Thread: Building a Waller TS540

Originally Posted by rob540

Mike Waller has designed a very wide hatchway

Yep that's what I meant to say "Gee Rob, Mike has designed a very wide hatchway"

and to provide security in case anyone needs to store wine or beer below decks for emergencies. You can never be too prepared for emergencies. Anyway, I'll need some ballast.

I always find the 2litre casks a good size for ballast

The hatch is now skinned and also glassed to save embarrassment.-although the glass has not been trimmed, so is a bit agricultural. This shot above shows a trial fitting.



And here it is with glassy dags still attached, but working nonetheless, while I figure out the intracacies of washboard design, and decide which bits should be real wood to be varnished, and which bits can be painted ply. Note in this shot the amine 'blush'- a thing I hadn't encountered before. Like AJ (B.O.A.T.) in his last post, I had some pretty miserable, wet and penetrating weather after the last 'poxying and all my precious little amines grizzled and struggled their way up to the surface to give the job a coat of wax sufficient to clog the most enthusiastic sanding disc. My orbital got very despondent and it suggested to me in no uncertain terms that the time for scraping and washing was NOW. Can't blame the epoxy though. I was waxing miserable that day too.



A grotty shot to inspire people who think that boat work is always neat and pretty and that they are not worthy of posting their pics. You are and it isn't.
Sanding the cockpit seats while figuring out the washboard geometry, while trial fitting the hatch, while filling holes in the toe-rails, while cleaning up rough bits inside, while making nylon slide inserts, while scraping wax off the cabin epoxy, while making fillets between teak deck and seat ply...oh and running a small business on the side. This stuff is so absorbing, especially when it is recreational I suppose.
Who said that men can't multi-task?

Rob,
OK I keep coming back to your last post and thinking I am missing something.

Not sure what washboard design means?

In the pic the storm board appears to extend to the top of the sliding hatch cover is that correct, if so how do you stop water leaking into the cabin. Hmmmm probably dumb question but it's got me stumped.

Mike

Sorry Mike, I thought I had said something about this little gismo, but I perhaps only have on the flickr page. I may have referred though, to the fact that the hatch is wide and deep, and that there was not quite enough room fore and aft for a sliding hatch to be the full depth of the companionway, especially since my nuclear powered mast step wotsit is fairly long (for very good beginner reasons). So I either had to shorten the companionway (not going to happen because I'm not suddenly going to become even more athletic and flexible) or come up with a design that could accomodate the extra 100 odd mm of depth.
The plan is to have a sort of nautical 'hat' on the top washboard. The sliding hatch can snuggle up to and over that, by means of a raised lip and flange. There were many ways that I could have arranged that, but in the end I decided for reasons that I won't bore you with, that it might be nice to have the hatch cover the hat rather than the hat cover the hatch. To lock the cabin I only have to immobilize the hatch. Now whether all of this works is another matter.

Left photo obviously shows the glue-up. Right photo is just before epoxying. The ply on the left is the top washboard, the curved hardwood is the trim piece (kept bright, I think) and on the right is the lip that slips under the hatch cover lip-strip-flange-over-the-top-thing.


And here it is with a bit of epoxy standing as it will, with that little lip (still to be trimmed accurately) which will fit under the ...thingowotsit on the aft end of the hatch. So effectively I've just moved the top edge of the washboard forard to breech the gap. The height of the roof of this hat is the same as the height of the hatch, and on the same line.

Um yeah think I get it your nautical terms have certainly helped my understanding.

"hatch cover lip-strip-flange-over-the-top-thing" and

"...thingowotsit on the aft end of the hatch." Especially good as everyone knows what a thingowotsit is.

BTW is that a Rob made wooden screw in the end vice......very nice bloody show off.

Just kidding beaut bench and nice idea for the hatch.

Just imagine telling your great grandchildren that you were there when the thingowotsit was invented by a demented amateur. They'll say "But how did they manage before then, Pa?" And you'll say "well kids they only had Hatches before then and no-one ever got wet inside" and they'll say "But wasn't that a good thing Pa?" and you'll correctly, but gently point out "People had to learn to toughen up in the 'naughties' in preparation for global warming, increasing street violence, loss of connection to others and unpredictable, dangerous weather".

Shortest day of the year in blissful sunshine.

Last week-end, following confident weather reports of dry conditions, I arose to find the sun shining and no cloud as far as the eye could see- and to the West that's over 100km. So I made preparations, including warming the epoxy before mixing, having spent a couple of week-ends completely scraping off a layer of epoxy which I thought at first was just a thick amine coating, but later proved to be a total failure of epoxy. That was the day I really got caught in miserable, wet and windy conditions too soon after putting the stuff on. So, last Saturday was sleeve-rolling-up-day. New coats. Proper job. Hard and shiny.

Needless to say the weather turned and howled in from the west less than an hour after coating and I found a new friend.
The hand-held electric hot air blower. I normally don't use him much because all our power is solar, with a generator back-up and heating elements need to be used with some restraint if you don't want to use the jenny. Well my new little mate and I spent the entire morning keeping the cold from penetrating my 'poxy, hours just walking around the boat re-warming and re-warming and getting bored.
But it worked and the bonus was that it only worked well enough to prevent problems, but the epoxy was still uncured enough the following (sunny) morning to apply a second coat without sanding. The sun was so good then that the stuff was going off in the container again if I didn't work quickly.
To-day I was able to get there and give it all a sand- just to make sure that it really did work, and I'm relieved to say that the hull is now all epoxied sufficiently, except for some detailing and fillets and other small things.
Paint preparation time

Oh dear....
so what you are saying is, having just sanded the identical problem from my kayak
cockpit coaming, I probably should have waited a month or two to re-glass it...
(Or maybe move the boat into the lounge this evening.)
AJ

AJ I hope not. Got a blower? In addition, I actually used a little gas camping heater on one side and I did start the generator (on the other side) for a bit of background warmth. I couldn't make a tent big enough to go over the boat. Maybe you could...then you'd need less heat for the same result.

But the lounge sounds good. Move the family out onto the verandah for a few days- they wouldn't mind

To remind me that there has been some progress;

First undercoat. I miss all that timber already. Pity about the deviant powers of the Australian sun. It all looks a bit grey and drab, but I know it will brighten as the coats go on.

you will soon get used to the white (i did anyway) and the second coat of primer will brighten things up a bit.

the end is in sight now

Well to my eye the paint will give her a longer lower sleek look and anyway the hatch cover will be bright......won't it. You gotta have sumfin to do next winter.

Thanks both of you. I enjoy your generous interest.
The trim board on the thingowatsit will be bright, to match the transom beam (formerly known as the traveller beam but that is another story) but the hatch and the rest of the hat dooverwacky will be white, with bright washboards.
As to Winter next year I have a few choices, much to my wife's concern. Those involve either 1. doing regular stuff that obviously benefits the domestic 'weal', or 2. a long Dipper like Honkers for my fishing-mad daughter and family, or 3. a GIS because I've been sucked in by Mik's lovely understated and functional-good-sense-design ( I have the plans), or 4. a 16ft gaff lapstrake cutter (open dayboat) that I have plans for, and furtively dribble over while no-one is looking.
Have to finish this one and see what seems appropriate....must stop dribbling