Thread: doing something to a TS16

I never put the tackle inside the case AJ, just too much potential for problems and it's out of sight for maintenance. I'm not sure how yours is arranged, but spectra is a good choice if not using cable. The way I do mine is a cable leader (except the smallest boats), attached to the board, which runs in a groove, much like yours, then the cable exits the case on the forward side. The cable is attached to a single with becket, once out of the case and the spectra whip tackle (or gun, depending on board weight) is used to bring the leverage needed. Since the leader/lanyard exits the forward side of the case, there's usually also a turning block involved, so the line can lead aft to a cam cleat, usually mounted on the side of the case or under a thwart. On two of my designs I skip the cam cleat and use a "keyhole" and knot the line at predetermined points, say all the way down, slightly up, a reach position or two, a run position or two and full up. This eliminates one more part (two if you count a fair lead) that can fail and is fool proof.

I stole this idea from a Phil Rhodes design I sailed years ago. It was so clever and simple, I've employed it ever since. Even on bigger boats, I use the same setup, though a hydraulic ram or mechanical winch might be used, instead of tackle, but the over center/grooved board thing is the same. The coolest version of this was an electric motor, with a worm gear attached that fed through a swiveling coupler, mounted in the board. The motor was a small block Chevy 12 volt starter and the worm gear a big piece of all-thread. Push a button and it went up or down as desired. Handy and easy. It even had a position indicator mounted on the back side of the case, looking through a window in the cabin bulkhead.



This is one I used on a CS-17, I built a couple of years ago and is typical. It has an extra block at the case exit point to direct the line down to the turning block, because some seat framing was in the way for a straight run to a turning block. A cam cleat was mounted under the thwart. Clean, simple and out of the way. The point of this revision to the CS-17 plans was to completely enclose the board, in the case (no leaks) and to eliminate the complex up and down haul setup shown in the plans. This board is about 5' (1.52 m) long and about 15" (381 mm) tall and it needed about 20 pounds (9.1 kg) of lead to weigh it down, so it would sink with authority. The setup works well and hasn't needed any maintenance or adjustments since. It was an all spectra tackle, but a 7x19 cable lanyard, would be more reliable and last longer.

Yours looks to be coming alone nicely too. Keep it up.

Thanks Bob. It's easy to feel a clumsy fool when you look at the work being produced in other parts of this forum.

Thanks Paul. At this stage of the dreaming, the tackle is inside the case.
By my rough guesstimations, the lee case top will be below waterline when heeled.
Inside the cabin, the case tops are the bunk tops. The front top corner of the cases are about
where I expect my hips to be when sleeping - no upward protusions possible there.
So the lifting line has to exit the case in an enclosure to bring it above WL & preferably outside the cabin.
The logical place to bring it up is straight out the case top in a tube, just aft the cabin bulkhead,
and cleating upwards on the cabin bulkhead..
This means the only place long enough for the tackle plus 2 turning blocks is inside the case.
I can live with this. The board is relatively easily removed (in theory) from outside the boat.
I can make access panels to the turning blocks inside the case. top.

Not. Happy. Jan.

Started sanding centreboards for final coating.
Did the first side of one at expense of some more splinters from tatty work bench top under fingernails.

Decided I need to fix that sooner rather than later. Splinters under fingernails NOT fun.
That's ok, been on my to-do list for yonks anyway.
Good excuse to buy a belt sander.

But to get at the bench top, I had to do major clean-up of workshop.
That's ok too - badly needed it....
Got rid of 2 wheelie bins of rubbish from a 3M x 3M shed !
Also got my power tools neatly ordered into a cupboard instead of jumbled into a lid-less
foam broccoli box, slid under the jigsaw table. (Seen on top of work bench below)
All good so far.

With the bench top clear I could see that the belt sander wasn't going to be enough.
Top needed replacing. Or a heavy skin.
After dismal experience of trying to get my centreboards flat & square, decided skinning
in heavy ply matches my skill-set rather than replacing planks.
But that's ok too.
Off cut from 17mm ply sheet would make a great moveable base for the little drill press
I needed to buy to drill my centreboard pivot holes square.
Cool !

Skinned the bench and trimmed it in 45 x 75mm permapine - sacrificial edge.
Ends & back raised 4mm to keep stuff on the bench.
010220131587sm.jpg
All good.

Made the base for the drill, and used 3/8 bolts as pins to locate it removeably on my jigsaw table.
090220131621drill.jpg
Works a treat, and can easily be shifted onto the bench top so that I can support
the centre boards horizontal for drilling.

Sanded bench top silky smooth & decided I won't oil it after all.
The jigsaw table top is exposed ply & it's fine.
Will eliminate a possible contamination source for boat bits that need coating in pox & stuff.
Cool !

Refitted the vises on the work bench, improving rigidity & position of both.
All good. No, better than good... Great !
.
.
.
Then the capacitor in the fluoro over the workbench exploded, spraying oil all over the work shop.
090220131615cap.jpg
All over the bench, my sanded centre board, & stock of doweling & other good timber against the opposite wall.
090220131623cb.jpg



So now the bench top has had a drink of boiled linseed oil (looks & feels great!)
090220131622oiled.jpg

and I'll just have to manage future contamination issues as I make bits & pieces for the boat...

and get a new light for the workshop.

And use alcohol wipes or something on the centreboard before epoxying it.

Nothing like a good side track to get you back on the straight and narrow.

After gluing some stuff by mistake to the work bench, I decided to fix the huge divots created, when I pried the wayward pieces off. I flood coated the bench top with straight epoxy, after filling holes and dings. I then placed a sheet of 1/4" plexi glass (acrylic sheet) over the wet goo and pressed it down into the wet. The next day, I removed the plexi by peeling from one corner and a perfect, smooth, mirror like finish was on the bench top. The same could be done with Mylar sheeting or a piece of plywood covered with thin plastic sheeting.

In fact, when doing planking repairs on a boat, I often use the Payson butt joint To make the repair look just like the offending planks and hide the joint, I'll cover a piece of plywood or solid lumber, with thin plastic sheeting and clamp this over the Payson joint until cured. The wood grain from the clamped on piece, transfers into the wet goo, through the plastic sheeting (needs to be thin) and the end result is a seam with wood grain running through it and if you made a good selection, matching the repaired planks to a degree. Enough so that under paint, no one knows where the repair was.

Boat building requires you to be inventive and a problem solver. Way to go AJ.

SNAP !! to both of those epoxy uses PAR.
Using a sheet of acrylic to get a smooth finish over a wide area is a new one.
Done it for small spots. Or odd scraps of Melamined chipboard.
Mostly try to use gravity to level out larger ones.

The BLO has dried off nicely, so I started de-oiling the centre board yesterday.
Being a hearing aid wearer, have always got a fresh stock of alcohol wipes handy.

Also, I worked out why the position I reattached the wood-working vise was bothering me.
I had intended to set the jaws in line with the end of the bench...


Ah well, more holes to fill.

Update time.
Replaced the single fluoro with 2 - 1 each side of the shed over the benches.
Took opportunity to glue a switched powerboard to the shed wall to handle these & the other shed light.
2 x 36W fluoros in a 3M x 3M shed = good lighting.
070420131706sm.jpg 070420131707sm.jpg

Have been picking away at the boards & cases while procrastinating about just how much of the top of the boat
to remove. This is more-or-less what I'm aiming at. The long run-out at each end is to extend the external
logs/ramps to frames 1 & 4 for extra support if I run over something.
case plan sm.jpg

Only trouble is that it complicates the outside somewhat, and moves the fore ramp into cross-flow near the bow.
Thinking I can maybe avoid extending it so far with a somewhat steeper angle braced back to the case top.
The keel is only about 350mm away & that should take most of bumpings into underwater scenery.
Not sure if I can do same with the aft end. The case projects about 400mm behind frame #3, & while frame 3 is
the cabin bulkhead - plenty of support there. I suppose the keel projects further below the boat at that point,
and the up-swept section of case & board behind it will already be shedding load onto it... I'd hate to punch a
hole in the bottom due to inadequate bracing... Once I dry-fit the cases, I'll have a better idea of exactly how
far below the bottom their ends project...

Also coming slowly back to plan A - convert cabin lid to a pop-top, and maybe extend it forwards a bit, rather than
raising & rebuilding the entire upper works...

Anyway, the boards are just about complete, the case sides are cut & pre-coated, ready for adding assorted bits
of timber, like logs, tops, soles & frames.
070420131704sm.jpg 070420131705sm.jpg

I suppose then, I'll have to bite the bullet & make holes in the bottom of the boat...
Meanwhile, TAFE has offered me a 3 month full-time contract starting tomorrow.
This is probably a good thing, but it does rather put a bit on shed time...
*sigh*. swings. roundabouts. Need an accurate lotto predictor.

Decided making accurate guesses about case framing & etc justified purchasing a vernier caliper.
Waved it around with aid of a spirit level - the depth gauge on the end was exceedingly useful -
and added some numbers to the case details.

Also discovered that the inside prongs of the calipers are razor sharp, & signed the plan in blood...
off-CB case detail.jpg

Confirmed that my CB cheeks are an even 39mm thick except for a 0.5mm high spot on one,
and a 0.5mm low spot on the other. I think there's enough pox on the cheeks to sand them out.

Bought some 0.5mm thick PE placemats from Ikea. These are supposed to provide for a near
frictionless bearing surface between the CB case & CB cheeks. Difficulty holding board steady
on case face during mark-up suggests he epoxy/glass faces are already slippery enough.
Tossing up whether to insert one each side anyway, or save them for use as packers to cure
slop slap if I make the case logs too thick...

Decisions, decisions...

Use them inside the case, they do work well. You can attach them with (gulp) silicone out of tube, applied with a notched trowel or epoxy. If using epoxy, scuff the surface with 40 grit or rougher, then wave a torch over the surface (quickly) to bust up the surface molecules, immediately apply epoxy and slap onto the case sides with some pressure to insure good contact.

Thanks Paul.

LDPE placemats added to board cheeks.
Sanded the high spots as far as I dared.
Couldn't bring myself to use silicon.
A 4" paint scraper filed smooth & square spread the FixSeal to a fairly even fraction of a mm thick.
Would have been easier if the tube was newer, as I had to pick out a few small lumps of dry sealant.
LDPE board cheeks.jpg

Set the boards up with cheek faces parallel on the bench & added heavy things.
glueing HDPE.jpg

New favourite tools. This week anyway.
Have learnt to avoid the sharp bits with only a little more blood spilt.
Dunno how I managed to get by without the vernier & outside calipers so long.
new favourite tools.jpg

Been mulling over marking up the case cheeks for doubling pieces outside the hull for ages.
Curves in 3 dimensions. Need a reference line, but couldn't figure one out on the boat.
The existing case logs are the right height & a straight line, but on a slope...
After months of half thinking about it & spending hours scrunched up on the floor
trying to accurately locate marks on the outside with reference to marks on the inside
and determine the curves, it finally struck me....
The top of the old CB case is straight *and* horizontal *and* parallel to the new cases !!

D'OH !!

Bottom profile measured/calculated in about 30 mins & marked on the cases in even less time than that.
No pics, but if it helps visualise - lines drawn on a bit of epoxied ply look just like lines drawn on a bit of epoxied ply.

Actually made some progress these last two weekends.
Cut a template for the bottom curve based on the measurements I took last month.
When presented to the outside of the bottom, it was a bit too curved, but pretty close.
Doublers now cut & being glued to the case sides.
110620131787.jpg
About 30% of the straight edge will disappear once the doublers are trimmed to match the case lowers.
No pics of the glueing - all that can be seen is a pile of heavy things anyway.

160620131792.jpg 160620131793.jpg
So...
While waiting for the glue to dry I started sanding back the floor, ready to fit the cases (sometime next Julember).
Paint is so hard it just shrugged off the ROS, even with a new disc on it.
Plan B so far effective on a tough system of coatings, although slow.
Gloss top coat. Pink undercoat. What might be a red lead primer, over a black stain/primer (excess urea glue?)
Definitely wearing a P2 dust mask tackling this lot anyway. Could be all sorts of toxic muck in it.

Plan is to install the cases along the inner edge of the second stringer. That has the outer
edge of the case about 330mm wide of the centre-line for a total foot-print of around 660mm.
Should be stable enough to sleep upright on sand-bars & the like, while keeping the external
protrusions in more-or-less linear flow along the keel. Poking around the web, that seems to be
what pro designers are doing anyway.

While sitting scrunched up in the bottom, trying not to burn my paw or legs in the heat gun stream,
I keep wondering if maybe it would have been easier to start with a scratch build...

Doubler glued to case side & trimmed to shape fore & aft.
There's a 20mm thick bit of hardwood to go all around the bottom of it,
but that's all that will protrude below the boat. Hopefully, once they're
assembled & profiled, they will not be a significant source of extra drag.
case side.jpg