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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Actual Real Genuine Boat Work

Its been a long time coming, but we actually worked on the boat itself today... approximately sixteen months since we last made any progress on the boat building project. Today, we leveled out the boat, and fit the cross member frame pieces.

To give you some idea of how large the hull is, what you see in between the frame pieces is a pry bar.

Alternatively, this may give you a better idea of the scale were dealing with...

Next time, we plan to start securing the frame pieces to the stringers and hull. YEAH!! We get to play with epoxy again.

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A Good Days Work

As Ive mentioned time and time again, summer seems to slow Greg and me down on our quest for the perfect cabin cruiser. Today however, we made some great progress. We sanded down the hard chine on the port side and began the fine work with quick fair. It wasnt a long session time-wise, but we accomplished a lot. Additionally, we discussed ways to work smarter. The problem weve been running in to lately is that we can only put in an hour or two of work and then are required to wait for things to cure. Since the starboard side is about ready for flowcoating and priming, I brought up the idea of flowcoating and priming the boat in sections. This way, if there are areas that we need to revisit, we can be more effective in our work. Your thoughts??

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Almost There

Almost There
Originally uploaded by OzzyC.

I figured it was about time for another actual picture of our project. This photo really doesnt do the boat justice, but I wanted to show you something. Next time, Ill take the shot from the bow, and youll get a better idea of the boats overall shape and progress. (This shot makes the boat look more like a giant brick than an actual watercraft.)

What you should notice in this picture is just how sharp weve cut the chines, how flat the boat is, and how patchy the boat looks now. (If you click on the picture, you will see a larger picture, complete with notes on the boat.)

Along the chines, you will see something that looks a little like mold. Greg did a fog coat of black spraypaint. The idea here is to do a very light hand sanding with a long sanding block. After this sanding, we will be able to identify the low spots. These low spots will be easily seen because the fog coat of black spraypaint will remain in the low areas, whereas the paint will have been sanded from the higher areas.

Feel free to click here if youd like an idea of how things looked before we built up the chines.

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Crochet afghan Tehnik merajut untuk membuat berbagai macam barang

Dvd tehnik merajut untuk membuat berbagai macam barang

Merajut adalah metode membuat kain, pakaian atau perlengkapan busana dari benang rajut dengan menggunakan sehelai benang

Seiring dengan perkembangan zaman serta makin bervariasinya benang baik dari variasi warna ataupun campuran materinya maka dunia merajut telah berkembang luas dimana hasil rajutannya telah bermacam-macam jenisnya tidak hanya sebatas pada taplak, sweater dan syal, akan tetapi sudah merambah ke tas, dompet, asesoris,afghan bahkan kepada salah satu bidang merajut yang mulai digemari orang yaitu amigurumi.

Teknik merajut dengan sebatang jarum rajut disebut merenda (bahasa Inggris: crochet). 

Cara ini menggunakan satu jarum dimana satu tangan memegang jarum sedangkan satu tangan yang lain  memegang benang.

Berikut adalah dvd tehnik merajut yang akan di jelaskan langkah demi langkah sehingga akan menghasilkan barang sesuai dengan kehendak Anda, tehnik ini berupa video supaya lebih mudah dalam mengikuti dan mempraktekanya.

Merajut akan banyak menghasilkan berbagai macam barang tergantung dari kreativitas

Gambar hasil dari kreasi merajut

Paket -Crochet afghan stitch tunisian

Rp 50.000.-

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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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Dave Surveys the days work

Dave Surveys the days work
Originally uploaded by OzzyC.

This should be the last "what weve done so far" post. From here on, you should see everything we do shortly after we do it.

In this picture, you see several sheets of plywood joined together to form the length of the hull. I am standing directly behind the starboard bottom piece. The starboard side piece is the other section thats laid out. Heres what we did...

We test-fit the sections end-to-end. Once we were satisfied that the pieces fit, we put the sealer coat of epoxy on each side of each butt joint. Next, we joined the pieces together.

In order to join the pieces together, we started with a huge sheet of plastic on the floor (epoxy wont stick to the plastic), then we set a thin strip of plywood on top of the plastic (youll see the method to our madness in a minute), then we laid down another strip of plastic (again, because the epoxy wont stick to the plastic).

Next came the lower strip of fiberglass tape, measured just longer than the butt joints, and placed so the tape fit roughly equally on each piece of plywood to be joined together. We next carefully set the plywood in place.

Next came the top piece of fiberglass tape, again set so that the tape sits equally on either side of the butt joint. Next came another plastic sheet (for non-stick purposes), and finally, another thin strip of plywood.

After all of this was set in place, we double-checked everything and ran a screw through the whole shit-n-shebang, ensuring a non-slipping, tight, solid butt joint. We repeated this whole process for each butt joint. There was a lot of prep work involved, but it saves a lot of work in the long run. We used any leftover epoxy to seal the plywood; well finish the sealing process before we lay the fiberglass over the whole hull.

In summary... we sealed the plywood underneath the fiberglass tape with epoxy. We laid down the big sheet of plastic, so the plywood wouldnt stick to the floor. We laid down a piece of scrap plywood, so the screws would have something to sink into. We laid down a strip of plastic slightly bigger than the scrap plywood. We laid down the bottom epoxy strip. We set the plywood in place over the lower piece of tape. We laid down the top strip of fiberglass tape. We laid down another piece of plastic. We set a top piece of scrap plywood on top, and ran a screw through all of it. Once the butt joints were set, we removed the screws.

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Back Ta Work Ye Scurvy Dogs

After our relaxing canoe trip, Greg and I returned to work. Greg has been putting in a lot of time doing finish work in preparation for painting the hull. Hes still got a few areas that hes not happy with, but were seeing light at the end of the tunnel. I cant wait!

Last week we installed a skid guard on the bottom of the hull. Since its a flat-bottomed boat, its designed to coast to shore, allowing our more dainty passengers to go ashore without getting their feet wet. In order to protect the hull, weve installed the skid guard.

The installation process was pretty straight-forward, but required some precision. First we sanded the area where the skid guard would be placed, and then cleaned the area with rubbing alcohol. Then we test-laid the skid guard, and once we were happy with the layout, we traced a pencil line around the skid guard, so wed know exactly where to lay it. We then applied part one of the two part adhesive. Part two is applied directly to the skid guard from the factory. After this, we were finally prepared to install the skid guard. This process was a little tricky, because the bond is instantaneous. We ended up a little bit off from the line we drew, but it still looks okay, and it will definitely perform to our expectations.

Once again I neglected to bring the camera with me, so youll have to wait in suspense for a little longer before you see the changes.

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More Boat Work Sort Of

Greg and I have had a second session of boat work. Okay, it wasnt really, directly, actually working on the boat itself, but were making progress toward getting back at the task of constructing the boat.

Yesterday, I helped him mount his air compressor to the floor in the garage. Hes been there over a year now, and is just now getting around to this task. That should help you all understand why and how such a long hiatus occurred in the first place.

The next thing you need to understand is that the boats shell has become a sort of storage container. Specifically, he stored a canoe, a touring kayak, and many, many aluminum pop and beer cans in the hull of his yet-to-be-named watercraft-in-the-making. After mounting the air compressor, we hung some pulleys from the ceiling, which allowed Greg to hang the canoe and kayak, thus allowing us to resume our project.

You may notice that were now doing this every other weekend. This means that the boat will probably be finished in about two years -- assuming that we dont take any more sabbaticals. It also means that well probably be ready to actually work on the boat itself in approximately one month. Next week, we will finish shoring up the trailer, and finish wiring the air compressor -- if Greg hasnt completed that task by our next boat building session.

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work skiff

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Mid winter inspection on Bolger Work skiff

Just a little chipping at the transom where the motor clamps on.  Will touch up with sealer and paint in the spring.

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18 Bolger Work Skiff

From work skiff

June of 2010

wow...I should have started this blog earlier.  But here goes...

This month I learned a couple of things regarding dos and donts. 

1.  Dont put polyurethane over fresh epoxy.  The amine blush will prevent the polyurethane from ever setting up resulting in a very gummy mess.  It took most of the month to scrape and bring all the varnished surfaces back to the glass and wood.  Traditional spar varnish works great, and I will also add smells better than polyurethane. 

2.  The premise of building this skiff was to replace the Bolger Diablo that had gone to the Viking funeral two years ago.  Lessons learned included using better wood and glassing both the inside and outside for easier maintenance.  Granted the Diablo cost me under $1000 to build and the grand total for the Work skiff is around $3000.  There is a LOT more wood and glass in this boat despite it only being 2 longer. 

Additionally, I had planned to use the same motor, a 9.9hp 1990 Johnson motor.  The mice in the shed had other plans.  I took the motor to the shop for a tune up two weeks ago and the mechanic declared the motor dead.  Mice had taken up residence in the intake and carburator and additionally the motor was not holding compression as one of the cylinders was leaking. They had built nests and deficated on everything, and eatin the wiring harness.  After a cleaning, the motor still would not hold compression (bad rings?).  At 20 + years the motor served me well and I will now replace it with a more recent 9.9.  (The Horsepower limit on my local lake is 10 HP hence the motor choice).  Even if I fixed the motor, I would not trust it.  I will investigate more HP next year as I still need to get a trailer as well.  IN retrospect, I would have chosen a different design had I known the motor was shot.

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Panel assembly

2 pages of 3" fiberglass tape are laid across each joint. They are offset by an inch to taper across the panel joint. Plastic is put between layers to keep it from sticking.   The clamps provide a little pressure to keep it all flat.



There is a heat lamp hanging above this assembly as it is a little cold in the basement.  I have on hand a gallon of West Resin and slow hardener.  It just involves a little patience and keeping things warm for a few hours. 

Net result was a strong sandable joint.  Will be carefull not to sand too deeply as that would defeat the purpose.  Just enough to "pretty it up" and leave a good surface to apply a light layer of fiberglass cloth to. 
I plan on using strippers cloth on the inside to protect the surface, and going with a 6 oz cloth on the exterior.  This worked well on the Work Skiff and left me with an easily maintained surface that is strong and durable.  I plan on trout fishing from this boat, so a surface that cleans well is essential. 

 

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