Framing out the cockpit and epoxy coating

With Labor Day festivities out of the way, it's back to boat building.  I made some reasonable progress over the last 10 days, take a look:

I finally cut down the top of the transom, no need to do it now...I just wanted to see what it looked like.  Actually, I'm pretty sure I'm gong to "notch" it down further for the outboard and rudder, but this way I get to look at a more conventional transom before taking the jig saw to her again.

Here's the aft half-bulkhead being glued in.  Also, the well is framed out and I've hot-coated a couple of coats of epoxy inside.  I doubt I will paint in there, the epoxy should be fine (completely out of the sun, the big enemy of epoxy coatings).  The two round holes are for small 4" store-bought watertight access hatches.

Speaking of epoxy coating, I also double-coated the interior under the foredeck too.  This will get a coat of something before I put in the deckbeams and install (finally) the foredeck.

Oops, I forgot to show a picture showing all deckbeams cut & fitted, so here it is.  The one that's a bit "shiny" needs a bit of sanding...like the rest of the boat!  The idea is I got all the deckbeams fitted, removed them, and now I'll complete the area under the foredeck--including paint--and reinstall the deckbeams.  I'd rather not paint once those beams are on, thank you very much!

Right now I'm starting on the cockpit seats. First I'm putting in cleats to hold the 1/4" plywood fronts and tops.  These will form watertight compartments both for bouyancy and storage.  This will be epoxy-coated, painted, then, over that, I'll make slatted seats to actually sit on.  (Slatted seats are more comfortable, IMHO.)  I haven't 100% decided what wood to use: perhaps white pine or possibly Douglas fir.  (You're right, I can't afford teak.) Either way, the slatted seats will probably be oiled with perhaps a varnished edge-piece just for fun. Part of the fun and challenge of building your own boat is making just those kinds of decisions.

Until next time...

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!