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  1. #136
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    They all look the same to me too Peter, and tell that silly bugger playing with the sail to sit down before he tips the whole bunch of 'em into the briny
    Bob Willson
    The term 'grammar nazi' was invented to make people, who don't know their grammar, feel OK about being uneducated.

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  3. #137
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    Nov 2003
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    Oh goodness, they do look awfully similar.:eek:

    No worries BM. I am on my way. Get them off the boat and lock them up under the house. Give them something to eat and tell them uncle Wongo will be there shortly. Tell them that I have found them a job but need another $2000 each for deposit.
    Visit my website at www.myFineWoodWork.com

  4. #138
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    Nov 2003
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    If I may interrupt this flippancy to get back to boat=building!

    I have to turn back the clock two weeks now, to the morning before the launch, to show the pics of the foils being finished!

    Pic 1)
    Epoxied foils get a once-over with 120 grit in the ROS. If you haven't done this quite a lot, it's best to do by hand as the ROS is a bit unforgiving when you are trying to finish with a perfectly fair finished surface. Note that the leading and trailing edges are left for a hand finish in any case.

    Pic 2)
    Here's the stack ready for the hand wizardry, 180 wet and dry. The trailing edges are sanded with a long, straight board to ensure that they have perfectly square, sharp corners, while the leading edge is carefully rounded.

    Pic 3)
    Leading edge is sanded using a gentle flick of the wrist, until the shine has completely disappeared. It's easy to tell how smooth and fair the edge is by watching the rate the shiny bit disappears.

    Pic 4)
    Launch day, two coats of varnish struggling to dry. We know they are too soft to use, but hey we're going sailing anyway!

    The tape on the top end is marked so we can drill some holes through for rope handles.

    More later!

    Cheers,

    P

  5. #139
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    Nov 2003
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    Fitting the rudders:
    1)
    A template makes drilling the holes for the rudder brackets a piece of cake.

    2)
    My favourite washer/packer/spacer material: an icecream bucket lid. Suitable size holes are punched and the spacers cut with scissors.

    3)
    A template makes drilling the holes for the rudder brackets a piece of cake-
    for most people.

    Note the tape over the first hole I drilled (middle bracket) when I set the template up off-centre! Stick the pin through the gudgeons (brackets) to make sure the holes are exactly aligned before tightening the bolts. (3/16 with nylock nuts).

    4)
    The rudder case is fitted, packers on the bottom bracket, pin through the middle and we're done. Note that the cases haven't been sanded and varnished yet, which explains the rough finish. Another "next month" job.

    5)
    Rudder in place. While it looks scary, the black rubber band is just the best way of keeping it there; it's easy to move up and down, and will "give" if run aground.

    Note the handle which is simply a short piece of rope knotted through two holes; another Storer minimalist hardware trick.

    Cheers,

    P

  6. #140
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    Nov 2003
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    And now the rigging, simplicity in itself and made simpler because Boatmik and I share a conviction that there's no point paying for a stainless steel bracket, if you can get away with tying a knot in a piece of string.

    1)
    Tiller extension. For the non-boaties, the tiller is the stick that you steer with, which is fine until you need to "hike" (lean out) to balance the boat, and you find your arms aren't long enough to reach, so an extension is called for, connected to the tiller with a universal joint. A patented stainless steel or neoprene universal joint costs around $30.00, but two holes and a piece of rope with a knot in each end will do the same job admirably.

    This can be seen also in the last pic on the post above.

    2)
    Mainsheet traveller. This is a bit of rope that goes athwartships (across the boat) and connects the block which holds the mainsheet (the rope that controls the sail). Often this will be attached to a pair of stainless steel saddles, through-bolted.

    We skipped all the hardware, drilled a hole through the gunwhale on each side, and popped the rope through, knotting it at the ends.

    3)
    Hiking straps. These are bits of seatbelt webbing that are setup so that one's feet can hook underneath them to balance when hiking (see note above!) Chandleries will try to sell you special stainless brackets, and maybe some buckles to adjust them, probably close to $20 worth of hardware.

    Here we've screwed them at the forward end to the front of the floor beams using rectangular "washers" cut from ply, and lashed them to the transom (the back of the boat) through a simple saddle. If necessary the lashing will take only a few minutes to adjust, and we've pocketed a lot of change again!

    4)
    Mast Partner.
    Woodborer raised a question about water intrusion a few pages ago. Here one of the partners is in place with the mast in position. The picture does not give a true impression of the clearance, which is less than one millimetre all round, and we've had no water splashed in to date (about 20 hours of sailing).

    The masts themselves are free-standing, so no other rigging is required, apart from lacing the sail onto the mast, and a snotter (the rope that holds the end of the sprit/boom).

    The boats can be rigged in a few minutes, and there is nothing expensive to break! Magic!!


    Next... well we have broken a few bits: so we'll share a few repair secrets!

    cheers,

    P

  7. #141
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
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    'Delaide, Australia
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    65
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    Quote Originally Posted by bitingmidge
    Next... well we have broken a few bits: so we'll share a few repair secrets!

    cheers,

    P
    So Midge, have you decided to tell them about having put your foot through the bottom of boat #2?

    And are you gonna tell them how quickly I was able to route off the bottom made of that godawful exterior ply and whack a new one on - this time out of some very nice gaboon ply?

    And how it only raised the cost of the boats by $30?

    Are you gonna tell them, Midge, are you?

    Boatmik

    Disclaimer - all decisions about materials used for the boats were joint decistions - so it wasn't REALLY just Midges fault!

  8. #142
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    Nov 2003
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    Oh alright then....maybe tomorrow after the scruffy hoardes have gone back to their home-caves and we have the place to ourselves again. The photos should be back from the Chemists by then.

    Finished the floor job on the second boat today, and scarfed the mast too!

    Step by step pics to come!

    (I actually delaminated the ply near the centrecase the first time I hopped in, but didn't do the real damage till the next day!)

    Cheers,

    P (Disclaimer 2 - although some of our joint decisions may look like we were on drugs, we really weren't. Let's just say we're pretty smug about proving our long held theories about the use of inferior materials!)

  9. #143
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    Quote Originally Posted by bitingmidge

    (I actually delaminated the ply near the centrecase the first time I hopped in, but didn't do the real damage till the next day!)

    Cheers,

    P (Disclaimer 2 - although some of our joint decisions may look like we were on drugs, we really weren't. Let's just say we're pretty smug about proving our long held theories about the use of inferior materials!)
    Hey Peter,

    When you delaminated the ply I think I took some pics of the quick and dirty repair that enabled the boat to keep going in a perfect watertight way. Pity the second hole was bit big for gaffer tape and a few screws!

    I just noticed that smug and drug rhyme. Far out baby!

    MIK

  10. #144
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    .. and so it came to pass!!

    Picture big boofheaded bloke hopping in his tiny boat for the first time, gently kneeling in the strongest part of the boat: with his knee hard against the centreboard case.

    Before the breeze had filled the sail for the first time, there was a Craaaaack sound coming from the floor, followed by what a police report may have described as "an ingress of water". Not bad enough to stop me going sailing all afternoon, but a bit of a letdown!!

    Saturday!
    Pics:
    1) Crack right alongside the centreboard case. Nothing at all wrong with the glue join or construction methods, just one layer of the ply delaminating :eek: ! Note this was not at the ply glue line either, a split UP THE MIDDLE OF THE VENEER. You couldn't do that if you tried!

    2) Next day Mik pics up his favourite tool: the battery screwdriver! This sort of temporary repair is typical of what goes on at small boat regattas, keep sailing at all costs! Well actually it's a very simple matter of keeping water out, or at least slowing it down to a dull roar.

    Three screws are plenty to take the load off the ply, or to spread it more sympathetically at least, so there's the structural fix complete! Later we'll glass tape the joint, but there's sailing to be done!

    3) Keeping the water out of the structural repair is easy with a bit of gaffer tape.

    Now back into the water, all ship shape again, and a bit of glassing to do after the weekend!

  11. #145
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    So we went out the next day of course, then the same boofhead was coming gently into shore, hit the bank, and rolled his weight onto the heel of his foot, which in turn created a larger Crraaaaaack, and even more water coming in through a heel-shaped hole in the bottom of the boat! :eek: :eek: :eek:

    We were prepared to be disappointed with the crappy construction ply, but this was an out and out shock!

    Pics:
    1) From the inside, a rather largish hole in the floor about the size of a size 11 heel. This wasn't stamped on from a great height, just sort of jerked/rolled. Amazingly daggy timber is all I can say! I've made crewmembers walk the plank for less!

    2) From the outside, all is revealed! Incredibly, there is a defect running LONGITUDINALLY in the ply, that is, parallel with the outer veneers! This was a "tear on dotted line" line, and just happened to be perfectly positioned half a heel width from the side tank. Note that I was standing adjacent to the tank, again this should have been one of the most structurally secure areas to have my weight! :confused:

    Note also the tape removed from the centreboard case, I guess we won't be having to repair that now!

    Oh well we still had one boat! And for about 20 hours or so of sailing the other hull got flogged, until well remember the pictures with the sun shining through the ply?? Those dotted lines started to give out too. (By then we had the other boat back in the water, so we could still sail!)

    Pics:

    3) Photos of sun shining through the voids in the ply. If you know what you are looking for, you will see some water in the ply, but the top veneer is still intact.

    4) Photos from outside: Interesting again! Note that the crack has gone right through the ply under the skid (which is a structural member). It's just given up and torn along the line, after starting to flex in the middle of the panel. We sailed this boat for a week in this condition, and probably could have kept going for half a season with only minor patch ups, but I was in the mood to fix it (while Michael was still there to do the hard slogging work!)

    Next: how to replace the bottom of your boat in an afternoon, and go sailing in the morning!

    Cheers,

    P

  12. #146
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    Well no good looking at it is it? The damaged boat I mean!

    What follows in the next couple of posts is a bit of a tutorial on how to replace a panel on any boat really. It's made easier for us, because the Puddleduck is such a regular shaped boat, but the principle is the same.

    Pics:
    1) From the inside, drill adjacent to all the bulkheads so when you flip the hull over you will know what is where. It's funny how even though you know you are going to be throwing away the ply, this is psychologically hard to do!

    2) Flip her over, and trace round the drill holes with a nice thick felt pen. Mik has used a blue one here, because that was the most expensive one he could find in my study! :eek:

    3) Pull out your router, (this is a 1200w GMC and perfectly adequate for the job) and set it to cut almost all the way through the last veneer, but not quite.

    4) After 20 minutes or so, the boat should look like this: quite a mess really!

    5) Another 20 minutes and all the ply has gone, a bit of hand cutting is necessary with the pull saw to get round the skids. Now we just need to spend about the same time again with the belt sander tidying it all up ready to glue the new sheet down.

    ...

  13. #147
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    Pics:

    1) Check that all the bits that are supposed to line up do so. Here a straight edge confirms that the side tanks and hull sides are all in one plane, and that's a good thing, It means there won't be any gaps when we stick the bottom on!

    2) Ready for the next big step! Note that the side tanks were originally filletted in only, and have a nice wide gluing area. There's no reason why we would have had a failure here, if I hadn't been so tight with the ply experiment!

    3) Screw the panel on temporarily. This will give a few "starter" locations for later, and will allow us to mark out the position of all the bulkheads so we can pre-drill screw holes to get a good clamped glue surface.

    4) Now flip it all over again, and get the biggest pencil you can find, one with pictures of Venice on it and capped with a big pink fluffball is perfect! Mark round all the edges of all the bulkheads!

    5) Mark the offsets of the sides as well. What we have just done is to create a "map" of the places we can screw to, which will be a very handy thing in an hour or so!

    We went and had tea.

  14. #148
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    Actually I lied about us having tea then... I just didn't know how to finish off the post.

    Pics:
    1) Drill screw holes at say six inch centres (or whatever seems right) in the premarked locations. The panel can now be precoated on the inside face with epoxy (3 coats please) and left to tack off. (Nope, you can't go to tea quite yet!)

    2) Now while the first coat of epoxy is going off is as good a time as any to mask all the surfaces which are going to come into contact with the epoxy glue, and a big cleanup is needed to get all that sawdust out of the hull as well. THEN we can have tea!

    3) Now we are back with full tummies, and screwing down the bottom with temporary screws. I haven't repeated the pics of glue spreading etc, as that was pretty well covered earlier, but you have to put glue on the bulkheads so the bottom stays in place once the screws are removed!

    Because of the thicker ply (6mm) we won't have to build new skids, and because of the better structural quality of the marine ply, we will also not need to glass tape the chines, so a big saving all round!

    4) We could screw everything except the side tanks, which were originally epoxy filletted and had no fixing area, so we clamped a couple of cauls the full width of the boat, and packed in the local area with a bit of 4mm ply, clamping just tight enough to get a nice consistent "squeeze out" for the lengh of the joint.

    5) Finally with the boat flipped over, we scrape all the excess glue off, and remove the masking tape before retiring for the night.

    I won't repeat the next steps, as they are the same as the construction process, but the next day we removed the screws and filled the holes, and gave the bottom a few coats of epoxy, undercoat in the afternoon, and went sailing the next day!

    As an aside, I was a bit weary after sanding the bottom of the second boat ready for paint, and was moving it to pack up using a method we'd discovered: using the centreboard case slot as a handle it's really easy to pick the boats up one handed and carry them. Only, I'd got to the end of the job, and forgotten to cut out the slot!

    Glad I didn't try to go sailing!

    Now we are back to where we started, almost.... the next installment may well be the one about how to fix a broken mast, followed next month sometime by the completion of the paint process! (If I don't break anything else in the meantime!)

    cheers,

    P

  15. #149
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    Sep 2002
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    Quote Originally Posted by bitingmidge
    big boofheaded bloke hopping in his tiny boat...
    then... same boofhead ... hit the bank.... weight onto the heel of his foot...
    Sounds like a case of 'the camel that broke the straw's back.'
    Cliff.
    If you find a post of mine that is missing a pic that you'd like to see, let me know & I'll see if I can find a copy.

  16. #150
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    I thought this'd be an interesting thread to keep an eye on but it got so big I lost track of it.

    I don't suppose there is a condensed version thats easier to read?
    Regards, Bob Thomas

    www.wombatsawmill.com

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