January 2021

 January, 4

Happy new year.  Here is hoping 2021 is better than 2020.  

A new year and a lot of work was done in 2020.  Over the Christmas holidays we did a lot of work both seen and unseen.  

Matching the curve of the bilge for this plywood composite  member which  will support the floor athwart members.  The curve height is measured at regular intervals and gridded out and marked on the plywood.  Brads are driven into the points and a flexible batten is bent with the brads.  Then just draw the curve using the batten.  Make sure the nails are outside the desired piece so the pencil mark is where it is suppose to be.

A perfect fit the first time.  That is rare.

The athwart members actually rest on a small shelf on the composite member. 

More white oak.

The first plywood flooring that will be under the cabinets.  I now have an actual horizontal surface to work on.  That will be nice.

I've finally worked out all the tankage that we will need.  We'll have to get all that fabricated and installed with the plumbing lines before too much ceiling (flooring) can be installed.  Both the black water and fresh water tanks will be constructed of 3/8" HDPE.  It is both weldable and strong.  We are going to have two 100 gallon fresh water tanks about 48 x 48 x 11 inches and two 60 gallon black water tanks about 30 x 20 x 14 inches.  

Jan. 10,

I'm working out the corner members for the deckhouse.  Geometry is your friend.

Getting the pattern just right.

Rough cut with the table saw.  Now to the hand plane and then belt sander

A good fit but it will not work on the actual boat.  I've got to match this to the angle of the deckhouse which is a bit more than 90 degrees.  So I'll have to further modify these.

The first one that is fitted to the corner.  That was a lot of work but at least I know now how to make the other ones.  I'm going to cut out a "Vee" on the underside to make these a bit lighter and easier to bolt onto the beams.

Very first one clamped in place.  

Second one clamped in place.  They are getting easier to make now.  It is important to make sure that the angles are exactly the same.

Temporarily bolted in place.  I've ordered stainless steel bolts for these.  When they arrive, I'll bond these with epoxy and bolt them.  Cutting that "V" in the rear (or inside) makes it much easier to bolt as well as creating a lighter structure without compromising strength.

The other side is bolted as well.

The forward deckhouse pillars must accommodate an angle closer to 100 degrees than 90.  So I have to redesign the forward pillars.

You can see that the "V" cut out is 90 degrees but the angle accommodated is much more.

I am getting the hang of it.  This one required only some minor adjustments after the first fitting.  

Do not worry about that large ugly knot.  This pillar is a third longer than it needs to be.  It fits great.

Both the forward deck house pillars in place.  You can see all four in this pictrure.

And the forward pillars are temporarily bolted in place.  The temporary nature is going to let me remove them when I want to fit the forward clamp that the deck house front will attach.  The same goes for the aft pillars.

January 24.

This side (port) looks pretty good.  I made a real mess of the other side (starboard shown below).  I'll spend some time fixing that side and hopefully it will turn out well.  The joint is flush with the outside as shown but on the other side it is recessed because the beam is thinner than the post.  This is by design to maximize the strength of the post.

January 26,

Well, I got the starboard side fixed.  The dove tail is recessed on the inside because the beam is thinner than the post.  I'm going to bevel the edges down and try to make it look better.  The dove tail joint fit okay but it needed a little epoxy filling.  I made a mistake when I cut this one out and did not take into account the difference in bevel from one side to the other.  The one above (the second one I made) turned out a bit better.

So this is the front of the deck house looking from the outside.  The beam is flush here because it needs to be.  It will be faced with 3/4" plywood and I'll make top member to mate the deck house roof.  The curved piece that is connecting the two posts is the piece of wood that I have been saving for some time.  It has a wonderful burled grain that will be lovely once finished.  This piece will end up just above our heads on the vee berth.

If you don't have lumber wide enough or long enough, make it.  This is the same cross member for the deck house except that it is at the aft end of the deck house.  This does not need to be a strong as the front,

How the beam above looks in full view before I cut the curve to match the deck.  This, like the one for the front will attached to one of my laminated deck beams and act as attachment point for the plywood deck house sides.

Jan 31.

It is the last day of the month and we've made quite a bit of progress.  As you can see I'm concentrating on the deck house.  I'm trying to get all the framing finished before finishing out the interior so I know where to frame the interior.  Also, I'm saving money to purchase high density polyethylene to build the water and black water tanks.  I need to complete all the plumbing before getting the sole installed and all the cabinetry is built upon the sole.  

The finished deck house front framing.  I'm just getting it rough sanded while I can get to everything.

I put it in place and tapped the bolts in and to my surprise it fit  perfectly.

And here it is from the front.

The aft beam for the rear of the deck house is temporarily clamped into place.  I then trace out the curve of the deck from behind.

I measured offsets to the curve traced from the previous step.   I use a baton to make a fair curve and cut one side. I then can use a gauge to score the other cut line.  I end up with a very lovely piece.

This is my favorite way of finishing the opposite face of a curved cut.  Once you have one edge made and finished (you definitely want to sand it smooth before you use the marking gauge) just make this simple marking gauge and slide it along an edge.  I use a small hole that just lets the pencil lead through.  

Clamp it back into place to make sure it fits and to mark the bevel cuts on the ends.

Everything temporarily installed.  I use the router to make a nice rounded turn over.  This is a nice touch and eliminates a sharp corner to bang your head.  I wanted to finish all the way around before I permanently epoxy and fasten it in place.  I might need to move it out of the way or take a piece down to modify something.  Keep you options open. 

This piece fitted to the deck house clamp will hold the deck house sides in place.  There is a lot of twist in this piece of wood and as you can see where it meets the forward post, there needs to be a bit more.  I made a quick test and the extra twist is easily achievable and I'll make sure we get it right when it is all bonded in place.

I managed to get the entire port side fitted in place and even got  half of it drilled and screwed with temporary fasteners.  Again, I use drywall screws because they are cheap and when I later permanently install these pieces with real screws, I have not destroyed the hole.  Drywall screws have a large pitch and very sharp threads so they go in quick and leave the wood in good condition for the real fasteners.  I also use longer permanent screws so they grab onto a virgin part of the hole.

The front part is all glued up and I even cut out and positioned the front of the deckhouse.