Boat Builder Central - Builder Forums

Well the strongback is done, just need to get my arse on to the nitty gritty....

As Mr. Nightlinger said in the Cowboys, "I have the means, I have the wherewithall, and I have the inclination, but I don't have the time!"

Way to start - it's too cold for epoxy this weekend but I expect to see some frames sneek'n onto that strongback soon! Remember, the kids can have Christmas next year, now's boat building time!

Dave

Dave got me going, though I waited til it got above freezing ..Got three bulkheads cut out, actually four, but had a senior dyslexic moment, tried to salvage the piece by using it for a smaller bulkhead, forgot the camber ......Got the hot head and decided it was time to take a shower.....So, here is my new method for cutting out pieces, measure three or more times, measure again, call in a second opinion, then cut

Cutting that first piece was stressful to say the least, I think I held my breath for the whole bulkhead

I love it...

Chalk wrote:Dave got me going, though I waited til it got above freezing ..Got three bulkheads cut out, actually four, but had a senior dyslexic moment, tried to salvage the piece by using it for a smaller bulkhead, forgot the camber ......Got the hot head and decided it was time to take a shower.....So, here is my new method for cutting out pieces, measure three or more times, measure again, call in a second opinion, then cut

Cutting that first piece was stressful to say the least, I think I held my breath for the whole bulkhead

I love it...

Only mistake I see here is I'd call for 3 more opinions, then cut

About time. The only thing I see is you might want to raise it up a little higher. You think you have a sore back now, wait until you start. I made a platform 16" above ground. Flat, level and square. I layed out for all bulkheads and screwed a 1x2 on each station. Chalked a center line to make sure all bulkheads were straight. Set bulkheads upside down on the 1x2 and put one drywall screw in each end. Cut all knotches for stringers also limber holes, layed astringers in loose and started stitching. Of course you have to precut all pieces and epoxy together. When you cut your butt blocks give them a 60 degree bevel on the edges. This way when you glass the inside of the hull your glass will flow over the buttblocks.A whole lot easier than square edges. When you glue up all your buttblocks make sure yo put some wax paper under them. Don't glue your stuff to the floor like some people have done. Just a little planning ahead. E-mail me if ya have any questions. later
Ken

Chalk,

Try this trick. Plot a bulkhead, stop and walk over and pick up your soda or coffee. Sit in a chair and take about three leasurely sips. Take deep breath, get up and just go over and "look" at the piece. Then remeasure it slowly. You gotta flush those SRAM cache buffers. In humans that means sit, distract, relax. S L O W D O W N . . . . .

Well, I did try to be real careful, you would think with a mechanical and architectural drafting & design degree, I could dimension Here is what I did the measurement was 1'6-1/4", I plotted it out, checked it, and checked it, then cut..So how did I make the mistake ...I generally run the tape to find a dimension, which I did............I found 1, then a 6 , then 1/4"...Easy right.....1' 6-1/4" is 18-1/4", what I measured was 16-1/4" I had all the numbers 1,6 & 1/4

Metric

Doug wrote:Metric

Nope just plain on dumb arse ....

Chalk,

Don't feel bad. I used to teach air navigation in navy flight school. We had Mech. Engineers from MIT who would flunk out of flight school because they couldn't plot under pressure. They did well as long as the plane didn't exceed 120 knots. At 420 knots they were 250 miles behind the aircraft after an hour. After making a living by finding those kinds of errors quickly for four students at a time, while in the air, I think I know every error it's possible to make. I thought I was good until I taught the subject, then after doing that for two years, then I was good. There, that's my navy flight school story.

About the 1' 6" becoming 16", we are aware of that. You are not the first one making that mistake. Last year, we switched to another dimension style. Instead of showing 6' 1-1/4", we now show 73-1/4".
No mistake possible that way.
(BTW, if I design in inches, I type 73.25)
We will update all the old plans one by one.

12/28/03 - I got the stringers cut out and bulkhead A, man typing this was alot quicker ...
I got a little concerned with this one....It's the inside stringer,
C is 9 5/8", D is 8 7/8" and E is 9", doesn't D look like a
hook? I rested my faith in the plans and marched on .


This is the sheet..I cut out one stringer, screwed and clamped it to
a piece of plywood, roughed it out with a jigsaw, then used my
router with a top bearing, flush laminate bit. It saved some time,
but it has some drawbacks too. If you accidentally tilt the router in towards
the piece it will gouge it...I did it a few times, I keep hearing Jacques saying gaps are good


Here is the product of a days work, look close and you can see a gouge
on the lower stringer, it was worth it to me.



I need to recut bulkhead D, cut the hull panels and the transom, then I should be ready for some epoxy and fiberglass.

I used a respirator and safety glasses today, it helped protect my eyes and sinuses today. I highly recommend everyone use a respirator if they have any kind of sinus problems.

Until next time......

12/31/03 - Well, I think I finished the year out pretty good today....Got the side panels cut out with foot & half sponsons....I cut the bottom panel out, I still need to add the sponsons and cut the match. I started at 9:00 and finished at 6:00. Helped my neighbor fix his roof for about an hour and a half, lunch and email breaks..I'm beat, hope I can see the ball drop, probably will be my eye lids ...

Tip of the day: I am using five saw horses, could use two more, but I think less than five wouldn't be enough.

Good tool tip (had to pass this one): I had been buying spring clamps
all along, the last ones I bought was the mixed bag of clamps from Lowes, the plastic ones. They are okay and had been using them. Well today I needed some more so I went into the tool room and got my little Pony spring clamps out. Night and day difference in the Pony clamps and the cheap ones. Get the Pony orange spring clamps, strong like bull .

Bottom Panel


Side Panel

String some lights .... and keep going if you're on a roll! Don't forget to drink lots of water - have coffee on hand. If you're not using power tools the neighbors don't mind a 4 a.m. start!!!!

Looking forward to seeing the P16-S

Dave

Hehehe - I had gotten that bag of mixed clamps from Lowe's also! - Just to find several of them broken the next day, since I overextended them - had to use some small ones for a bigger job than they were made for, I guess.

Turns out that the big ones and the real small ones work OK- It was the medium sized ones that were weak for some reason.

I remember those "Bag O' Clamps". About 40% of them broke the first day, the rest were fine. Bad resin batches I guess. I didn't use any saw horses. I cut panels on the floor with 2X4s holding the sheets up in just the right spots. I didn't have the space required for saw horses, but I'd bet it made it easier. If you don't get saw horses, get some knee pads, you'll need them for glassing the insides anyway.

01/11/04 - Not much to report, except it is cold, for south Georgia anyway .....I got the other bottom panel cut out, that only leaves me with the transom and bulkhead D to cut out.

I decided not to go with the sponsons, reasons were, took up more room and for creek fishing it equated to more boat in the creek, if you understand. I fish some pretty narrow tidal creeks.

Hope to have some warmer days so I can glue some panels together and start stitching the hull up.

Until next time,

Finally got around to a little more work this weekend. Spliced the inside stringers together, got one side done on the outside stringers and a side panel. 4 ounce batches of epoxy seem to be working for me, I made sure to have something ready to make good use of any left over epoxy. My plans are to have all the panels spliced together this week, weather permitting.

Until next time happy building..

I just remembered my pics were gone, cause I changed service, I will correct that in a couple of days.

Side panels are spliced together, started putting the bottom panels together today. I can lay oneside of a bottom panel, spread 4 oz of epoxy and scan my hard drive at the same time

Until next time, keep building..

She is starting to look like something, might even look like a boat by tomorrow

Picture won't post?

http://www.myfishingpictures.com/waterm ... 0_0149.jpg

Thats some awful purty woot ya got thar youngun. heading for J-Ville in the morning. Jump in your car and make a run down. be glad ta see ya again. .
Ken

Chalk,

Nice components- smooth cuts, looks great! For a second there, I thought you bought Eric's kit.

-Dave

It's by far from smooth and even...I have learned one thing, nothings gonna be perfect or level, just close

Tips for the day: Remember to cut the notches larger than 3/8" and it is 1 foot to the top of the floor plus 1/2" plus the notch

Quick Update: It's a Hull /
http://www.myfishingpictures.com/waterm ... 0_0151.JPG

Everything pretty much fit....
http://www.myfishingpictures.com/waterm ... 0_0152.JPG

I'm beat and have an appointment with a snapper tomorrow

Very nice job! I wish mine fit that good when I stitched it together. But then I have learned that epoxy forgives most sins.

OD18
Chris

Lookin' good...

I have had alot of compliments on the "sawn" joints. If I had to pass a tip along it would be this:

Cut only one panel (There is hazards with this, if you mess up and don't catch it, it can cost you. But the odds of getting two matching pieces is greatly improved)
I cut the first panel with a circular saw and dressed the edges with a belt sander. Lay the finished piece on top of a sheet of plywood.
I fastened the panel with screws, 2 or 3 is plenty. I took a pencil and drew a rough line 1/4"+/- off the panel onto the sheet (easier to see than the panel edge). I took a jigsaw and roughed out the new panel. Using a plunge (adjustable) router with a flush trim bit and an upper bearing guide, I routed the new panel using the first panel as a guide. This will give you two identical pieces. Please take head that you can mess up big time, but if you succeed you will save time big time and be careful with the router.

Happy building

She is taped up and holding her own.... She will be flipped soon...

http://www.myfishingpictures.com/waterm ... 0_0161.JPG

http://www.myfishingpictures.com/waterm ... 0_0160.JPG

I see a low spot about 1/4 of the way in

































J/king btw

Monumental step accomplished...

She's flipped.....Square and waiting for me to finish her....

4 foot level for sizing her up..it is bigger flipped over....

http://www.myfishingpictures.com/waterm ... 0_0190.jpg

http://www.myfishingpictures.com/waterm ... 0_0191.JPG

I remember how quickly the basic hull panels went together on my Caravelle... except for the delay while training the bottom panels to take the curve to the bow transom. Still, that part of the construction was very fast. Putting in the frames also went quickly.

Then came the mods for actually finishing up before the paint. Fortunately, Noah loaned me some space on the ark, so I would not loose that stage of the boat in the flood. He tactfully left me out of the record though. (It was awkward having to put respirators on all those hiberating animals.)

And now, here in 2004 AD I'm glad to say that I think the seats will be completed and painted, hopefully the entire interior. The little bilge keels and outside of the hull, I hope to be done in september, if I can paint before the cold creeps into New England. The cold gets hard on the joints when you're several thousand years old you know....

ks

http://www.amateurboatbuilding.com/phpB ... .php?t=776

Sorry to hear your selling the boat. If I wasn’t working on one myself, I would certainly take it off your hands. At $1,000, someone will get a steal of a deal.