Hm...not much freeboard on that boat :D
Looking good :2tsup:
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Hm...not much freeboard on that boat :D
Looking good :2tsup:
12-2-09 to 16-2-09
flipped the moulds over on the strongback & built the hull.
Overall, taking the extra care this time with my panel shaping paid off richly.
Only a few spots where wavy edges needed relieving to get fair chines.
At the ends, the twists in chine 1 always cause edges to not line up well.
Screw strips across the joins to pull/push it all into line. (pics from an earlier boat -
forgot to take any this time)
Same drill, tie, tack, fill, wait for it to dry.
22-2-09 - 27-2-09
Having learnt by the handling error with the deck, taped the insides immediately.
Put it back onto the moulds to sand the outside. Seems easiest.
Also clamped the strongback to the bench to stop it 'wandering'...
Sanding is about half done. Don't know when I'll next get to it.
Busy times, & coming back into a period of stright mon-fri day shifts.
Had an unexpected day off work today, so hopped into it.
Actually a nice day too - 25C-ish, moderate humidity. possibility even of rain.
(Whatever that might be...)
Finished sanding the bottom (all by hand - sum total of my exercise for the week I think).
The 2oz glass truly is easy to work with. And uses so very little resin to wet out.
At this stage it looks like it wil only need maybe two topcoats of resin to disappear the
weave completely. Probably saved 1.5 - 2 Kg of resin. And weight.
It also goes around the ends soooooo much easier than 6oz.
Pics of the ends with paintbrush to show why getting 6oz glass to go around the ends
is always such a flamin' mongrel of a job.
I noticed that one sheet of my pac.maple ply was significantly different grain to the
others. Much softer cutting with the jigsaw. Difference seemed to reduce with sanding
of the ply. The resin really makes it stand out again. <shrug> It'll all look the same
under a coat of paint.
Steaming ahead...
Flushed & glassed the cockpit coaming inside & coated the insides of both halves
with 'pox. Also put some 2oz off-cuts inside the bottom to better resist hoof scrapage,
and locating lugs for the bulkheads.
When the pox was dry, I just couldn't resist trying one bit on the other, just to see how well they align... feeble excuse - really just wanted to know what it will look like. :U
Hopefully it will look a lot less like a U-boat once the conning tower is trimmed down..
Lovely project. Great to see her gleaming with progress...how many torpedoes does she carry?
The number of torpedoes depends on whether you work for ASIO or AFP...
If you do, then none. Just ignore the hatches below waterline in the bow - they are
an experimental emergency braking system. :U
Tempted to think no progress for a fortnight. Not true.
Sanding insides. Sanding , sanding, more sanding. Followed by even more sanding.
Mucho clogged Al-Ox paper. Only the corners of the block toch the convex inner
surfaces, so all the work is done by a bout 10% of the paper. Tried using different
strokes & pressures but no faster. Broke out the ROS for the first time in 3 boats.
Job done in about an hour.
Design work on the fly.... hatch location.
Was goint to put one only in flattish section behind cockpit (pic.1) But as that is a
fairly large compartment in a short boat, any significant content will drag down the
stern something chronic. Wouldn't it be nice to have a bow hatch as well. (pic.2)
Hard to fit a flat hatch to a peaked deck, & I don't feel I have the skill to make a deck
cut-out hatch really water-tight.
Solution - recess a flat panel in the deck fore & aft. Advantage aft - the hatch can be
near the centre of the compartment, making all parts reachable, not just the forward
bit. (pic.3) . Cut out 2 more-or-less squares & insert hatches. Mark-out & cut deck
from the inside to keep the edges clean (pic.4)
Trial fit hatch panels (pic.5) Glued them in, being careful not to introduce any twist
which would prevent the hatch surround seating properly. (pic.6) Taped filler triangles
in place & glued. (pic.7) Will glass tape the joints on the inside, & the outer will be
reinforced when I glass the deck.
Got a bunch of night shifts & regular mon-fri day-shifts coming up, so may not make
much progress for a few weeks again. Nights getting a bit chilly too - had to don a
jumper last night...
Neat solution and I bet you'll be grateful for the hatches.:wink:
Massive "Oh No" moment last night.
Been thinking the cockpit looks set a bit far back.
Checked the plans - yes, that's what I wrote up for the first boat.
Measured my other boat - it's cockpit is set 10cm forward of this one's.
Hmmm... must have moved it forward for a reason. Was it because the
original boat (now 2100km away in Qld) was a bit tail heavy? Or was it
because boat #2's different bottom shape had a different CoB ?
Cold sweat breaks out at this point...
Finally got around to calling my sister & getting her to measure the original.
Lesson for today....
if, as the designer, you build something different to your own plans, it is
important to write it down somewhere and change the plans !!
The original boat's cockpit is also set 10cm forward of this one's.
:doh:
:o
:doh:
etc.
10cm doesn't sound like much, but in a boat as short as this with fine ends as
this has, 10cm change in body position can make a huge difference to pitch.
I can nearly kill hull #2's squat when pushed past hull speed just by leaning
forwards. A lighter person will have less effect, but as the main stowage
chamber is behind the paddler....
So today I talked to the deck with a jigsaw, whilst talking to myself in a suitably
annoyed tone of voice. Ruined a blade cutting through the small fillet I put around
the coaming. One good thing - I didn't quite get around to final trim & big fillet.
That would be *much* harder to recover from.
Extended the forward edge of the cut-out 15cm. Cut & fit filler plate into the rear
of the hole. Clamps are the ones I made up to align & secure deck to hull when
joining them. Being rigid across the join, they twist the ply panel into alignment
with what's already there. Tossing up whether to try re-using the coaming cut-out.
Probably harder to cut a hole in a 3D structure to fit it than to cut & fit another strip
of bendy ply - which will fit any shaped hole.
Of course, this means that the bulkhead behind the cockpit needs to come forward
10 or 15cm, which in turn, means it needs to be a different shape...
And when I find my plans again (MIA since I finished cutting out the parts) I'll
try to remember to amend them.
Of course we admire your transparent honesty, but you will have to be punished...At my place this sort of thing is passed off as a 'middle aged moment'...but we can't let you get away unscathed.:no: Have you tried self-flagellation? Birch twigs are very good. Nothing like a good thrashing.:2tsup:
No luck with the birch twigs.
All the birches around here died of thirst a year or so ago. :C
I flagellated myself with some Merlot instead. :U
(When living in South Oz one must adapt to local customs... :2tsup:)
Had another, totally different middle-aged moment whilst testing it for 'fit' on the floor.
Getting in & out hurt.
A lot.
The missus & kids can play with this boat.
I'm building a Eureka for me as soon as this one's done.
cheers
AJ
More surgery with jigsaw & angle grinder.
Old coaming is near enough a fit in the new hole to re-use it after all.
Just needed a bit of TLC with the angle grinder & an 80 grit disc.
The worst of the gaps is only 4mm or so. Easily hidden with epoxy. (AlexN take note!!)
Tacked in place with 'pox in the places where coaming & deck do, or nearly, touch.
Once dry, I'll trim the excess, tape it & finish fixing & filling from the other side.
Must say, at this stage I'm rather pleased with this recovery from a significant stuff-up.
Basking in a rosy glow of success, even.
Now, where's the rest of that Merlot got to... need to flagellate myself some more... :U
Go for it AJ- but don't be soft on yourself, have a cheap shiraz instead.:rolleyes:
rob540 - you've been looking at my wine rack, haven't you !!
finished the coaming fixing thursday afternoon & today.
Angle grinder & 80-grit is The Best Way to remove lots of timber in a hurry.
Back in the days when I regularly broke or damaged glass slalom boats, I considered
myself something of an artiste with this tool. Have lost my touch a bit, but nothing that
can't be hidden with a bit of epoxy :U
Filled all the gaps, rounded off the edge & glassed into place with mostly 2oz off-cuts.
Plus a couple of 6oz ones when I ran out of 2oz. Blimey there's a huge difference in
them !! No wonder the 6oz was so damned hard to bend around the stem & stern neatly.
Will be -very- interested to guesstimate how much weight I've saved. The 2oz just disappears
with a single over-coat of pox. Also glassed over the patch join. Not too worried about it.
Once I move the bulkhead forward, the patch will be fully supported. Will be hidden by
paint over glass outside, & the bulkhead inside.