Another day of work

Stringers - Final Gluing
Originally uploaded by OzzyC.

Yesterday we did the final gluing of the stringers, and so far this is the part that Im most concerned about. We butt-joined the wider piece on the left to the narrow piece on the right. The now-joined stringer runs from the bow transom to the stern transom, and form the entire bow-to-stern frame pieces.

My concern is that that well break this specific joint in the period between when the joint dries and when we actually mount the pieces. Id highly recommend using a two-person moving method with these completed pieces. Set the stringers vertical (so theyre facing the way they will face when finally installed). Have one person lift with one hand on either side of the joint in this picture, and one person lift toward the back of the narrow section. I may do another video on this to more efficiently demonstrate what Im talking about.

But Im digressing...
Lets assume this joint is as strong as Id hope it should be... lets concentrate on what we did to set this butt joint... As usual, saturate all of the surfaces to be joined with unthickened epoxy, and saturate the fiberglass tape. Lay a coat of thickened epoxy on butt joints. Lay the plastic on the floor. Lay the bottom piece of fiberglass tape roughly where you want it. Set the boards on top of the bottom piece of fiberglass tape, and preset the butt joint. Lay the top piece of fiberglass tape on top of the plywood butt joint. Lay a piece of plastic on top of all of this. Use a square to get a precise 90 degree angle, as the picture hints at. Then use a piece of scrap wood, and temporarily screw the scrap wood to both sides of the butt joint. This will help keep the butt joint from floating during the curing process.

Remember, if you click on the picture, you can see the picture complete with comments and tags on the pics that can help you visualize what Im discussing. Again, the picture is courtesy of www.flickr.com

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day 2 fishing 2011

Not quite so windy only blowing to 20 kts.  The electric sat side by side with the 9.9 as there is plenty of room for both on the transom.  The boat handles great, and is incredibly stable to fish from.  No fish...but there is always tomorrow. 

I am now looking at laying out some simple tie downs for things inboard such as fenders and such.  Might make a few wood loops/handles and bolt them on.  they would look good and function well.  Another thought is a few eyelets bolted under the handrail.  A rod hold is a must at this point.  Will look for some suitable holders.

David

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Day 3 final panels

I did discover that laying out the panels for the sides involved a more flexible batten than the one I was using, and decided to use a thinner one lying in the back of the garage and redo the curvatures.  All panels are now cut out along with frames and transom. 

My technique is to saw about 1/16" outside the drawn line and then use a block plane and Stanley surform to fair to the line.  I then sand the edges lightly to ease the handling of the panels.  Apart for getting a CNC cutter, there is not much else I can do here. 

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Finished the Stringers

Reinforced Stringer 4
Originally uploaded by OzzyC.

Greg and I talked about my concern with the weak stringer joints, and he came up with a solution. But then again, Gregs an engineer, so why should I have doubted him in the first place, right? Greg cut out a gusset ("gusset" is a fancy-schmancy word for "piece of scrap wood designed to hold our stringer together temporarily") and screwed it to the stringer, providing a great temporary brace. The gussets will stay on the stringers until were ready to set them in place.

In addition to adding the gussets, we cut off the excess fiberglass tape and lightly sanded both sides of the stringers, mainly focusing on smoothing out the fiberglass joints.

If youd like to see a quick video synopsis of the days work, click here.

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Day 2 began at 10 30 AM and ended at 3 30 with a lunch break of course

Today, I laid out the bottom panels on both sheets one and two and cut out the plywood for frames 2, 4, and 9
??

batten in place and lines marked for cutting.

All the lines that were marked were cut out with the circular saw.  I find it best not to set the saw too deep.

saw is set to cut no more than 1.5 teeth deep.

???? ??The next step involves cutting out one half and using it as a template for the other half.  After cutting the lines are faired up with a small block plane and a Stanley surform.  This makes short work of it and keeps the operator warm on a winters day (its 20 degrees Farenheit today). 

The same process is used on the next piece of plywood to get out the forward halves of the bottom. 

One more piece of plywood left.  We start by ripping it down the middle and marking our straight edges from which we will be measuring.    From this piece we will get the sides, the transom, and one half of frame 6.   I will cut these out next weekend if time allows. 

panels in the workshop waiting for the sides to join them.  It is much warmer in here and thus better for gluing.

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Day 2 water tests

Day 2 of the water tests proved well worth it.  The row locks as placed are actually 12.5" aft of the rear edge of the rowing seat.  since the seat is 10" wide, it is not issue to just ooch back a little and really pull.  I got the boat up to 4.5kts with some pulling such as stated.  Average speed was around 3 kts with very little (ok lazy) effort.  rowed 2.5 miles in an hour and half with some rod action for largemouth and trout thrown in for good measure.  I figured as long as I was out there, I might as well look for a fish or two. 

The rear seat was exactly 29.5" (my inseam) behind the rowing seat, but proved way too uncomfortable to sit in as situation as it needs to be further forward for comfort.  I removed the cleats I glued in with Titebond II and will glue in some foot braces to do the job as the seat can then be moved forward.  With a passenger aboard the rowing would be done from the forward station.  I just ordered another pair of top mount row locks for the forward rowing station so that I can take a passenger with me. 

Will paint with alkyd enamel this week.  People were looking at me as if I were nuts being out in the lake in an unfinished boat.  Truth is the epoxied hull is sound as is but needs UV protection. 

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