Planking progress stalled by need to encapsulate stem

As January keeps winding on, it seems as though I’ve had a million things to juggle or deal with that keep interfering with my boatbuilding progress.

I am making progress, however.

I’ve gotten the forward starboard plank screwed into position. It is not epoxied on yet, however. The simple reason is the fact that I have not yet encapsulated the stem, which is still bare plywood all the way around. Once the planking is on, it will be very difficult to reach certain parts of the stem in order to coat it with epoxy, (or “encapsulate” it), as protection against moisture. So, I need to encapsulate the stem before I permanently attach the planking.

The forward plank on the starboard side is screwed into position.

Detail view at the stem

In this detail view, you can see the how the added chine strips got blended into the shape of the forward bend in the chine.

Unfortunately, I don’t have on-hand the proper type of epoxy for encapsulation. What I have on-hand is System Three Silvertip Gel Magic. VERY viscous stuff that is great to work with to glue parts together. However, I need something much thinner for encapsulation. I liked the Gel Magic enough that I decided I’d try another System Three product, so I ordered the regular Silvertip epoxy. It should be here early this week.

In the meantime, I have fitted, glued and screwed the butt block into position on the port side of the boat. 

Fitting the butt joint on the port side. Without the butt block in place, the forward plank does not match the curvature of the aft plank.

By comparison, here is the butt joint on the starboard side. The butt block allows the forward planking to match the curvature of the aft planking.

The port side butt block, before being epoxied into place.

The butt block epoxied into position against the aft planking on the port side.

The next step will be to encapsulate the stem & a few other parts with 2 or 3 layers of the Silvertip epoxy. Then, I can permanently attach the starboard planking. After that, the rest of the port side planking.

Read More..

Fitting the Utility’s port side planking — and a little more progress on the Zip

Having previously used the starboard side planking as a template to draw and cut the port side, fitting the port side planking was relatively quick and simple. Busy days full of other obligations have meant that I’ve had to work on the boat incrementally... 20 minutes here, 45 minutes there... but, its getting done.

Thanks to a little help from my daughter, I’m now most of the way through driving the screws to hold the planking down. The new DeWalt titanium drill bits I bought have been a real pleasure to work with, particularly since my older ones had become almost too dull to use.

Dry-fitting the forward port side planking.

February brought with it an unusual amount of snow this year. In addition to school cancellations, there were a few days when I got snowed-in at home. I took advantage of these days to draw out the construction drawings for my Zip on a big sheet of eucaboard.  I drew the frames out as they would overlap one another, based on their shared x,y axis & set-up level. This will be a great reference for checking  the frame parts for accurate shape & for assembling the frames. It is also a very useful tool for checking the relative dimensions of various aspects of the hull.

My Zip construction drawing on a big sheet of eucaboard.

Last Christmas, I received a copy of How to Fiberglass Boats, by Ken Hankinson, along with the accompanying DVD. I finished reading it recently, and I’ve enjoyed watching the DVD. It’s useful information for those, like me, with minimal experience at working with fiberglass. It takes a lot of the mystery out of the process, and its very helpful to watch someone else actually doing it. 

Additionally, the book is very enlightening about precautions to take when working with epoxy.

With any luck, Ill be able to fiberglass the Utility’s hull before summer.

Read More..

The Utility More incremental progress

As predicted, progress on the boat over the last 24 hours has been small and incremental. Little things have to be done in preparation for the larger tasks. So it was yesterday evening. I sanded & filed away at some big globs of cured epoxy.

I should not have been so careless as to let these big globs cure in place unnecessarily. It only makes for more work to do after-the-fact. Of course, you cant always reach some places to scrape away extraneous epoxy.

Equally, sometimes you cant reach a dried glob of the stuff with a sanding block or a file, when the thin blade of a putty scraper wouldve gotten rid of it easily before it cured. Such is the case with those spots behind the chine at the sheer. I decided to just leave them. Technically, I suppose these spots are already "encapsulating" that small area of the wood. Its just not pretty. So be it. That part of the boat will only be visible with a flashlight, anyway.

Moving forward, Ill just have to strive to work more neatly with epoxy.

Read More..

The Utility Finally a little progress

After being held up by various delays, including a week of unusually harsh winter weather, Ive finally made a little progress. Ive added the first coat of epoxy to encapsulate the stem, as well as the undersides of the breasthook, sheer, and chine at the forward end of the boat.

These surfaces will need 2 additional coats before Im ready to resume planking.

It is possible that my epoxy mixture was not entirely accurate; or that the curing process was slowed by exposure to cold temperatures; or a combination of the two. Whatever the cause, it is taking a considerable amount of time to cure. It is, however, progressively curing. 

This happened to me once before, early-on in my Squirt build. Some epoxy that I applied during rather cold weather remained pliable for a couple of days. It did eventually harden, however. I will know in a couple more days if this batch is going to fully cure or not. I think it will.

The forward end of the boat, all taped up for encapsulation. This is so I wont get epoxy on the surfaces where the planking will attach later.

UPDATE: The epoxy did eventually cure, although it took 2 days. I had mixed and applied the epoxy in low temperatures on the borderline of the 50 degree F limit of the Silvertip slow hardener.

Read More..

Incremental progress on the first bottom plank

So, cautiously and methodically, I have continued fastening down the first panel for the bottom planking.

Using a 4-foot ruler as a straight edge, I drew reference lines on the plywood to show placement of the floor battens. That made it much easier to mark the places to drill holes & drive screws. Marking the chines for screw placement has not been so easy. I’ve had to cut away enough overhanging material so that I can use my marking gauge — the same spring clip & duct tape arrangement I used on the side planking. I used the Porter Cable multi-tool saw to cut away plywood as I worked my way forward... cutting new plywood washers as I went.

Bottom panel, before much extraneous material was removed.

Looking forward, you can see the panel begin to curve and twist.

Reference lines for the battens helped greatly with screw placement.

Near the forward frame, the plywood begins to curve and twist considerably. At times, it seemed like I just couldn’t bend it any more without breaking it. I followed the technique outlined in Boatbuilding With Plywood, and cut away as much extraneous material as I could, while still leaving myself adequate material to work with. It is amazing how much easier plywood will bend when excess material is cut away.

Here, a good bit of material has been removed from the panel. It became much easier to bend.

For now, my progress has stopped at the forward frame. I’m just inches away from the transition joint. To mark the approximate cut line up forward, I coated the corner of the side planking with a lumber crayon & bumped the bottom planking panel against it to transfer the mark. It worked reasonably well. Soon, I’ll remove the bottom panel, cut near this line, and re-attach the panel for further fitting.

The transferred line on the inside of the panel should help greatly when I remove the panel & trim it down further.

 Once this panel is cut to shape, I’ll be able to use it as a template for the other panel.

Read More..

slow progress in the cold Centerboard trunk

Here is the winter update.  I finally had a couple of days off to make some progress.  I cant glue in this weather, but can fabricate parts and dry fit.  Centerboard trunk is under construction and being fitted.  will screw it all together then glue up on a warmer day.

Made a list of a pile of things that can be done in the cold or indoors.  Rudder, mizzen step, fit cross beams, and then wait for a warm day. 

Dec. 28, 2013
Not quite as cold in the garage today, and found my 5/4 dimensional mahogany at the local lumber yard that will serve as the inboard rail for the CB trunk.  I have notched the riser at the bulkhead using the multi-tool and a Japanese hand saw, and temporarily screwed it even with the seat tops with a temporary cleat aft.

notch at forward bulkhead

temporary cleat to hold in vertical space.  

Rail from above.  

Rather than ripping into a $100 sheet of marine ply, I purchased a sheet of Masonite to do a template from.  This worked quite well and the curve of the trunk matched the hull perfectly.  Next is to transfer the lines to the original sheet of ply. I will cut a little tall, just in case.  

Masonite template from above.

Homosote template a tad shy at the top,  will transfer this to the real panel.

Bottom fits the curvature perfectly.

December 29th - All parts fabricated.

Finally got all the parts for the centerboard trunk fabricated and fitted.  Will glue up on a warm day.  

But first,  a stupid idea that saves a lot of time.  I had been sharpening my pencils with a knife, rasp, or whatever i happened to have in my pocket.  It finally dawned on me several boats later that the pencil sharpener in the basement had not been used in many, many, years so I removed it and put it in the garage.  No excuses for poor lines now.  

The next time saver was to place the essential tools close at hand in the boat storage lockers. Obvious, but not at the time I needed to recognize this fact.  

Step 1 - fit the port side of the trunk, cut a little tall and long.  

The board on top is from my Michalak rowing skiff, I know it is relatively flat and spans the gap from side to side nicely.  The port panel was marked, trimmed, then planed with a block plane until level.  

Next was the king posts.  the forward post has multiple bevels, but easy to mark in three directions prior to sawing.  The fit was pretty good, but I sanded it a little to get as much in contact with the bottom as possible. Epoxy grout will hold it in place along with fiberglass tabbing.  Panels will be screwed and glued to it.  

Sheet rock screws have taken the place of the clamp for now.  

Add caption

The aft king post is now installed.  There is a compound bevel, but it is not extreme.  

Starting to look like a centerboard trunk.

Starboard panel was fitted:

• use masonite template to set curve on bottom.
• transfer to plywood
• mark from plans, note discrepancies.
• cut curve, but leave panel long and tall.  
• fit curve to boat via scribing with a pencil riding on a block of wood. 
• recut to be exact.  
• fit to boat.  

• Starboard rail is fit. It has been left long on purpose to aid in setting the top of the rails and panels level with the seats. 
• port panel is scribed to rail to be level.
• case is removed from boat for trimming, sanding, and final shaping. 
• 
  

Final photo.  Ready to fiberglass the inside of the board and cut the slot.

The seat is actually in the correct approximate location and it is level!

Read More..

The Utility Progress on the 2nd set of chine strips

Fairing these additional chine strips is coming along pretty quickly. Here are a couple of iPhone shots to show progress on the starboard side.

Faired flush with the side of frame #1.

A little more work is needed to blend the ends into the curvature of the chine. Its getting close, though.

Read More..

The Utility Incremental progress on the planking

It has been a week of small, incremental progress on the Utility. Even when you can only spend 15 – 30 minutes a day on the project, each little step gets you further along, and can take much of the prep work out of the next major task.

So it has been for me over the last several days. One morning, I simply measured and marked the location for driving screws through the planking and into the chine. That evening, I “connected the dots” between these marks, giving me the line along which to drill the holes. The next day, I marked points along this line, spaced 3 inches apart. I drilled holes on a few of these points, and drove a few screws. The next day, I did a few more... and so on. 

Aft starboard side panel, dry-fit & screwed on.

Once the aft starboard side panel was screwed on, I trimmed the edges down some with a block plane. Then I went back and beveled the rims of the screw holes just enough so that I can drive the screw heads down flush with the plywood surface, while still achieving good compression of all the plywood layers beneath the screw heads.

Screws spaced 3" apart; Holes beveled for flush fit & layer compression.

At this point, the aft starboard side panel is screwed and fitted into place. I will have to wait until I have more free time to remove it, apply the epoxy, and then put it back on. In the meantime, I’ve resumed the fairing for the port side panel.

And, oh yes... Don’t think I’ve forgotten the Zip. I’ve assembled its breasthook & have been sanding the sides, as time permits.

Zip breasthook assembled & being sanded.

Read More..

The Utility More progress reveals new trouble spots

More fairing. This time, it has been a matter of fairing the overhanging edges of the side planking down to meet the chines.

For the most part, I have been doing this with a power sander and with a sanding block, along with occasional help from a hand plane. I also bought a “multi-tool” oscillating saw to trim the planking up forward, where accurate fitting along the mid-width of the chine is required.

A large portion of this work is done. However, as I look down the length of the chine to check for “fairness” of line, I’m seeing some new trouble spots. It appears I’ve got a couple of low spots in the chine, particularly on the port side... the dreaded “humps and hollows” mentioned in Boatbuilding With Plywood. 

Once I get some remaining areas fully sanded, I’ll be able to assess the problem more accurately. However, it’s already looking like I will have to add some more strips of wood to fill these areas. That means more fairing. (Yaaay!) Oh well, it will be for the best if so.

The dreaded "humps and hollows" are plainly visible along the port chine.

To a lesser degree, the same issues are visible along the starboard chine.

Fairing progress at the transom. I still need to sand away those Raptor staples.

Still need to encapsulate the limbers before planking the bottom of the boat.

Also need to encapsulate the sole supports before planking the bottom.

Test-run of the transition joint. Ill probably move this forward an inch or so.

Test-run of the transition joint. Ill probably move this forward an inch or so.

Here is the cut I made along the forward curve of the chine, using an oscillating "multi-tool" saw.

So far, Ive been very happy with the Porter Cable multi-tool I bought. It is very easy to use.

Read More..