Thread: New Queensland PDRacer Build

Rather uninterestingly!!!!

Not true ... but true! Looks great. You can register the boat now at www.pdracer.com

Hi Folks,

Well, once again its been a little while since I've made any progress on the PDR. I have finally completed the gluing of centrecase and frames. Currently undergoing preparation (sanding etc) to be glued in place in the hull.

Dunc.

was wondering how you were going with it, it is annoying so many things get in the way of boat building

How is your stack of wood going Mike?

Originally Posted by Boatmik

How is your stack of wood going Mike?

Getting bigger not smaller at the minute, stitched up the Eureka yesterday must post a pic or two

Originally Posted by m2c1Iw

Getting bigger not smaller at the minute, stitched up the Eureka yesterday must post a pic or two

Oh no, you're not going to finish it before Midge are you?

Richard

Originally Posted by duncang

Well, I reached my goal of getting the boat to 3D with the bottom on by the end of the hoildays - Just!

Here's a couple of pics of the final steps which were completed this weekend.

I've started work on the centrecase and frame #2, ready for installation once I flip the hull over.

First pic shows the mast step being fitted. Second pic (rather uninterestingly!) shows the bottom glued on

The part where all those bits become a boat is magic isn't it

Richard

Originally Posted by Daddles

Oh no, you're not going to finish it before Midge are you?

Richard

Midge is delivering narrowboats in Europe for the next few months. He might not see that Richard.

Maybe I will point it out!

MIK

Originally Posted by Boatmik

Midge is delivering narrowboats in Europe for the next few months. He might not see that Richard.

Maybe I will point it out!

MIK

What is a narrow boat, do you mean he is recking havoc on some canal on a barge.

It is Christmas time again, which means that its time to do some more work on the boat

First pic - Yesterday I picked up the hoop pine for the centreboard and rudder foils and the mast from Lindsay Meyers at Clontarf. They have an excellent range and let me poke through the stacks to find the timber I needed.

I've recently bought a house, but don't yet have a shed - that is coming in the new year, so the second pic is my new workbench which is currently under the house. I knocked it up yesterday from 90x45 structural pine. The top is a recycled benchtop from work. Legs are two planks laminated with polyurethane glue and backed up with wood screws. I added adjustable feet constructed by welding large washers to the heads of a M12 bolt which screws into a long nut/joiner inserted into the table leg. The end result is quite sturdy considering the very simple construction but we'll see how it holds up after a bit of use.

First job on the new bench will be laminating the foils hopefully next week

Duncan

Hi Duncan

Lindsay Meyers is where I got my Hoop from, but as I live in Maitland did not have the privilege of handpicking my stuff. The pine was great though and freight not too bad.

Nice bench. The only mod I would make is to put a diagonal brace across at least two of the sides, ie. the depth and the length (Bracing all sides is even better thought). Once you start planing fixed lumber and putting it under stress you'll see what I mean.

Originally Posted by woodeneye

The only mod I would make is to put a diagonal brace across at least two of the sides, ie. the depth and the length (Bracing all sides is even better thought). Once you start planing fixed lumber and putting it under stress you'll see what I mean.

Thanks Woodeneye - yes agree with the diagonal bracing - I think it will definitely need it once I start putting some ergs into it. I'm also going to drill 3/4" holes for bench dogs and hold down clamps - hopefully Santa will see this message!

Duncan

Today (Ok, I snuck out before family commitments started) I got the rudder and centreboard foil blanks laminated. In the spirit of experimentation, I used Titebond II PVA, knowing that even though this stuff is not technically waterproof, that they would later be glassed and fully sealed with epoxy so they should be just fine.

If it all goes horribly wrong the stuff is food safe, so could turn the blanks into really cool cutting boards

I only had 2 sash clamps available, so to ensure even clamping, I used some RHS steel to spread the load out. It seems to have worked quite well.

Having pulled the first blank from the clamps, I think everything has come out nicely, with a nice flat, untwisted blank, ready for to be thicknessed. On that note, can anyone reccomend someone on Brisbane northside who could do that?

Duncan

Today I glued Frame #2 in place. I found it a little tricky to get "enough" thickened epoxy into the side panel joints without it all being pushed out whilst getting the frame into position. I ended up using a syringe to inject a little more goop into the join to ensure a good bond - is this a usual practice for this sort of joint? In any case, I got a little epoxy squeezed out when I drove in the screws, so I think I got enough glue in there

I also scarfed and glued the narrow staves for the mast. Hopefully they come out nice and straight when I unclamp it in a day or two.

Duncan