Beginner Blunders Thru Beth
I’m building a Beth in Brooklyn, New York, and I’m very grateful to Mik for creating the plans, and the beautiful instructions that go with them. I’ve never done anything like this before, and it has been very enjoyable. So if you’re a beginner like me, don’t let this thread put you off. I’ve made some titanic blunders, but frankly if you can chew gum and walk at the same time, you won’t make anywhere near as many. And I’m still fairly confident I’ll end up with a functional, nice looking boat.
I’m about halfway through. I will post the full horror show pix over time - hence the title I chose for this thread. I’m doing that out of gratitude to the thousands of people that have posted advice for others on the web, eg Sir Mik himself, Andy Kane, YouTube videos about wood planes, Slash5 motorcycle forum, etc.
Even beginners will learn little from this thread, but it might help somebody somehow, and I think I may actually have useful tips about making the centreboard (something I'm sure I did get right :), and really enjoyed).
My biggest cock-ups happened because I entirely forgot to engage brain. Elsewhere, I forgot to RTFM (read the instructions). Actually I did RTFM, just not well enough. Mik’s excellent manual was clearly a labour of love, and as somebody else has said, it’s pretty much a course in boat building. Any other beginner who reads it and maybe also looks at Andy Kane’s or others’ fab and very useful pix and notes (this forum) should be golden.
Great thanks for the reassurance
That was good to hear, thanks.
OK on with more pix of mistakes. I'm dooing this because this is the best way I can contribute.
2 Attachment(s)
Next Mistake - Stem and Stern Posts
Attachment 349592Attachment 349593
Mik's instructions, if I remember right: glue the stem and stern posts to the sides , before you glue the sides to the bottom.
I decided to fit the posts AFTER I had glued the sides to bottom. Bad idea. The posts are tapers (the sides aren't parallel). When I tried to screw the posts to the panels, the moved backwards- even though I had drilled pilot holes in the posts to accept screws.
So with glue liberally applied and going off, I had to make a quick fix by filling the gaps with extra pieces of plywood, as in the photos.
Do what Mik says: glue the posts to the sides first.
1 Attachment(s)
Think about where to cut hatch holes
I wanted waterproof hatches in bulkheads three and four, because that creates waterproof stowage compartments, and it means less water to bail out after a capsize.
The first time I cut the holes for the hatches, they were too low in the bulkheads, and would have stopped me making good sized epoxy fillets between the bulkheads and the bottom of the boat. So I had to put those bulkheads aside and start again.
Second time I cut the holes, I cut them too high, making the bulkheads too weak. Mik suggests 60mm around the outside of hatch holes (page 20 of instructions).
But I didn't realize this until after I had glued in the bulkheads. To fix the problem, I've added extra layers of plywood to the bulkheads to stiffen them up. Not such a huge problem, but that has involved work.
This isn't quite the best picture, but it shows the reason for my mistake second time around: I forgot that a lot of the bulkhead at the top (masked off with blue tape in the picture) would be removed later.
By the way if you know what a Beth should look like and you're confused by this picture, the bulkhead nearest the camera is an extra one I put in to stop the sides leaning in.
Attachment 349598
1 Attachment(s)
An idea when making the centre-board
Here's the glass cloth being epoxied to my centreboard.
Attachment 349600
This is the way that Mik says to do it (by now, I'm following instructions, no more going off-piste.)
As you can see, you can't actually get glass cloth onto the corners where the board is held in the clamps. Mik says add glass cloth to those corners later.
My brilliant idea: epoxy the the fibreglass cloth to the centreboard *before* you've cut the top and bottom of the board to size. That should give you enough spare timber to clamp, and then you can cut the board down to final size by cutting through glass-covered wood. Less fiddly than glassing corners.
Too late to do the centre-board this way, but I was thinking of doing the rudder this way. Will it work ?
Thanks for all the encouragement
Thanks to all. I started fitting the carlins tonight, and will add more pics later. Happy sailing and canoeing! Cheers
Carlins, and Fist of Ham Strikes Again
I've put the carlins on. All good, but as usual, SNAFU - systems normal, all fouled up.
No pictures, but the following happened:
I glued in the carlins one lamination at a time, the same way Andy Kane did it. This takes longer, but it is easier.
The first carlin that I put in cracked halfway through, at the tightest point of the bend. I don't remember screwing the clamp up very tightly but obviously it was too tight. There was no crack when I glued it in, but the next morning the crack was very easy to see. The crack had developed overnight.
The crack was in the first (inner) one of the two laminations. So it mostly straightened out when I glued and clamped the next (outer) lamination to it. Not entirely perfect, but OK to look at, because the outer lamination curved nicely. I then added two extra laminations on the inside of the inner lamination where it had cracked, made of 4mm ply. Glued one at a time. I'm guessing this will be strong enough, especially when the deck is in place.
Mik's instructions say to put the carlin cleats in place *before* you glue the carlins in place. As usual, I only skimmed the instructions, and I forgot about putting the cleats in first. So I glued the first carlin lamination in place on each side, and THEN I shaped and glued the cleats in place.
The laminations held in place until after I had glued the cleats in place, but I think I might have been lucky this happened. With no cleats, the surface area for gluing is small, and it is end-grain on the plywood knees.
