:00

Thrilling, no.

A sense of accomplishment, hell why not.

If I drank, I'd have a beer right about now.

I managed to get the breakable board (tested twice!) placed and stitched. Although I must say it made some HORRENDOUS noises. I later found that it was just a noisy interface between expensive good plywood and the garbage that I cut the B form out of. Squeaking, creaking, crunching, you name it. Sounded like that last stay you had in the old crappy hotel that was 8 miles outside of town, and the two twentysomethings were having some sort of noise pollution contest to see who could be louder in bed. Lucky for you, the headboard of yours happened to be exactly 4" apart.

While the sides are in place, and everything is stitched roughly in place, theres a bit of a hook near the transom:

This little action gap can cause some handling problems later, so I will be going to the designer about how to remedy it.

Here she is, fully skinned:

And an interesting shot to show you just what okume plywood can do. This required slow bending, but no water, no steam, no heat (in fact it was colder than a well digger's arse when I put them there), no special treatment at all.

And one of the posterior for posterity:

I will be contacting the designer for the next course of action, should be interesting to see what he has to say. What follows is just a little adjusting of the wood, then FIBERGLASSING! Here's hoping the weather is cooperative.

E

Crack! And other aggravating noises.

2007-02-25T17:33:00.000-08:00

You will have to absolve me of any wrongdoing this past week. I felt a tad ill, which progressed to overall feelings of assiness. A diagnosis of pneumonia helped explain, but didn't alleviate. I will dry my own tears...

I made the mistake of working alone, sick, and out of boredom. I had been sitting on my round bits for a week trying to get better, so I popped out to the ol boat shop to see what I could accomplish. Got side #1 placed alonside the boat without mishap, and felt good about myself. Its actually quite impressive how the butt blocks I did (one sided only so I can be lazy about fairing the sides) held. Using the 18oz woven tape, they really are strong as all hell. That is, until, you botch a lamination and leave a big hooey in it. Hooey is a clinical term defining a joint or line which should be straight but somehow contains both sine and cosine waves. I picked up side #2, got it about 75% in the gap I wanted it to sit until I could stitch it when BANG! Massive joint failure, and I think I somewhat understand that nauseating feeling of a hang gliger pilot watching the wing fold up around him as he plummets to earth.

Enter the Wheel Of Swearing!
Take &)*!@ and add &%)( to it, creates a whole new meaning! %&)* added to any noun becomes an action phrase! Like those old Batman shows, only with more COLOR!

Well, the only thing you can do is fix it, so I cleaned the joint out (as the glass was still in tact and looked good), refilled with epoxy, cured, and we were off. So the next day I pick it up, feels nice and solid. I place a sawhorse against the jig to keep the panel from tipping out, two blocks of concrete to hold it in the stern and start moving again. I get it 99% into place when it decided to l e a n out a little from the jig. This was your typical Jerry Bruckheimer countdown to oblivion moment. I couldn't get there fast enough. The cussing was beginning to ooze from me, dribbling out as I felt it in the core of me. BANG! Same joint, same place.

AAAAAHHHHHHHH! As a passerby, this might have seemed an odd time in our neighborhood. Birds scattered. Deer ran in all directions, and as fast as possible. The coyotes, pinned their ears back and huddled under a tree. Neighborhood animals cowered in corners and peed slightly on the nice rug in the house. The words that came out of my shop were foreign, sounding as if a college sports athlete was speaking in tongues, but with Tourettes....

This time (as you can see above) I sanded the glass back off. I started over. I type this with an itchy fibgerglass mottling on my hands. I apologize to my neighbors and those within a 17 mile radius for what was said and any problems I caused with migratory animal patterns.

On a lighter note, I really live having a vacuum on my sander, WHAT A DIFFERENCE! I highly reccomend it...

Some nice shots, and ones Im going to post over at the bateau forum for opinion from the designer. Here are the bottom panels hard-stitched together to see how well they will take the curves:

Very pleased with the results, I decided to cut all the stitches out! As Jacques would reccomend, final fit-up should be done with loose stitches all around and slowly brought to closure in a fair and smooth fashion.

Here's one from the back, showing the looseitude of the boat, waiting for side #2 to go on:

From the front, bad lighting:

And another, with better composition by the photographer (flash was on):

Its progressing, but its snowing heavily in the hills, so I will be skiing this week a bit. Hope to hang the other side by thurs night, and will hit up another post then.

Hopefully, without a BANG!

E

Interesting observation

2007-02-10T13:17:00.000-08:00

Over the past few (cold as hell) weeks, a few readers have let me know that I don't have photos of my other big project. This, coupled with being gone the past 8 days on a little warm-weather interlude in Acapulco, made it necessary to keep you, the fine reader, entertained with further photographic evidence of boat loveliness (boat porn).

On a side note, I have been read 3 Augusten Burroughs books in the past week, be forewarned of any ramblings, stream of consciousness randomness, and odd analogies to come. I was inspired...

The last big project was a 17' Thames Rowing Skiff designed by the cats over at Selway-Fisher in the UK. Paul was easy to work with and helped me decide on the best boat for a double sculling setup. SWMBO has had a lifelong passion for rowing that never materialized until we took a rowing class here in Spokane.

I won't bore you with too much information, but here is the short list:
4mm okume ply hull
Solid honduran mahogany gunnels (found 20' lengths locally!)
Phillipine mahogany sliding seat assemblies
Purpleheart wineglass transom (SWMBO-mandated feature) and footstretcher sides
Teak footstretchers
Outriggers were a collaborative design with a local aluminum shop here in town

To the photos!

Dockside with the tug. Scumline was an algae bloom that day, and the lilly pads are going to be "medicated" this summer:

A nice inboard shot:

In action (photo credit: Chris Gielow independent genius and nice fellah with a touch of paranoia, mixed with a hint of OCD). That suit your needs Chris?:

This is what its all about:

If there are any questions about this boat, or you want to see more photos, I have MANY, including an extensive build set.

Temps are due to be in the 40s all this week, so expect some progress on the NINA build!

E

Confessions of a boat blogger

2007-01-26T17:54:00.000-08:00

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.

2007-01-26T17:36:00.000-08:00

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!

2007-01-07T15:35:00.000-08:00

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.

2007-01-04T12:23:00.000-08:00

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

Three Dimensions....

2006-12-23T09:09:00.000-08:00

My holy hell, that took forever.

5 weeks people, 5 weeks. First the shipment missed the truck, then got on the next truck but was hung up because that truck wasn't full for 2 weeks. Then to add insult to injury, a load of flooring couldn't pass customs. Another week on the loading dock. Finally, it trickled into the store, and I happened to get there BEFORE they unloaded it. I helped the stockers unload 15 other sheets of ply before we could get down to mine in the stack. Ugh.

In the meanwhile, I had to keep myself occupied:

In an earlier post I referred to (and showed a pic of) a Dave Beede designed Summerbreeze. A little scrap ply, some random extra redwood and doug fir laying around (note: redwood sucks for gunnels, both broke, one broke twice) turns into a nice little rowboat. A neighbor gave me some housepaint, which Ive used to prime the panels. Better than a kick in the teeth I s'pose.

On to the star of our show!

Of general importance on this episode, is working with epoxy in an unheated shop. I chose not to heat the shop as it is uninsulated, but to heat the materials to cure the epoxy. 70 degrees is our target, but 40 is the working temp to achieve. Using a 1500 watt quartz electric heater teamed with a pair of 250/500 watt quartz worklights we had a nice random looking assembly which successfully got a solid cure on the epoxy overnight with outside temps in the teens.

The menagerie:

Though strange looking and a half-assed job of hanging everything, it was relatively effective. Relative in that your humble narrator is an idiot and managed to leave both lights on at 250 watts. Eh, yeah, im retarded. There are times that my boatbuilding is more like a college basketball game. Whoever makes fewer mistakes wins, and Im on the losing team.

This is the stringer assembly per plans, and finally in the flesh:

Seeing that after all this time makes me tingly in ways boatbuilding shouldn't. Don't tell my wife. Oh wait, she reads this too. And her brother. Ah well.

The ladder framed strongback is nice and square, moved to the most advantageous place on the relatively small floorspace I have. Then we mix in those bulkheads I cut EEONS ago to start the building jig. I only had time to notch and put up the C frame as well as the E frame which will be the bookends of the main passenger compartment. Add a liberal dose of stringers and we have the makings of a 3 dimensional structure!

Cmon, get excited! I know I am!

For our next installment, I will try to get the frames up and leveled in, make several mistakes, cost myself some money, screw up at least one cut, throw a tool or two, some strange concoctions of nouns and sware words, and out will pop a completed jig!

Stay tuned. Same boat time, same boat channel.

E

THE PLYWOOD IS IN!!!!

2006-12-15T13:02:00.000-08:00

BWAALWOAOABBULUAELA!!!!

Its in!

Okay... can you smell the enthusiasm? I haven't even left to pick the wood up yet. I just couldn't stand myself so I had to post.

More in a bit...

And the wheels begin to turn; slowly.

2006-11-10T15:57:00.000-08:00

Well I have gotten fed up with waiting. 2 parts today to the post. Firstly, I decided since I hauled out the tug that I needed a little rowboat to go fish in. On top of that, the neighbors laugh their asses off when they see my wife and I out sailing in the WACKY LASSIE (umbrella and paddle), so Im doing something about it. Secondly I commenced to some big boat work. ENJOY!

I was inspired by the flatiron skiffs because of their sensibilities and elegant look. Being that I am 1) cheap, 2) lazy, 3) short attention spanned, I found a set of free plans on a very easy and quick to build boat, Dave Beede's SUMMERBREEZE ( http://www.simplicityboats.com/summerbreeze.html). Should be a blast. I had some extra ply laying around from a little offhanded workboat plan that I never had time to do due to the NINA project, so I stole that and went to work. Here's a shot of the sides going together:

PL premium, exterior grade 1/4" plywood. Shooting for a whopping $100 or less investment. Your right, that photo is fairly uninteresting. Sad.

Meanwhile, on NINA:

Per plans the D form and if you so choose the B form are both scrap forms for the initial layup of the hull, so off I went. Bought some garbage ply for $16 and some of that extra I had around from the work skiff mission to get moving again. We now have all frames built, and as soon as my ply shows up I will have the stringers built and glued ASAP. Sick of waiting, ready to start laying up some hull panels and trying to figure out how to warm them up enough to get the epoxy to set.

An interesting aside, cutting the B form, I used a circular saw with a thin kerf blade set right at the thickness of the wood to cut fair curves. You really must try it, as it makes the curve very linear and fair, with little extra fiddling to make it clean. It was an interesting combination of carpentry and woodburning! Please note the mui excellente saw:

B form, decent ply, note the curve cut with the circular saw:

The monster throwaway D form:

BTW, thats the bow of my Thames Rowing Skiff, in for a little repair and a refit on the footstretchers. Yes, the scarf joints suck (first try ever!), but that breasthook is GORGEOUS!

Maybe your not-entirely-humble writer should clean his camera lens?

Comments welcome!

E

Slow progress

2006-10-27T16:06:00.000-07:00

Today, my friendly reader(s) , I accomplished very little. Rough double at work means I got home later, didnt have ambition, and was just generally tired and hungry. Sob story...

I have discovered a minor measuring error in the stringer upright. Should be an easy fix and back underway when the two new sheets of ply arrive to start the jig. I did however get some stuff around the house realigned, and clamped up the true (motor supporting) transom:

At least something got done..........

Tomorrow, a row with my bride, mountain bike with some friends, and back to work for a shift sunday. I will have 3 days next week with which to build, and am in hopes of having the jig somewhere near built by next friday.

More when it happens!

E

Reparations, Disintegration, Redemption!

2006-10-25T13:34:00.001-07:00

Alright, the world is restored to its normal splendor. Windsor made good on the price difference in the wood (a free sheet of 10mm ply is a nice fix), and on top of that a friend bought the remnant 6mm sheets that had been cut (thanks Chris). So then, back to our story...

I was able to use the cut pieces as templates to cut the correct ply. Thus saving HOURS of laying lines again and having to re-establish the right layout. Pretty handy. So for the first two sheets, I decided to recut the stringers and the C frame. Stringers went great. Now about that C frame.

I cut it, measure twice, etc etc, like a good little woodworker. I stand back. I grab my camera to bestow the newest progress to the blog readers. I notice an "error". I had done the following math, and you will see the problem:

1050 x 2 = 2010 Hm, no.

1050 + 1050 = 2010 Hm, still no.

&*%# ))@#*%& ))()^$#@!@%#^. And the camera case goes flying....

I discover that 2100 is a better answer to the above. Anyone still trying to figure out the title of the blog "A complete idiot....". And thus I prove the axiom measure 4 times, cut once idiot.

I would swear, but this is a "family" show, and its tougher literarlily (is that a word? Google it) to come up with adequately descriptive ways to express anger.

Well, as it turns out, I can fit the transom template inside the disproportionate C form, so thus the redemption begins. As I feel a bit better the next day, I get the remaining stringer pieces cut, a new C frame, and both transoms. Excellent! I feel so good about myself I throw together a strongback with kiln-dried Doug Fir 2x6's. Nice and square, but a little curve in one board that lifts the corner. Looks like I will be taking my measurements from the concrete floor instead of the strongback boards.

To the photos!

The second C frame:

The stringer/motorwell sides (jacques Im gonna talk to you about this measurement):

Der strongback:

An idea I have since Im using a metal tape to measure my form locations. I marked my origin dead-square on both sides with a T square and a scrap piece of teak. I then cut a notch on the OUTSIDE of the line (away from the center) so that the tongue of the tape measure has a place to park and makes the measurements uniform. Please hold your applause until the curtain.

Good idea or bad? YOU BE THE JUDGE!

On our next episode, gluing up the stringers! And possibly, setting the forms!

Dont hesitate to post comments!

E

And the issues begin...

2006-10-21T09:19:00.000-07:00

So I go to pick up the second round of ply from my local supplier Windsor Plywood, and discover that the 9mm ply I was supposed to recieve turned out to be 6mm. As such, I didnt realize that until I had 2 stations and 2 transoms cut. All of the work accomplished up to now may be for naught. I am getting ahold of the designer on the builder's forum ( http://www.bateau.com ) to see if I can utilize any of the pieces cut. Beauty eh?

Not a huge concern, but just a big hassle. They are cutting me a deal on 2 more sheets of ply to replace the 2 screwed up ones, but whatcha gonna do. At least the guy was willing to work for me. Its a constant struggle with a little of this and a little of that, but the boat always seems to come together.

On the flipside, I am stoked to be seeing some sawdust on the floor, as any self-respecting boat type should be (unless you bought your boat with termites).

To make myself feel better, lets have a look at my first ever project (thus the not-so-fair sides) the Glen-L Tubby Tug. Good plans, easy to build, made tons of errors, and it still floats/cruises around/fishes with the big boats. Im driving, and a friend with his kid helped launch. I hadn't added trim yet as this was the shakedown run and was put back on the hard for a couple weeks following.

And one of the fleet getting used by the neighbor kids out behind our house. Tug with trim added, one WACKY LASSIE in blue ( http://www.alaska.net/~fritzf/Boats/Wacky_Lassie/Wacky_Lassie.htm ) and one CHEAP CANOE in green ( http://www.bateau.com )

Ahh, happier days.

E

In the beginning...

2006-10-19T20:27:00.000-07:00

How very thrilling, my own blog. Just another space for a blithering idiot to post pointless information for those who are entirely too enthused with other's lives instead of their own. Ah well, at least I have a purpose for this (somewhat). Bear with me in the beginning, I will be learning the ropes of this blogosphere as best I can.

I have started building a boat designed by Jacques Mertens-Goossens down in Florida by the moniker NINA. It is a 22 foot lobster / picnic boat in the style of a handful of different boats. Those that are familiar with W.M. and John Atkin will see a tremendous resemblance to NINIGRET, which is why I decided to build it.

Mindless banter aside, here is the info:

A link to the boat designers page:
http://www.bateau.com/proddetail.php?prod=LB22

Gorgeous boat eh?

So after ordering a lovely $450 of marine ply, off we go!

Today included putting down lines on the ply for the internal frames and cutting a few out. I have just a few main frames and one stringer cut (except the small plans error that was found earlier by another builder, thats tomorrow's project). As this boat is a stitch and glue design, it will be built on a very basic strongback using the frames as a mold. Ingenious little bit of design that both JMG and Sam Devlin use.

Laying lines:

Using a batten hung around nails makes the nice fair curves of the deck camber:

Frames A, E, F, and both transoms:

As far as I got, as well as a glimpse of the shop (garage where my truck used to be so happy, dry, not icy, stayed clean, and loved me more than it does now):

My mission is to keep this as up to date as possible, be mildly informative, mildly entertaining, and a good resource for those building Jacques' designs. Please don't hesitate to post any questions (if theres a way to get ahold of me, I have to look on this thing) or request different images if there is something you want to see.