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  1. #46
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    Hmm...well, I've just glued up both chinelogs. I knew there was a reason for procrastinating over this one, he said trying to get the glue out of his hair and off his boots, tools... At least I managed to keep the camera lens clear of the stuff! BUT - I didn't noticed that I'd bumped the program dial on the blessed thing until about half way through taking snaps. Oh well - concentrating on the process is much better than concentrating on a process viewing the process.

    The mess wasn't as bad as I've painted it (as it were), but messier than I would have liked. I lost count of the pairs of gloves, too, not to mention the ones that split when donning because I appear to have got a size too small.

    Anyway, the actual locating of the tape and the two glued-up sets wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. I suspect that I've been using cyanoacrylate too long (on the aircraft), and have got used to glues that go off in seconds or less, rather than an hour or less.

    And next time I use the powders, I m going to fluff the stuff up a bit (wearing the heavy-duty snout protector and outside the workshop!) with the useful flour sifter and/or pair of (snaffled, ahem ;) soup spoons that I use to break up the clumps of Q-cels for aircraft fairing, etc. I spent far too long (in my opinion) breaking up the lumps in the high-strength powder and homogenising the mixture.

    Anyway, some photos to demonstrate that this part of the build is in fact done, after weeks of quacking about it (well, it is a duck, innit?).

    1. The two sets of chinelogs, glued, taped and clamped. The heavy duty snout protector sits quietly in the background, having a conversation with the BoteCote booklet and MIK's instruction manual.





    2. The complete array (again), from the bow end looking aft. I'm really glad I got those extra clamps the other day, but could have done with more of them to clamp between the stations...





    3. Two chinelogs, two clamps...





    4. Some more clamps added to squeeze back some wayward between-station outer laminate sections that were trying to escape westwards...





    5. I did, however, have all these small spring clamps, which I pressed into service;





    6. There y'are, a forest of clamps. That's pretty well it for this stage (thank goodness, I can move on now), apart from some cheese removal...er, done while I waited for the last two images to upload :).





    I've got to get the saw set up now to chop up some bits of oregon for frame parts, coaming/carlins and gunwales.

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  3. #47
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    Is it just me, or does BoteCote epoxy solvent smell - and evaporate - exactly like neat acetone?

    I left the chinelogs clamped in position on the jig overnight, but took all but two clamps off while cleaning up the remaining glue while it was still a bit flexible. Ratchet clamps back went back on before going to bed.

    Looks quite good - not as messy as I was afraid it was going to be in in the end. Will still need the ROS, though.

    Two pics of the reduced setup:

    1. Two clamps:





    2. Closeup while the logs are relatively devoid of clamps - there actually is tape in between the two chinelogs, but being clear it is only just visible as a faint line about halfway down the bottom chinelog...





    The radius of the 1/4-round router bit appears to be 5/32 - measures out at a bit over 3.9 mm with the digital calipers, so may be OK for the hull after all. Will test first though!

    First piece of oregon only yielded shortish (< 1100 mm) pieces between knots, so will put them aside for use making inwale spacers on the Goat. Will be able to get some longer pieces for the gunwales, etc., off the other bits in hand.

  4. #48
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    9:30 am - here we are, off the jig at last. Paulownia is very flexible timber. This is going to be interesting with respect to the mast...

    Overall, this seems to be quite successful. There was a lot of glue on the undersides of the chinelogs, where I could get at it. ROS for them, but only one side of each, not two :).

    Photos:

    1. See, there was tape on there. Didn't believe me, did you? ;)





    2. And there was quite a lot of it, too...





    3. The resilience of the Paulownia has made the timber spring back somewhat from the jig shape - but not so much that it will snap when I glue the chinelogs onto the side panels...





    4. Placed on a side panel to test-fit - not exactly the same shape, but close enough to be able to be bent again easily. Paulownia is very flexible. Note that the jig has been totally dismantled, including all the tape.





    Back to the sawing now, I suppose. With the heavy duty snout protector on...

  5. #49
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    It all looks great Alex,

    The main reason for the lamination is just to make sure the bits don't snap when they are bent into position. Super accuracy is not required.

    Looks like the Aeromodelling has given you a good bunch of work practices. Good and clean effort!

    MIK

  6. #50
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    Thanks MIK!

    I do try hard, and get a real kick out of it when things work out :). And the aeromodelling has helped *a lot* - small details, jig-building, and constant, unbending, unflinching attention to WEIGHT!

    I just got in from sawing up a 2.4 m piece of oregon for the 19 x 45 frame pieces and stern transom bottom piece - and taking some photos of a wittle wizard (a 200 mm skink, nose to tail-tip) that was lying sunning itself on the doorstep :). Most of it (the wood, not the lizard!) is clear and straight, and I'll get all the frame parts out of this lot. The Paulwonia isn't going to cut it (so to speak) for these parts (gunwales nor coaming neiver) as they're too exposed. But the chinelogs, out-of-the-way cleats and the foils (the 19 x 45 bits, cut down the middle to 19 & 25 mm widths and use the 25 mm) will be fine, I think.

    More sawing when I've had a break and moved the saw table (to tackle a 3 m piece) - one of the Triton's great strengths :).

    Cheers,
    Alex.

  7. #51
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    Whew! Glad that's over: trimmed up one and a half planks, and got some reasonable stock to do the frames and gunwales with. Selected the two clearest pieces for the gunwales.

    Plus - started work on converting the WRC wall cladding into boat foils - amidst a blizzard of sawdust. The problem with t&g is that there are various channels for the sawdust to come scooting out from - and the depth of cut was such that the (home-made per Triton tip) edge-trimming sawdust fence couldn't be used. So the sawdust poured out in clouds!

    I now have a stack of squared-off boards 75 mm-odd wide, awaiting glueing up into 30 mm sandwiches using Purbond, being careful to check grain orientation when sorting the pieces. Then I'll slice them up into 25 mm-size strips ready for glueing into foil blanks, along with the Paulownia.

    Which reminds me, I need to locate my special stack of house-bricks that I use to weigh things down while glueing. Hopefully I didn't chuck 'em out in the last purge...

    1. Here's the skink mentioned in my previous post, happily sunning itself on our (wooden) doorstep. 'Ullo :).





    2. Plank # 1: before milling. Lots of knots in all the wrong places!





    3. Plank # 1: after milling it all up. Some burn marks visible from slowing down too much. Also some of the dreaded knots. The best of these pieces will be used for the Frame 1 & 2 hull and transom (and probably the other bulkhead) bottom stiffeners/cleats.





    4. Plank # 2: before milling. This one actually yielded the longest pieces of relatively clear 19 x 19 mm that could be used for the gunwales (the remains of plank # 1 in top right). I found this one a bit difficult to machine, but nothing compared with....





    5. ...these! Look - lots of (rather thin) battens! Or a giant game of Fiddlesticks... The offcuts from trimming the tougues and grooves off eleven 3 m lengths of WRC interior wall cladding (unfortunately coated with a waxy finish that will have to be sanded off before glueing up). The widespread and liberal coating of sawdust is at the other end of the Triton (where you can't see it ;). There will have to be some very serious cleaning up to be done (with the mask on), and it's times like this that I really miss the old shop vac (may it rest in peace in the tip). This photo is also a sort of "after" shot of plank # 2, as I left over half of it (with knots) uncut, to work on at a later date.





    Not sure why I didn't take photos of the end result. Anyway, saves bandwidth for all concerned. Glueing various long bits onto the side panels, plus sanding off the machined bits and getting on with the bulkheads to follow next. I cut to the chase and ordered a "Two Cheeries" chisel this morning, for working on the framing (and fixing a chair for the Missus). Grinding the back of the file I've been working on will take too long to complete within a reasonable time (well, that's my excuse anyway ;).

    Curiously, my snout settles down when I wear the respirator - in the workshop - but explodes when I take it (the mask, not the snout) off upstairs. So maybe there's an allergic reaction or two as well as the cold. Or maybe it's all allergy! Eek!

  8. #52
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    The joys of Permagrit - it stormed through BoteCote+high-strength. Most impressed. This was to get the "undersides" of the chinelogs cleaned up. 5 minutes and there wasn't a trace of it on the entire length, apart from the glue line...

    So - I've now got the chinelogs and gunwales/sheer clamps screwed onto the two side panels (see pics), and have been messing about with the sanding block and the plane.

    The sanding block to get the side panels and 3 bulkeads ready for 3 coats of BoteCote each, and the plane to trim down some of the produce from yesterday's saw-fest before I cut 'em up for cleats, etc.

    Another mistake! Photo # 1 may show this if you look hard enough. I got carried away while sanding the foredeck region of the side panels, and there is a pronounced dip just aft of the prow. This became evident as I was attempting to bend the gnuwale into position and thinking, gee, this is probably harder to do than it should be. I subsequently removed the screws from the foredeck area and let the gunwale assume the shape that it wanted to, which resulted in a much fairer curve and closer to what MIK had designed. There will a gap between the top of the side panel and the top of the sheer clamp (even after planing), but the glue mixture will fill that up to some extent.

    The real problem is that both sides are identical, and getting the curve to become identical at that point is going to be, er, "interesting". I think the best way around this will be to clamp both sides together on a flat surface, and run an engineer's square along the gunwale tops until a gap appears at one of them, then add ratchet clamps to the other one until the gap disappears, checking for fairness, then nail that gunwale down again.

    1. Blank holes where the screws have been removed. The sheer clamp has a nice smooth curve - looked at from the bow the side panel at the foredeck end doesn't!






    2. The world's thinnest Puddleduck - the "Puddleduck Ultraslim Razor Canoe for exceedingly thin sailors" - a beam of approx 45 mm. Hey, I've already got the centrecase built!






    3. Looking down into the boat - there's just room for a centreboard!






    That's it for today. More fiddling with bits of oregon and Paulownia tomorrow evening. I'll probably leave all the glueing up until the weekend...

  9. #53
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    Welcome back to Oz, MIK!

    Bother this cold! No workshop for me this evening...

    I must say that I'm sorely tempted to go back "home" (I grew up in Adelaide) and do the Autumn Duck Flat building course, although having spent $$$ on the Duck, I will have to be content with pressing my nose to the glass when MIK publishes the photos. We can't even afford the trip to Adelaide at the moment for our daughter to see her cousins...

    Some notes on wood ducks - Chenonetta jubata. It apparently is a duck, not a goose - in the group of "dabblers", even though it nests in trees and doesn't like water very much(!). Just looks like a goose. All in all, a bit like me, really ;). They are more closely related to shelducks according to some taxonomists. Amusing - one of my favourite books as a kid was Jean MacGibbon's "Red Sail, White Sail" - which I found quite a bit before "Swallows and Amazons": the "Red Sail" of the title was called "Shelduck", a boat not dissimilar to "Swallow", if I remember rightly.

    Geese and ducks are in fact in the same family of birds, but in a different "tribe" (for those of you up on your zoological taxonomic nomenclature :). And the polytarp colour that DF sent me is about the right grey for the main body (feather) colour of the wood duck.

    On the subject of the mast step (for want of anything else to rabbit on about), I rang up the local engineer's suppliers yesterday in my quest for a 9 mm bolt, to be told that there "ain't no such a thing as a 9 mm bolt". Choices are either 10 mm (or 8 mm) or 3/8 ". So it' will boil down to whatever's in stock (there's 18.7 thou diff in diameter between 10 mm & 3/8 ") at around 5 "/125 mm length. Which turns out to be 10 x 120 mm in 304 grade.

    Other alternative solutions to my Duck's beak problem:

    Draw another sheer line and compare and adjust that way;

    Leave as-is and try and ignore it (the most difficult option ;).

    It's only a mm or so out at maximum over a relatively short stretch (between 150 and 200 mm from the very tip of the beak), but it looks odd nonetheless, and not in a good way to my eye. It may also affect the distance between mast step and partner (unless I allow for a bulge in the middle of the foredeck, eek!), although given the distance between the front of the mast and the dip, it may not be so much of an issue. A sheer line drawing check will confirm this.

    I'll continue to ponder this problem while I'm making up the bulkheads (when I get back into the workshop again, of course...).

  10. #54
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    Nick

    Thanks for the detailed build description. I am really enjoying it and it is great preparation for my build (maybe later this year)

    I have also used permagrit for model airplanes (I preferred free flight so it is no surprise that our paths have not crossed ).

    For you and, more importantly others who would like to try permagrit (I agree it is really good stuff) - here is their website in Australia:
    http://www.permagrit.com.au/
    Cheers

    Jeremy
    If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly

  11. #55
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    Hi Jeremy,

    Quote Originally Posted by jmk89 View Post
    Nick
    Nick? Sure you've got the right thread? ;).

    Thanks for the Oz Permagrit link - this'll save having to import the stuff directly! Don't know why I didn't think of looking for an Oz Permagrit site myself...

    Btw, do you fly at Jubilee Park or St Ives? They are about the only grounds that I know of in this neck of the woods apart from the Warringah club in the national park at Belrose (and that's R/C).

    Cheers,
    Alex.

  12. #56
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    Sorry Alex (got confused)

    I used to fly out at Richmond on the turf fields there - just about the only place around Sydney you can fly FF
    Cheers

    Jeremy
    If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly

  13. #57
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    Quote Originally Posted by jmk89 View Post
    Sorry Alex (got confused)

    I used to fly out at Richmond on the turf fields there - just about the only place around Sydney you can fly FF
    Ah - OK. I've heard of the Richmond (=Pitt Town Bottoms?) club - the Warringah club is a bit closer to me, so I joined that one until my sub lapsed (ongoing concreting job under the house - i.e., in the workshop - took over).

    Permagrit site looks good. Much the same catalogue as the UK site (identical?), but much, much more convenient :).

    Cheers & thanks,
    Alex.

  14. #58
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    Not much to report this evening - didn't do much apart from trying to knock the cold on the head once and for all. Also had a nice chat with Ted at Duck Flat this arvo - the polytarp is just back in stock, so the lug-sail piece and eyelets will be on their way shortly. Excellent :). He also reminded me that DF also do a Spring school, which I'd forgotten about. Cool... :).

    I unfolded the sprit-rig tarp the other day, and rolled it up in a 4 m long tube - thought it would be kinder to the material to store it like this, and also might allow some of the creases to work out under their own steam.

    Only actual physical work on the Duck today was on the stern transom stiffener that fits between the bottom and top frames/cleats, machining from raw materials, after dinner.

    1. Piece of oregon(?*) as sawn off a length of 4 x 2 (previously a part of a work bench that I made over 12 years ago, but which got replaced by a form-ply model, also home-made - the one in fact that the mill and computer screen and a whole lot of unsorted clutter live on, seen in the background in a number of previous photos).



    The strange contraption next (actually attached) to the saw's blade guard is the sawdust deflector used when edge trimming, to prevent clouds of sawdust zooming into the air - and which I couldn't fit when slimming down the WRC wall cladding the other day...



    2. I rough-faced the block on four sides (leaving the ends until I do the final trim cuts to bring to length at 180 mm), then sliced it (more or less) in half. The block had to be turned over 180 degrees on its short edge and run through a second time as the blade doesn't stick up high enough - which is probably a Good Thing! The "worm hole" visible in the bottom left of the LH piece is actually an old screw hole from when this piece of wood was part of the work bench mentioned.





    3. And the pieces after a fair bit of planing and sanding (more sanding than planing ;). Will probably use the one on the right as grain is more even, and I didn't gouge the face out of it with the plane, as in the LH piece, said marks visible at the top of the piece.





    * When I got this timber, it was almost white, and for years I have thought that it wasn't oregon at all. I have since come to think that it is oregon, but was sold in "green", non-kiln-dired state. It certainly not WRC - wrong colour and smell.

    Oh, and I spenmt a few minutes with the sanding block and callipers getting the bottom stiffener piece more rectangular rather than trapezoid. I also foundt that I'm going to have to reset the saw in the table - not one of the Triton's great strengths in my opinion - but I'm a lazy so-and-so ;). Always a flea in Paradise, as the saying goes... The blade is not running straight along the longitudinal axis of the table.

  15. #59
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    And as for today - it was something of a tools day - no work on the boat as such. A lot of running around the countryside getting a couple of Japanese Z-saws, a quite solid little Soba low-angle block plane, a 1/4" shank CMT 3.2 mm roundover bit for the Elu (in case I need to switch over from the Dremel - I have my suscpicions that that cutter mightn't last too long with my tender mercies); and a 10 mm 304 stainless bolt/nut/washer set for the mast step from the local engineer's supplies (Mitchell's in Hornsby). The Veritas flush-cutting saw that I occasionally use is a wee bit too whippy to use as a general purpse saw(!), so I thought I'd try out a "real" Japanese saw and see if they are all that they are cracked up to be (often by the companies who sell them, of course ;). Although essentially disposable(?), they do apear to be ultra sharp, as a couple of cuts through 19 mm sq. oregon attest. I had something similar in terms of tooth set once in a Swiss Army knife (which I sadly lost in some dense scrub while doing some fencing at my brother-in-law's place in the Adelaide Hills), and nearly lost a finger on several occasions. These saws look as thouogh they're even more capable on that front! No real comment yet on these items other than they're dead sharp (which is good :).

    Another visit to Bunnies yielded more of those useful (and cheap) black-and-yellow ratchet- and black-and-orange spring-clamps. I think I might have almost enough for the Goat's gunwales by now. Guess who forgot to check out the foam paint rollers again, though...<sigh>

    It's occurred to me that the River Torrens (or Lake Scum as I rudely call it during certain times of year) would be an interesting place to sail the thing - and have fun trying to out-run Popeye :). Which I'm sure it would. Although Adelaide City Council no doubt has restrictions about doing fun things like that. Nice idea, though. Maybe an annual Adelaide Duck regatta to raise money for something worthy - perhaps even the City Elders might be able to be persuaded... I can just imagine AJ and BoatMIK scooting down to the weir and back, weaving in and out of the paddleboats. Hah! At least there wouldn't be as many sharks as over here at the moment!

    Decided to strip down the Triton this evening, after recovering from my shopping trip and locking myself out of house, workshop and car just before I was due to pick the daughter up from school. Got to do more routine maintenance on this beast - it was millimetres deep in "flour" in some spots, and it's wonder that it didn't catch fire. I spent about an hour with the vacuum cleaner and a 50 mm paint brush (bespoke for the task), getting into the nooks and crannies of the saw and table structures.

    Only one photo tonight, showing off the smaller of the two rather vicious shiny new saws. The top cleat (on the right of photo) has just been attacked by the saw: a nice clean cut. Last night's block at top.





    I'm going to have to stop and read the instructions for aligning the saw carefully: I only recently upgraded the Triton's saw chassis adding the stabilisation bracket at the same time and from memory the method for adjusting the saw is somewhat different from the way it was done in the old chassis. And I don't want to make any mistakes and have the saw/blade drifting again. there's aslo a bag full of swadust that I have to dispose of - the garden? Maybe: I don't use MDF, so the only suspect stuff is going to be the resorcinol from the form-ply used in my concreting job.

    While I'm in maintenance mode, I am going to go back through the thread soon and weed out the more superfluous photos, as at the current rate I will run out of space before I even get to 3D!

    Enough rabbitting for tonight. Tomorrow evening's another day...

  16. #60
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    Howdy Alex,

    I am loading the puddleducks to go to the Goolwa wooden boat festival right now. Show opens tomorrow and runs saturday, sunday and monday.

    Mike will be bringing his sexy black PDRacer too. With the shallower water there won't be the launching from between the jetties problem of last time round ... will be able to walk the boats to the water. And there is still plenty of water in the channels, even for larger boats

    Michael

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