Starting on the interior, at last

This week I got some interior work done, so I thought I'd post a few pictures.  Basically the plan is to install the vertical bulkheads prior to epoxy-coating the whole interior of the boat.  The horizontals will be screwed and bedded--NOT epoxied--so that they can be removed later if necessary.  By "necessary" I mean "if I run into a rock, put a hole in the boat, and have to fix it"...God forbid!

Here's the aft half-bulkhead being fitted.  This bulkhead creates an aft well that will drain out the transom; underneath is a water-tight compartment.  I don't anticipate using an outboard motor much with this boat--I might buy an electric trolling motor instead--so most of the time the engine will be stored horizontally in this well along with a one or two gallon gas can. A "joggle stick" (see next photo) transferred the shape of the inside of the hull hull to the 3/8" plywood for cutting.

Here's the joggle stick used for taking off the shape of the bulkheads: it's the funny-looking stick lying against the hull in the photo.   First I hot-glued some scrap together to form a rough "pattern" of the half-bulkhead (which extends up to the seat riser) and positioned it plumb from the floor to which the bulkhead will be attached. The joggle stick is then "pointed" at various key points on the inside of the planking, and the jagged edge is marked with pencil on the pattern.  The pattern is then removed and laid on top of a piece of 3/8" ply and the points transferred.   With a bevel gauge, I picked up the bevel between the planking and the bulkhead and transferred this bevel to a bandsaw to cut out the bulkhead.

So here's the result:  a half-bulkhead that, after a bit of tweaking, fits quite well to the inside of the planking, jogging around the edges of the planks.  Next I'll make a cleat along the top of the bulkhead and a 1/4" ply top.  A store-bought 6" round access hatch gives access to this watertight compartment, shown here being test fitted.  The seats in the cockpit will also be watertight, but I think I'll make my own (larger) hatches for those.  It'll be more time-consuming, but the end result should be more attractive.

Meanwhile, back aft, I made a 1/4" ply bottom for the well.  It rides on the seat risers port & starboard, and on cleats screwed/glued to the transom and half-bulkhead.  With all the pieces cut out, I'll take it apart and screw/glue everything together except for the 1/4" bottom which will stay out of the boat for now.  I'll 'glass or Dynel this piece and put it in with screws and bedding compound later, after I've completely epoxy-coated the interior of the boat.

Here's the roughed-out breasthook, which will be screwed/glued to the inwales and also one screw into the stem (all are 12x2" bronze screws).  Unlike an open boat, where the breasthook is very visible, this boat has a fore deck so a simple Doug fir block is cut and beveled to fit.  Note the nail in the centerline of the stem. I hook my tape measure to the head of the nail to "swing" dimensions from one side of the boat to the other.  This will become useful a bit later when I start installing the deckbeams.  While I've glued those up, I haven't installed them yet since it is obviously easier to work on the interior of the boat without a lot of beams in the way!

The photos of the bow half-bulkhead reminds me that there are about a million design decisions to make, even on a small boat like Belle.  You might ask why I didn't make it a full bulkhead, extending all the way up to the sheer, since that would make for a larger watertight compartment in case the boat takes on water.  That's true, but I had to balance that against the idea that a half-bulkhead will make trailering and storing the boat easier. One reason I went with a gaff instead of a marconi rig is the mast in the gaff rig is significantly shorter.  This will make it lighter, easier to raise/lower, and easier to trailer/store.  With a half-bulkhead, I'll be able to poke the butt of the mast way up into the bow of the boat for storage/trailering, leaving only a few inches hanging over the transom.  Not enough to be a nuisance.  With a full bulkhead, the top of the mast would extend about three feet off the end of the transom.  That's not the end of the world, but decided to avoid it.  Knowing that there will also be watertight compartments aft and under both seats, port & starboard, I decided to go with the half-bulkhead:  decision  number 5,763 accomplished!



That's it for now.  Hurricane Irene is hurtling up the coast, but it should be a mere Tropical Storm by the time it gets to Downeast Maine.  At least that's the current prediction.  If nothing else, power outages are probably in the offing.  Best of luck to all!

Inwales, seat risers, and epoxy clean up...

With the boat finally right-side-up, there's now the fun job of cleaning up various goobers of dried epoxy on the inside of the boat.  Mostly that's done with a heat gun and scraper, but a fair amount of sanding is involved too.  Like the outside, the interior of the boat will be epoxy coated--boats seem more likely to rot from the inside out, from fresh rain water rather than salt water--but I'll hold off on that for now.  First there's the inwales to get in, and then on to the bulkheads.  After those items are glued/screwed in place, I'll coat the whole interior.

In the foreground, the first inwale is being glued/screwed to the boat.  In the background, you can see that the inside of the hull has been cleaned up:  epoxy goobers removed, gaps and dings puttied, and the whole thing sanded.

Another view of the inwale going on.  Lots of clamps.  Those "splotches" on the hull are putty that I've applied to fill various holes and dings.  As you can see, the port side of the hull has been sanded (the splotches look paler because of the sanding) while the starboard side will be done soon.  One thing I'm anxious to do is to cut down the transom to the final shape, but all things in their time.  Right now, the top of the uncut transom, which is dead flat, is an easy place to adjust the boat to make sure it is level side-to-side.  I leveled the boat side-to-side and fore-and-aft at this point, to make the next step easier...

With the inwales in place, I then planed down the top edge  of both the inwales and the seat risers.  I used a level to make sure the top of the riser is level athwartship and well as fore-and-aft in the cockpit area.  Actually, the seat riser has a gentle "S" shape: it slopes downward aft (the future engine well), level amidships for the cockpit area, and it has a slight upward slope forward so that if any water gets under the deck it will flow aft.

Another view.  Not shown is a deck beam mold that I used to set the angle for the top of the inwales.  Unlike the seat risers, the tops of which are level, the inwales actually angle up a bit to match the crown of the deck.  I've got a six-foot-long deck beam mold so I can easily see that angle (I'll try to get a photo of it next time).

Today's final photo shows the deck beams being glued up.  These full-width beams (laminated from Doug fir) will support the foredeck;  simple knees will support the side decks.

That's is to for now, let me know if you have any questions!

Completion of keel/skeg...and rollover!

This is a fun update, because for the first time I can actually show a picture of the boat right-side-up!  But first a couple of photos of finishing off the keel/skeg:

Here's the completed keel/skeg assembly, epoxy-coated and ready for paint.

Paint going on.  I decided to prime the bottom rather than add another coat of epoxy.  One more sanding and she'll be ready for bottom paint, but I'll wait until much closer to completion for that.  It's easier to bottom paint the boat now...but I confess I'm anxious to get going on the interior!

With a little beer-powered help from my friends, she's now right-side-up!  This is a red-letter day, for sure.   After thinking about various ways to do it, I ended up rolling her over (carefully) right on the floor, with the middle mold still in place for support (not shown).  A thick piece of cardboard on the floor (shown) cushioned the turnover.  Note that the gunwales are temporarily screwed in place to support the sheer for the turnover.  The final gunwales will be a bit smaller and will go on after the deck is in place.

Now it's on to inwales, deckbeams, and bulkheads. I'll have some more photos of the interior once that is underway...and I've had a chance to do some epoxy cleanup. After months on the hull,  I must say I'm looking forward to the change of pace.  While there's still lots and lots of work to go, today somehow I feel like I can say the "end is in sight" for the first time!