New Queensland PDRacer Build

duncang · #1 2nd Feb 2008, 05:55 PM

G'day Folks,

Today I commenced cutting of my PDRacer. I'd originally planned to build a kayak, however after sailing one of these things up at BitingMidge's last week (thanks Steve!), I was hooked. So the racer is pretty much a practice run on boat-building before I start on the kayak.

First of all, I picked up some Gaboon ply from Boatcraft Pacific - They warned me about the potentially poor quality so after selecting a couple of nice looking sheets I thought it would be a good test run to see how they went in the racer before committing to using it for the kayak. As it turned out, the sheets I got were ok. The quality and consistency (colour, surface, defects etc) does very considerably however. The surface veneers were quite sound, and very few if any small voids in the core. I also had a closer look at the 'Pacific Maple' at Boatcraft - it is 0.5kg heaver than the Gaboon for 4mm sheets, so for the whole kayak, about 1-1.5kg heavier if using this ply (3 sheets).

Anyway, on to the photos...

1) Laying out the panels. This pic shows the fairing batton I used on the sheer curve.

2) This is what happened to my finger jointed pine batton when attempting to clamp it to the chine curve

. I'd actually spent some time sifting through the pile to find a length which was not kinked. Two lessons here - 1. finger jointed pine is RUBBISH! 2. I could probably have used a more flexible batton. For the shorter side boyancy tanks, I ended up using my meter long steel rule on its edge which worked ok, if a light touch was used.

3) One completed side panel! Thanks to my friend Richard who helped hold the panels while i was cutting

4) 3D! sorta...

5) One PDRacer.. Ikea style

I was really surprised how well my Japanese saw worked for cutting out the panels.. Very fast and a good finish.

One question (for Mik?).. What is the best way to plane the concave edge of the side panels? do you use a spokeshave?

Cheers,
Duncan

Boatmik · #2 2nd Feb 2008, 06:08 PM

Howdy Duncan!

To the questions.

To plane the concave edge just extend the blade of the plane out further. If you are using a block plane or a something like a #4 it should work OK - but with a longer bed plane it might be a bit tricky. The other way is to leave the excess on there but glue on the sheer clamp and the chine log - then trim off the excess after.

The places to avoid the fingerjointed timber are any pieces that are only glued to the ply on one face or have high curvature.

So the transverse bottom stiffeners, Transom top stiffener, the transverse lateral support at the top of the centrecase and the carlins. For curvature the chinelogs should be continuous timber too.

Everything other part of the hull can be finger jointed.

Michael

duncang · #3 2nd Feb 2008, 07:18 PM

Thanks for the tip on the planing Mik.

By all means move this thread to the Storer forum - I should have put it there orgininally!

D.

Boatmik · #4 3rd Feb 2008, 01:50 AM

This is the video of Duncan having a sail around Mooloolaba on the OZ PDR.

The crew experience level was fairly minimal (I hope that is fair Duncan?) but they wandered around in quite a puffy breeze for most of an hour without getting into strife - or at least more strife than they wanted to be in!

Duncan Sailing

The blue sail is cheap polytarp - but it has been used for around a year before it was retired. We brought it back into action to get Steve's orange PDR on the water. It has probably had as much use as many boats would get in a couple of years.

Was $20 in materials. We do recommend now that people use the better quality polytarp - it does more than double the price but it will more than double the longevity of the sail.

Best wishes
Michael.

bitingmidge · #5 3rd Feb 2008, 08:54 AM

Duncan!

You have a serious affliction! Good for you!

As far as planing the concave bits goes, it helps to keep the plane at a fairly extreme angle as well, say 45°. That effectively shortens the length of the sole in contact with the edge, and also lowers the angle of the blade in contact with the piece.

Keeping the blade really sharp will help too, and don't be too aggressive with the depth of blade. When Mik said "extend a little bit", I'd emphasise the "little".

Cheers, and great stuff!

P

duncang · #6 3rd Feb 2008, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boatmik

The crew experience level was fairly minimal (I hope that is fair Duncan?)

Absolutely fair Mik.. I'm completely green here. Aiden was doing most of the experimenting and got the hang of it quicker than me, but it didn't take long to get a feel for it.

I finished off planing the concave bits last night. It took a few goes at getting the plane set at the right depth (is that the right term??) but once set it was fairly straighforward.

Thanks,
Duncan

Boatmik · #7 3rd Feb 2008, 07:51 PM

The final test is always - if something works in a straightforward way it is probably an OK method.

MIK

duncang · #8 8th Dec 2008, 09:32 PM

Well, I can't believe it is so long since I worked on the PDR, but on the weekend I finally got around to laminating the chine logs as per the plans. All went well - I found the process a bit messy to begin with, but once I got the hang of managing the epoxy it was ok.

I have some time off over christmas, and so am planning to spend a few days getting the PDR to 3D.

bitingmidge · #9 9th Dec 2008, 10:32 AM

Maybe ready for the first anniversary visit then?

P

Boatmik · #10 9th Dec 2008, 02:52 PM

Great to see that some more blows are being struck! Life can get busy can't it!

You should invite yourself over to Midges for another sail!

hehe

MIK

duncang · #11 20th Dec 2008, 08:58 PM

Last weekend I started on the stern transom framing. I used the 'one-hit-coating-and-gluing' method here, however this was a mistake for the first timer, as it ended up quite messy

It all worked out well in the end however, and today I installed the tiller block to complete the framing on that panel.

Today I also pre-coated the bow transom and cockpit bulkhead, ready for framing.

Boatmik · #12 22nd Dec 2008, 07:09 AM

Howdy Duncan,

The one hit method works best when it is a big piece of ply that is being coated and attached to framing on the main body of the boat. It is a bit tricky if you need to put framing on the piece itself at the same time.

Sounds like you are working it out well anyhow.

Best wishes
Michael

duncang · #13 28th Dec 2008, 04:56 PM

Hi Folks,

Over the last few days I've completed the framing required to get the boat to 3D - here's some pics of the intermediate steps and the boat screwed together in the shed

1) 3D!
2) Cockpit Bulkhead
3) Chine log

Cheers,
Dunc

Boatmik · #14 28th Dec 2008, 10:29 PM

Wow Duncan ... the plywood looks really nice.

Also the precoating and masking has worked well.

To save labour you can sand parts that will be varnished or painted later.

Best wishes
Michael

duncang · #15 29th Dec 2008, 04:33 PM

Thanks Michael. Yes, the pre-coating has worked out well - as you say, the next step is to final sand the relevant bits before gluing this together and getting the bottom on. Getting there slowly but surely