Thread: The Latest Sixpence

Originally Posted by Daddles

the foredeck ... which she now has. This is two laminations of 4mm ply.

Did you laminate it out of 2 x 4mm sheets to accommodate the curve, or some other more technical reason? The foredeck (as designed) on the Mirror 16 is one sheet of 4mm ply, well supported by beams, but it is VERY bendy underfoot and I wish I had upgraded it to 6mm.

The last attachment is the finished product.

And very nice too. Have you decided on the finish for the inside?

Thanks

The plans say two laminates of 4mm, so that's what I did. Didn't even think about it. However, it does have a pretty severe curve on it and those little wings on the back, where it blends into the inwale, are flat, so theres a fair bit of twist in that area too. I thought I'd stuffed it up my making that bit flat, thought it'd look funny, but it looks really nice in real life.

I'm hoping for a clear finish on the inside and that's what I'm working for. However, I'm not precious about it. It'll be poxy coated inside anyway, so I'll make the decision then - reach for the varnish or reach for the paint

Richard

Richard

She's looking really good. I wish I had that many clamps!!!

Cheers

Jeremy

Originally Posted by jmk89

She's looking really good. I wish I had that many clamps!!!

Thanks mate. David Payne draws a lovely boat. I use the lastest photo as the background on my computer and that's enough to keep the project moving

Clamps. I have a rule about clamps - if I don't have enough, I go straight out and buy what I need. That's how I built up that collection. Sadly, none of the quick grip clamps are worth a pinch of sawdust - none of them work properly now, even the expensive ones. The cheapies are all gifts from the family - I now only buy the F clamps with the thick, rubberised handle as they are the only reliable ones. And, of course, all clamps are lovingly smothered with poxy so they don't rust

Richard

Originally Posted by Daddles

I'm hoping for a clear finish on the inside and that's what I'm working for.

Looks like you took considerable care with the fillets. I have never been able to get them that clean without using masking tape. Any tips?

Originally Posted by onthebeachalone

Looks like you took considerable care with the fillets. I have never been able to get them that clean without using masking tape. Any tips?

It's called sandpaper :eek:

When I put them in, I use a chisel shaped scraper (just a tongue depressor assaulted with the bench sander - straight edge and 'sharpened'). I use that to clean up the excess poxy. When it's all dry, I attack with with my Mouse Sander. Those Mouse Sanders are real weapons and do a great job of cleaning up fillets. You can even rock the edge back and forth over the surface of the fillet to clean it up, but the secret is to clean up as you go and to get the shape right (using the round end of tongue depressor).

Richard

I'm so ashamed, imagine ME admitting to achieving things with sandpaper

More updates - quite a few day's work in this lot, even though it doesn't look like it.

As she sat before this, the inwales are glued to the inside of the top plank. This leaves the edge grain of the plank open. The inwale itself will eventually hide behind the coamings (to come much later).

This wee exercise :eek: was the gunwale installation.
First off, a cap strip of kapur - this seals the edge grain of the sheer plank and puts a nice, tough cover on the inwale - it also fills in the step at the rear of the foredeck, said step being how I decided on the thickness of this cap strip

The first photo shows the first cap strip going on.

The second photo shows the other strip ... you can see the first one on the starboard side.

You may notice the interesting/bizarre mix of clamps. This strip is 30mm wide and 8mm thick. It has to bend both horizontally and vertically, the big bend being across the 30mm width naturally Being a hardwood, the forces are quite interesting, and hence this clamping method.

The cap strip was cut so that it was a mm wider than it needed to be. The wooden clamps grip to the cap stip and align it with the inwale - yes, there is some overlap I've kept it small so that there is some float allowed but not much. Those wooden clamps also grip to the inwale or sheer plank depending on how the strip wanted to bend at that point. Naturally, this doesn't control the strip vertically, which is where the F-clamps come in, gripping to the underside of the inwale. It was a simple matter of starting at the front, ramming home the wooden clamp, then putting on an F clamp, then to the next wooden and associated F clamp, etc.

Once dry, half an hour with the spokeshave on the inside and the block plane on the outside, and these cap strips matched the inwale and sheerplank perfectly

Richard
next post does the gunwales themselves

Now, the gunwales. A relatively simple matter of clamping them (kapur again) to the side of the boat ... well, it would be if there wasn't that foredeck in the way

I did things in this order so that the gunwale would cover the edge grain of the foredeck. Fortunately, there is this thumping great big hole in the middle of the foredeck for the mast to fall through

Boats have this tendency to get pointy at the front end. This means that when it comes to clamping gunwales in place, there are no parallel surfaces to clamp between. If you look closely, you'll see wedges of timber glued to the gunwale. These were glued on with a hot glue gun - they give your clamp something to purchase against but knock off easily once you've finished. Wonderful stuff those hot glue gun thingies, even if the glue does burn like the dickens if you're clumsy :eek:

Although not photographed yet, I've run over the gunwales with my little trimmer router and not that they have the edges rounded off, they look really nice.

Current job? Fitting kapur doublers to the transom for the outboard motor clamps to dig into. Typically, I'm overdoing this but it should look rather nice.

Richard

Transom.
Kapur about ohhh 'yay' thick glued to the front to give support for the outboard. Thickness was determined by running kapur decking through the thicknesser until the ripples disappeared. Curiously, this scientific approach determined the thickness of the gunwales and rubbing strip too (width just happened to be half a board minus the waste for the cut )

You'll notice that I've run it from the bottom of the inwales. This needed a slightly wider plank than the standard bit of decking, so an insert was needed.

Wet glue - tomorrow I get to shape it, then fit a cap strip.

Richard

Originally Posted by Daddles

tomorrow I get to shape it, then fit a cap strip.

She's looking beaut! Must admit to some curiosity about trimming the doubler after gluing in place. I'm sure there must be a reason but I think my instincts would have been to trim it before gluing. Am I missing something?

Originally Posted by onthebeachalone

She's looking beaut! Must admit to some curiosity about trimming the doubler after gluing in place. I'm sure there must be a reason but I think my instincts would have been to trim it before gluing. Am I missing something?

Thanks. Having the gunwales in place and shaped (not shown) really brings out her lines.

I glue in place and trim later because that way, it fits. If I trim first, timber changes size and shape, then manages to move out of the correct position while the glue is setting. Personally, I blame the shed pixies. The brutes certainly don't help by doing jobs I'm too lazy to, so I feel no guilt in accusing them of messing things up

The trimming will be easy. Attack it with a plane or get lazy, attack it with a jigsaw, then a plane to finish off.

Richard

Originally Posted by Daddles

Personally, I blame the shed pixies.

Ahhh! Thanks for the warning. When I get to the stage of actually gluing things together I'll keep an eye out for them. :mad:

There I was logging in which I have not done for some time and seeing that word Sixpence coming up I thought to MeSelf, Self I said I wonder if there is pictures of a finished boat much to my dismay still more workin progress boat Oh woe is me we live in hope that one day it will be finished and it can get its gear off .

Here is me just look for a little light viewing pleasure while I rewire the fuse and switch board on mine.

To quote another amateur

The Ark was built by a lone Amateur the Titanic was built by a Large Group of Professionals

Transon doublers trimmed and now the cap strip goes on. Reckon that was a fight. The bit is nearly 2" wide and over 1/2" thick - it did not want to bend. Then, of course, was the fun of clamping it onto a curve ... with all that slippery epoxy between the two surfaces. Much anglo-saxon encouragement given. Still, as you can see, it's on.

The external shots give you some idea of her lines - she's a corker alright

Much sanding, need to fit a ply doubler on the outside of the transom so the outboard mount has got something to chew up, then I can start fitting out the inside. Might even get it finished this decade

Richard