Thread: Tom Cat

Miters are nice and I use them on "surrounds" like a margin board around a hatch, for example, but curving the splices and other intersections is just boatcraft.

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The inner and outer margins meet the transom and no miters, just curves.

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Thanks Par, mitres are nice but I was after that boatcraft look!

Finally, the sanding is done and epoxying down the Covering Boards has commenced. I would love to have some lead ingots but unfortunately not. Bricks are way down the back paddock and too far to go. My alternate is to fill empty epoxy containers with blue metal and top them off with water. Works OK - just wish I had more. As you can see in the pics many different solutions are being used to hold the pesky Boards in the right place. Then you have to remember to come back at just the right time to remove excess epoxy and tape to make life easier when done! iPhones are great for reminders!
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Had to use my imagination in the bow!
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Still got 8 pieces to go!

All done on the Covering Board front – I have made a point of leaving the outside edge of the covering Boards untrimmed as I believe it will be easier to complete this after all the DB’s are down and the seams complete. Also, and more importantly from my perspective, the sanding of the completed deck will be easier knowing that if the sander should, through my lack of expertise, happen to tarry too long along the edge all will not be lost! Having that little bit of extra will provide peace of mind! Mind you, I would love to trim her off to see what she looks like but musn’t be impatient!
I finally decided on a 4mm seam – you can see in the pics that it not only provides the correct gap but also it’s easier to use the tile spacers! 4mm one way, 5mm the other.

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A couple of points…..

• I didn’t attempt to match the timber in any way – just took the next piece from the pile. Some people are quite particular about this but I’ve gone for the random look.
• The boards are quite thick for this type of work - 5mm - but I have the intention to bring them down to somewhere between 3.5 and 4mm during the sanding process.
• I have taken a 5 step approach to get them laid…
  
  • Lay and fit them all initially, no glue, with exception of last piece as they did not fit exactly the same on both sides. Boo hoo!! It didn’t matter how many times I did it I couldn’t get them the same without adjusting the seam gaps. Something I didn’t want to do.
  • Glue the centres down, 3 pieces, fwd and aft and re-lay all to check accuracy
  • Glue approx 2/3 of the deck and re-lay the balance unglued to check accuracy (mind you I don’t have enough weights to do the entire deck at one go!)
  • Glue the balance
  • Cut and fit the final piece next to the gunwale

I hope you can see in the pics what I’m doing. The first lot I glued in the centre I applied the epoxy to the boards but from then on just spread it around with a notched trowel - much easier and cleaner too. After each session I left the epoxy to set up over a couple of hours then gone back and cleaned the seams to make life easier later. It should just be a matter of running some sanding paper down the seams to give back that sanded finish required for a good epoxy job on the seams themselves. I haven't done any work on the Fwd Deck yet other than the 3 centre boards.
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The Deck Boards are all complete now and I have gone back and using a piece of plastic and 60g sandpaper cleaned out all the seams in readiness for filling. I have second guessed myself again after investigating all the options for filling the seams. The result is that I have made the decision not to go with a graphite/epoxy mix. A number of reasons were given but it really came down to the mess that would be made in the sanding process with the fact that the boards of Queensland Maple are not as dense as Teak and would therefore potentially hold more black sanding dust than the Teak. I’m not in a position where I can just roll her outside and hit her with a pressure cleaner that may or may not do more harm than good. Ah well…decisions, decisions, decisions – would we have it any other way?
So, alternatives – what to do?

• There’s the Sikaflex 290-DC
• The 3M 5200
• Teak Deck Systems SIS-440
• Fixtech products
• Etc etc etc

Being a good Aussie boy it was hard to go past the home grown Fixtech products that have apparently been formulated to meet the conditions of our harsh climate. Anyway, it was hard to go past them so I contacted them in Southport and received the advice that the way to go was to coat the seams with their PR10 Primer and subsequently fill the seams with their MSP100 adhesive sealant. All information is available on their website at http://www.fixtech.com.au/. I have placed the order so I await the delivery to get on with it.
Meantime some pics of the finished Deck Boards. The first pic shows what I used to keep pressure on the boards while the epoxy goes off.

I just went back and read your first post made over 6 years ago. You have been true to your word in every way. I have followed your progress with much interest and admire your dedication to the build and the detail you have provided over such a long period. Well done.

Whitewood

Whilst I await the delivery of the Fixtech materials I have taken the opportunity to review the look of the inner face of the Coaming. It has quite large surface area and with the top trimmed with a layer of NG Rosewood and the inner surface painted I think it will appear quite broad from bottom to top. To offset this I decided to create an impression of narrowness by scribing a line 19mm from the bottom to make it appear narrower than it actually is. That was the thinking anyway.

So...what to do to create this illusion! Take a block of wood, screw in a SS screw such that the top of the countersink is 19mm high off the block, saunter over to the sanding machine and grind the top of the screw until the bevel of the screw has become very sharp.

Next, carefully scribe a line as deep as possible with your new patent tool! Keep scribing until you have reached a depth of your choice - in my case about 2mm and this takes the depth past the outer plywood veneer and into the next layer. This provided a good impression that I opened up by wrapping some 60G sandpaper around a large washer and sanding away to make the scribed line large enough to be noticeable. At all times I am cognisant of the fact that the groove will end up being epoxied, undercoated and painted in the future so the depth is important. I just hope 2mm will be enough. As mentioned, my object was to create an illusion so I didn't go attacking it and making it much deeper than it needs to be.

Anyway see the pics below for further explanation. The last pic shows a part of the aft Coaming - to the left has been sanded and to the right has just been scribed -not that you can see or notice the difference!

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Hello Laurie,

I have to extend my thanks again to you for the terrific documentation you give us (me!). I have been able to proceed with out so much of the worry bead whirring and have taken up many of your approaches and techniques in my own build over on woodenboat forum. Your work is just too good but a great inspiration to me.


I am currently using your "clamping batten" to keep the pressure on at the right angle as the strips go on; "works a treat" as you say...
I have found an article in the most recent issue of WoodenBoat detailing the making of a mast hinge that I want to incorporate. I wanted you to see it as Meerkat will live on a trail too, yes?


Best to you,


Greg

Hi Greg
Great to hear from you and am keeping pace with your build on the Woodenboat forum. I am subscribed to the WB mag so read with interest the article until I got to the second last paragraph.

Quote "Although the hinge is strong enough for adequately stayed masts, it’s not suitable for freestanding ones". Unfortunately our boat is not designed for side stays so I am unlikely to use this particular hinge design. However, a hinged mast of some description is what I'm looking for but have been unable to locate a design I like so am still looking. The designs found to date are great bulky things that do not give the boat justice. I'll keep looking until such time as I have to make a decision and so far I'm sticking to the original plan.

Have been a bit remiss with posts…so much going on it’s hard to keep up!
This post will cover the commencement of caulking the seams in the Deck. I must admit I was a bit anxious because I want a good job and do not want to repeat the process in a few years because I didn’t get it right first time.
It has ended up going like this……..

• Purchase the essentials
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• A careful vacuum job to remove as much dust, grit etc as possible
• A good wash and clean with methylated spirits and a small hard brush
• Let dry thoroughly
• Liberally spread PR10 Primer in the seams with another small brush ensuring all surfaces are covered. My seams are 4mm wide x 5mm deep as mentioned previously.
• There is no rebate so no need for the tape in the bottom of the seam
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• With the Fixtech MSP100 there is a window of opportunity given to caulk the seams – minimum 1 hr up to 20 hrs. I gave it 1-1/2, held my breath and snipped the top off the first tube
• I left about a 4mm opening in the tip then squeezed it together to fit in the seam. This appeared to work OK
• The compound has a great consistency to work with, just the right viscosity from my point of view
• I dragged the cartridge as I felt it was easier to achieve the right shape of the goop in the seam. I small bulge in front of the tip in the bottom of the seam and a small bulge following the tip at the top
• I worked along steadily until I had completed about 4 rows then stopped and using a spatula pressed the ridge of the seam down until it was 1-2mm thick. This was to ensure all the corners in the seam were filled and there was ample to sand off (didn’t want any hollows or bubbles!)
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• I continued until I had completed the aft Deck – the following day I did the Bow.

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• Total used 3-1/2 cartridges for 35.6M of seam( not bad!)
• Why wait until the next day? That’s easy – if you’re not used to squeezing goop from a cartridge the muscles in your hand gets extremely sore! When I went out the next day it was just as bad!!

So that’s about it – wait 2 or 3 days and dress off.

Now where was I with Bulkheads…back at 104! I decided to use up some of my spare 4mm ply by laminating two bits together. A bit thicker than the plan requirement but “waste not, want not” as the saying goes.
Into a round of using my templates to mark out the shapes, cut oversize, trim to fit, 3 coats of epoxy, mask where to glue, 1 coat Int. Primer, 2 coats Int. Pre Kote, another fitting with transverse beam in place.

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Look to produce the vertical trim pieces, attempted to marry to the BH only to discover that I had masked the wrong side of the BH for the rebate! Not only that, but discovered I had allowed too much width in the BH for the trim. OK, back to the table saw and remove about 20mm, mask and sand off the unwanted paint and set aside.
Now the trim pieces…I decided to create a groove for the edge (aesthetics and strength). Onto the table saw and then onto the router for all four edges and done! Set aside for fitting when the transverse coach house beam is ready.

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I have also taken the opportunity to prime and paint the Coach House transverse beam and the seat supports that attach to the BH’s. The story of the Beam and its trim pieces can wait for another time.

Just thought I'd share with you my thoughts on how much time I've spent on the boat so far. Considering weekends are out and I spend approx. 1.5hr/day/5 day week and I started back in 2008. That's a 7.5hr week. 2008 to present day is just over 6 years or 72 months = 2160 hrs. Minus 16 months overseas = 480 hrs, minus approx 4 other months = 120hrs. That's 2160-480-120 = say 1560 hrs. Sounds reasonable, doesn't it?

I get this question all the time - so how long will it take to build this boat. There's no good answer, but what I do tell most is whatever they spend on time, if they're lucky, 1/2 of it will be actual productive time. Novice builders spend an absorbent amount of time, scratching their butt (or head, depending on how you look at things) working out "issues". Good boat builders are some serious problem solvers and can engineer solutions "on the fly". I was at a local marina a couple of days ago, working on an old carvel hull from the 1960's. I had my tool box, a drill, a multi tool and a few other things, but I needed a table saw. So, as I have many times previously, I screwed the base of my circular saw to a scrap of 1/4" plywood, duct taped the trigger in the on position and holding the saw between my legs, I plugged it in and started feeding stock through my make shift table saw, with clamped on fence and all. Well, the yard manager saw this and liked to give birth to a rabid ferret, with me and my whirling saw between my legs. I've done this before and yeah, it's pretty dangerous, but with it's close proximity to the crown jewels, you tend to be fairly careful. Maybe not the best example of problem solving, but I don't talk like Michael Jackson did.

Novices don't think like this. Maybe they prize their gonads more then I, but actual productive time on a project can be pretty discouraging if you can really track it. I have a new boat in the shop and I exspect 250 hours to complete it. I'll bet I spend 235 - 265 on it, but this isn't my first BBQ. Most will spend 400 to 500 hours on this type of build (glued lap) and some will make a piano out of it, which takes a lot more time.

The bottom line I tell most, is to just accept you're not a pro and move on. Yep, there's going to be places you know aren't the way you wanted, but all projects are full of these. The goal is to get out there and wet her bottom. You can always go back and finish things better or as usually in my case, repair the latest damage.

You're doing a great job. Keep spanking away at her (she loves it), you'll get there.

Pretty darned humerous and a nice view for us "am a tours". I actually run a log rounded to 15 minutes per entry guesstimates. Of course I discount entirely the huge amount of time I spend working things out and the "thinking of hows" I do outside the shop. I also allow very little for non-direct expenses incurred which I also have a loose track on.

My log currently reads about 205 hours. I'm about halfway through the strip planking of the same boat Laurie has here. I bet if I loaded all the time in, I would be closer to 1,000 hours with time poured over plans, internet, shopping, materials procurement, you name it. There is a great amount of fun in and around all of this however so I can't charge the "build" account too hard.

Bill Garden advised us to "hop to it" (Easter joke) before "they have to carry you aboard". This is real meaningful to some of us oldsters who now have the time and $ to actually do this. I am aware of many forumites who have dealt with life hiatuses and a few that had failure to launch. As such, for me who is snail slow, I appreciate the reminder to keep the build away from piano land as I really DO love to sail.

Best,

Greg near Philly

I'll give you an idea with my latest build. She's 15' 5" (3.9 m) stretch of a Howard Chapelle Mellon Seed. I built the strongback, cut out the station molds and placed them on 24" centers (610 mm), in about 12 hours. It does help if you have a large format printer, so you can print out full size station mold templates. Since I'm the designer . . . I spent another 3 - 4 hours plumbing and squaring the station molds, then roughly "lined her off" with 1/4" (6 mm) x 3/4" (19 mm) battens on one side only. I spent another 6 hours completing the full line off (both sides) and pulled templates from the starboard side, for the planking, using up another 8 hours. So, I'm about 12% into the build and I've just laid the bottom plank. It'll take about 4 hours to cut out the remaining 14 planks and another 4 to glue the scarfs together, making each plank full length. To save time, I'll glue all the planks at once, just like I cut the scarfs all at once. Okay, I'll have to make two passes on the plywood, to get all the scarfs cut, but this will only take about 1/2 hour with my scarfing jig, which can handle over a full length sheet of plywood, in one pass. These time savers are what I've learned over the years. For example, I have a spar lathe, yep a rig that spins the mast, boom, whatever at 50 RPM, so I can round it quickly. It's a home made thing from a old A/C fan motor, that I've put a 25:1 V belt reduction on and some roller skate wheels, to support the sticks as they spin. I can round a octagonal birdsmouth in minutes with this puppy.

What isn't included in the build is how long I contemplated 6 or 7 planks per side, if I should change to a split garboard on a rabbit or use the single plank keel as the original had, the location of the planks, how wide to make the garboards and broad strakes, how much more rocker to add, compared to the original, rigging details, construction details, etc. These, though part of the build, aren't actual production time. Head scratching time is hard to justify on the invoice. Admittedly, I've made significant changes and upgrades to the original design and this was incorporated into the price, but the time to make the decisions wasn't, just how much these decisions would add to the base line price. Also, sorting out details, like 6 or 7 planks per side is why he hired me, because he'd be stumped as to why this was actually something to be considered in the first place. They way I look at it is simple - if I just have to think or talk about it, there's no charge, but if I have to pull out a calculator or jig saw, then I want to put it on an invoice.

FWIW . . .