Thread: Another OZ MK2 PDRacer build in Sydney "Wood Duck"

Originally Posted by topbarhive

We are just waiting for more pics and more info about your carefully constructed PDRacer. Great Job!

Stephen

Hi Stephen,

It's only the semblance of carefulness, unhappily. Guess who forgot to mark in/pre-drill the screw holes in the foredeck for the mast partner? And guess who had a funny feeling he'd forgotten something just after he'd resined the fordeck to the last time? Guess who could have retro-fitted the holes when he realised what he hadn't done? Guess who put a screw in too far towards a runner edge, and skew, and it splintered out the side and now he'll have to do a difficult repair job?

At least the damaged area is well clear of the mast hole and is not structural, but it will need a good dose of epoxy to make it waterproof - after all that work making sure that everything was waterproof (I can hear the guffaws and jeers from here ;), what irony... I'll get onto that when the boat has been turned turtle for the hull bottom work, as it means that the resin will be able to use gravity to help it fill the jagged hole(s) in the (starboard) runner. And it is not as though I'm unused to patching dreadful mistakes (Wobbly Weight Tower Mk 2, anyone?). That one has finally been sealed up for ever and ever amen ;).

Cheers,
Alex.

You want pics? You shouldn't encourage him! Actually, I managed to get The Boss to take some happy snaps of me working on the forward tank/decking, having had a sudden fit of vanity - or not. It was after she'd had enough and gone back upstairs that I put that screw in wrong.

This morning's work has been trimming back the foredeck a bit, removing most (six) of the "ears" from around the boat, trimmed the bottom mast infill block to 38.5-ish square on the TS, and drew the 25 mm radius curves on the corners of the piece of timber marked up for the front coaming.

I've also been sorting through the array of photos, tying to slim the number down to something sensible, i.e., 12 or less.

1. Sand-paper confetti and tools cleared out: just need to hoover up all the dust


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2. Last throes of sanding: a quick whip over the hull number patch with 120-, 180- and 240-grit papers to get rid of air bubbles, lumps, etc. Yes, I know, extremely important ;). This necessitated vacuuming out the tank again


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3. Final pre-coating task: swabbing the tank with meths - half-completed in this photo


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4. Last pre-coating peak at the front of the mast partner, just to check! Pity I didn't remember the holes for the temporary screws through the foredeck...


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5. The "furniture whittler" at work, doing something other than whittling with sand-paper, for a change: applying the final resin coat to the inside of the forward buoyancy tank, as it happens. I used a 25 mm natural-bristle brush, and taking care not to end up with globby runs, not that it would really matter


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6. Brushing on the resin: I did each half of the tank separately, working methodically in a loop, and painting for top to bottom. The bottom surfaces were done last, so that any drips - and there were quite a few - would get smoothed out. This is the interface between the two tank halves - lots of nice fiddly work on the partner and step...


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7. Evening out the resin coat: not attempting to flick resin at the underside of the partner, no matter what it might actually look like ;)


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8. Inside of tank fully coated!


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9. Hull number patch visible as slightly darker region on hull bottom. Note patched port wall of tank: it now has a nice sealing coat over the whole surface :)


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10. Foredeck underside coated, including glueing area: still kicking myself over not getting those holes in place. It wouldn't have mattered anyway if I hadn't missed putting that one screw in straight...


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11. Used six containers to mix each bit of the final coat in: I decided that mixing up one whole batch and applying it by brush would be asking for the stuff to go rock solid before getting anywhere near the end, so I started off with four containers with two pumps (14 mL) of resin in each, pre-loaded. I added one pump of hardener to each container as I needed it. Had to add resin to two new containers in a hurry at the end


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12. Appling the glue sausage using the Store/DF(tm) piping bag method. This isn't a posed, shot - I'm actually moving slowly but steadily along the port sheer clamp. It is also the last view of the damaged hull side - I think! I underestimated the amount that I needed by three (well, two and a half) batches, although there was a lot of excess in the end. Better to have too much than have a dry joint, I say...


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Look at the time! Lunchtime! More photos later.

Foredeck installation photos continued...

1. Glue sausage complete: calling it a "bead" is understating it somewhat. I might have forgotten the screw holes, but at least I didn't miss any bits with the glue. This is maybe the last view of the damaged tank side!


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2. Lowering the lid. I'm checking to make sure that the foredeck edge is fitting neatly against the side deck. The corner on the other side drifted despite being careful, but I only had to move it a couple of mm in any case


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3. Lid down: I've just noticed that there is a gap over the other side... The frightful heap o' rubbish in the background is on the list of things to Tidy Up Before There is A Nasty Accident



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4. Putting in the first few cockpit bulkhead screws by hand: five of them, to get the initial alignment set. These were into pre-drilled holes - which was probably why I forgot the partner holes - I thought I'd already done them <sigh...>. The rest of the screws were put in using the drill


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5. All done! This includes the partner screws: the ill-fated screw was moved after I checked the photos and found out that I'd missed the target a bit - and gone in crooked to boot :(. Apologies for the rather cooked snap...


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6. Cockpit bulkhead just before I cleaned off the excess glue


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7. Maintenance-crew-eye view of the hull number: just showing it off - again ;). Actually, the bottom tip of the three on the right copped a drop of meths, and some of the paint floated away. there was sufficient "Prooftint" stain under it to make it still look reasonable - especially at a distance - so I didn't bother touching it up. Surprisingly...


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8. The hull is now structurally complete! And now I can remove those feet that have been jagging me in the back on occasion! Yay!


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9. Beak-end of the completed Wood Duck hull. I probably overdid it with the screws around the mast hole. Will have to be judicious in the way that I colour up the sanding filler...


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10. Aaargh! Clumsy oaf! The split in the starboard partner runner... At least there is plenty of glue, so there are no dry joints. I didn't overdo it on the amount of resin that I brushed on for the final sealing coat, not wanting drips everywhere like last time (when I triple-coated all the uncoated areas in the tank)


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11. Close-up of the partner-runner split: rather ironic, considering the lengths I went to to keep the tank free of the smallest blemish ;)


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12. Mast hole and towrope fairlead block: foredeck in place, glued and screwed down. Actually, you can see where I missed with a screw again: the forward mast block in the partner. Fortunately I only just grazed the mast block, so it will be a simple matter of a small dab of resin: the mast hole will get another sanding and coating after I've cut away the plywood dealt with the glue in any case...


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That almost completes the foredeck installation photos - there are a few snaps that I may put up in the next post if I think they impart any further info. I'm off to remove the screws from the foredeck now...

Once I'd got the screws out of the foredeck, I sanded off the filler glue blobs on the port side deck, then gave it a severe shave with the block plane, down almost to the sheer clamp, then finished off with 80-grit paper on the cork block. Another test of my ability to build straight - it could have been a lot worse...

That was followed by trimming the coaming to the right length, and roughly shaping the forward corners to the marked lines. Once a few other things are out of the way, I'll finish off the corners properly then round over the edges. Before I stick that down, I need to shave the currently-overhanging (by 1 mm or so) edge of the foredeck flush with the cockpit bulkhead rear face, so that I know where the aft edge of the coaming is going to go. Then I will need to put a slight bevel on it, shouldn't take too long with the new TS. I'm currently pondering weighting the coaming down rather than screwing it in place - there are pluses and minuses: the main minus being that it's bound to skate about on the slippery pad of glue and end up where I don't want it. Have to give that more thought.

Also finished off the bottom infill block - for the time being - and stacked with the rest of the now-almost-complete kit of parts for the mast. I just need to cut up the other spacers: some - if not most - will come from the 1400 mm-long infill block, while the rest (if any) will be chopped off the 20 mm square stick offcuts that I have a lot of.

Final work today was doing the same to the starboard side deck that I did earlier to the port. Interestingly, there appeared to be a shiny fibrous substance embedded between two of the layers of the side deck ply in patches - glass or wool, not sure which. Odd.

Having put the 'Duck on a diet, it now actually looks fatter! Something to do with the change in proportions makes the hull look deeper and hence, as I say, "fatter". I'll post some more photos in the morning: what with all the planing and sanding, I didn't get a chance to do more than upload the photos out of the camera onto the computer.

It is certainly feeling even more boat-like now, especially with the excess bits trimmed off it and the albeit unfinished coaming posing for photos.

Even more forward tank photos...

1. Mast step. Note the bit of runner that got missed with the resin brush - since it already has three layers of resin on it it probably doesn't matter too much. The resin-coated aircraft ply looks quite nice, here..


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2. Port side of forward tank .This is the last time that the damaged tank side will appear! Those filled sheer clamp installation holes really show up in this photo - fortunately, these and the ondes under the side decks won't be visible in the general run of things :)


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3. Possibly a bit too much glue on that cockpit bulkhead top cleat!


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4. This corner is a bit neater; I still find it hard to judge how much glue to use and how much pressure to put on what's being screwed/glued down...


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5. Bow of Wood Duck with "ears"/"feet" cut off; slimmed-down bottom mast infill block is lying on the foredeck. Untrimmed cockpit coaming on deck in background


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6. Close-up of infill block: saw marks visible - I pushed it through the TS a bit too quickly. Note also a slight but observable "hungry horse effect" where the glue lines are. The harder, glued areas stick out more than the softer timber, which is surprising given the high speed of the blade. The blade must be flexing a lot more laterally than I supposed... "Hungry horse" is the curse of aeromodellers using balsa and harder glues such as cyanoacrylate (CA, "Super Glue"). Balsa cement is not as quick to set but is much easier and forgiving - and more pleasant! - to sand than CA


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7. Cockpit coaming with its port corner chopped off, on the way to having the 25 mm radius put on it


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8. Both coaming corners rounded off: general overview. Top forward and aft edges need rounding over as well. It's interesting how the coaming makes the cockpit look more finished (even though the coaming itself isn't)


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9. Close-up of rounded-off port coaming corner


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10. Another view of rounded port coaming corner; the starboard one isn't quite at the same stage and doesn't look as even (because it isn't), so I haven't shown it here (and also there isn't room ;)


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11. Port side deck looking forward. The decking has been planed and sanded up to the sheer clamp/gunwale, but still needs a bit of touching up here and there to remove small amounts of glue


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12. Wood Duck with all the extraneous bits cut/planed/sliced off: the removed ears/feet can be seen on the foredeck. Roughly shaped cockpit coaming in place; screws absent from foredeck. The essential hull, essentially complete ;). You could (almost) putter about in it with an outboard on the back at this stage, although not advisable - the external vertical hull surfaces haven't been resin-coated, and the bottom sheet is full of holes, which would allow it to take up water like a sponge


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I started rounding over the horizontal edges on the coaming this morning, as well as trimming off the slight cockpit overhang of the foredeck, and sorted out which bits of WRC to use for the 'foils, thus completing the 'foil kit of parts.

I'm still watching too.

Originally Posted by Cliff Rogers

I'm still watching too. :2tsup:

Hi Cliff! How's FNQ, and your 'Ducks?

Cheers,
Alex.

Good, busy, duck frames are still in a container drying.
Next year, maybe.

Yesterday was hot even for this time of year, and I spent some of it out on the deck sanding back the glue on the mast stave scarf joints, enjoying the "warmer" weather ;). It's a lot cooler today and was sort-of raining for a few brief seconds. Blink and you missed it in this neck of the woods, though...

As the staves are generally still bent, even after trying to remove the bends, I'm going to have to use the centreline method (#2 in the instructions). The bends are fortunately not so severe as to risk the finished shape of the staves.

If you're curious as to why I've squawked and clucked so much about the Flickr linkbacks, here's chapter and verse aus Flickr, via a quote and a link ;) ...

"Remember! Flickr Community Guidelines specify that if you post a Flickr photo on an external website, the photo must link back to its photo page. (So, use Option 1.)"

Note that "Option 1" is out since the Forum - for entirely reasonable and sensible security purposes - doesn't have html (and/or javascript) coding available by default ("html is off"). Of course, I could try translating the html to bcode (which the forum software uses), but that would be too sensible and I wouldn't be able to whinge and belly-ache continually about it, would I ;). And in any case, a complete translation isn't possible, as far as I'm aware - or is it? In one respect my solution might be considered to actually have some merit (if one were so inclined), in that the Flick link is actually more explicit and visible than just a plain picture embedded in a link (popup tips notwithstanding).

Some photos of recent hull (but not mast, or not yet, anyway) work:

1. Tools used to enlarge the foredeck mast hole: a "Milwaukee"-brand "sabre-saw" (sort of) and the Permagrit plate. The jigsaw would have been neater and easier - but I forgot about it!


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2. Close-up of enlarged mast hole: this isn't complete by any means - I am waiting on a ball-bearing router bit of suitable shank size (1/4") to fit the little palm router before I complete it. A few scratches visible when I slipped with the saw. The hole would have been sanded back and re-coated in due course in any case. I'm interested to see what sort of a mess the HS-glue makes of the sharpness of cutting edge of the new CMT bit that I've ordered for the little Bosch, and which should be here tomorrow...


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3. Foredeck and enlarged mast hole #1. Bow of boat, with partially-worked cockpit coaming. I've got to do the glassing of the deck joins soon


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4. Foredeck and enlarged mast hole #2. Why present almost exactly the same photo as the previous one? Because I wanted to ;). And because it's not exactly the same: it gives a better view of the enlarged but-as-yet-incomplete mast hole on the broader context of the foredeck


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On the boat agenda today (apart from posts) is more work on the lug-rig mast (centrelines and shape-drawing); and possibly fossicking out the right bits of hoop pine for the sprit-rig mast, plus some more sanding of the coaming part. Some of the hoop is for the Goat, and some for the 'Duck, and I have to work out which is which ;).

After an afternoon of footling around - no small part of which was due to the Dog - I think I'm going to have to use the deck raining outside the kitchen to set up a jig of sorts to mark up the unhappily banana-like staves, and possibly do the construction of at least part on it too. More later when I've had more of a think...

Making good progress there Alex.

On the Flickr linkback issue, when you right-click on your pics, and select "copy image URL" it links back to your photo on your photo page. I presume this is not enough for them? If not, would just pasting the URL you just copied under the pic suffice, like this?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3482/...f422754c49.jpg

Or else put your Flickr page URL in your post signature?

Originally Posted by woodeneye

Making good progress there Alex.

On the Flickr linkback issue, when you right-click on your pics, and select "copy image URL" it links back to your photo on your photo page. I presume this is not enough for them? If not, would just pasting the URL you just copied under the pic suffice, like this?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3482/...f422754c49.jpg

Or else put your Flickr page URL in your post signature?

Hi Bruce,

That last idea is a good one :). I thought about the picture URL, but it's only the picture, not the page with all the guff about that Flickr delights in dressing things up in, which the photo "lives" on. I decided to edit out the diatribe - I had let my frustrations regarding Flickr's legalities get the better of me when I wrote it.

Anyway, enough of that, back to the main game...

I got a nice new 3/8 " flush trim bit from Carbatec in the post this morning, and cleaned up the mast step hole nicely with it this arvo. This evening I opened up the centreboard slot with the jigsaw and ran the new bit around the casing - hey presto, a beautiful sharp-edged slot! Photos tomorrow.

This morning has largely involved filling all the holes on the hull bottom resulting from the installation of the centrecase assembly, plus a few that I'd missed on the bow transom, including the step attachment holes. Martien dropped in after work yesterday to see the latest developments first-hand (he recently got a very good full-time job :), and helped me flip the boat over. Hence the cutting and trimming of the c/case slot. Not having had the camera with me when I did the mast hole, I had to take photos of it with the boat inverted.

Speaking of photos, I have been a bit lazy, and unlike MIK, am playing cath-up with them.

So here are some photos of the Dog helping me with the mast...

1. Helpful Dog! Here's the Dog helping me with the mast. He's got his paw on one of his new toys (an offcut from a narrow mast stave ;)


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2. Horrible Dog! I spent a while looking for the ball of string that I'd absent-mindedly - and unwisely - left on the floor next to me while doing some aligning and measuring at the mast foot. After a while searching fruitlessly, it occurred to me that the ball of string might have ended up upstairs. It had - but not as a ball! Here's what I found...


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3. This is fun! What a lovely new toy I've got :)


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4. Aren't I clever? Can I keep it? Please?
No! Dreadful Dog! I think I'll put you in a pie!


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5. Investigating the string more closely...beware the tangled web you weave, Dog!


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6. What, me dreadful and horrible? How can you say such terrible things about sweet, innocent little me?
Hmm...I suppose with that expression I will have to forgive you on this occasion :)


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That's about it (the single photo at the top) as far as pictures of the mast got at the moment, but hope to have some in the near-ish future. Anyway, the next batch will contain snaps of the mast hole and centreboard slot - and none of the Dog!

Here's the centreboard slot-cutting sequence:

1. Mast hole cleaned up with the new flush trim router bit. I had to sand off some end-grain whiskers, but the cut underneath was nice and clean :). Close-up of one of the laminated "manufactured beams" that support support the ends of the boat thrown in for nuffin' ;). If you look closely you'll see a scarf joint in one of the plies towards the middle :)


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2. More of a close-up of the mast hole: I tried hard to avoid scalping the mast block - I was aware that it was likely to happen if I didn't angle the router right - but at least the bit appears to have only taken off the resin and not touched more than a whisker's width of the timber... This photo was particularly tricky to take, since the boat was upside down by this stage, and the area was rather dark. I ended up taking well over a dozen photos (16) and this was one of the latter ones


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3. Long-shot of the mast hole: an attempt to put it in context, having left the camera upstairs (unintentionally) until after the boat was turned over. The bow is at the top of the photo (since the boat is upside down here)


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4. The boat is also upside down here too - in case you hadn't noticed ;). It has been a while since I've shown pictures of it turned turtle. The coaming piece is sitting on the boat because there was nowhere else suitable to put it - time to do some more tidying


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5. "Pristine" hull bottom: i.e., I haven't hacked into it to remove the centreboard slot occlusion. A really poor photo, but it sets the scene for those to follow...


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6. Hull bottom after hacking into it with the jigsaw, confirming my inability to handle power tools. You can see on the right of the slot where I crashed into the starboard centrecase side in a couple of places. This could easily have been avoided with a small amount of care - and even more easily avoided if I'd reamed out either of the two locator holes with the round wood rasps to accept the router bit. (At least I'd finally remembered to turn the flash back on by this stage of the photo-taking process.) I really shouldn't be allowed out...


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7. Slot cleaned up with the new flush trim bit: this is what that type of bit is designed for - and it does it brilliantly. It has almost cleaned up the mess I made with the jigsaw - but not completely. This will be patched with glue or resin before too much longer


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8. Distance photo of the nice new slot. I like those rounded corners: because it was a 3/8" bit, it cut nicely around the 10 mm fillets in the case :). I'm very pleased with that. Got to be pleased with something, once in a while


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9. Longitudinal view of centreboard slot looking aft


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10. View of the port side of the new slot. Again, you can see where I scalped the side of the case by not holding the router perfectly steady and at the right angle


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11. The Bosch Blue "palm" router: the wee beastie that did all that nice cutting shown above. This is a nifty little machine: lightweight and easy to use - nowhere near as heavy and awkward as the galumphing great Elu that will be spending the rest of its days in the Triton chassis, once I've finished with the "temporary" workbench that's sitting on top of it. You can tell that this photo was taken somewhat later (the following day, in fact), because of the presence of (overlarge, as usual) glue-blobs filling the holes in the bottom of the boat - but that, as they say, is another story...


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12. Big heap of glue shavings under the boat, ply dust, resin and glass, ply scrap, etc., etc., etc., having fallen out of the centreboard case during the slot-routing process


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That'll do for today. There are some more photos of the aftermath of the slot-cutting, but I'll leave them until tomorrow. I managed to mark out one narrow stave with station widths (wonders will never cease) and got the hoop pine sorted out into two heaps - one for the Goat and one for the 'Duck. It's going to be complicated by the fact that one of the lengths has an amazing bend in it - bananas are nothing on this one - and will require chopping up into lots of pieces. Even then, I am going to use as little as possible from this bit, making up most of the piece ('Duck wide stave) with offcuts from the other 'Duck (sprit mast ) and Goat (lug mast) staves. I'll try and take a picture of it - it is quite an exceptionally not-straight piece of timber!