Thread: The Little Black Dog - MSD Rowing Skiff - Adelaide OZ

Ahhh, bulkhead 2. I undid the clamps holding it in place, lifted it out, slathered goop over everything, slotted it back in and pulled it all tight with some screws. Yes, it really was that easy ... except I couldn't get down between the hull and Sixpence and had to move the hull sideways so I could get the electric screwdriver onto the head of the screw ... which then pulled right through the plywood pad so I had to dig it out and fit another one

Ever tried using an electric drill/screwdriver upside down and in the wrong hand? It's fun ... not.

Again, having the spreader in place is essential but no unusual forces are needed to get the hull up against the bulkhead.

Then bulkhead 3

Bulkhead 3 has those long side arms. Because I already had the inwales glued in place, I had to notch the side arms to take both the chine log and inwale. Being me, I cut the notch too wide for the inwales so my side arms will be ending at the bottom of the inwale.

Again, no problems getting everything to pull into place once I'd worked out what swear words to use. Again, getting the drill onto the screws was fun thanks to Sixpence and by now, I had to climb under the boat to get into the middle so I could do anything on that side.

Then to bulkhead 4

You thought I was going to do bulkhead 4 didn't you. Well, I didn't, I left it and went straight to the transom.

You see, the boat begins to narrow again after bulkhead 3 and from the dry fit, I knew how bulkhead 4 went in so, straight to the transom.

I didn't disturb the strap I'd used during the dry fit so the transom was dead easy - undo the clamps, lift it out, goop it up, slide it back in, screw it into the wrong spot, swear, undo screw, move it to the right spot and fit the rest of the screws.

At this point, I had a quick check of distances and angles and things and decided that the boat would probably go in a straight line ... provided the dog hung over the port gunwale at all times and then proceded to bulkhead 4

Bulkhead 4 was, as expected, pretty much an easy fit. As before, I needed two clamps to pull it down onto the chine logs and the sides (the boat wants to sit slightly narrower than the bulkhead) but this was easily done.

She's held in place here with the two clamps you can see and a single screw through the sides.

And here she is in all her assembled glory.

I moved her back against Sixpence, dropped a couple of planks across the hull (at bulkheads 1 and 4), squinted along them and shuffled things until they were parallel (ie, no twist in the hull), then stood back to take these photos.

Man she's big ... in that confined space. That table you can see in the foreground has actually been angled out about 30 degrees - when pushed back so I can shut the shed door, I can only just squeeze past if I slide my bottom along the table and lean backwards

Looks good though and although the sheer line looks a bit funny in one of the photos, it looks pretty good from most angles you'll view her from. And surprisingly wide, almost spacious

Some thoughts on the process.

There's about 4 hours work there so don't plan on doing this after dinner on Sunday night ... and that was starting with an already assembled boat.

Glue the stem piece in place before fitting the bulkheads. There's a lot of twist and force on that stem peice and by gluing it in place with the sides free, you'll be able to glue it in with each face of the stem piece sitting nice and flat against the sides.

Dry assembled first, then glue the bulkheads in worked really well and is to be recommended if working alone (it's a sod of a thing to pull around on your own).

Dry assembly is recommended as it teaches you some of the rather unexpected twists and forces you need to apply to get things to bend into place.

Tie down straps exert more than enough force to pull things into place.

Mix enough glue to do one bulkhead at a time - there's a lot of mucking about with each one.

The spreaders are essential to the shape.

Don't answer your expensive mobile phone when gluing stuff together

Insert here the comment I was going to make which was really important but which I can not for the life of me remember

Next job? Let it sit for a day or two to properly set.

Richard

Wandered out to my shed today and discovered that someone had left a boat in it
(see Bob, I told you it just suddenly happens one afternoon )

Cleaned up the inside - wasn't too hard because I cleaned up carefully as I glued her together yesterday.

Having experimented with masking off, I'm leaning towards the belief that the hassle in removing the tape is often (not always) more work than cleaning up as you go. I've also experimented with a putty knife as a scraper but have gone back to using a tongue depressor with an angled flat ground on one end and then sharpened to form a chisel. Because most of the bits had been precoated, I'd also cleaned the surrounding areas with a rag dipped in thinners (being careful not to get it on the joints) and this made a big difference to today's final clean up.

After that, I picked her up, carried her outside, turned her around, carried her back in and laid her down upside down - this put the bow into the most constricted amount of space so hopefully will give me a bit more working area. Yes Clint, I adjusted the saw horses so she's lying flat.

I was rather relieved to discover I could still carry her - manhandling the individual sides was actually harder than carrying the whole boat for some reason.

Now that she's upside down, I can begin bevelling the chine logs to fit the bottom

Richard

Richard,

The Little Black Dog is looking great.

I have to tell you that between seeing all those boat at Timothy Lake, particularly Sisu, David's GIS, and following your thread on assembling the hull has been highly motivational.

Perhaps one day soon a boat will make a sudden appearance for me, too.

Thanks for all the information about assembling the hull - the issues, problems and solutions. I do appreciate it.

Bob

your little black dog actually looks like a fairly big little black dog now she's together

when did you remove the masking tape Richard i asume you removed it when the pox was still green?

i masked off a little area when fitting out my Yellowtail and unfortunately forgot to remove the masking tape till the next day, the adhesive on the tape had reacted with the epoxy and left a patch of gooey snot which was a nightmare to remove.

I was out in the shed, planing down the chine logs, watching the shavings climb past my shoes, past my ankles, past my knees, when I noticed the beautiful way the side of the boat near the bow curves from sheer line to bottom. Things were going rather well ... until ... I noticed that the plywood right at the bow is delaminating

That's right, the ply is pulling apart under the load .. indeed the delamination got longer over a period of about 10 mins - it was 6 or 7 cm long at that point.

So I mixed up some epoxy, dripped some unthickened epoxy into the crack, let it soak in, mixed up a thickened batch (runny) and, using a syringe, squirted what I could into the crack. Mind you, I'm not sure how much went in but I did the best I could.

Of course, you can't clamp anything at the bow because the clamping surfaces are at an angle to each other and the chine logs stop you getting the clamps inside the boat.

The photo shows my solution - a thick block of wood that is longer than the crack, clamped at the back to the back of the chine log and another clamp at the front that is propped against a cleat I screwed there for that purpose.

Will it work?
Let's just say it'd flamin' well better

At least this answers one of my questions - do I glass tape that outside join? I've discussed it with Mik and his answer was that, strictly speaking, it wasn't needed. Well, now it is and you can bet that the bow will get special attention ... or a match.

Richard

Damn and blast.......or words to that affect.

What was that statement that is oft quoted by John Welsford.

Originally Posted by m2c1Iw

Damn and blast.......or words to that affect.

What was that statement that is oft quoted by John Welsford.

Yeah, I know Mike. Quite frankly, the can of petrol and the match appear a better option at this point. The bloody timber glued to the chine log successfully, it's the ply that's pulling apart ... and this is at the bottom of the boat, all the big forces are at that sheerline. Score a point for cheap plywood

Richard

Dammit, the petrol wouldn't light
So I continued planing down the chine logs, which is a bigger job than it needs to be in my case because I had to use gunwale stock for them (see earlier ####up) and so they're 6mm wider than they need to be. I could take a lot of that off with a power plane but I'm in a bad enough mood to use the hand plane

Richard
who opened his shed today to find a lake in it

Originally Posted by Daddles

Dammit, the petrol wouldn't light
So I continued planing down the chine logs, which is a bigger job than it needs to be in my case because I had to use gunwale stock for them (see earlier ####up) and so they're 6mm wider than they need to be. I could take a lot of that off with a power plane but I'm in a bad enough mood to use the hand plane

Richard
who opened his shed today to find a lake in it

That's what happens when the temperature drops 10degC in 30 mins...
Blimmin freezing out there. And you're about 1000 ft further up the hill than me.
Blizzard clothing & oxy cylinders ?
Working under a verandah is pretty ordinary in winter, but at least the water doesn't pond !!

The one great thing I found about hand tools over winter, is that they help keep one warm.

Might not be going exactly to plan Daddles, but it sure looks good.
cheers
AJ