January 2016

January 1,

Happy new year.  Everybody reading this blog needs to find a nice wood working project for the year. What better choice than a boat.  It doesn't have to be a large boat; a plywood dingy or day sailer would be a nice project easily completed in one year.

This year will see the completion of the hull construction.  With a little luck, I'll have her flipped upright by the end of the year.  Wish me luck.

Here is a tool I designed to help warm the epoxy on cold days to make it easier to dispense and apply.  Even on days where the temperature will stay above the minimum, the epoxy can be difficult to use.  So  I have made a wooden box for the epoxy with a warmer in the bottom.  The warmer is a simple 20 watt light bulb in a copper box.

A simple wooden box with a compartment in the bottom lined with copper.

Here is the copper compartment with the light bulb sitting on  the bottom.

A copper top to separate the light bulb compartment from the epoxy.  Probably not necessary but why not.  It will help protect the light bulb at least.

The gallon of epoxy with pump sits right in the box.  A hole in the bottom front lets light out so I know if the bulb is working

Jan 11,

I was able to use the hot box over the weekend.  Friday night I turned the lamp on.  Saturday afternoon, once the temperature got into the upper 50s (10 C), the epoxy was warm and flowed easily.  This significantly reduced the time I spent pumping the epoxy out of the can.  Of course I still won't  use the epoxy if the temperature gets below 40 F (4.4 C).  After making this box I actually found a nice article on the West System web site about cold weather bonding.  It is worth a read: http://www.westsystem.com/ss/cold-temperature-bonding/ 

December 2015

A friend of mine from Chicago, Tom Kuhn, came into town and spent a whole day with me working on the boat.  The port side almost has an entire third layer.  I have about a half day of work to get it finished and I'll post some pictures when I do.

Dec. 12

Okay, so maybe it was a bit longer than half a day.  I'm still not quite finished with that third layer but only have a few small pieces to install.  I have; however, finished much of the trim work and the tedious stuff.  I'm actually taking a little longer on the short bow pieces trying to use up shorter pieces of plywood in my waste pile.  I actually counted the number of sheets I have and have figured I will probably be short a couple of sheets.  Its even worse since I came across a sheet that had a glue gap on one layer that covered a third of the sheet.  I'll probably just chunk that sheet.   I haven't had too many glue gaps but this was ridiculous.  Small glue gaps can be reglued and clamped.   I ordered the plywood from Canada and I think the shipping on only a few sheets will be prohibitive.  Hopefully, I can find the plywood a little closer to home if I need only a few sheets.

The third layer is in need of some trimming at the bow.

Still need to do some trimming at the bow gunwale.   The seams have not been sanded in this area as well.

Almost finished.  A little trimming and sanding.

A view from the top (bottom) looking forward.

A view from the top (bottom) looking aft.

This is the completed bow.  All sanding and trimming is done.

All sanding and trimming is done.

Just another view.

December 20,
Just had a great visit from Jake who purchased a sister ship, the Edien, to this one over in St Augustine.   It's extremely useful to talk to someone who is sailing, or about to sail, a similar boat to the one your building.  We spent quite some time pouring over the plans and discussing what works, what doesn't and what might not work.  The boat currently has two main issues:  one is that the keel, made up of 4 layers of 3/4" plywood has rotted in a few places, the other is that there is some rot in bow.  The first issue is from incursion of fresh water around the main mast.  The damage was exasperated by the lack of limber holes between floor boards trapping water and that the inside of the boat was encapsulated with epoxy resin which prevented the wood from drying out (breathing).  The bow issues seem to stem (pardon the pun) from the design changes that the original builder performed.  The bowsprit was replaced by a thick wooden platform that was encapsulated in epoxy resin.  It is rotting and subsequently allowed additional incursion of water in the bow section.  Jake has done his research and is almost finished with the repairs.  He has replaced the keel boards with solid white oak scarfed together as best as the space allows filling up the space between the hull and floor boards where the ballast keel is bolted.  Two important lessons here.  Fresh water is a boats enemy and it will eventually get in your boat.  When in does, make sure it has a place to go (like toward a bilge pump) and do not encapsulate interior wood.  All epoxy resin allows some moisture to penetrate.  It is better for wood to get wet and dry than for it to get damp and stay that way for a year or more.  Also, maintenance is much easier.  Cleaning the bilge and repainting is much easier than grinding out half pealing epoxy and re-encapsulating.

Dec. 28,

I've made a great start on the fourth and final layer on the starboard side.  The weather in northern Alabama is unbelievable.  The temperatures have been in the 70's F and the lows only in the 60's F.  I've had to switch back to the slow hardner.  That will change soon.  More normal weather later this week.   Pictures coming soon.  I'm having some issues with the camera.

A good start on the final layer.  All my usual tools in view.  The clamps holding the strip in place.  The orange leaf blower which is invaluable for keeping the hull dust free.  The belt sander, drill and the pneumatic nailer.  

Another view of the same as above.

October 2015

Actually its October 24

I'm still working on the hull.  It is very repetitive and not very exciting.  It is very reminiscent of cutting the many notches for the longitudinals except more repetitive and considerably more work.  I'm not posting very often because my progress is not very interesting, at least it doesn't seem that interesting.  I do get excited finishing a layer and try to post when this happens.  Surprisingly, I'm able to keep myself  motivated.  I think that I made peace with the fact that this project is going to happen at its own pace.  All I have to do is work steady.  Still, sometimes it's hard to get to the shop but for the most part I feel good after a days work or even a half days work.  Occasionally,  I start working and know right away that that day is not a day to work on the boat.  If I'm impatient or frustrated, I know all I'm going to do is make mistakes that will cost me more time so I put my tools away and try again another day.   Today I had a good day.  I installed the three strips that I had and prepped four more for the next work session.  A half days work but I installed everything I had prepared.

October 25

And another nice day today.  Three of the four strips I prepared yesterday were installed.  I'm now down to smaller length strips at the stern so I made shorter length strips from waste pieces to finish out the stern section.  This part should go quickly but I may not get a chance to work much for the next few weeks.  This weekend is Halloween and my wife and I are traveling south to see her father Saturday for his famous Halloween party.  Sunday I am helping a friend install some hardwood flooring for a little very much needed extra cash (Is this a good time to plug that "Donate now" button).  Yeah, I know, we are all short of cash these days.  I'll pick this up in a few weeks.

October 31

Plans changed.  Spent Friday in the emergency room because my wife had a severe pain in her side.  Our doctor was not in on Friday so we went to what we call 'A doc in the box'.  These are emergency care clinics that are popping up all over the place.  They are pretty good if you have a broken bone or need to be stitched up (and have insurance) but they can't do a lot else.  The doctor told her to go immediately to the emergency room.  We did.  It took us 8 hours to see a doctor and two more to get the tests he ordered.  2 hours later (total of 10 hours), he diagnosed her with endometriosis.  She was sent home with enough pain medication for the weekend and told that we should contact her gynecologist.  She is staying medicated over the weekend and I worked on the boat today.  I still have to do that small job for the friend tomorrow but today I installed all the shorter strips and made the last one needed with a few more long ones.  I'm now out of epoxy hardner so I need to take a break until I can buy some more.  Broke at the moment but since I'm about to go out of town I'm not too worried.  Maybe I'll be able to buy some on the next paycheck.

And as I left you before, I'll pick this up in a few weeks.

Happy Halloween!

Follow up on Laura:
Well, it was not endometriosis.  Might be gut related.  At least she won't need surgery.

December 4

Follow up on Laura:

She has a clean bill of health from the gut doctor.  He suspects that something may be causing spasms and suggests a higher fiber diet.

September 2015

Work continues on the port side.  The third layer of the hull is coming along nicely.

Thirteen strips on the third layer.  I managed to put in 8 strips in this weekend over one of the most difficult sections of the hull.  

Another view of the work performed this weekend.  A close look shows how I marked the cut line at the keel.  I mark it as I go.  This makes it much easier to cut later.  An old yogurt container (shown center) makes the perfect container which holds just enough epoxy for a single strip.  I get about 3 or four uses before the container cracks or becomes unusable.  The residual epoxy left behind pops out clean once cured.   It also comes with a lid so I can premix (without hardner)  and store it when necessary.

August 2015

During August, I have continued to work on the port side adding the second layer of hull strips.

You can see the completed scaffolding in this picture along with the latest strips.

The second layer is finished out to the tramsom.  I still need to remove the screws and pads and sand.

A slightly larger image of the bow.  I've made all the strips necessary to complete this side.

The entire port side now has two full layers.  A big step.  Pictures coming soon:

The finished second layer on the port side of the bow.  Sanded and ready to trim the gunwale.

The upper part still needs a bit of sanding.  

Another shot of the bow.   You can see the scaffolding wrapping around the bow. There is a 2X4 that connects the scaffolding to the building for lateral support.

The long view of the almost finished second layer of the port side.

This weekend, I will officially start the third layer on the port side.

On August 29, I've trimmed up the gunwales and bow, completed the rough sanding of the second layer and installed the first strip of the third layer on the port side.  I've run out of the colloidal silica that I use to thicken the epoxy so further strips will have to wait until the end of the week.  I left enough of the thickener to make a good stock pile of strips so I won't be just waiting around.  The thickener is very important for this application to ensure that there are no gaps in the panels especially on the vertical sides where the un-thickened epoxy would just run off.

The very first strip on the third layer of the port side.  I started near the bow and will work toward the stern so each additional strip will rest on the top of the previous.  This is a lot easier than trying to bring them underneath. 

July 2015

Okay, so I have not posted in a while.  It's not that I'm not getting anything done its just that laying up these strips is not all that exciting so I wait until I've made some progress.   I've made good progress on the port side with the second layer of lamination. 

The is the aft end on the port side.  I started this side way aft because I've learned that laying these strips up under is quite a  bit more difficult and I wanted to minimize how many I installed this way.  I've added two today up and under the one I started this side with.

You can see the two strips from the previous image on the left.  The second layer on the port side is coming along nicely.

A close up of the working arrangement showing the scaffolding and a few of the recently installed strips.

I had to add another section of scaffolding last week.  I got such a good weekend of work in, I will have to add another section next week.

The new strips that still need to be trimmed where they intersect the keel.

Well the weekend of July 4th saw quite a bit of progress.  I guess you could say I'm working on my independence.  Most everything progressed smoothly.  I did manage to break the drive belt in my belt sander.  I accidentally hit the extension cord with the sander.  The cord jammed against the case and the sanding belt stopping the sanding belt and causing the drive belt to break (See tool section for picture).  The cord, however, escaped without damage.

April 2015

April 15,

April has brought warmer weather and a lot of rain to Alabama.  It's a good thing I'm building the boat indoors.  I did manage to get the garden in on one sunny weekend so the rain has been welcome.   As for the boat, I've made it to a major mile stone for me.  Exactly half the hull planking is installed.  I have one layer on the port side and 3 layers on the starboard side.  I'll post a few pictures soon.

One issue that I had to deal with is warped plywood.  It seems that there are a few sheets of poorer quality plywood in the middle of stack.  When I use the  machine to cut the scarf joint, the warping would cause a corner to lift resulting in a crooked cut.  I mitigated this a bit by lengthening the hand clamp so that it helps hold that corner down.  This helped.  Hopefully, I used up all the warped plywood and I can get back to the nice straight pieces I had before.

The next step is to build the scaffolding for the port side and start laying down the next two layers.  Money is short right now so that might have to wait a bit.  I can safely start the fourth layer on the starboard side at the aft end of the boat.  It is the bow that will have to wait until both sides are even.  This will keep me working until I can through a few hundred bucks at the scaffolding.

This is an older photo just to remind people what we are doing here.  Right now, it's difficult to take nice pictures.

April 19,

Sanding, sanding, more sanding and trimming.  Getting that starboard side 3rd layer complete.  I also spent most of Sunday building scaffolding for the port side.  I scavenged quite a bit of lumber from all over my shop and was quite surprised to find out how much I have.  I was able to build about half of what I needed and even have the first walk board in place.  I have 2X6's dropped down from the ceiling trusses and anchored to the boat jig by a 2X4 or strip of plywood.  The anchor wood will keep the 2X6s from kicking out.  See the picture below.

Picture showing the scaffolding being built on the port side of the boat.  The blue of the RGB is not operating in my phone camera at the moment and the batteries in my other camera were dead.  I thought the image was kinda cool anyway.

The starboard side of the boat having just finished the third layer of  hull strips.

The filler keel strake temporarily laid in place.

These customized clamps have proven invaluable for temporarily holding the strips in place while marking them to fit as well as the final installation.

Scaffolding on the port side being installed.  The first walk board is in.