Thread: Beth - New Build 'Boreal'

Hi Andy,

There is an error that has crept into the centrecase slot sizing. Robert's boat is fine but something has gone wrong in one of the updates since.

The case slot needs to be resized to match Roberts or the centreboard has to be made narrower to work. Either solution is fine but changing the centrecase back to the original size is easier all round.

Email me and I will sort out the drawing.

Best wishes
Michael

Which just goes to show -- even brilliant, near-genius, boat designers can make mistakes. Mik's made two that I know of. There's this centercase thingy, and then the matter of a choosing a certain nefarious n'er-do-well for a mate. He can fix the first one easily enough. The other one, he'll probably never live dow. Best not to plague him with it, eh?

Looks fantastic! Thank you for posting photos!

Thanks for the kind words Robert, I'm glad you're enjoying the photos.

Either solution is fine but changing the centrecase back to the original size is easier all round.

While I seem to have cunningly kept it hidden, I've actually already glued up the centercase so the thinner centerboard is probably the way to go for me - hopefully not too much trouble for you either, assuming that means I need a thinner centerboard template. I'll email you.

For the record, my centercase was build with 25mm spacers. I'll measure the actual spacing tomorrow - the thickness of the glueline adds a bit of space but the fiberglass tape takes away some.

Best not to plague him with it, eh?

Well I'll be sure not to ask for a copy of those plans then


Today I got the first 3 bulkheads (#1, #3 and #4) and all the knees clamped in place and ready for gluing. Things very quickly went from a roughly canoe shaped box to an intricate looking collection of clamps and stiffeners in mere hours.

Progress continues...

Bulkheads 1, 3 and 4 and all the knees got fillet into place. Filleting was not without a few incidents. I first mixed up a 50g batch of epoxy and the first session of filleting went well. I then mixed up another 100g of epoxy and scooped it into the bag to squeeze along the joints. What I didn't realize was the tin can I used to hold the bag open while I filled it with epoxy had cut the bag slightly so when I squeezed it I got dozens of tiny little jets of epoxy out the side of the bag. I tried covering them with my gloved thumb, but that just caused the whole bag to burst so I ended up having to scoop the epoxy out of the bag and into the joints by hand. After that I only used each bag once.



I also noticed the next day that some of the fillets had sagged. Apparently I didn't use enough filler (you need *lots* of filler). I ended up sanding the fillets and going over them again later with thicker epoxy to ensure proper strength.



Fixed:



Next was gluing in the sheerclamps. At this point gluing great long bits of wood was getting pretty routine, but I did find that cutting a paintbrush down to about half length made applying the epoxy much more efficient.

I had enough clamps that I didn't bother with the temporary screws this time. There's very little alignment required since the stempost, sternpost, bulkheads and knees prevent the sheerclamp from moving anywhere.




I then cleaned up the center case and shaped it to fit the curve of the bottom. I ran a string from stem to stern to make sure everything was lined up and was happy to find that all the centerline markings were actually on the centerline!



The next step is assembling the center case and bulkhead 2. I've got the case shaped, the bedlogs cut, and the bulkhead fitted, but then I got confused. I couldn't figure out how it would be possible to fit the centercase with bedlogs attached and then get bulkhead 2 in position.






As I write this I've realized that you can probably attach the centercase to bulkhead 2 and then fit them both in together. Sound reasonable?

Progress continues at a surprisingly quick rate.

I'm impressed with how fast things are coming together. The detailed plans really save a lot of time that would otherwise be spent solving all the little details.

To answer my own question about the centerboard fitment - fitting the case and bulkhead as one does work. I trimmed a couple mm of clearance in the bulkhead under the shearclamp which let me twist the whole assembly into position without smearing epoxy over everything. Once in position I just pressed down and drove home the temporary screws. I had to add additional screws up from below to ensure full contact between the centercase logs and the bottom.



While the centercase epoxy cured I started to bevel the sheerclamps and mark the deck camber. Everything went smoothly...



I was unsure how easy cutting the bulkheads would be with my usual saw but it turned out to be easier than I expected. Bulkheads 2 and 3 are divided by the centercase so I had to cut from one sheerclamp to the centerline, then do the other side, then cut through the bulkhead to the centercase, then cut down along the aft face of the bulkhead.



Next step was to fit the cockpit carlins - these define the shape of the opening in the deck and reinforce the coaming/deck edge.

First I used a temporary batten to check the fairness of the curve along the knees (the actual carlins are fairly stiff - the temporary batten is easier to bend one handed). All the knees were spot on as drawn and I didn't need to make any adjustments.




The carlin notches in the knees were drawn using a small block cut from the end of the carlin stock. The notches are at right angles to the bottom of the boat to keep the carlins, and later the cockpit coaming, vertical.

When the time came to test fit the actual carlin I got confused. There were 4 pieces of 15x27mm fir in my pile, yet the instructions said they should be 10x27mm fir. I eventually noticed the metric wood list has them listed as 15x27 but the imperial list and the instructions list 10x27mm or the imperial equivalent. I quickly ran the carlins through the planer to bring them down to 10mm and then they clamped up nicely.



The carlins are glued to the knees and bulkheads with small cedar cleats. I managed to use the miter gauge from my terrible and useless tablesaw on my bandsaw which is faster and more accurate than making lots of square cuts by hand.



Gluing the carlin cleats is probably the easiest job in the entire build which is lucky because I remembered at about 1700h, just as I was mixing the epoxy, that I had a Christmas concert to see in a couple hours.



Next day I fit the centercase deck clamps - cutting notches like these in the bulkheads isn't particularly pleasant but it doesn't take long.



Moving along with the various framing I made the forward bottom stiffener - it gets glued to the centercase logs with a scrap of plywood. I also cut the aft bottom stiffener - that one is slightly trickier due to the miter on the end to fit the chine logs at the stern stem.



Beveling the carlin cleats was even easier than I expected. I used a temporary batten and a bevel gauge to get the required angle, marked the cleats, and then used a plane to trim them to size. #2 knee turned out to be parallel to the batten and needed no beveling. Despite the picture showing a block plane in the background I actually had to use a rabbet plane to do the bevels because it can cut directly up to the knee. Alternatively a chisel would work fine too.

Continuing the above post due to the image limit:

I decided to glue the carlins up in two sessions to save me the frustration of trying to spring two reasonably stiff carlins into place with one hand while trying to clamp them with the other without making a horrible mess. Clamping them up one at a time was as easy as could be expected. In retrospect doing both at once is probably doable, but unless there is a time limit doing them separately seems easier.




At the same time I glued the centercase deckcleats and both bottom stiffeners.

All looks really great!
Your progress is really fast!
I like it!

Thanks Robert,

I was reading through your build thread just now and see you glued the carlin laminations in 2 steps as well. Seems like a good way to go for those working alone.

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I've now glued up the 2nd carlin lamination and the forward and aft deck stringers and posts. I made a copy of the camber template so I could glue both deck stringers at the same time. I really like how all the deck framing looks and it'll only look better once it's all bevelled. Almost a shame to cover it with a deck

Originally Posted by Andykane

And directly ignoring Michael's advice to not goop leftover epoxy on the boat, I filled the small gaps between the bottom stiffeners and the chine logs with epoxy to prevent dirt from collecting there. I figure the (very) small weight penalty will be worth it to make things easier to keep clean.

Andykane,
I thik this is not bad idea . I've not filleted this place and in practice this is a place for accumulation of dirt that is difficult to remove. I'm not sure if these places did not begin to corrosion in my canoe...

I can see diametral axis of the thread showing - good idea!
Tell to the truth - I've not used it and derogation from the symmetry of the hull is not visible.

And finally: Good job! I like it!

Originally Posted by robhosailor

Andykane,
I thik this is not bad idea .

Glad you think so. I was really joking about the added weight - I've been careful not to add too much epoxy all over the place.

I found the thread on the centerline helpful, especially when marking the deck camber on the knees.

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I managed to cut and glue the deck cleats. I find it a bit tricky to make sure there is enough glue at the ends of pieces like these. If you get a nice tight fit then when you slip them into place all the glue gets scraped out but if you have a big gap then you need to fill it with glue.

No pictures, and I think that's all I'll do this year, so Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all

You are doing a marvelous job building your Beth. It looks great.

Merry Christmas to you, too.

Happily the mismatch between the centreboard case and the centreboard was all on the centreboard side of things.

The centrecase is correct, but the centreboard drawing needs a little change in fore and aft dimensions. The width of the centreboard is correct.

Best wishes
Michael.

Back at work!

Spent the past few days bevelling the deck structure. It's a lot of work! Luckily it's pleasant work with planes and a spokeshave. The instructions say to sharpen, and resharpen frequently and this is essential. There are a lot of places where you have lots of grain meeting in all kinds of directions and if the plane is dull I imagine this would be very frustrating.


I marked the deck camber template with chalk and then slid it slightly back and forth to mark the high points. You can see the marks near the bow go all across the wood (or near enough for epoxy) meaning everything is bevelled correctly.


Areas like this definitely require a sharp plane. The plywood and the epoxy definitely dull the blade quickly too.


Another slightly tricky area.


The end result: gorgeous! For a box, there are sure some nice lines on this boat.


End result: lots of shavings.

REally nice photos and results!

Michael