Building the OZ PD Racer - now renamed the OzRacer

[bitingmidge]

http://homepage.mac.com/peterhyndman/PDRacer/duck.jpg

On another thread or two in the Design forum, there has been a little discussion which it seems may well lead to an attempt to hold the 2007 PDRacer World Championships at the Goolwa Wooden Boat Festival (no one has told the Official Body yet, so let's just keep that as our little secret for now eh?), and of course the Queensland Championships on April Fool's Day have already been announced.

The only snag in all of this, is that to date, as far as we can tell, there are no actual PDRacers in the country, so we (Boatmik and I) have set out to rectify that situation by building a suite of them. OK we're building an identical pair, to the PD(Puddle Duck) Racer design rule, interpreted by Boatmik, with the most important bit, the colour scheme, chosen by yours truly.

(Just to skip forward a bit. This is a video of one of the boats to come from this devlopement in 2010 - it shows a square shaped boat with polytarp sails can sail very well indeed - Brad Hickman sailing in Oklahoma - OK)
YouTube - PDRacer #431 at Lake Eufaula Oklahoma

Some of our northern hemisphere compatriots, have produced boats that are mildly efficient. Many are spectacularly economical and simple to construct, although not all could be described as beautiful, and some aren't even handsome.

Our objective is to produce a pair of boats in essentially one weekend, (except for painting), complying with the rule, that will sail efficiently, be reasonably durable, economical (read cheap) and most importantly look reasonably attractive.

We have already given ourselves a bit of a head start, by laminating the foil blanks and chine logs (the bent bits round the bottom of the hull sides), and since we have elected to fully coat the boats in epoxy for durability we will precoat one side at least tomorrow so we can get going.

Once we have proven the construction, Boatmik will offer an "Australianised" metric version of the drawings on his website (free download in keeping with the spirit of the class).

To kick off, below is our budget, and our thoughts on the minimum construction cost might be for a basic boat, we'll tell you how we went in a week or so!

Pic Shows Boatmik hard at work on the new secret keel design (I've seen it, but you lot will have to wait till after we win the cup!).

Cheers,

P

http://www.pdracer.info

[bitingmidge]

The pics begin:

1) Bits of 125 x 19 finger jointed pine (Ex window reveals) being de-stapled. These are 1500 long, and as we need 1100 and 900 respectively for the centreboard and rudder, will need to be made longer. There are already more joints in them than one can poke a stick at, and the foils need to be 22 mm thick anyway, so we've decided to do a bit of what my beloved calls "quilting". ie, cutting a perfectly good stick up into little bits, and gluing it back together to make a stick in a different shape.

2) Now we have a pile of 19 x 22's that are too short one end.

3) A few minutes of puzzle work, and we have the strips in a configuration that gives us a 2000 long board, ready for laminating. I have chosen "yellow" cross-linked PVA, because we are going to be glassing the foils when they are finished, and it's plenty strong enough.

4) The boards glued (top of pic) while an eclectic collection of second-hand junk waits to be converted to boat scantlings. In that pile are pine skirtings, door reveals, a WRC corner stop for cladding, some 12mm Crapiata boarding, and goodness knows what else. It's free and in the spirit of the project, so we'll overlook any nail or screw holes.

5) Laminating the chine logs. We used two 10mm bits of pine and yellow glue, on a simple form comprised of a bit of 6mm ply with some screws in it. Note the packaging tape on the ply to stop the bits sticking to it as the glue goes off. Yellow glue is fine here too, as we intend to coat the whole of the interior with epoxy, and in any case it is quite water resistant.

So there's the headstart we've given ourselves... tomorrow night I guess we start in earnest.

Cheers,

P
:D

[scottyk]

P you could eat off that shed floor, if your in my area swing by and let me know how you do it!
Have fun with the project though, sounds like a lot of fun. Keep us all updated.
Scotty

[bitingmidge]

Thanks Scotty!

Well it's Friday, so we're off and running! Well we're talking a lot, and trying to ensure that we have thought of every rule cheat going... we won't necessarily build "cheats" in, but we want to see where the holes are or if the design rule needs plugging.

I got some double sided tape from a sailmaker today, and saved a few dollars on our budget!

Pics:
1) Gratuitous shot of Michael lost in a sea of coated ply. Apparently our el-cheapo ply has a Karri face, and it looks quite pretty, but at 4mm thick it's a lot heavier than 6mm Gaboon would have been (and one third the price).

2) Michael setting out the first side panels. He's done a terrific job of optimising the design and has nutted out a nifty setout where the hull panels are skewed a little to leave a perfectly formed off-cut that will become the side decks.

Once we've got it up and running, he plans to make his drawings available to all via his website...(in the spirit of the class...at no cost)

3) Checking for fairness. Setout is really easy, and Michael has nailed panel pins at the offset points, then clipped a fairing batten onto it with spring clips. It's then an easy matter to draw along the batten and create a perfectly fair curve, right where you want it to be.

Oh and while this was going on, I wasn't just sitting round doing nothing, I was finally fitting the decks on the Eureka!

cheers,

P
:D

[bitingmidge]

What the hell is all this talk of "eepoxy" and "Fibreglarse"????? and that really inappropriate word.... "longevity"!!!! I thought the rules pretty much demanded construction ply, recycled Crapiata and construction adhesive.
As for the sails, sod ply tarp, what about sarking? That is nice an reflective on one side for dazzling the opposition and has lovely Blue with Black print on the other..... also it is Tyvek which is very light and VERY strong.... just my thoughts.I hope I don't get into strife for quoting from a PM, but there are some pretty valid points raised, so as well as bringing the six o'clock Saturday update, I'll try to aswer 'em.

Firstly: Epoxy, fibreglass and longevity; I'm forking out $200 bucks for a boat here, that's half the price of an iPod, but I want it to last long enough to get it to Goolwa in a year's time. We (Mik and I) also want it to be reasonably durable so that we can convince people to build more of them for their kids. Even at less than a third of the cost of an Optimist sail, people will want them to last a season I reckon!

By the way, the glass tape/epoxy route will make the boat heavier, so a ply/latex paint job may well be faster! :eek:

Construction Ply Give us a break, do you know how much that stuff is??? :D We paid exactly $20.00 per sheet including GST, and a crappier ply you won't find on this planet. Looks good but!

Wisdom from those that know better is that you need at least 6mm on the bottom, and they use up to 1" planks on the sides. We figured this stuff was so heavy that we'd only need 3.7mm thick stuff........ of course it's also brittle, if you check out the second photo. We're going to have to be a bit careful I think...... so use pine or something else if you can get it for a better price than I could this week. (6mm Gaboon was only $52.00 and I was really tempted!)

While looking at that photo, you may notice that now that we're into the heavy work, Michael has his safety boots on!

Photo 1: is evidence of the recycled crapiata that we are in fact using. In fact we aren't dressing it either, and we're not too particular about cutting out nail holes.... we just don't have the time and it's sort of not in the spirit of this exercise. (wait for next time though)

We laminated the centreboard out of 38 pieces of fingerjointed crapiata, 17 wide but none full length...so we can't be accused of not trying to be resourceful!

Pic 3: shows the poor old Eureka sulking in my study, just when it thought is was going to get completed too..... :(

Pic 4: See how safety conscious we are? Michael wears earmuffs while planing off the waterproof PVA glue (not construction adhesive- much cheaper!)

He also can't hear my constant prattle, but I'm sure that's not the reason he's got them on!

Pic 5: Cutting the framing for the bulkheads, all 19x19 finger jointed and dressed on the two sides that were already dressed before we milled it!

Finally [/b]Polytarp Sails[/b] Ghastly stuff, but $10.00 per sail.....can't say more than that!

Better go and glue stuff!

More later!

cheers,

P
:D
http://www.pdracer.info

[Wood Butcher]

Great fun watching the two of you build this Midge. Now if I could only build up the courage to try sailing I might have a go at this.

BTW Eureka's looking really good too!

[bitingmidge]

Rowan,

When you come up to test the canoe, you may as well try sailing!

cheers,

P:D

[Wood Butcher]

Looks like I am going to be waiting a while to try sailing then, if I am going to wait until the canoe is finished! :p:p

[bitingmidge]

Well it's eleven PM and we've decided that we'd better stop using the planer before the neighbours get home! (Just kidding...we've been gluing framework on panels all night.)

Pics:
1) :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: I have no idea what that stuff is on the floor, but I'll clean it up in the morning.

2) Gluing the chine log (the stick at the bottom of the hull side) on. This form of boat construction is quite quick, where we are going to paint over the finish, we epoxy the join, then use gyprock-screws to hold it all together till the glue dries. The blue tape at the far end of the hull is Chinese for "be careful stupid, this is where you broke the hull this morning.

3) The front bulkhead and some other bit. The bulkhead has the hole in it (cut so we can put a hatch in for access), note that as this panel will be finished clear, we've avoided screw holes by using clamps till the epoxy sets.

The curvy bit leaning against the wall in the background is the side deck panel, actually four of them.

I did think about using brads, but we sail exclusively in salt water, and if water does get in.....

4) The hull profile. I've searched every photo on DPRacer.com, and think Michael has come up with a beauty! We are both looking forward to tomorrow to see the things in 3D.

A few observations after day one:

I think it would be possible for anyone with a clear set of plans building a basic boat, to get it close to paint-ready in one day, if they weren't too fussy, and had all the materials pre-bought.

We've spent a fair bit of time today refining our thoughts, milling our scrap timber, and generally making things up as we go along. When the drawings are complete, all will be pretty clear. It's a very simple project.

On the other hand, things like our mast keep getting in the way of progress. We've now elected to build it hollow, square section and using a bunch of old 12mm Crapiata feature walling I've had lying around for a while. This means at least 3 lengths need to be scarfed together to get to our 5.4m mast lenght (for kiddies, a smaller mast option will be drawn - and we'll be making one as well).

Till tomorrow when we "Go 3D" and qualify for our hull numbers...

Cheers,

P
:D :D :D

[bitingmidge]

Sunday round smoko.

Report from the blokes putting the Race into Puddleduck Racing!

Not really, but we finished framing all the bulkheads early this morning, Pic 1 shows all the major components layed out ready for assembly. Still a lot of detail work to do though. Note more of that blue chinese writing reminding us where the cracks are!! :eek: Thankfully with 19 x 19 glued all round, the ply has become a bit less fragile.... here's hoping!

Pic 2) The easiest and quickest way of fairing boat frames when you are dealing with odd grain direction, epoxy dags, and end grain plywood is with a belt sander. This is the only thing I use my belt sander for as far as I can remember:confused: .

Pic 3) We think it's easier to bung framing round the whole perimeter of each bulkhead and then just hack out the bits that aren't necessary later. The bloke in the pic wandered in off the street to pose if you are wondering at the inept looking hold on the chisel...... :o .

Pic 4) This sort of gives an idea of how all the bits intersect. Joinery doesn't have to be too precise, as the glue will fill all, but it's good to be within a mm or two!

And so to the next post where we check that it all fits!.....

[bitingmidge]

Well we're almost in 3D.

Pics show the hull form at least, once the hull bottom and decks are on, the boat has a chance of looking quite pretty (for a Puddleduck).

In the Great Aussie tradition, we have elected to carry a largish rig (we are also building a more modest one for those not quite so into self-harm), and while most of the boats built to date seem to have lee-boards, we will go the whole nine yards, and build a proper centre board case.

The structure will benefit from the stiffening framework in any case.

Anyways, my coffee's finished, and Michael is already back in the shed...

Cheers,

P
:D :D :D

[bitingmidge]

5:00 PM Sunday.

One boat in 3D, the other about an hour away, and we've spent a good deal of today mucking around with detailing again. We are rather keen that we don't want the "simplest boat to build in the world" to turn into something else, but at the same time our style of sailing is a little different to the way they seem to be used in the States, so we want to have a side deck to sit on, as mentioned previously a centreboard case (which will add stiffness to the structure too) and now we'll make the mast step adjustable for rake, so that we can use different size sails and keep the helm balanced....

Pic 1: Assembly begins by screwing the bulkhead and rear transom with wallboard screws. All screws will be removed later, they are just there to clamp the thing together till the glue dries.

Pic 2: The front transom gets added.

Pic 3: The transom bottom clamp (the bit of timber that connects it to the hull bottom) is built oversize, and planed to match the angle of the hull. This is quite easy to do, and it is useful to span a straight edge across to gauge the angle required for planing, and better to check progress with an sliding bevel. Both transoms and bulkheads need the same treatment.

Pic 4: Finally faired battens ready for the bottom to be fixed.

Pic 5: The bottom finally screwed and glued. Again, all screws will be removed after the epoxy is set.

Presently the bottom is very light, but will stiffen up with the addition of internal structure and a couple of battens on the underside.

More pics later this evening probably!

:D :D :D
P

[bitingmidge]

Final Weekend Report! (have a break for a few days while I'm away on business!)

Well we got our two boats to a floating stage, but not operational...

We have no doubts that building one basic boat could be achieved in a weekend by a moderately skilled person, but two weekends would give a bit more relaxation time.

Our boats have a few complexities which we think will take another day's worth of work on each: Foils to be shaped and glassed, side decks and bouyancy tanks installed, centreboard case and thwart, as well as an adjustable mast step.

Then there's another day or two of glassing, bogging, and painting, and of course a night or two to make two sets of sails and a couple of masts for each boat.

Why a couple of masts?? Our sailplan calls for a largish sail, which would probably not be suitable for beginners or kids, so we will build two rigs for each boat. We have enough tarp, and the mast material is free, just a bit of dillying round (and I'm good at that!).

Snag is, I have commitments out of town all next weekend too, so we'll just have to see how we go... my guess is that we'll go sailing without finaly paint within a fortnight from now, but then I was going to have the Eureka finished by Christmas 2003 as well! :rolleyes:

Pics show one boat on the lawn this arvo, and the garage which is starting to look like a hatchery. It's amazing how the curved side decks (not shown) changes the boat visually; you'll just have to wait and see.

Cheers,

P (tired but happy!)
:D :D :D

[Wood Butcher]

Looks great Midge. I have been going over the PDRacer website (http://www.pdracer.info) and I think that they are a great idea to get into sailing. SWMBO might even approve too!

Just wondering, are the holes in the transom for bungs?

[bitingmidge]

Just wondering, are the holes in the transom for bungs?
Yep!

We plan to use good old sink plugs on a bit of elastic. That's one of the great things about not taking it all too seriously, we can have a bit of fun in the detailing. Originally I thought we'd use tennis balls, but couldn't stand all the bad jokes that'd spring from it!

You may be able to go sailing before you get to test the canoe yet!

cheers,

P
:D :D :D

[bitingmidge]

I'm BACK!

The boats in their bare form were a little flexible... actually they reminded me of a contortionist I saw in China, but that's OK they aren't finished.

Michael screwed the deck panels on temporarily, using a couple of gyprock screws in each corner, probably 6" apart, and the hulls are now so stiff they can be picked up by one corner and there is NO movement at all.

Every time he moved the boats (in my absence :rolleyes: ) he was frightened by/of the cracking sounds as the flexing put load on the epoxy joints, now they are quiet as little mice.

One thing he did was put a permanent (stainless steel) screw in the inside of the boat at both ends, holding the ends of the sheer clamp (the bit stuck on the top outside of the hull) to prevent a tearing failure at that point when the tops of the bulkheads were being bevelled.

The bare hull as shown weighs barely 10kg, and with all the remaining parts in it, we weighed it at 22kg. We expect that when finished it'll come in below 35kg which is a nice weight for two kids to carry on their own.

Onwards, ever onwards...

P (off with his beloved to get fish and chips for tea by the beach - Michael's coming too, but since he's a vegetarian, we're only getting him chips)

:D :D :D

[bitingmidge]

Last night, after having our fish and chips (just chips in Michael's case), slave driver that he is, he insisted that "we" do more on the boats. (Crumbs he's even got me working on the Eureka tonight!)

While I swept, and tidied up a bit, and sharpened two spokeshaves a few chisels and at least four planes that had been used in the fairing of the end-grain ply sheer, Michael diligently went about sealing the boats.

NOTE: Despite what you see in these photos, please DO NOT work with epsoxy without gloves. Michael horrified me by doing this without protection, however he is a VERY experienced epoxy worker, and was able to complete all the work shown in the pics, with the merest hint of epoxy contact on the tip of one finger.

I had barrier cream, and wore gloves and expect that everyone else will too.

Pics:

1) Pouring on the epoxy and using a ply offcut as a squeegee prior to rolling. The molasses coloured epoxy is at least 9 years old, and I've been waiting for a job for it. Epoxy and hardener will keep almost indefinitely if stored in a sealed container away from light, and we had no problems at all with it. The yucky colour was the way it was delivered all those years ago.

Note the patches where we have filled all the temporary screw holes and exposed seams with lightweight filler before sealing the outside.

2) Laying out the glass tape. At this stage the whole boat had one even and fairly light coat of epoxy, just enough for the glass to tack to it.

Note again: This is where Michael got his fingertip a tiny bit gooped. He did the right thing then adn DID NOT WASH WITH SOLVENT, using Boatcraft's hand cleaner formulated for this task.

Solvent will dissolve the epoxy and can actually carry the compound through human skin.... nasty stuff.

3) Glass completed on two seams, layed out ready to bend over the vertical surface.

4) Trimming the last seam. I wish I could do this without getting epoxy all over my scissors, but I can't, so Michael did it!

5) Rolling down the last seam. Note we are using a 4" foam roller, and very little expoxy. We followed up with another two light coats on each boat, when the successive coats were tack dry.

Cheers,

P

[bitingmidge]

So just after midnight (I told you he was a slave driver) we, well actually he, (I was sharpening stuff remember) had the epoxy and initial bogging done, so we called it quits.

Pics:
1) Two hulls in a cool boatshed sort of shot, all glassed with two coats of poxy waiting for the filler.

2) A quite runny mix of filler, ready to go on to finally fill the weave pattern of the cloth (after three coats of epoxy have filled the actual weave). Note this is a fairly epoxy rich mix, so sanding/ cleaning up within 24 hours or so is advisable, as it will set fairly hard.

Lightweight filling compounds are designed to be easily sanded, and the "drier" the mix, the easier sanding becomes.

3) A plastic spatula is used to run around all the tapes, and any low spot that is visible at this stage.

4) Bed time! All done, night night duckies!!

5) Today, using a spoke shave to trim back the filler to get a fair transition to the panel without cutting into the glass. While the epoxy is only 24 hours old, it's fairly soft, and I know that some hand tool chaps cringe when they see this sort of thing happening to a precious tool, but that's why I have them.... to use!

That's also why I had to spend quite some time sharpening seven plane and spokeshave blades yesterday; end grain ply and cured epoxy takes a heavy toll.

After tidying up the whole of the seams this evening, Michael sanded a bit till I co-opted the sander to touch up a bit of Eureka, then we called it quits.

Tomorrow evening the fun bit starts again, we'll probably make the centreboard cases and rudder box, and maybe get a start on the internal framing and bouyancy compartment.

Oh, and we've heard back from Shorty at PDRacer.com, and we've officially been issued with hull numbers 75 and 76! We're on the map!

Cheers,

P

[Wood Butcher]

Crumbs he's even got me working on the Eureka tonight!
You need to have Micheal visit more often then :D

[bitingmidge]

Today Michael did a lot of juggling of ply. He's had a cutting plan developed since day one, but the moment of truth has arrived. We won't have a square foot left out of our three sheets, and he's juggled the size of the aft compartments to suit.

The bulkhead for the compartment (the triangular bit in the middle of the side deck) is made of two pieces, such is our determination!

You'll see in an evolution of an idea used very successfully in boat #2 we have used the offcuts from the hull panel as a nice curved deck. (It's OK, it won't be bent when it's finished, there's no framing there yet.)

The other pic shows the template for the side panel, and if you look carefully you'll see that by flipping it over we'll get the other panel. What remains will be almost the total waste for the ply.

We were aiming to angle the side panel at 18° but just didn't have enough ply so 10° it is. This will hopefull give us a bit of a boaty feel and won't be too hard to build, now that the hard bit's done, and Michael can publish an accurate setout drawing.

Tonight we'll get to on the Centreboard case and ruddercase probably.

Cheers,

P
:D

[craigb]

Very enjoyable thread to follow Midge.

In fact, I think it has to be the front runner for Thread of the Year (so far).

Can't wait to see them rigged and launched. :)

[echnidna]

Very enjoyable thread to follow Midge.

In fact, I think it has to be the front runner for Thread of the Year (so far).

Can't wait to see them rigged and launched. :)

Dunno bout thread of the year,
but then again why not.

But the outstanding thing is Midge is gunna finish a job :cool:

[bitingmidge]

But the outstanding thing is Midge is gunna finish a job :cool:

Thanks chaps.... but I think it's Michael that's going to finish it, or at least make sure it's finished!

He's currently out there doing what I said "we" were going to be doing!! ;)

To be fair to me though, I've just come in, and have been cutting aluminium angle to make rudder gudgeons tonight. We (I)'ve decided that buying the off the shelf ones is not in the spirit of this thing, so we'll use a timber block on the front of the rudder case, and four 1/8 aluminium angles with a pin through them... The photos will explain all eventually!

Cheers,

P (Oh I did do a bit on the canoe as well tonight!)
:D :D

[Cliff Rogers]

Here is a little philosophy on finishing things. ;)

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?p=267238#post267238

[Wongo]

Junk






No it is more of a sampan.
:D

[bitingmidge]

No it is more of a sampan.
:D
All the more reason for you to build one.... you could take your kids on felly lides up the liver!

P
:D :D :D

[Clinton1]

Midge,
Either change the "Pretend my avatar moves" line, or turn off the animation on the mozzie!
I just spent 10 minutes staring at stuff trying to figure out if it was the avatar that was moving!

Oh, and good stuff on the PD WIP thread.
Maybe you could draw attention to the PD concept with Outward Bound, the Scouts and the like. Great potential for young people learning and doing stuff.

[journeyman Mick]

Clinton,
Midge's avatar doesn't move, what have you been smoking/drinking/sniffing? :p ;)

Mick

[bitingmidge]

What an interesting weekend we've had!:p Spent all of it in Brisneyland, went to a great party on Saturday night, and after putting ourselves up in a flash hotel, paying for fuel, a bottle of wine for our hosts at lunch today and breakfast this morning, we parted with enough dough to build another PDR and a bit more!

In the meantime, we did do a little Saturday morning:

Remember those glued-up foil blanks from one of the first posts? If not, we ripped a whole heap of junk 1500 long 19mm thick finger jointed radiata into 22mm strips, and glued it all together with a bit of trick edge-matching to get our 22 x 270 x 2000 long blanks.

Well Saturday was the day they gave me my comeuppance! :cool:

NOTE: just about every puddle duck built to date seems to survive quite adequately with either a square edged board, or a crudely rounded one. We are both of a view that while there is nothing wrong with that approach, and while it won't make the boat go any faster per se, you will still get where you are going earlier using a properly designed foil shape, as the boat should climb to windward at least several degrees higher.

We look forward to proving this when the first non-foil boat hits the water, or may well do a "Derek Style" objective test ourselves.

In any case, I just happen to like shaping foils, and although I'm a bit rusty it's a pleasant and quite productive way of whiling away a few hours.

Pic 1: I happen to have a foil template from the goat island skiff plan which Michael agreed would work splendidly on the little boats as well. (The Skiff Plans are worth buying if only just for the template, or Michael will provide one at a modest cost.);)

The template is glued on a scrap of ply or in this case 6mm MDF and is cunningly designed so when the foil shape is perfect, and the thickness correct, the "tail" will sit flat on the benchtop.

Pic 2: Nothing like burning a few electrons to get the rough shape done expediently.:eek:

Pic 3: Then there's absolutely nothing better than shaping away with that quiet swoosh for as long as it takes. Be careful that the dustmask and earmuffs don't fill up with sawdust though.:)

Pic 4. Stop and check every few swooshes, with the blade set very finely as you get to the end of the process, here I am marking high spots with chalk. Here the first trailing edge is getting close to right.

HINT: White chalk is a fabulous thing for drawing on timber because it goes clear when wet, so it becomes invisible under epoxy or varnish! (Try before you rely though!)

Pic 5: The end profile. This was taken before final trim with sandpaper and long-block, and there's a bit of a knobbly woof happening at the leading edge, which is the most important bit of the board to get exactly right.


Continued below....

[bitingmidge]

Continued from above....

Pic 1: I told you earlier we had a secret wing keel thing happening! Actually I cut the tapers and shaped the board and rudder in one piece and cut it later, because I think the longer bit makes it easier to get a true section rather than stopping and starting at the ends of two shorter boards.

Using only a simple template, I've never had the desire to build a router jig or whatever. I'm way out of practice, and these took close to three hours from start to finish, but I'd be surprised if the second pair take more than half that.

I'd also be surprised if even a first timer would take longer than my effort!!

Pic 2: The finished boards: except of course for glass, fill, sand, fill, sand, prime, sand, touch up, sand, paint.

Pic 3: Michael in the meantime had been beavering away in the corner of the garage, working on the centreboard cases (note the insides are fully epoxy coated prior to assembly).

Pic 4: Oh, and he'd also completed gluing the coamings to the side decks, and making the front bulkheads for the side tanks.

Note the coaming will act as a structural beam to hold all this stuff up, although we'll probably stick a couple of 'glass pads under where we'll sit just to be safe. (Glass wouldn't be necessary with 6mm ply)

So we've been at it one week, one weekend and say say three nights to get all the bits ready to assemble. (No work at all after Saturday morning this weekend remember!)

We still have the mast bits to scarf, and the rudder cases to make, but we are pretty much on track to have boats that look like boats on Saturday.

We are now gunning to go sailing on Sunday whether the paint is dry or not....

Keep your eye out for our next exciting episode!

Cheers,

P

[craigb]

Thanks for the update Midge. I've been hanging out all weekend wondering where you were up to. :)

Sorry, probably I wasn't paying enough attention earlier, what's a foil?

[bitingmidge]

Sorry, probably I wasn't paying enough attention earlier, what's a foil?
No, my apologies... I've been trying to keep away from jargon, or at least explain it when I use it:

I s'pose silentC will look all this up in Wikipedia and fix my mistakes anyway! :rolleyes:

"Foil" is not, in this case the stuff used in making beanies, but is a contraction for "Airfoil" or "Aerofoil" depending on where you went to school.

Basically the rudder and centreboard of a boat are there to stop the boat sliding sideways in the water, by resisting the "push" of the sail if you like.

Now if you think about how an aircraft derives lift from it's wings, as it goes forward, it also goes upwards. Applying that to a boat, if, instead of using a slab of stuff just to stop it sliding, one can apply a foil shape to generate "lift" through the water, the boat will sail closer to the wind and not slip as far sideways (make less leeway in nautical terms).

It gets a bit interesting from here: An aircraft can change the shape of it's wings to generate more lift as it's speed slows, but it's a bit hard to do that underwater. A few years ago (before NASA) it's predecessor an organisation named with the rather helpful acronym NACA, did a whole heap of research on how foils work, and what shapes worked when and how, and created hypothetical shapes in wind tunnels over a wide range of speeds. These were subsequently published in grand volumes and became the basis of many yacht designers keel shapes for decades.

Now, with the advent of computers, designers and engineers have been creating new "improved" varieties.

So why go to that trouble in a Puddleduck??

Because it's fun for us to build secondly, and firstly that in identical boats, a good centreboard and rudder can gain many minutes round a race course.

Even an ungainly tub which may well be the slowest boat on earth (not the PDRacer of course :p ) will gain significantly in overall performance.

The snag is, that a "good foil" has to be accurate to about half the thickness of the finest shaving from my BU Jointer, hence the flatboard sanding to finish off, and the time taken to get the profile right.

These boards aren't quite up to World Championship standard ;) , but they'll survive running aground, and are a compromise that's easily within the skill level of an average handyman. The last really nice set I built was few years ago, out of Western Red Cedar, using my old faithful #4 with a Surform thing for the finer bits, and lots of sanding.

Hope that's not too much info!
:D
Cheers,

P

[craigb]

Thanks mate. (I think, as I wander away with a furrowed brow) :D

[Boatmik]

Hi All,

If you look carefully at the picture of me (in the red T shirt) in the most recent post with photos I am holding the foils (centreboard and rudder). As you can see that they are laminated out of lots of pieces of finger jointed crapiata.

There is a lot of load on foils, particularly the centreboard which will undergo a force when sailing similar to the weight of the crew. Similar to having the boat lying on its side with the crew sitting on the centreboard about half way down.

It is normally good practice to glue it up out of full length strips of timber, but to keep with the CHEAP theme of the boat and to make use of the salvage timber that Midge keeps under his house we have decided to run the risk.

We THINK it will be strong enough and we have taken pains to make sure that the short bits of wood are down near the tip of the blades, well away from the maximum load which is just where the blade exits the hull. You can see this in the photo.

A lot of the strength is in the fibreglass that will be laminated over the top, but some care needs to be taken with the timber.

I did a bit more today (pics will be posted tomorrow) but ran out of the high strength powder that is added to the epoxy for gluing. If it arrives early tomorrow as promised I plan to get the sidedecks - internal stiffening and centreboard case fitted - finishing the cockpit area.

Big steps (with any luck at all)

Good night and good luck
Michael Storer

[bitingmidge]

Today was a work day.

So now juggling Eureka time, I'm trying to get it finally ready to coat (and float!), but Michael is beavering away in the background, albeit we only put in an hour or two each this evening.

Basically all the bits for the Puddleduck hulls are now made, and the side decks, centreboard cases and tank sides will probably be glued in sometime tomorrow.

Tomorrow night I'll do a bit more on the rudder pintles, which we are making to save $30 per boat, and finish off the other pair of foils, which I rough shaped tonight.

Pics:
1) No, we are not under lazer attack! The red lines are actually sunshine through voids in the core of the el-cheapo ply. Michael has done a few quick calculations and reckons we'll be right (well he actually said it's too late to do anything, we'll have to see how it goes!) ... but we did plan to have two cross beams pretty much in line with the voids (apparently! ;) )

2) Side bouyancy tank front panels now glued in place (held by temporary screws through the hull), deck coaming in place and nice curvy deck showing it's stuff.

Note the angle of the bulkhead and the cleat on the transom, both of which will support the tank face at the same angle to the hull bottom. This should give quite a "boaty" feel when it's all done.

I can't remember if I've mentioned this above, but the deck curve is the offcut from the hull side panel cutout, and idea borrowed from Ken Abrahams who built boat #2, although we have changed the bouyancy tanks somewhat!

Cheers,

P:D
http://www.pdracer.info

[bitingmidge]

Before we do a bit more tonight, I thought I'd update the process!

The side tank panels have been cut and partially fitted, we have about 2 square feet of ply scraps left to build the centrecase gussets and that's it! We cut the side tanks a bit fine in the height department, which is why the fit is a bit rough, but epoxy fixes all.

When Michael publishes his version of the plans he'll drop the hull height by an inch, and all this fiddling will go away!

Pics:

1) Centreboard cases now with beams attached top and bottom. Note only one needed per boat!

2) Side tank side clipped into place, but about an inch higher than it needs to be (it's the overlapping bit at the top of the deck held by the spring clamp) so that scribing the bottom can take place.

3) Scribing the line of the bottom is easy with a small block of wood holding the pencil off the floor.

4) Michael (Bless his heart!) using a plastic bag full of epoxy to "stitch" the bottom panels in. Once the epoxy has gone off, we'll take out the temporary fixings and do a proper structural fillet.

Note the gap towards the rear of this one where we simply ran out of ply! It will be covered by a fillet in an hour or two and no-one will ever know!

More follow:-

[bitingmidge]

So with the tanks in place and the side decks fixed temporarily, the dear things are looking like a pair of boats (or tea chests depending on your point of view).

We have a longer front bouyancy chamber than appears common, and our masts will mount through the deck. This will compromise the watertight nature of the tank a little, but we have plenty in reserve, and will devise a simple gasket arrangement.

The curves of the sheer, side deck, and angled rear tanks work wonders in tricking ones eye into thinking this is a boat. It's almost cute...:o

The two beams on the floor in the first shot haven't yet been fixed in, but will fit either end of the centreboard case. We'll then glue a couple of stringers (skids) lengthwise under the hull, so the structure becomes a grid with plywood holding it together. Every bit of structure then ties together to form a light, but quite rigid shell.

Note the Eureka in the background of one of the shots has rolled over to expose it's belly. Must be expecting some sort of a tickle later in the night... the sort that happens with 120 grit on a ROS.

Cheers,

P
:D :D :D

[Wood Butcher]

Can't wait for the finish Midge, the ducks are looking great. I think I will build the canoe first, it looks easier than this :p. You and Michael will have the best designed and most aesthetically pleasing boats in the PD fleet! :D

[Boatmik]

Can't wait for the finish Midge, the ducks are looking great. I think I will build the canoe first, it looks easier than this :p. You and Michael will have the best designed and most aesthetically pleasing boats in the PD fleet! :D

Howdy,

I think as Midge has mentioned we keep being slowed up by designing on the fly. The natty appearance of the boats reflects a big slab of time discussing and nutting things out either on the computer or paper.

The assembly procedure can also be streamlined considerably - for example the side tank fronts and transverse bottom frame could be made on the bench and just dropped into the boat. As could the centrecase assembly. We have been held up because we have had to work out exactly how the bits relate and the best way structurally and aesthetically.

Also we have made some mistakes along the way which can be avoided by anyone who follows us later - we'll be making all the info available.

The biggest of these was not allowing quite enough ply for the faces of the aft tanks - you can see the gaps we are going to bridge with epoxy. Not a problem, but it does take time. With the final version we will be dropping the depth of the boat's sides by 12mm which will give us plenty of ply for the tanks (at least a 4mm offcut :D ).

We could have avoided all the pain by just having the inside faces of the tanks vertical, but felt that angled tanks had two effects. They make the boats prettier and they do give quite a bit extra buoyancy volume.

When you have our final information (http://www.pdracer.info) it will be a matter of simply cutting it out, putting the components together on the bench then assembling the boats - We hope to avoid all the "fit and try" work as far as possible.

Best Regards
Michael Storer

[craigb]

So are you going sailing this weekend fellas?

You don't have masts or sails yet do you?

[bitingmidge]

So are you going sailing this weekend fellas?

Yes.:p :p :p but Michael is also putting pressure on me:eek: to go for a paddle in the Eureka on Saturday as well!

You don't have masts or sails yet do you?

This morning before work I selected 26 pieces of the finest 12mm crapiata (formerly wall lining), which tonight will be scarfed into 8 x 5.4m lengths.

Tomorrow night, we'll taper and glue them (the masts will be simple square box sections)

Sails may be a bit of a last minute thing.....

We don't have a lot of assembly to do, but it's a bit fiddly, and I haven't finished making the rudder pintles yet either (better do that tonight as well...)

They always look rough and ready at this stage, it's amazing what a bit of sanding and some varnish can do! I expect that painting and final finishing will soak up the weekend after Michael goes home! (Then he's got to finish drawing the plans so he can get them on his website for download).

In the meantime I'm wading round in a sea of sawdust, wondering why I never finished the DC ducting!

Cheers,

P
:D :D :D

[bitingmidge]

I think I actually spend more time posting on this thread than actually working on the boat... (Thanks Michael!)

Today, I went to work.... again.... but I came home for most of the afternoon to spend a delightful hour or so with AlexS who was just passing by. Mrs Midge thought he should help Mik, 'cos it wasn't fair having TWO of us standing round watching........

Anyway, on to the pics:

1) Remember the big gaps under the side tanks? Today was the day they disappeared under a glob of bog. Mik made a super-sized filleting paddle to get the right size in one go.

2) Here's the inside of the tank nicely sealed. Check the pics above if you need reminding; yesterday the tanks were tacked in, today the temporary screws removed, and the finished fillets which become the bottom structure installed.

3) The outside of the tanks complete, and waiting now for the epoxy to cure. While things look a bit complicated at this stage, they aren't at all, however many jobs can only be done in sequence and that leaves a few hours till the glue becomes sufficiently cured to start the next one. These sorts of things are ideal for a midweek evening, where you can do a bit, then go and watch Teev.

4) In the meantime, I've started on the masts so I thought I'd do a gratuitous scarfing shot or two. There have been a number of threads in the past which mention "SCARFING" as though it is a great mystery, it's not, so I thought I'd throw in a couple of options.

This shot shows four layers of timber cut at once at an arbitary angle. (actually Mik made me do them again to get the correct 1:6 particularly because our masts may be a bit ummmm.... lets just say we don't have really good material ;) ) This is easy to do, and if you are a bit better than I you may even get away with just joining them "off the saw".

5) Most of us, will need to plane them a bit, so keep the same stack, clamp it down, and give it a light plane till the ends of the timbers are parallel to each other and at 90° to the sides.

That's all there is to it, flip them over, glue them and clamp or nail, or even drill a small hole and fix the joint with a bamboo skewer.

Of course none of the above is how I did it, so you'll now have to go to my next post to find out the easy way.....

Cheers,

P

[bitingmidge]

Pic 1) My quick and really dirty scarfing jig for the bandsaw.

A few things to watch here: it's a recipe for losing fingers or half a hand, so use a clamp to hold the timber in place, and although it's not visible in this shot, I clamp a stop in place to prevent the sled going past the distance needed to cut the scarf.

This makes it almost impossible to cut yourself, even if you do have a bit of brain fade. The jig is as it looks, a bit of scrap for base, runner and fence, four screws and a bit of glue, and it cuts perfect scarfs.

2) The mast bits layed out, I'm trying to get rid of the really crook bits, and deciding which bits we'll have to sleeve. Grade A knot free timber this is not, but it was free, so we'll give it a go.

3) Detail of the quality of the timber, so you know we're not cheating here!

4) The first four sides scarfed and glued together, all tacked to a base to keep them straight while the epoxy sets. Tomorrow morning I'll do the other four sides. Basically the mast will start off 55 mm square, and taper towards the top.

Michael came in and remarked that it looks a bit tall because the pieces are so slender. I corrected him. It actually looks tall because of it's 5.4m on a 2.4m boat :eek: :eek: :eek: . It's OK we'll build a smaller rig for the kiddies (and us on days when we don't have to prove how manly we are!)

Cheers,

P
:D

[bitingmidge]

Hmmm.... Sunday is looking very close indeed. Too close for comfort!

We've just spent the whole night with some friends on their 48 footer, so the best laid plans fell well astray.

Michael has the centrecase gussets together now, and the whole assembly glued ready to drop in to both boats tomorrow, and he will probably glue on the side decks as well.

I've started on the rudder hardware, made some timber gudgeons, drilled and filled with epoxy to form a bearing surface, (after drilling out in the morning), and bent a bit of 1/4" SS rod to form the pin. Interesting cost excercise there: Boat shop cost for the rudder fittings $30.00 for the gudgeons, $20.00 for the SS pin.(Per boat) Our cost: Gudgeons from hardwood offcuts with epoxy bearings, a bit of 1/8" aluminium angle from a rubbish pile, and 1m of SS rod from a handrail place $4.00 (enough to make three)

A total saving of $96.00 for two boats! :eek:

I was hoping to get the masts and sprits glued up tonight, but only got as far as milling the pergola beam that will become the sprit timbers!

We fear we may just have lost on night too many, to make Sunday, but we'll plod on!

Cheers.

P (Darn! this is my 5000th post, and I tried so hard to cut back to 1000 per year! :D )

[bitingmidge]

We are at that point of the job where we are making progress but can't see it, which makes it darned hard to record! :eek:

Then when we do, it's amazing what's been done in an hour or two.
Pics:

1) My metalworking friends have often remarked that timber is too unforgiving, if you make a mistake you can't just weld a bit back on.

Well you can. Here the sprits are being scarfed, because the beam I cut them from was a few feet short one end. Note the generous (but oh so tidy) glue squeeze out from the clamped joint. I'd have to be confident with that one. Glue on one of the other scarfs, the other waiting to be coated.

That's all there is to it!

2) Another trick which has been brought up more than once on this forum. Here we've got a bit of glue on a screw, which has "detemporaryized" it.

To remove an epoxied, glued, or even rusty screw, bung a soldering iron on the head of it for a few minutes, and let the heat do it's trick. They pop out as if you'd put soap on 'em.

3) While I was fiddling with other stuff (like uploading photos) michael was busy fabricating the centreboard case structure, and carefully attaching the floor beams at 90°. If you get this angle wrong, the centrecase will be installed at whatever angle you accidentally decide!

4) Here the case has been glued in, and the side decks are on permanently as well (hence the clamps). Don't worry about the mess, it all needs a good clean and sand after the glue has cured, and the screws have been removed and filled.

Yes the ply gusset is in two pieces, we are cutting our ply quota very fine indeed!

Note also the tape, chisel and other tools blue tacked to the side of the hull for convenience! ;)

We are really on a roll now... just wish it was a long weekend!

Continued.....

[bitingmidge]

Here's the rudder stuff so far:

1) All the bits:

Hardwood gudgeons, roughly shaped, drilled, epoxy filled then drilled to exactly the diameter of the pintle.

Stainless steel pintle, 3 out of $4.00 worth of SS rod, as mentioned above.

Aluminium angles, roughed out ready for final drilling and shaping.

2) Rudder assembly ready for final shaping, sanding, and fibreglass reinforcing over the gudgeons.

That's it till tomorrow I'm afraid!

cheers,

P:D
(note from MIK - Peter has glued the framing on the rudderbox upside down. The angle is supposed to be at the top. I didn't notice it either - but the boats sail fine, though we had to make some spacers to prevent the tiller wearing a hole in the top of the transom)

[AlexS]

Mrs Midge thought he should help Mik, 'cos it wasn't fair having TWO of us standing round watching........



I wasn't watching, I was supervising:D

Many thanks for a great afternoon with two thorough gentlemen and a lovely lady.

[Boatmik]

At least all the work on the little boat is ... little.

Small bits, no heavy lugging, instead of bending down to work under the decks just roll it onto it's side.

No climbing in and out of the boat over high topsides.

Even with my bung neck and back it's as easy as pie

Boatmik

(PS don't tell Midge - every time he sees me working he looks guilty )

[bitingmidge]

So today dawned dark and stormy, and we really didn't feel too energetic.

Pic 1 shows Storer at the moment it dawned on him that we weren't going sailing tomorrow! It's not as if there's much to do on the hull, four sticks to support the mast, glue on the foredecks, and finish the ruddercases, but we still haven't glassed the foils or built the sails, so rather than actually work too hard, we decided to change our self-imposed deadline.

Again, it was my insistance on using the daggiest scraps of timber, combined with our joint design evolution which took the time. Armed with a set of plans and a clean timber inventory, and two weekends with a bit of evening thrown in will easily complete a singe boat. (We also keep forgetting that we've doubled our workload).

Today, I tapered the mast bits. Michael reminded me to post a reminder that if joining mast bits, it is critical to get the scarf joints correctly built, 1:6 scarf, and full glue joints or they will certainly fail.

These masts are a bit of an experiment, we've built them from absolutely the worst imaginable timber for the purpose, but they are light and look the part at least! We have chickened out in a few areas and will glass the outside to be a little more sure! Most people will save a day of dicking round and use solid timber for the masts though!

Pic 2) Mast bits tapered and ready to assemble (one mast "dry" stacked)

Pic 3) Look carefully at the half assembled mast, and you'll see a couple of little gusset thingies across the section, and a couple of solid blocking pieces to reinforce it at critical points.

The mast is very light, and sort of built along our philosophy of "If it breaks, it wasn't strong enough, if it doesn't break it was too heavy" (The rest of the boat while light is well engineered and unlikely to cause problems though!)

Pic 4) The masts assembled, temporarily tacked to hold the sides in place, and packaging tape used to clamp them. Packaging tape is a bit of a wonder material in these sorts of applications, those following my Eureka Canoe thread will have noted that is how I held the decks on also. It's doubly good because the epoxy doesn't stick to it!

Tomorrow night: Sailmaking!

Cheers,

P
:D :D :D

[bitingmidge]

Sunday:

The cost of keeping Storer at the Home of the Biting Midge for two weeks: $15.00 (+ the occasional chocolate cake)

Building a Puddleduck: $200. (ish)

The look on Son-in-law's face when he cuts and planes a piece of timber for the first time in his life: PRICELESS.

AND THAT IS WHAT BUILDING THESE THINGS IS ALL ABOUT!! :D :D :D

Thanks to Michael's incredible patience as a teacher (and I mean that sincerely), Julian is just about a fully qualified boatbuilder in one day! The great thing about what we are doing is that it's very basic stuff; cut, stick, plane, glue, sand....... so it's an ideal learning/teaching environment.

Cheers,

P.

[bitingmidge]

And so to progress:

Of course the usual happened, after a slack attack yesterday, we actually got stuck in, but most of my efforts were concentrated on the Eureka (not conducive to completing Puddleducks I'm afraid!)

Pics:
1) Julian, now almost a shipwright, having learnt to use the thicknesser, has begun tapering the sprits. Note the planing marks visible, and the opposite tapers already complete, which explains the rectangular cross section. The timbers to the left of picture are the almost completed masts.

2) Two boats, four spars and a glorious day in paradise! The radiata masts really look the business and are wonderfully flexible..... we have no idea if they are going to be wonderfully brittle as well, but they look good for now! :eek:

One of the sprits hasn't been edge-rounded due to a moment of inattention on my part, resulting in a whirling 3/8 router bit losing an argument with a cast iron clamp. :eek: (Take note Julian: this is an example of what happens when you..... )

3) Michael runs a deflection test on the mast.

It passes.

Now we know how much luff round to cut into the sail!

4) Jullian, having completed his spar making apprenticeship, begins filling all the screw holes in the hulls. Michael supervises.

The screw holes again, are the result of temporarily fixing the deck beams in place while the epoxy cures. Once the glue is set, the mechanical fixings become redundant, and we can save a few kilos in weight not to mention dollars, by re-using them.

5) Michael holds all that is left of six sheets of ply, and wonders what we have left out of the boat, then simultaneously realises that half of it is still going to be used reinforcing the mast partners!

OK so we've still got a day or two to get these things in the water!...stay tuned to find out how we go after work tomorrow!

Cheers,

P
:D :D :D

[Boatmik]

And so to progress:

Of course the usual happened, after a slack attack yesterday, we actually got stuck in, but most of my efforts

2) Two boats, four spars and a glorious day in paradise! The radiata masts really look the business and are wonderfully flexible..... we have no idea if they are going to be wonderfully brittle as well, but they look good for now! :eek:

3) Michael runs a deflection test on the mast. It passes. Now we know how much luff round to cut into the sail!


Cheers,

P
:D :D :D

Compared to the Americans, but quite in line with Australian tradition we have whacked a huge amount of sail on the PD Racers.

The flexibility of the mast is the secret. When a gust hits it will flex and automatically flatten the sail reducing the power to a very large extent.

But the question is whether the big sail and mast with its higher potential speed and some handling problems will have any real advantage. It may be more efficient to have a more modest sail and have none of the handling problems.

We are going to do two sets of smaller sails and shorter masts as well - all four sails will come out of the one $40 polytarp.

The smaller sail is a must for when people want to borrow the boat or we want just to have a relaxing sail.

It is possible that the bigger sail will not have any handling problems at all, in which case we will have made a bit of a breakthrough compared to the Americans.

To compare the two directions it will be an easy matter to have one boat rigged with the big sail, the other rigged with the small and see how they go on the water.

Exactly the same as they all do with the Americas Cup... but our experimenting comes just a tad cheaper.

Boatmik
suffering from delusions of grandeur.

BTW we will make all details on how to make the masts and sails available on the web.

[Christopha]

Any chance of a Schooner rig???

[Daddles]

Any chance of a Schooner rig???

Dunno Christopha, but he was looking at some of the old grain clippers not that long ago :eek:

Richard

[bitingmidge]

Any chance of a Schooner rig???

There are a couple of galleons under construction! http://www.pdracer.com/hullcnfg/page4.htm

I think we'll out run them, and probably manouvre ourselves out of cannon-shot as well!

I'm happy just having heaps of the blue stuff to try to cope with. Once we work out how to handle the first rig, then there's the BIG one to come!!

Cheers,

P:D

[bitingmidge]

Today's progress shots are a bit of a summary really:

1) Board tips were rounded over yesterday, by Julian under the watchful eye of instructor Storer.

2 & 3) The centrecase structure may look complex, and indeed it took us probably two days fiddling to get a nice structural outcome, and an efficient sailing setup, however, now that it's nutted out, in typical Storer detailing, the builder of the next boat (from plans) will make both the bulkheads fore and aft of the centrecase first, and they will form part of the initial hull structure.

No measuring, no nuffink... it will just slot together like a bought one: one of the beauties of having a square bottom and parallel sides of course is that it's easy to build dead accurately (as long as you have a big square thing).

These are going to be nice little boats I reckon, and they are now ready for a final poxy job inside (mostly done and sanded already although hard to see in the photos), then we can varnish them and put them on show somewhere! :rolleyes:

Till tomorrow!!

Cheers,

P

[bitingmidge]

Last shots before the lid goes on for good!

1) Just a pic of one from the front, the shiny bits are where the previously uncoated timber is now beuuuutifully coated. (It give's Michael something to do during the day when I'm at work :rolleyes: )

2) These boats are a doddle to set up. Because everything's square, there's a very simple method for plumbing the mast!

3) Here's the mast step being set up. Michael has devised a more complicated bit here than is necessary so that we can adjust the mast rake to muck around with a few things, but his standard plan will have a very simple single timber arrangement.

Note the number permanently squirted in the hull. This is our "hull number" and I was trying my hand at stencilling signs: more on that later.

4) Mast step and partner in place, both will be boxes of plywood and hopefully plenty strong enough........ If a big hatch appears in the top of the deck, you'll know that repairs were needed!

So now tonight we'll splash some more epoxy round this bit of structure, and finally glue the lid down. . . . .

[bitingmidge]

And so the last bits of detail start to happen:

Pic 1) Here I am setting up the tillers over a rudder case. They are a simple lamination of four 4mm wide bits of crapiata, with a solid end bit in oregon sort of jammed/morticed on.

Pic 2) Tillers glued up, waiting for the glue to go off! Tonight they'll probably get to see what the rudder cases look like permanently!

Pic 3) Tillers ready for final shaping. Verrrry light and quite elegant really (just like the rest of the boat! :D :D )

Pic 4) Michael takes off his gloves to pose for the camera, while glassing round the end of the sprit. The oregon in the sprits looks a treat, and even though I wasn't fussy enough to discard the bits with nail holes every six inches (because it was once the top rafter in a pergola), they look OK.

Pic 5) A quick snap of the spars lying in a corner, glassed and waiting for a sand and another coat of Poxy. The radiata masts are the two larger members, and they also really look the part... hope they act it as well!

Cheers for tonight,

P
:D :D :D

[craigb]

Pardon my ignorance, why do you put the tape around the end of the bowsprit (and also the mast by the looks) ?

[bitingmidge]

Pardon my ignorance,
Hardly ignorance old fella! Thanks for asking! The answer is to be found in that old riddle, why do Irishmen wear three condoms?

To be sure. To be sure. To be sure.


Why do you put the tape around the end of the bowsprit (and also the mast by the looks) ?

You may recall when it comes to lashing out on fine boatbuilding timbers, I am really way down below the bottom of the pack.

The sprits (which will be like booms for the sail rather than bowsprits in this instance) are ex-pergola oregon, and will have to carry fittings at their ends, perhaps drilled through. When I took to them with my 3/8 router bit, lets just say the timber could best be described as "crisp", so the glass will prevent them splitting under load.

The masts on the other hand, are wrapped in 4 oz glass for their lower 1200 or so, and there are patches of glass over the worst of the knots, and other identifiably suspect bits. Mast timber is usually fine grained, clear, and straight, and Radiata does not quite make it into this category.

To be blunt, this is the worst mast timber I've ever seen, but it was free, so I'm taking a punt, but we are hedging our bets by glassing judiciously. Michael thought I was absolutely stupid wasting my time with it at first, but I think is almost backing it to stay in one piece now.....

It would be a shame to have to pay for a mast! :eek: There again, there are a few more oregon pergola joists.......

So when are you coming up for a sail Craig??

P
:D

[craigb]

So when are you coming up for a sail Craig??



Well I will be in Lennox Head for 10 days at the end of March. :)

That's still a fair way from the Sunshine Coast though. :(

Thanks for the explaination btw. I kind of figured it must have been for re-inforcing when I thought a bit more about it. :o

Cheers
Craig

[Boatmik]

ill have to
To be blunt, this is the worst mast timber I've ever seen, but it was free, so I'm taking a punt, but we are hedging our bets by glassing judiciously. Michael thought I was absolutely stupid wasting my time with it at first, but I think is almost backing it to stay in one piece now.....

P
:D

How it actually works is ...

If the masts stay up it is my engineering.

If they fall over it is Midge's fault for not springing for some decent materials.

MIK
(Like they say at the entry to underground car parks.
All Care No Responsibility)

[Wood Butcher]

If the masts stay up it is my engineering.

If they fall over it is Midge's fault for not springing for some decent materials.

I like your reasoning MIK :D:D

[bitingmidge]

Phew!

Great weather for ducks!! We've had nearly 75mm of rain over the last three days, and more on the way apparently.

This, combined with the fact that Michael has to return home on Monday, has caused us (him!) to up the anti a bit in the work stakes. He's at the end of a fourteen hour day at the moment... someone has to keep it up while I'm at work or on the net! ;)

I started the day fairing the foils ;) , and Michael glassed the tips ready for glassing the lot tomorrow. This evening I also managed to finish the rudder hardware and mark cut some semblance of a sail at lunchtime.... so this can be MY post, and the next one Michaels!

Pic 1) Final sand of the foils with a long board. Actually it's not really long, at about 300 mm, but it worked fine.

Pic 2) Michael has cut the glass cloth on the bias ie at 45° to the thread line, to get a perfect job over the tips. One done, the other on the way.

Neither of us had done this before, and it's a great way to solve what is usually a bit of a messy end when the boards are glassed, so that's how it'll be done from now on.

3) While I was sleeping at work, Mik also glassed over the rudder gudgeons on the boxes. Five layers of 4oz glass should be hard to shift!

Here I'm half way through trimming the excess glass with a sharp knife. At this stage the epoxy is partially cured only and it's a bit like cutting stiff rubber.

4) I finished the aluminium gudgeons to mount on the transom tonight, here's the whole assembly and a spare gudgeon. The rudder box now needs a bit of a clean up, glue on the tiller and a coat of epoxy.

5) Before work, I cut the skids for the bottom, and Mik glued them with temporary screws in the meantime. Note all the other holes from various fixings (now filled) and ready for sanding.

On to the next post!!

[bitingmidge]

Every try to fit a 7 x 5 metre polytarp in your living room?

Pic 1) My feeble attempt at making enough space to cut a triangle out! Well the garage is a bit full of stuff, and it's raining a LOT outside!

2) Just enough room for the first sail, hopefully tomorrow it'll start looking like a bought one!

3) Art!

Michael beavers on into the night. Here he is about to fix the last panel on the last boat. Tomorrow morning I've got a little coaming to cut, and we'll work out where the mast hole goes I guess!

Note that the shape of these things makes them very easy to work on. There is very little bending and no back strain when working in this position, a luxury rarely found in boat building!

4) Varnish!

Can't keep a good bloke from his varnish pot, and at 10.30 pm he's hard at it. :D :D :D

Note the low stool also takes all the pain out of working down low!

Summary:

We are really going to be pushing it to get into the water Saturday, but we'd like to give it a go. At this stage the humidity hasn't dropped below 85% all week, so it's unlikely that painting our high-build primer (water based) will be possible, but we'll see. We certainly won't let that stop us, as the boats are epoxy coated anyway.

Tomorrow?

Wait and see!! :D

P

[bitingmidge]

It's midnight Friday, and I've been at work and out to dinner with friends, while Michael remains epoxied to the boats.

Today he glassed the foils as per this series of pics:

1) Blank ready to go.

2) Glass Cloth (6oz) is draped over the blank and cut to size

3) Resin is squeegeed on using a bit of ply with rounded edges and corners as a makeshift squeegee, and brushed as required. (This is repeated a few times till the weave is full)

4) The board after the first coat. Note that we use clothes pegs to secure the cloth against the trailing edge while the glue is curing. This is an area where the glass is very prone to lifting during handling, so care is needed till the epoxy is good and hard.

To next post...

[bitingmidge]

I know it's late, but we have true storm conditions here and it's not going to let up tomorrow, so we should have the boats sailable by Sunday, a little late, but never mind!

Pic 1 fascinates me. In the foreground to the right, is a daggerboard, the white bit is the overhanging glass awaiting a trim, (note the pegs), the horizontal slot with all the white light is the dagger board case penetration through the hull.

The red lines are the voids in the bottom ply! :eek: However it is the shadows which clearly illustrate the structural grid through the boat.

So 3.7mm ply won't hold back 3000 watts of halogen light! :eek:

Pic 2: Is where we are at as of midnight Friday. They are actually quite pretty, or is it me?


Cheers,

P

[bitingmidge]

Saturday:

It should have been like a fairytale: the day dawned bright and clear, but alas it wasn't to be.

Another two inches of rain overnight, wind gusts at 60 kph, surf at ten foot :eek: , all beaches closed, and to make matters worse, the ultimate warning on the back page of the Sunshine Coast Daily:


P (There's always tomorrow!)
:cool: :cool: :cool:

[deepdug]

Loverly weather for Ducks!

[Boatmik]

Sunday - rain, wind howling in the eaves.

Bureau of Meteorology has a storm warning out current until midnight tonight.

I fly back to Adelaide tomorrow morning.

One sail is just about together thanks to Peter - the other can be whipped up in a couple of hours now we have been through the learning curve.

So our plan last night was for him to finish the sails, me to put the dozen or so fittings on the masts and hulls and we would be drinking champers by about 2pm while watching the Ducks screech around in flurrys of spray - doing doughnuts and creating general mayhem in front of the neighbours.

They are unpainted still - the wet, cold weather has meant that the varnishing I did a couple of day still has that tacky feeling when sanded that means that a new coat may bubble the previous one.

Also we haven't been able to do the high build undercoat on the decks and hull exterior as it is a water based epoxy and will not behave well if its water can't evaporate.

But the boats are ready for sailing with their patchwork epoxy coats - but just tooooo much wind and the rain doesn't look like fun.

While Peter was making the sail I was out the back until about 1am putting a final thin coat of epoxy on the masts, sprits, centreboards, rudder box/tiller. And that followed a long day sanding all the aforesaid to a flat consistent surface - without going through the previous coats of epoxy.

The centreboards and rudders have turned out to be works of Art - they will be left clear finished despite their humble origins as finger jointed crapiata.

Soooo - I won't be here for the sailing :-( but I'm feeling a great deal of satisfaction from the great appearance and huge structural integrity of the boats.

At this stage I don't think we can do much better than these hulls in terms of lightness (without adding to the building complexity) or structural rigidity (with Pete on one corner and me on the diagonally opposite corner there is no noticeable deflection - like sitting on a beachrock.

So the hulls and foils (centreboard and rudder) provide a really good basis over the years for the different sails and rigs that will appear on the boats from time to time.

What a great project! Can't wait to see the pictures posted to show how they look when painted in their yellow livery.

A drowsy numbness pains my sense - but in a good way!

MIK

[AlexS]

Great thread gentlemen. I hadn't looked at it 'til I visited, now I'm as eager as you to see them in the water. Also, loved the very witty commentary.

[bitingmidge]

Thanks Alex, hopefully a few others who would normally eschew the boaty forums may in time share the fun we've had (http://www.pdracer.info). Not that it's over yet by a long shot.

Mik has summed up where we are up to pretty well but it wouldn't be me if I didn't add to it: :rolleyes: It will probaby be a couple of weeks before further activity as I need a clear 24 hours to prime and sand the hi-build undercoat, which means I probably can't do it at night, and I have a few weekends of other commitments ahead of me, I will post a few updates in the coming week, but here's a recap of how we got to this point.

An interim recap if you like.

Four weeks ago, Christopha (bless his little heart) kicked of a thread called Oy, Daddles! (http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=27733), and since that time the hill has been rather downhill I'm afraid.

Boatmik was planning to come and visit, and in the intervening week we thought we'd build a Puddle Duck in a weekend while he was here for a bit of a giggle. (I was also planning to finish the Eureka and he was going to finish my rowboat plans I might add).

As we got into it, we let out enthusiasm get carried away a bit, and realised that these little boats were potentially a heap better than perhaps many of the existing ones give themselves credit for, and we both felt they had potential to kick-start grass roots level sailing which has been in the doldrums for many years, mostly because of the high costs involved. So a little extra effort was called for, and while we were at it, it just seemed like a good thing to build two of them....

Now that led us to get more serious, and we spent many late nights talking through all sorts of details, and while I was working at my day job, Mik spent lots of hours, developing those ideas, and refining them till we (he) came up with a beaut, simple to build, light, cheap, not bad looking.... thing.

At this point it looks as though my original budget will run over a little, by around $25 or so, or 10% if you want to get persnickity, but I'll post full details later in the week.

We also ran over time, but again, a lot of that was in the nutting out, and standing looking and scratching our private bits while we tried to figure ways of doing things simpler/better or to get a stronger/lighter end result.

Oh, enough of this: here's some more pics!

1) After glassing the boards, I've trimmed the overhanging glass and Michael has commenced sanding (ROS @ 120grit). The board on the right is ready for it's final epoxy coat, the darker one not yet sanded.

2) The "Old Finger Gauge" at work. If you ever read about rounding spars, you'll see that it's best to make a spar gauge to mark planing lines, and it is, but after you've done it a few dozen (hundred?) times, it's not that hard to eyeball, and mark the lines using your middle finger as a guide.

This shot was clearly set up, because I'm right handed!

3) Rudder case trial fit. There's no point in adding unnecessary weight to the back of the boat, so the case is as small as we dare.

I was horrified when Mik's plans for the Goat Island Skiff called for a bungee cord to hold the blade in place, ten years later I wouldn't do it any other way. Simple, light, and will give a bit when it runs aground as well.

More on that later.

4) The boards as they are at the moment. All they need is a going over with wet and dry to take off the dust, and I'll varnish them, but they look really pretty. A testiment to My LV BU Jointer, and Mik's epoxy skills.

Cheers,

P

[bitingmidge]

Making the sails could have been a pain in the bum, but thankfully when we renovated, I pulled all the walls out and now have a large living space which makes a quite terrific sail loft, and spare-boats that-we-aren't-working-on space!

Pic 1) I'm not at all sure about polytarp, it's cheap, stretchy awful stuff, and we can't be sure that it won't delaminate under load. Masking tape pulls the blue surface off it!! :eek: Anyway, here I am playing sailmaker while the Two Footer and the Eureka watch from my study...

Pic 2) The notorious polytarp cut, reinforcing patches stuck on with double sided tape, and edge seams ready to turn over. The mark of the outline of the sail is clearly visible in the pic.

Pic 3) Well into the night, the whole place starts to look like a sail loft (if you can believe that sails are made of blue polytarp that is).

[Andy Mac]

You've dragged in at least one non-boatee. I'm enjoying the pics and the sleek woodwork, but really have no idea what I'm looking at!:rolleyes: I'll be interested in hearing your opinion of the blue tarp...would it make suitable windmill sails? You know, those old Greek style things...

Cheers!:D

[bitingmidge]

And now getting close:

1) These bits are the mast partners. They are the bit that holds the mast where it penetrates the deck. To give an idea of scale, the cutout is 56mm square. The picture shows them after glass has been added to the top and bottom, one has been trimmed ready for a second epoxy coat, the other in the pre-trim state.

2) Mik demonstrates the centreboard slot cut out in the bottom of the boat, and the surgeons' tools needed to accomplish it: Drill, file, hacksaw blade with a bit of tape wrapped round it, and a bit of wood to wrap some sandpaper round.

Actually we used a router with a bearing bit, but we could have used all those things if: a) I didn't own a router b) my router had been stolen, or c) Bunnies hadn't been kind enough to replace my defunct $40.00 one the night before! :D (Thanks Mr GMC and Bunnies)

3,4,5) It stopped raining long enough to take these shots, but the wind almost enough to capsize the boat sitting there with just the mast up, which is why Mik is holding it up!

I couldn't stand back far enough to get the whole of the mast in, but you get the picture! Also it's raked a bit radically in the shots, but we have built in a lot of adjustment and will fiddle with it depending on which sail configuration we eventually use.

I guess that's now near the end of the show, but there's still painting, signwriting, rigging and of course the launch to cover, so stay tuned!

Cheers,

P
:D :D :D

[bitingmidge]

You've dragged in at least one non-boatee. I'm enjoying the pics and the sleek woodwork, but really have no idea what I'm looking at!:rolleyes: I'll be interested in hearing your opinion of the blue tarp...would it make suitable windmill sails? You know, those old Greek style things...

Andy, Poly tarp is the cheapest, daggiest material known to man I reckon! It'd probably work as a windmill sail OK, but it has a few interesting issues if you are going to join it yourself, like.. it's polypropylene and therefore immune to all known adhesives and solvents, it can be heat joined if you have the equipment. I tried with a soldering iron (using a bit of masking tape to stop it melting) and had limited success.

We are using sailmakers double-sided tape, and sewing the edges, but many in the US use duct tape to hold them down.

I'm currently looking at Tyvek, for the next lot, it comes in 100 m rolls 1500 wide for $300.00 and that may be a better deal for the windmill sails as well. It's white, but can be painted or even printed on.

Stay in touch over the next week or so, I've organised some more info from the manufacturer which may be useful.

cheers,

P (Hopefully we'll get you out for a sail on the death-ships one day!)
:D :D :D

[Wood Butcher]

Many years ago I used to work at a canvas makers shop. They had poly weave material in three different thicknesses and UV stabilisied as well. Rolls were 2.4m and 3m wide. Would make really light and strong sails for a puddle duck

Oh, the ducks look great too Peter:D

[Boatmik]

Many years ago I used to work at a canvas makers shop. They had poly weave material in three different thicknesses and UV stabilisied as well. Rolls were 2.4m and 3m wide. Would make really light and strong sails for a puddle duck

Oh, the ducks look great too Peter:D

AND BOATMIK!!! :-)

[bitingmidge]

AND BOATMIK!!! :-)

He only designed and built them, why would he be looking for a mention in the credits?? :D :D :D

Welcome home to Adelaide Mik, I've got about a third of the shed cleaned up...and no progress on the other sail tonight!

cheers,

P (I've got noone to watch working tonight :( )

:D :D :D

[Driver]

Brothers Midge and Mik

I am absolutely in awe! No kidding, I think this is one of the best threads to grace these forums and for several reasons:-

1) Sheer entertainment value. Those of us who have been keeping abreast of developments have been rewarded with a well-written, well-illustrated story.

2) The finished result. A couple of good-looking little marine vessels.

3) The cheapskate theme. Good work comes from crappy raw material. Love it!

4) A whole lot of experience and expertise on show. This is really good how-to stuff.

I'm not a sailor but I've been fascinated by this thread. Well done! Have a couple of greenies!

Col

[Wood Butcher]

Sorry Michael

Oh, the ducks look great too Peter & BOATMIK :D

[craigb]

Brothers Midge and Mik

I am absolutely in awe! No kidding, I think this is one of the best threads to grace these forums and for several reasons:-

1) Sheer entertainment value. Those of us who have been keeping abreast of developments have been rewarded with a well-written, well-illustrated story.

2) The finished result. A couple of good-looking little marine vessels.

3) The cheapskate theme. Good work comes from crappy raw material. Love it!

4) A whole lot of experience and expertise on show. This is really good how-to stuff.

I'm not a sailor but I've been fascinated by this thread. Well done! Have a couple of greenies!

Col

Ditto!

[jmk89]

I agree.

And as one who is planning their foray into boat building, it is also inspirational as well as showing a lot of the new techniques (and their practical application).

Now where are those plans......

[Christopha]

YE GODS! I seem to have suggested a monster...... this thing is taking over!

[bitingmidge]

As I have said privately Christopha, I OWE you bigtime!! :eek:

Thanks for the encouragement chaps, with that vote of confidence, I'd better see this thing through to the very end....so tonight, it's the quick and dirty cleats.

Now I know plastic horn cleats can be bought from any boat shop for two or three dollars, but building two boats, and needing one for each boat that would add up to SIX DOLLARS :eek: :eek: , so we really should build our own.

(Actually when we thought we were running out of time to go sailing, we bought two of the $2.00 ones, then got the guilts 'cause it wasn't in the spirit of the thing..... for sale, two plastic cleats; offers around $4.00 :rolleyes: )

Anyway, tonight I made four roughies in twenty minutes, then took an hour and a bit getting the photos sorted for posting here:

NOTE: Cleats are easy and fun to make using hand tools one at a time, but this time I just wanted to churn them out....

1) Take any old bit of timber you can find that seems strong enough, and cut the bit off the end, that looks as though it's got four cleats inside it.

2) Take your little block of wood and make a couple of angled cuts on the table saw. If you are as smart as I am, you'll hold it all securely in place with a big heavy clamp, or if you are cleverer still will make a special carrier for the piece.

Even if you are really dumb, please work out how to do this safely before trying it!

3) This is where I don't look so smart... having made the cuts in the wrong side of the block, notice the grain running across what will be the horns, somewhat like building in a certain failure. We'd really like the grain to be running lengthwise and preferably vertically wouldn't we! :cool:

4) After starting again, the first four cuts made, the block is about 100mm long at this stage.

5) Drill a couple of holes about 1 1/2 times the diameter of the rope intended for the cleat.

6) Nip off the bottom corner bits

7) Slice the block into cleat-sized slices, then trim off the bottom bits to the desired depth.

8) Stick them one at a time in a vice, and drag a rasp and sandpaper over them till they look something like a bought one.

9) (The last pic) Here's the first off the production line, with the remaining blanks, and a black plastic one for comparison.

It's bit rough and ready, and I may invest another five minutes getting it prettier before it gets its fixing holes drilled and a nice epoxy coating, but hey, I've just saved another $2.00 and had $20.00 worth of fun in the process!

Tomorrow night... let's make some saddles!

Cheers,

P

[Boatmik]

(Plans info is now here (http://www.pdracer.info) Aug 2006)

The trick to making fittings out of wood in this way is to work out where the wood will split and put the fastenings (bolts and screws) that are used to attach the fairleads or cleat to the boat perpendicular to the cleavage plane.

That's the traditional way and it makes the cleats and fairleads just as strong as the metal bolts or screws that hold them in place.

The reason the radius at the bottom of the cleat is so that sometimes you just want to put the rope under the cleat to change the angle for pulling it. If the rope is 6mm and the radius is 9mm the rope will pull through nicely.

However when you have taken the rope one full turn around the cleat so there are two layers of 6mm rope taking up the 9mm radius it jams very effectively.

You have probably seen people use the cleats by wrapping the rope in a figure of 8 pattern, backwards and forwards. The proper way is to go round the base once so it jams then do some figure of 8s. Usually two or three.

The beauty is that first full turn takes all the load which means that the figure of 8s will always be easy to undo.

Centuries of development!

Nice looking cleats too Midge - I expect the fairleads will be a work of art!

BTW can you measure up the cleats and send me the details so I can add the drawings to the plan!!!

MIK

[bitingmidge]

BTW can you measure up the cleats and send me the details so I can add the drawings to the plan!!!

It'd be quicker to send you a cleat! :D

Thanks for filling in on the clamp techs by the way. (Lucky I curved the bottoms eh? :D )

In the 46 minutes between my last post and now, I've had some ice-cream, a couple of Tim Tams and wandered out and made the blanks for the saddles.

Same deal with the grain, this time you really do want it running longitudinally AND vertically, put two bits of timber back to back, drill a hole exactly down the centre of the two, slice them in to bite sized bits then bung a nice curve on them. Find anything round that looks about right to trace the line around.

This curve happens to be the same radius as a 6" plastic inspection port.....

Note that I didn't have my glasses, so as I often do, I use a nice fat Nikko pen for marking out my fine work. As long as the cut is somewhere in the middle of the line, the belt sander will fair it up later. ;)

In the pic, you'll see a stainless steel saddle purchased from the yachtie shop for the grand sum of $2.95. Four per boat, that's another $24.00 saved on the project cost!

Tomorrow, I'll sand and pretty them up, if they get the tick from Mik.

Cheers,

P (I'll send one of them to Mik as well, for structural analysis.)
:D :D :D

[bitingmidge]

If she'd come home unexpectedly tonight, I would now be dead.

:eek: :eek: :eek:

But she didn't and I lived to talk about spraying the flag graphic on the polytarp sail in the living room! :D :D :D

I used a product called B-I-N which is a white shellac based primer sealer and available in a spray can, it's good for lots of things, and has the best chance of anything of sticking to polyprop, and it has the advantage that overspray just wipes off with a metho soaked rag! :rolleyes:

First cut the stencil of the star of your choice, spray it with an ever-so light dusting of spray adhesive (do this outside even if she's not home, it will save wiping everything down with turps afterwards, to stop your feet sticking to the floor as you walk.)

Now you have a tacky stencil. I mean tacky to touch... so press it firmly into place on your polytarp. (This also works on roadsigns, electricity boxes, post boxes and anything else that needs a custom pattern on it, but get the owner's permission first ok?)

Now spray a couple of light coats. Wait five or ten or fifteen minutes between them and don't build up so thick that the stuff will want to flake off when you fold the sail over. This will happen with wear anyway, but the thinnest coat that covers properly is best.

Now peel off the stencil and admire your work. Clean the overspray with metho, and you are done!

Tomorrow: The red bits, but I'll have to do them outside! :o :o :o By the way, they'll just stick to the primer coat, so I'll use ordinary SuperCheap spray can stuff.

Pics:
1) Paper stencil, first coat on.

2)Finished. What a Star!

3) What the whole catastrophe looks like in progress.

4) Done and waiting for the red bits now.

cheers,

P;)

[Boatmik]

Midge

WOW!

The sail graphics look a million times better than I thought! (I was thinking it was some architecturally inspired namby pamby headtrip! - mea culpa!)

But on the other hand - the fairleads - what's all that length for? You just need enough length at either end for the fastenings to go through - the rest of it is just hitching a lift and slowing the boat down.

(thought the proletariat should be aware of the nature of our collaboration!)

:-)

Actually the fairleads look good with that radiussed top too - but as Uffa said "the only good place for weight is in a steam roller".

Or Lock Crowther (as you quoted at me (more than once)- "anything that is not sail is slowing you down".

I can't tell you how good it is to quote that one back at you :-)
__________________________

Re our discussions regarding sail cloth stretch - what about a glassfibre packaging tape. Could be applied on the opposite side to the graphics.

There is probably an optimum path for the tapes - I can put something together for you.

Keep up the good work - the Queensland Championships depend on it!!!

MIK

[Daddles]

Ahh Mik, do I sense the frustration of not being there to crack the whips over the ever unfinishable Midge? ;) Lemme guess, you're already saving up to go back up and finish the things :D

Richard

[bitingmidge]

Ahh Mik, do I sense the frustration of not being there to crack the whips over the ever unfinishable Midge? ;) Lemme guess, you're already saving up to go back up and finish the things :D

1) Why is it that I seem to have a reputation for starting things before I've finished the last?

2) I'm hoping to sand the canoe tomorrow afternoon.

3) The recording booth project I started with my son-in-law today is coming along just fine thanks very much.

4) The interim PDRacer website is just about up and running.

5) I hope Mik gets here in time to sort the boats out before the Qld Championships on 1st April!

Cheers,

P
:D

[Daddles]

1) Why is it that I seem to have a reputation for starting things before I've finished the last?


'Tis a misconception started by ... why golly, by your good self :D

Richard

repentant? Me? Nah:D

[ChasingRainbows]

Inspirational. I just spent 2 hours reading this entire thread, studying the pics, taking notes and bookmarking bits and pieces for reference later. Then I just had to join the forum to say well done. There are some very good ideas, tips and tricks here for anybody looking to build they're own dinghy, or to restore.
Cant wait to see the finish.

[bitingmidge]

Welcome to the forums Rainbows! I hope we'll see more of you, and it's nice of you to log on just to say gidday I must say!

Now another few days have gone by, and not too much happening progress wise (but the recording booth is almost finished you'll be glad to hear).

I expect to get the hulls sanded and primed and filled and primed on the weekend, so painting seriously starts soon.

In the meantime, in the never ending quest for ways of using the PDRacers for more of the time, our friends in the Northern Hemisphere have devised an iceboat challenge for the fastest recorded speed over ice or snow.

This in turn led to a cry of "foul" from some of our number who, like us, don't actually ever see the cold stuff, and a new land speed category has now been added, and discussed a little on the PDRacer Group.

For the sake of keeping this thread completely updated with current thought and trends, here is a pic of how our boats may look with a land speed conversion kit fitted. I have this theory that the upturned hull is more aerodynamic on land...........

Cheers,

P (back seriously on the weekend I promise!)

[Boatmik]

is that one of the Locost.com cars that you were telling me about.

I thought they had mudguards and mag wheels.

A brilliant idea to put the hull upside down - but wouldn't it be even better to have the driver INSIDE.

Does this mean we need to buy another 3 sheets of ply for when I come up at the end of the month? I reckon it is a goer! Would be a lot simpler than building two last time.

Reckon all the rig loads in the hull - an invereted T plank running forward for the single forward wheel. - length overall 16 to 18ft

Laminate a transverse plank at the back end to bring the track btwn the rear wheels to 14 to 16ft - rotating rig on a timber wing mast about 90 square feet clear monofilm with fibreglass packing tape to take the loads into the corners and restrict tearing should it happen

Should look more like the below - but with wheels Dearie!

http://www.sailinganarchy.com/fringe/2006/images/winterfix2.jpg

As Midge knows - don't let the static appearance of these babies fool you - they idle along at about 60mph and have a flat out top around 120.

Sadly the wheeled variety are a bit slower (more drag that on ice) with average speeds in the 40s and the occasional jump to about double that.

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang on Baaaaaaby

I think this is an unhealthy addition to this thread!

Michael Storer

PS - how much more of that finger jointed crapiata do you have left?

[bitingmidge]

Back to business:-

I finished painting the sail tonight.

Well I painted the red bits.. the white bits are flaking off where it is a bit thick, and when ever the sail folds across them, which is everytime we move it!:eek: :eek: That's why I wasn't too concerned with a bit of red overspray for now, hopefully it'll bind the surface a bit, and I'll touch it up very simply later.

I'll do a few other touch ups with a brush once we've sewn it all together, but I may hang off doing the other one till we see if we can get enough paint to stick to make it worthwhile!

FWIW, it looks the goods!! Quite like the original sketch really, I love it when a plan comes together!

Cheers,

P
:D :D :D

[bitingmidge]

As the sun sinks slowly in the West, I get the feeling another Saturday has slipped quietly away from me.

I did get a few hours on the Duckies, so now one boat is completely sanded and the other about half done.

Tomorrow I'll go over all the bits that need filling, and an epoxy touch-up, then give the shed a really really good clean ready for spraying some paint round the place.

Paint is the one area we've really lashed out, I'm using Boatcraft's Aquacoat Hi Build primer, as much as a trial as anything, and then I will use a two pack polyeurethene, for maximum durability.

The problem with that is that the finish is almost too good for the boats, and I have to work out a trade-off between in endless prep time and diminishing returns,

The other problem is that the epoxy hi-build apparently gets a bit hard if you don't sand it pretty much within 24 hours, so I'm going to have to do it in bits, and as I expect to be away on business a few days this week... well it'll be bit of a balance!

Pic: One boat done, ready for priming!

Cheers,

P

[bitingmidge]

It's not as if I haven't been doing anything!

As noted above, I've chosen to go (some may think out of context for the boat) for a two-pack paint finish. This will probably make these the first two Puddleducks not to be finished in leftover house paint, but we should get a good five to ten years of use out of them, so I see it as a long term investment.

Trouble is, a decent paint means that every little imperfection is going to stand out somewhat, whereas a brushed-on latex would cover it all up. We aren't building showboats here by a long shot, so I've had to find a balance between getting an "alright" finish, and sanding and filling till the cows come home.

So a few more sanding sessions this week, a bit of bogging, a bit more sanding, and we're ready to see how high the highbuild will build!

Pics:
1) Sanding pretty much done. Even though it looks really ugly and lumpy at this stage, the hulls are pretty much smooth as a baby's bum. If you remember a couple of pages ago http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showpost.php?p=266725&postcount=18 is how the hulls looked just epoxied and bogged. Now you'll note that all the fill is gently feathered into it's surrounds, the tape is filled level with the surface, and things generally look ok. There are a few dips and hollows which on a showboat I'd fair out, but hopefully everyone will be looking at the starry sailing!

2) Late one night I cut the gunwhales a bit short (before we'd decided to plant the bow over the top of the sides actually!) which resulted in this gruesome corner. On a painted boat, fixups are really easy, and no reason to panic, or slash one's wrists.

3) One dollop of bog later, (on each of four corners!) a bit of sanding, and no one will ever know. Well no one that hasn't read this thread anyway.

4) The front half of the garage is now vacuum cleaned and wet mopped, as are the boats, in a reasonable facsimile of a spray booth, except for the ventilation, lighting and a few other mod cons. It'll do the job, and yes I do have the proper cartridges for my respirator.

The door will be closed, but it's still part of a large space so for such a small job I shouldn't get into too much trouble.

5) The cockpit is to be varnished, so it's neatly masked off and we're all set to go tomorrow night now.

Then on Saturday, I guess it's back to sanding!

Cheers,

P
:D :D :D

[Daddles]

Ya woose Midge. A spray booth :eek: Sheesh, Sixpence is being sprayed on the back LAWN. In full sunlight ... which is one reason she's not getting a coat today - over 34 predicted. Do you know how hard it is to spray white gloss on white gloss in full sunlight?

As for your fairing efforts. I'd like to be rude but that would just be displaying my deep envy:rolleyes:

Richard

[bitingmidge]

Sheesh, Sixpence is being sprayed on the back LAWN.
Sheer bloody luxury I'd say... a LAWN!!!

I just have these nightmares about white and yellow overspray all over our BLACK concrete driveway!!

Tonight's the night!

P
:D