Thread: GIS beginners build in Concord, NH

Screwing bulkhead #1 into position is a real pain in the *** and seemingly requires superhuman strength and magical plywood-bending skills that defy the earthly laws of physics.

That is all.

Originally Posted by callsign222

Screwing bulkhead #1 into position is a real pain in the *** and seemingly requires superhuman strength and magical plywood-bending skills that defy the earthly laws of physics.

That is all.

Did you:
Fix the bow first with slightly loose screws ?
Open both ply sides to the max towards the transom?
dry-fix BH1?
and then dry-fix BH2 by closing both ply-sides a bit more?
then dry-fix BH3 by closing both ply sides a bit more again?
and so on?
I have used wide sawhorses to put the structure on and used wooden blocks and clamps the get some control on both ply sides....but it worked pretty well.
Don't try to get BH1 in place if both BH3 and bow are fixed! That's almost impossible.

Good luck!

Did you:
Fix the bow first with slightly loose screws ? No, I was worried they would pull out of the stem if they weren't in there nice and tight.
Open both ply sides to the max towards the transom? Yes
dry-fix BH1? This was just the dry run. I couldn't get the sides in tight enough. I came close but the screws all pulled out of BH1 of the opposite side.
and then dry-fix BH2 by closing both ply-sides a bit more?
then dry-fix BH3 by closing both ply sides a bit more again?
and so on? I never got beyond #1.
I have used wide sawhorses to put the structure on and used wooden blocks and clamps the get some control on both ply sides....but it worked pretty well. I will think about this idea
Don't try to get BH1 in place if both BH3 and bow are fixed! That's almost impossible. I know, front to back from #1 on...

Good luck!

THANKS!!!

In addition to the above, I also could have gotten a cleaner shave on the stem in the lower part, so I'll go refine that. Also, the chinelogs were butting up each other in the bow. I took my chisel and took them down a bit to give them more room to get in close to each other.

Howdy,

The stem fastenings are under lots of load so I would drive them tight and even put the screws through plywood pads.

It is a lot of bending but the nice thing is that it is step by step so you can glue one BHD in each time.

A second person is REALLY useful for this part of the assembly.

I don't put the screws in really tight with the bulkheads (just loose about 2 turns away from fully tight) as they have to accomodate the bevel which is cut at the average angle of the side. We are relying on the epoxy to do its gap filling trick. This is particularly with Bhds #1 and #2 which have some curves on the side.

One trick - with or without extra bodies, is to put a rope or ratchet straps around the back ends of the
side panels to pull things in in a more controlled way. The rope doesn't need to be hugely strong, but stronger than household string - but it is easier to squeeze from back there rather than up near the bulkhead that is going in. Just pull it in enough so that there is still space there for the bulkhead to slide in and then pull it together by putting the screws in.

Once you have done this ... it is the tough part done. Just work through it slowly and carefully. You can stop at any time and take a breather or reassess the method or adjust the rope. Sort it out with the dry assembly first.

I'm very proud.

Just a basic dry-fit, no screws except the stem at this point and some web straps around the stern.

That's bloody disgusting ... no shavings or sawdust anywhere

Back to the boat -
So how did you manage this trick? It looks great.

Richard

Ha!

That's my in-laws garage, for assembly.

THIS is my in-laws basement, for manufacturing! Thank goodness they're in Florida for the winter!

That's more like it!

That saw horse design may become known as the GIS saw horse...

Wooden Sawhorses - Woodworking Plans to Build Wooden Sawhorses

I saw the design in Juan Carlos' thread about building a Goat in Chile. So there are at least three of us using variations of that design to build our Goat Island Skiffs.

Bob

For the record of my difficulties getting BH1 installed...

I checked the measurements and at least the tops and bottoms for BH1 and 2 are spot on, almost to the mm. The curve on BH1 is almost non-existent, almost a straight line from top to bottom, BH2 a little more pronounced. This makes me feel better, at least everything is the right size!

Just be thankful that you're only building the Goat, the flare and twist in the rowing skiff sides add a whole new dimension to it. You'll be happy to know that you've just achieved the hardest bit of the build

Richard

Originally Posted by BobWes

That's more like it!

That saw horse design may become known as the GIS saw horse...

Wooden Sawhorses - Woodworking Plans to Build Wooden Sawhorses

I saw the design in Juan Carlos' thread about building a Goat in Chile. So there are at least three of us using variations of that design to build our Goat Island Skiffs.

Bob

I see the designer of the saw horses is Chris Baylor. I ran into him in a past life when restoring old Mercedes cars. He was similarly afflicted and wrote a number of papers on various aspects of the older models. I still have the Mercs, but their days are numbered....

Howdy, once the screws are in the webbing straps can come right off. They might tend to distort things a bit when you get round to the gluing.

The boat does look really good - as they all do at this stage! I always find it rewarding to see how well the shape turns out.

I am amazed you did it without any screws except for the stem! When you do the screws watch carefully for any local distortion to make sure the heads don't push the ply in too far or push hollows into it. The stem needs to be tight but the others are really to hold everything in line.

MIK

MIK

On the road, about to go home soon to work on the boat for another few days before leaving again. I have some questions so I can plan out the work before gluing something on and then needing to crawl around upside down to coat something.

1: Do the inside of the watertight containers have to be varnished/painted or is epoxy encapsulation enough since no sun will get in there to degrade it?

2: Will putting the inspection ports on the TOP of the seats as opposed to the BH be a problem, structurally? I have my reasons.

3. I got 32 oz of silica in my epoxy kit. I've used maybe 4 so far. The Navigator and Pathfinder only get 4oz of silica. Am I missing something here? How much should I be using here? Should I use all 32oz by the end? I mean, am I really going to burn through 28oz of silica for the BH's, filleting, blades, and spars? Maybe. I'm going to need more epoxy though!

Originally Posted by callsign222

On the road, about to go home soon to work on the boat for another few days before leaving again. I have some questions so I can plan out the work before gluing something on and then needing to crawl around upside down to coat something.

1: Do the inside of the watertight containers have to be varnished/painted or is epoxy encapsulation enough since no sun will get in there to degrade it?

Exactly - no need to varnish. With bigger boats I sometimes paint the insides of areas that might be used for storage to make it easier to find stuff.

2: Will putting the inspection ports on the TOP of the seats as opposed to the BH be a problem, structurally? I have my reasons.

That's fine. Just keep them about 50mm away from the edges of the seats.

3. I got 32 oz of silica in my epoxy kit. I've used maybe 4 so far. The Navigator and Pathfinder only get 4oz of silica. Am I missing something here? How much should I be using here? Should I use all 32oz by the end? I mean, am I really going to burn through 28oz of silica for the BH's, filleting, blades, and spars? Maybe. I'm going to need more epoxy though!

Probably would not use silica for the blades as it will make planing them to shape tricky.

The amount of silica for the pathfinder is quite small. I would say that most of the gluing will be with other powders - like cotton fibres or woodflour. The normal reason for small amounts of silica is to make a glue mix made with another fibre a bit more thixotropic - so it is more likely to stay in place and not be too affected by gravity.

So either there would be other powders specified in addition to the silica in the Navigator (which is much more complex than the Goat) or there is not enough specified in the plan.

MIK