Texas GIS

[MiddleAgesMan]

My mixes have evolved since I built the Cosmos Mariner**. What I've learned is exactly as MIK describes above--thicken with high-strength filler (I have learned to like the 1/32" 'glass fiber filler) then tint with a dab of wood flour. It's quite amazing how much effect the flour has, not only on the color but on the consistency of the mix. A lot of 'glass fiber thickens it a good bit but a small pinch of flour adds much more. It's easy to grab TOO much wood flour for the final touch.

**My Simmons Sea Skiff will also be "Cosmos Mariner."

[woodeneye]

IIRC the "faces" are the sides you can see easily when the bulkheads are installed: aft faces of #1, 2 and 3 and forward face of 4.

Mmm, looks to me like BH# 3 breaks that "rule". The "face" of my BH3 is forward, so looks like I got mine wrong.

[Boatmik]

Maybe I got it wrong ... the framing is on the back of Bhd 3 I think. I do know one got built the other way round and he had to notch it out for the centrecase.

MIK

[john goodman]

Precoated the interior of the side panels and captured a few mosquitos and mosquito hawks in the process.

I worked until 3 am keeping the bugs out of the fresh epoxy and checking for bubbles.Managed 2 coats of wet-on-wet before calling it a night.

I will have to check the bulkhead layout and report how we layed them out. I am too tired to trust my memory.

Does any country besides the USA have Daylight Saving Time? This is when the clocks are changed 1 hour, spring forward, fall back.

[Joost]

Keep up the good work!

Yes, all countries in Europe. In Asia I know for sure India but probably most countries nowadays have this daylight saving time arrangement.

Best regards,

Joost

[jmk89]

We have daylight saving here in SE Oz. I used to love it, but with the anklebiters up until 8pm because of the light I'm not so sure!

[CCBB]

John, Watch that the kiddos don't get a rash from the epoxy or sensitized without gloves...

[CCBB]

[QUOTE=Boatmik;1126626]Hi John, If you put some woodflour (very fine sawdust from a sander) in the glue mix so it is similar to the timber and fill the gap nobody will be able to see it.

The System three EZ fillet is perfect for this

[john goodman]

Yes, the picture shows no gloves. I used this as a teaching moment to cover up the fact that I forgot to buy new gloves on the way home that night. Told the kids that there was only one way to do this, THE RIGHT WAY. Mix the epoxy without getting it all over the garage, you or the kat. Use the epoxy the same way. They did a good job of keeping themselves and the boat clean. We had to clean the kat. She was not happy.

I am collecting 2 different colors of wood flour. (My kids laugh when they put the flour into a medical specimen cup). The light color that comes form the plywood and spruce. The dark color comes from the WRC. I was amazed at how little dust it took to change the color of the epoxy.

We are using system 3 EZ fillet. I have added a little wood dust to shift the color when needed. We have also added some raw epoxy to the EZ fillet to thin it some. We were needing it thiner to fill a narrow by deep joint. It worked well and hardened nicely.We will use this custom mix to fill the gaps at the bulkhead and chine log intersection.A little EZ fillet, raw epoxy, wood flour and presto no gaps!

[john goodman]

The Goat goes 3D. The hull is now dry fit. With the help of the kids and wife it went together easy.

We started with Bulkhead 2 & 1. Used 2 clamps screwed to the chine and webbing to hold the bottom edge together in front of bulkhead 1. This idea came from this formun. Sorry, I cannot find the link this minute. But thank you for posting your ideas.
Then Bulkhead 3 & 4.

Then stem. We planned the chines down to made them just a little more flexible at the bow. We took off about 1/4" of thickness and tapered it back 8". The stem (WRC) went together with 3 people squeezing and screwing. Only 1 screw stripped out. We did realign the starboard side panel to get the sides to match right at the top of the stem. This is critical on my boat due to the way the gunnels are going to be built.

We checked the tapers on the transom before cutting them and made a slight 3mm adjustment to get everything to match.

The notches in the bulkheads are about 50/50 when it comes to craftmanship. I am not sure where I made the mistake, but it will get fixed. I am thinking of adjusting a few of the bevels to get a tighter fit between the side arm and hull panel.

We checked for squareness. Bulkhead 1 & 2 were not parallel and needed a 2 mm adjustment. There is a 3 mm diagonal discrepancy between bulkhead 2 & 3 and a 5mm between 3 & 4. These will be addressed when I get a little more rest and can think clearer. I know not to make critical decisions at 1am.

We made and used Clint’s little alignment tool to verify we had the bottom of the bulkheads aligned with the side panels. It works well and we will have to adjust 2 locations.

Our transom top frame came out really nice. It is possible a little stronger than what the book calls for, but I wanted it that way due to the mizzen mast being located so close to the transom.

We are really happy with how the boat is progressing and wish to thank all those that contribute to the forums.

PS. The forumn really helps the kids with world geography too! We use Google Earth to find the countries and towns throughout the world of the posts.

Flickr: Texas GIS' Photostream


I want to be a pirate when I grow up!

[woodeneye]

The kid's interest will be pretty high right now as this is a special time.

As for the chine log notches, the pox will fill pretty big gaps later after you fix the bottom, and if you colour it with a little wood dust, it can be made pretty invisible!

I had similar alignment discrepancies, but as long as the bulkheads are aligned to the marks on the sides and the bottom ply edges of the BHs are flush with the ply edges of the sides, you will be fine. When the bottom goes on and you align the centreline to the centre markings of the BHs, I found that the hull squared itself up perfectly.

Looks like you're all having a lot of fun. Congratulations on your achievement!

[StephenR]

You are making great progress. Congrats. If your kids are into Google Earth here are a couple of links. The first shows where my Goat is being built (my house is in the middle - you cant quite see an epoxy-covered me sweating away in the car porch). Note the bit of native forest across the street - a remnant of Mata Atlantica - and the second is the sailing grounds I eventually hope to launch it into:
cotia brasil - Google Maps

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...44014&t=h&z=11

Steve

[CCBB]

Good job, John. Teach your kids something someone told me and I am using more than ever:

"Don't let perfect get in the way of 'done'."

At my boat show display, I am next to a shiny, varnished Whitehall. Our boats (mine being Drake which is all paint) are similar dimensions. They get more lookers, because it is shiny and mine gets more rowers engaged because it looks nice, but it looks like it gets used several hundred miles per year.

Any thing can be fixed too when it comes to mistakes.

Clint

[john goodman]

Learned something last night while we glued the bulkheads in.

Don't let your kids change the radio to their music!!!! Gluing the bulkheads in a fairly stressful moment, a point of no return type thing. With their music playing/blaring I had a hard time concentrating and finally had to turn it off. (read: Dad got angry)

So if you are working with your kids, turn off the music and let everybody concentrate on the task at hand. It was so much easier without the additional distraction.

Boat News:

Bulkheads/stem/transom all now glued. Our order for gluing.
Bulkhead 2, 1, stem, 3, 4, transom. With all the extra hands this went well. If working by yourself and using this order of assembly be ready to wrestle with the stem.

On the starboard side bow at the chine log we heard a loud crack while screwing it back together with the glue. After careful inspection we found the the plywood had split on the bottom edge aft of the stem. The crack starts about 15mm behind the end of the chine log and travels towards the bow for about 35mm and is open 1mm. We added some epoxy and drove a wedge between the chine logs to close up the gap. After the glue sets, temperature was around 45F last night, we will flip the boat and see if any additional fix is required.

Now we wait for the glue to set because it got real cold last night. Well, at least for Texas cold, 45F.

[BobWes]

Since we all have our own idiosyncrasies, a blanket statement like, "when working with your kids turn off the music and let everyone concentrate on the task at hand," doesn't always fit. I find I am more distracted without some sort of white noise in the background. My preference is rock and roll oldies but have had newer stuff playing when my kids have helped. I don't fully understand how it works, but I find quiet to be quite distracting when focusing on something else. When camping or boating I prefer to listen to what is going on around me without music cluttering things up.

That task may have been easier for you to concentrate on without the music, but are you absolutely sure it was easier for your children? Could have been, but maybe they are the sort who work better with background noise.