Epoxification etc.

Greetings from the boatshop...and Happy Independence Day!  Only two photos this time, but let's get right to it...

After a couple of rounds of hole-filling and fixing various dings and such, I coated the planking with System3 Clear Coat epoxy. I rolled on one coat and then, about an hour later, hot-coated a second one. The transom will be have plenty of varnish on it when the boat is done so I decided to leave that alone.  That said, I've given it a good sanding and I'll apply another coat of thinned varnish soon.

Here's the forward view showing the coated planks.  Two of them have "splotches" of epoxy putty to fair out a flat spot right at one of the molds. Alas, I did NOT catch this unfairness during setup, so I'm paying the price now with some extra fairing work.  First I notched-troweled West System epoxy mixed with 407 filler and let that set. After sanding down to fair, I then filled the notches--and any other low spots--with epoxy mixed with a blend of about 50% 407 and 50% 410 filler. Mixing in some 410 makes it easier to sand. 

I also managed to glue the seat risers to the inside of the hull. This turned out to be a bit of a pain, I think next time I'll wait until the hull is flipped over before installing. I don't have a picture of this now, but you'll see them once the hull is flipped over and I get some decent photos of the inside of the boat.

Hmm, it seems to me the photos in the last few posts have been pretty dull, just shots of planking and more planking and epoxy coating.  Well, the next batch should, I hope, have some shots of the skeg and outer stem getting put together and on the boat.  That'll be more interesting.

Incidentally, one other thing I've also done is note any deviations between the molds--which are based on my original lines drawing and 1:4 lofting--and the final boat.  In other words, in some cases to keep the planking nice and fair I allowed small gaps between the molds and the planking.  The battens used in planking the boat (shown in previous posts) were very useful in figuring out where to "let go" from the molds.  Basically, I trusted (1) my eyes and (2) the batten.  That way, if there are any future boats built to this design--hey you never know!--the molds will incorporate these updates.  This is part of the "tweaks and updates" to the drawings mentioned on my Sketches & Plans page.

I'm looking forward to getting the remaining work done on the outside of the hull so I can flip the boat over.  I hope you are too!  That's it for now.

Purple goop (and whiskey)

Planking is complete, hurrah!  The "whiskey plank" went on about a week ago, and I took a little break from the project to catch up on some other things...and recover from the Dickel ha ha.  But I'm back at it, and here's the latest:

Nice sunset coming through the side windows...ahh the romance of boat building.

The last plank going on.  By the way, the splotches you see all over the hull is putty for filling various holes, dings, etc.

With the planking done,  I've taken out about half the molds to make it easier to work on the inside of the boat.  

Mea Culpa!  The purple patches that you see is fairing putty made from epoxy and West 407 filler.  These two planks have flat spots that, unfortunately, I didn't notice during planking.  So I'm using a little "liquid  carpenter" to take care of the problem.  The starboard garboard is shiny because I also coated that with epoxy.   Once all holes and dings are filled and the hull sanded, I'll give a coat to the rest of the planks.  

I also added a coat of epoxy to the bottom/garboard on the starboard side.  In theory I could just start painting, but coating with epoxy helps keep water out of the wood, provides some scratch/ding resistance, and acts like a primer in that it fills the grain of the plywood.  In theory, the boat should last longer and the paint job will be nice and smooth.  So I'll be coating the outside of the boat, and at least the bilge area of the inside.

With the planking done, I figure I'm about one-third done with the boat.  There's still LOTS to go, including the outer stem and skeg before flipping the boat over.  Then deck beams, bulkheads, deck, seats.  Then lots and lots of sanding, painting, and varnishing.  Not to forget the spars, which I haven't gotten around to start yet!  So stay tuned.

Almost time for whiskey...

This update will be a short one, just to let you guys know that I'm almost done with planking. Since last time I got the fifth plank on the boat and, this morning, I got the sheerstrake installed...but, alas, only one side. Some people say the tradition of the "whiskey plank" is to simply celebrate the completion of planking by enjoying a wee dram.  Others take it a bit further.

The sixth plank--the sheerstrake--is now glued and screwed to the boat.  Well, at least on one side.  Once the "whiskey plank" (the last plank) is on the boat, I'll be able to enjoy a nip.

The other sheerstrake is cut out--you can just see it on the floor next to the boat--but alas I didn't have time to put it on today. I'm afraid real life sometimes interferes with boat building! From this view you can see splotches of epoxy putty appearing on the plywood planks. I've started puttying various holes and divots, getting ready for the epoxy-sealing that will take place once the planking is done.

The transom view.  Hmm, a few dings on the transom to sand out once planking is done.  Darn.

While completion of planking is definitely a major milestone towards the completion of the boat, there's still plenty more to do.  I figure I'll be about one-third done once the planking is all done.  There is, after all, the keel and outer stem to fit to the outside of the hull, plus the deck and cockpit to build.  Not to mention three spars (mast, boom, and gaff) and the rudder and tiller.  Not to mention a lot of sanding and painting and varnishing.  We've had some very nice sailing weather recently--warm but not hot, nice breeze--and it is frustrating that the boat is not further along.  But one thing you do learn in building boats is sheer perseverance.  Just keep at it...the boat'll be done when she's done.

Three four, knock at the door...

Well here it is a couple of days after Memorial Day and I've got four of the six planks on the boat.  Things are moving faster now, so I'm hoping to have the last two done in reasonably short order...we'll see!

The 1/4" ply is a bit "floppy" between the molds, so I'm using full-length battens (about 1/2"x1") to stiffen up the edge of the ply while the glue dries.  This photo shows the test-fitting of plank number three.  You've got the drill now, right?  First the spiling, then the cutting out, then the test-fitting, then the glue up.  Once this plank is glued on, I'll be half done with the side planks, hurrah.

Transom view of plank numero tres.

With one of the #3 planks in place, I sprung battens just to see how the next couple of plank lines will look.  Looks fine to me.  The horizontal cleat that I've let into the molds is the future seat riser (you can also see it on my construction plan).  My original plan was to glue this into the boat as planking progressed.  The riser is level (horizontal) to support the back edge of the cockpit seats,  so it overlaps multiple planks.  In this photo, the bow end is just sticking into plank number two.  More on this later...

I've been using sheetrock screws to temporarily fasten the plank laps together while the glue dries.  To ensure better fairness of the plank laps, I'm now screwing directly through a batten instead of using separate pads as shown in previous photos.  The small pads work fine with 3/8" plywood, but the 1/4" is easy to "deform" into an unfair shape.

Number four going on, same process.

Same plank, seen from the transom side.

As mentioned earlier, my original plan was to glue the seat risers to the inside of the planking as I went along.  However, this hasn't worked out so "Plan B" is to finish the planking and glue them up once the boat is flipped over.  I thought it would be easier to glue them to planking while being held in position by the molds, but, unfortunately, when I tried this the 1/4" planking was "sucked in" and became unfair.  Rather than risk an unfair hull, I'm going to either glue them in after plank number five is installed  or wait until the planking is finished and the boat is flipped over.  The plank laps

On the plus side, the shape of the boat is really starting to show.  Here's a photo flipped upside down--to show more what the hull will look like after completion--just for fun!

This upside-down photo shows the shape of the boat at plank number four.  Just two more to go.

The second plank goes on, some 'glassing, and (yes) more spiling

With the second plank cut out and test-fitted, next up is the 'glassing of the bottom and garboards.  Actually, I used Dynel cloth, epoxy-saturated, so I suppose 'glassing is not the right term.  But the process is the same:  cutting the fabric roughly to size, mixing up the epoxy, wetting out the cloth with resin, trimming off the excess cloth with a razor knife after the resin has dried a bit.

Here's the dynel cloth glued to the bottom/garboards.  I'd say dynel is easier to work with than fiberglass cloth, and some say it is more resistant to tearing.  In any case, epoxy-saturated dynel over 5/8" ply--not to mention the outer keel, which comes later--will be plenty rugged for this boat.  Note the blue tape around the edges that you can see under the dynel.  This prevents the epoxy from gluing the rough edges to the boat and gives a clear line for knifing off the excess cloth.

Here's the dynel job with the rough edges cut off.  Note that the dynel does NOT extend all the way to the end of  the plank.  That's because the last 1" is beveled for gluing to the next plank;  no need to dynel that part.

Here's plank number two going on the boat. As mentioned earlier, this is the first of the 1/4" planks, so it bends quite a bit easier than the 3/8" garboards.

To cut the gain along the edge of the plank, a rabbet plane and a piece of scrap nailed 1" from the edge does the job.   

With the first plank glued on, time to do the other side.  If you look closely you can just make out the fact that the plank lap "disappears" into the stem;  the result of the gains cut in the plank.  Recall that once planking is done there will be an outer stem glued and bolted to the inner stem, what you see here is the inner stem.

Time to spile the third plank.  I found that I was just able to get the third plank out of my scarfed 1/4" plywood sheet, which is not quite 16' long since the scarf "robs" some length, with only about 1/8" to spare.  Lucky!  For the next three planks, however, I'll need longer sheets for the planking.   Since this boat has overhang both bow and stern, the planks get longer as you go along.  That'll mean a second scarf to get the total length over 16'.   I might have purchased a few 10' sheets of plywood, which are available from some dealers, but I think I'll use what I've got.  (Note:  The rectangular thing hanging from the mold is a longboard used for sanding hulls and such. I'll try to clean up better in my next batch of pictures!)

A piece of left-over 1/4" ply is glued to the end to get the length I need to do the final three planks.  I'll need about 16'3"-16'6" for the fourth and fifth planks and 17'0" for the last plank, also known as the sheerstrake.  By the way, I'm doing all my scarfing and plank layout and cutting on the floor.  Why?  Well, there are a lot of advantages to building your boat in a well-equiped boat shop...but I can hardly take away precious bench space from a paying job!  I'm building BELLE in my spare time at the shop, it's been a great arrangement for me which I really appreciate.   The floor is fine for these jobs.  (OK maybe next time I'll make a temporary planking bench from sawhorses...)

Well the second plank is on.  My one concern is my molds are quite far apart (28") and I'm worried the 1/4" ply won't have enough stiffness \ to naturally follow a fair curve between the molds.  There was no problem with the 3/8" garboard, but the 1/4" is significantly "floppier".  I  think I'll try a slightly different technique in gluing up the remaining 1/4" planks.  Stay tuned!

Floors and second plank (almost)

Since last time I've gotten the floors in and also installed the second plank...well almost.  I need to 'glass the bottom first, but I went ahead and spiled and cut out the second plank (one of the broadstrakes) just to take a look.

I'm kind of liking this building upside-down thing. Sanding dust and such falls right out of the boat and, except for working on the bottom itself, everything is at a convenient working height. Normally I might quickly plank the boat, flip it over, and finish it off right-side up. But I think I might try installing a few bulkheads and such while the boat is still upside-down.

To fit the floors, I first temporarily clamped them in the correct location across the boat. This makes it easy to mark them for length and the various bevels.  In addition to providing additional stiffness to the bottom, the floors help support the joint between the garboard and the bottom plus they provide convenient beams on which to place the floorboards.

Here's a completed floor, glued and screwed in place.  Note multiple limber holes.

Repeating the same spiling process as for the garboard, I got out the next plank. The plank is left long (the full length of the scarfed plywood) just in case it needs some jiggering fore-and-aft which, in this case, it did not. This is the first of the 1/4"-thick planks--recall that the garboard was 3/8"--and it bends easily into place.  The bottom edge does not have any reverse curve up forward the way the garboard has.   Since I'm happy with the fit on the boat, I go ahead and make a second plank for the other side. 

 I'm spiling the planks so that there is a 1" lap, a bit wider than the more typical 3/4" lap used with 1/4" planking.  I figure it'll add some ruggedness with just a little cost in weight and material.  This plank, which has just been cut, still needs gains cut in, fore and aft, like the garboard.  With the gains done, the lap will "fade" into the stem and transom.

The shortest plank on the boat is the garboard;  the longest is the sheer plank. Note that there's just a little bit of overhang of this plank here at the stern and at the bow.  The plywood that I used to cut out this plank is about 15'10" long:  the length of the two 8ft sheets of plywood minus the 2" scarf.   I'll be scarfing on more plywood to make some of the longer planks, for sure, but I hope the next one won't need it...we'll see.

À bientôt...

Garboards

With the bottom in place, I can move on to the garboards...the first of six pairs of planks to go on the boat:

First I beveled the edge of the bottom to accept the planking.  This is a rolling bevel--that is, the angle of the bevel changes as you go from the stern to the bow of the boat--so reasonable care should be taken that the bevel is correct.  I tried putting a batten along the upper edge of the plank--already marked on the molds, remember?-- then used a piece of straight-edged scrap to check the bevel.  I started with a power planer and finished with a hand plane.  Note the notch in the scrap (right under my palm in the photo).  It is the same depth as the thickness as the batten.  Without the notch, the bevel would be off a few degrees. 

Next up, I used a rabbet plane to cut a gain (about 16" long) in the aft end of the bottom.  Each plank with have a gain like this one, except this one is quite a bit wider.  In BELLE,  the angle between the bottom and the garboard is very small at the transom.  Thus the joint is really more of a scarf than a lap.   I thus specified a 3" gain (i.e., 8x3/8" like an 8:1 scarf) rather than the more common 3/4" to 1" that I'll use for the other planks.

OK now I have nifty bevel and gain.  How do I determine the shape of the garboard so I can cut it out of my expensive sheets of plywood?  Many boat plans these days come with patterns  for all the planks, but BELLE is the prototype of a new design, so such timesavers don't exist.  Instead, I'll use the tried-and-true technique of spiling.  Too many details to cover here, but basically the idea is you make a spiling batten slightly narrower than the final plank and mark it with something (in this case a compass) to take the shape of the plank right off the boat.  Confused?  Spiling is covered in some detail in quite a few boat building books, including this one, or try this description.  Or see my list of recommended boat building books in the FAQ.  Sorry, gotta move on!

Here's the spiling batten--hot-glued from a few scrap pieces of luan plywood--in place, seen from the bow.  It is lightly nailed to a few of the molds and clamped to the stem, without any edge set. That is, it's important to let the batten fall "naturally" on the boat, without forcing or twisting.

Here's a beauty shot of the spiling batten on top of the plank I cut from it on top of the remaining 3/8" plywood for the other garboard.  Of course, I'll need two garboards, one for each side (I hear a one-sided boat gets a bit wet at times).  If you look carefully, you'll see a pretty pronounced reverse curve in the forward part of the plank, which is nearest the camera in this photo.  Garboards often have unusual shapes like this.  Just part of the game.

After test fitting the plank (not shown), it's time to glue.  Note packing tape on transom and edges of the molds.  Don't want to glue the planking to the molds, or huge gobs of glue on the varnished transom.

Here's the first garboard going on.  Blocks of scrap ply covered in packing tape, screwed with sheet-rock screws, make good "clamps" in places where clamping is difficult.  A tip:  use new sheetrock screws because old ones are often "torqued" and seem to break easier than fresh ones. 

The other garboard going on. Only ten more planks to go, five per side!

I'd love to just keep planking, but maybe there's a better next step for this boat. There's a bunch of floors to put in...I'm talking about nautical "floors", not the"sole"...which I'd like to back-fasten through the bottom.  So how about this:   install all the floors with their nice back-fastened screws, then 'glass the bottom/garboards, then back to planking.  Normally I'd install the floors after planking was completed and the boat flipped over, but then I'd have to flip the boat back over to do the 'glassing.  Better to do it now, I think...

Until next time.

Planking begins!

Planking at last!  The bottom is on, all two layers of it (3/8" + 1/4").   I'm experimenting with building the boat on higher sawhorses than I've done in the past.  I figure that the bottom and garboards might be a bit difficult--I have to stand on something like a stool to reach them--but after that it should be smooth sailing as planking proceeds.  In fact, I'm going to see how much I can get done on the boat while it is still bottom-side-up on high sawhorses.  I've got the height set so I can stand up without crouching under the center of the boat, making for reasonably easy working conditions. One advantage is that sanding dust falls out of the boat rather than accumulating in the boat, which it will do once the boat is right-side-up.  So maybe I'll get the bulkheads in place and a few other items done before removing the hull from the setup and flipping it over.

So, once the bottom and garboards are in place, I'll then install the various floors rather than immediately proceeding with the rest of the planking (as tempting as that might be).  The floors with be back-fastened through the bottom, so by doing that first I can then go ahead and glass the bottom and garboards while the boat is bottom-side-up. I'm planning on glassing the bottom and garboards, but the rest of the planking (inside and out) will be coated with System 3 Clear Coat Epoxy rather than glassing. For gluing, I'm using West System 105.

But back to planking...

Before the big glue up, I dry fit the two layers, cut out the slot for the centerboard, and drilled for a few 10x1-1/2" bronze screws.  That said, epoxy does most of the work in this type of construction.

The centerboard case is positioned in "slots" in the molds.  The logs are about 1-1/2" wide, and they will be glued and
screwed to the two-layer bottom. 

Another view of the centerboard case.  Once the hull is done, the boat will be epoxy coated, inside and out, but for now it looks like a bit of a mess!  The sides of the case are 5/8", glued up from (again) 3/8" and 1/4" plywood.  To reduce the amount of scrap ply left over at the end of the project, all pieces will be made up of 3/8" and 1/4" plywood.  That would include the 3/4" transom and centerboard (two layers of 3/8" ply)...except I was fortunate enough to have some 3/4" (15mm) ply left over from another project that I could use.  So that saved a bit of gluing.

Speaking of the centerboard, I forgot to mention that, before I glued up the centerboard case, I made a pattern of the centerboard itself (using scrap luan ply) and drilled for the centerboard pin.  That way I'm absolutely sure that the centerboard will fit in the case and swing up and down correctly later on.

That's a lot of clamps!  Once I had covered all faying surfaces with glue, I drove the screws, starting at the centerboard case and moving to the ends.  I checked carefully that there were no "kinks" in the two layers, and drilled a few small holes in the outer 1/4" layer to let air and excess glue escape.  I also mixed the epoxy with slow hardener so that it would have a few hours to ooze out along the edges before setting up.  To apply clamping pressure, I used some 2x4s as cauls with a very slight curve cut along their length so that they apply pressure all along their length.  Oh and I piled some weight on top--a heavy pump and some lead bricks, among other things--making sure the weights were over molds so that the heavy weight didn't create a hollow in the bottom.  (In theory, I could have vacuum-bagged the two layers which would have been a clean, effective, and high-tech solution, albeit requiring some materials that I didn't have on hand and probably more time-consuming than the clamping operation.)

The clamps are removed and, voila, the bottom is laminated and securely glued and screwed to the stem, centerboard case, and transom.

This detail shot of the transom shows the two layers glued up.  I could have made the outer layer the same width as the inner layer, but that would have wasted some (expensive) plywood.  Using my lofting, I figured out how much narrower the outer layer could be at each mold.  This edge will now be beveled to accept the garboards, which come next. Technically, the aft part of the bottom will be chamfered and the forward part beveled, but I hope to get to that next time.

A la prochaine!