Gluing down the bottom

After gluing together the hull, I came to several decisions, one of them being that gluing is a pain in the ass.

Yesterday I glued down the bottom, and yes, gluing is still a pain in the ass. So much so, that I swore off building another glue-only boat next time, that Ill take fasteners thank you very much, this sucks!

This morning, when I peeked into the garage at my nemesis glue-job-boat, my heart softened a bit, and I feel a little better. But I came close-- In my mind I saw a big bonfire at one point.

Yesterday I smoothed out the seam between the two bottom pieces, scoured the chinelogs and BHs with a rasp to provide a rough gluing surface, planed the transom flat, and screwed the bottom down in place. This took a while, and I was so concerned getting it on straight that it went on straight, but offset by about 2mm or so. I realized this after I screwed it on. This is not a big problem, theres supposed to be a gap of 90mm between the buttstraps for the daggerboard trunk, and I left 95mm for just this scenario. Storer recommends placing the bottom on with the centerline marks on the inside, to line up with the centerline marks on the BHs. A good idea, but then I would lose out on the markings up top that showed where the edges of the boat were (bottom is overcut by 2omm) and they provided a good guide as to screw placement. A better idea would be to have a centerline on both sides. Needless to say, lots of crawling under the boat and back, and shifting the ply ever so slightly.

Screws were placed every 300mm (lines from lofting) and along the BHs (3 for 1+2, 5 for 3, 4, transom). This was insufficient as you shall see later on.


After the bottom was screwed on I made special note of where I had some larger than normal gaps between the bottom and the sides. In these areas I would apply extra glue. Everything appeared tight and for the most part, everything fit together really well. I was impressed.

Next up, I unscrewed the bow of the boat, lifting it with 2x4s. After pre-coating the chinelogs and bottom with unmixed epoxy (more crawling around under the boat), I applied what I thought was copious amounts of glue, using the ziploc-bag method which I still dont like, but it seemed to make the most amount of sense. Mixing the glue with the silica is still a bear, I still dont know how to judge how much silica to add so I eyeball it until I get the appropriate consistency. This takes time. Then, the application. 3 pumps of resin with 1.5 pumps of hardener covered approximately- maybe- 4 feet. Hardly anything. This was going to take a lot of glue.

I moved down the line, sending the 2x4s down to the stern and gluing and screwing in their wake.

(notice me mixing always mixing more mixing in background with knee pads that didnt come off between 10am and 11pm)

I think I made 3 moves aft, covering large sections at a time. The port bow had a little bit of a gap between the bottom and the side, and needed even more glue. This was going to take a lot of glue, as I mentioned before. This is when I started getting frustrated. When I put too much glue during the BH construction phase, it poured out all over the place and was a giant mess. Now, I was putting large amounts of glue onto the chinelogs and when the bottom came down, nothing. No excess squeezage, nothing. Let me just say this: Gluing the bottom takes a lot more glue than you think it will.

About halfway down, I realized I forgot to line the sides with packing tape to ease clean-up. SOB. So I had glue dripping down around the bow, which means Ill be sanding forever. Out came the packaging tape around the aft sections and the transom. By this time my wonderful wife took pity on me and she applied the glue while I mixed it. This doubled the speed of the operation, since mixing takes a long time-- at 3 pumps of resin per bag, there was a lot of mixing to do. She has a knack for how much glue to apply and when we screwed down her end, a perfect amount squeezed out. Damn.

With all the screws down (she held up the stern bottom and gently lowered it as I screwed it down moving aft), we inspected for a gaps. There were a couple small ones along the chine, and a few gaps that needed more screwed to hold the ply down. I would recommend a screw every 200mm at least, as opposed to every 300mm.

Then we flipped her over:






Hot damn, I have a completed hull (above pics are after the "clean-up" (used loosely)).

Clean-up was a super pain in the ass, by this time a lot of my squeegees were gluey and tacky and my rags were used up and I was running out of mixing cups and no matter how many new gloves I put on, I was sticking to everything. Some glue was firming up nice, which meant a struggle to clean it up as is smeared everywhere. Be ready to spend some serious time bent inside the boat cleaning it up. My glue station aftermath:

This took me a few hours of prep, followed by about 7 hours of gluing/cleaning up. Solo, it was slow going, no doubt.

The bottom is still not done, I have to trim the excess off, which will be another pain because its covered in rock-hard epoxy, but as far as Im concerned, the big jobs in this are completed. From now on things can be accomplished in short spurts as opposed to 12hr marathon sessions. Thank goodness. Im tired.

Did I mention this takes a lot more glue than you may think?

In the sun!

Enough said.

Quick Fair is amazing!

HOLY BALLS its been a long time since my last update.  Work has been eating me alive, folks, eating me alive.  Im actually home now for more than one day, so I can update this blog, and work on the boat, but in the reverse order because the boat comes first.

Several weeks ago I ordered some Quick Fair from the fine folks at Duckworks.  This stuff is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.  Its well worth the money.  It mixes easily, quickly, with little fuss.  It applies itself with astonishing ease, especially using a plastic spreader.  It dries quickly.  It sands easily.  I made several corrections over time as I got used to the stuff and ended up with a chine that is-- wait for it-- very fair.  It filled in the little weave bumps left over from the fiberglass tape, it nestled into the ridge between the tape and the hull that hadnt been filled with epoxy, it filled in some holes, and it faired out the gap between the hull and the stem-dowel-thingie.

I am in love with Quick Fair.  To boot, it even looks like chocolate pudding, except if you ate it, you would die.  The smell tips you off to this.  It smells, bad.  I used my respirator.

I also bought a little digital scale for twenty bucks at the local pharmacy.  Its a "The Biggest Loser" scale, named after the TV show, I believe, I wouldnt know because Ive never seen it in my life, but the box talked about it.  This made mixing the Quick Fair in the appropriate manner mucho-easier, because frankly, theres no way to tell how much you have.  It doesnt pour into a graduated cylinder or anything like that.  I am also using this little scale with my epoxy, and it cuts down on waste.  Another "shouldve thought of this a while ago..." moment.

Heres my chine, needing some serious fairing, including little holes in the fiberglass tape that sanded out because there was air trapped underneath and Hand of God seriously pissed:

And bingo!  Quick Fair to the rescue!

Heres a progression of working around the stem.  Slop it on, spread it out, sand it, touch up, presto!

Oh boy!

For all your fairing needs, Quick Fair is the way to go.

I watched this video for some very good tips.

The last of the major work

From the last post to Saturday morning (6/12), I have been either at work or home working 9am-1am to get my beautiful Goat Island Skiff ready for launching.  The weather is here, the time is now.  Basically, its a bunch of small items that needed to be taken care of, like gluing the middle seat on:

This is the last time youll see the my patented "Forest of Bricks" to hold down the seat during gluing.  I waited to glue this part because I wanted to make the varnishing of the boat underneath the seat easier.  Less bending and contorting to get under the seat, if you get my drift.

Wait, what? Varnish the inside? Yes, I decided to varnish the inside.  Using a roller, 3 coats, light sanding in between the coats.  It went on easy, no problems.  I also put a 4th coat of varnish on the floor mixed with non-skid grit, and it came out really nice.

These taped off areas got the non-skid.  I used the non-skid material for sale at Duckworks, it worked really nice in the varnish.

Another item of critical importance was a trailer.  So I got one.  A new one.  Holy Splurge!

Its a nice trailer.  I repositioned the bunks to perpendicular to the frame so the hull doesnt "hog" around the bunks.

Also, I needed a tiller extension.  Actually, what I needed was rudder hardware, but thats a post in itself.  BEHOLD!  My Battlestick!

I also had to figure out how to rig this thing.  Its a "balanced lug" rig, and Ive never sailed one nor rigged one, so that took a few hours to figure out.  Its actually going to take a while to figure out to be honest with you, because there are a bunch of variables.  I just wanted it to be up and viable for a first sail.  Part of the fun is tweaking the rig as you sail along! 

Oh boy!  What next!


Theres only one thing left (besides multiple small detail oriented tasks...)

Progress! Yeah! Wet on wet stem quick dry fit!

I was home for a few days, and I buckled down and got right to it.

Day one:

First I enlarged the holes in BH2 and 3. I want more room to store my gear: oars, extra spar, etc. etc. I was able to do this neatly and cleanly with my scrolling blade that I discovered in my blade set! Yo dummy! Im much happier now with the results.

Second: I wet-on-wetted the un-wetted sides of the BHs with epoxy to encapsulate the wood. Three layers, which got it quite thick I may add. Maybe a little too thick. I used squeegees and and a brush and the roller a la Storer. I must say I wasnt impressed with the roller method, I feel like I could get a smoother surface without it-- the roller left funny little bumps. I think the thickness is just sloppiness on my part and maybe too much epoxy. Needless to say, everything will be sanded down for paint/varnish whatever I decide. Id love to do some brightwork, but I dont know if I want to do the work. I see lots of sanding in my future with the splotchy epoxy job.

That being said, epoxy got everywhere, and it was a big mess, including the undersides of my BHs, despite carefully applying tape everywhere to hold the mess. I used painting masking tape, packaging tape that would have hung lower than the BH would have prevented epoxy from curling underneath and dripping onto the BH backsides that were already done.

Day two:

Then I cut the notches for the chinelogs into the BHs. This was more difficult than I thought it was going to be. I used my nifty Japanese pull saw, and it was awesome. I paid very close attention to bevels and carefully marked the boundaries of the notches. A few mistakes were made, but nothing that cant be saved or filled with epoxy. Taking my time instead of rushing this part was worth its while.



Afterwards I FINALLY CONQUERED THE DREADED STEM! (second try)

I unfortunately did not photo-document this. This is how I did the stem:

1. Cut out a rectangular blank of the stem from my stock.

2. Draw the stem out on the blank-- triangle on top, the front edge and then on the backside, the back edges graduating from 36mm at top to 22mm at the bottom.

3. Plane down the starboard and port sides from 36mm at the top to 22mm at the bottom. At this point, looking at it either from the stern or bow, I have a trapezoid that is wider at top than at the bottom. Still rectangular.

4. Now, all that is left is to remove the material from the backside to the bow point. Using the backside 36mm-22mm edge, I planed down the material to the front pointed bow. I left the bow a little wider than a knife edge, about the width of the sharpie pen mark. Its a little tricky to get the second side because there is now no longer a flat surface to work.

5. Patience.





THEN THEN THEN

I kind-of dry fitted the hull together!!! (I was impatient, I had to see the boat for morale)

I screwed on the stem to the bow pieces, with screws through ply backing as described in the Storer plans. This is hazardous, because once the screw gets into the backing it spins around like the devil and Id have to push frantically for bite into the side of the boat or else the screw and backing ply goes zooming off the bow and then Id slam the drillbit into the side of the boat leaving a good dent. A good method is to push the screw through the backing first so a little pokes out that it can be stuck into the side by hand to hold it in position. Watch your fingertips!

So the stem went in and then I spent a while screwing around with BHs and and the transom and placing them more or less where they were supposed to go. I took some tie-down straps and cinched the stern together to get a visual idea of what the boat was looking like.



It looks like a Goat Island Skiff! Amateur Style! But a GIS, nonetheless, the curvy midsection and straight knife-like bow are telling.



HOLY SHA-MOLEY!!!

I attempted to screw in BH1 but it was about as difficult as pulling my own wisdom teeth. Sagely, I walked away when one side of BH1 ripped away from the screws holding it into the port side.

In the following picture you can see the gap between the chinelogs and BH2. Imagine BH1, which is just as bad if not worse. Its going to be a true WRASTLING nightmare to get that together, I think. Im going to re-measure my BHs, make sure they are the right size, and do some brainstorming. BH3 looks gappy, but its not bad, a little squeezing and it fits right in.



Some things I noticed: The chine logs butted up against each other in the bow next to the stem. A little bit of chisel work took care of that, giving them more room.

Also, my stem needs to be cleaned up a bit, especially the bottom portion. Maybe this will aid in screwing in BH1. As I said, I was impatient to actually see something, and Im glad I did this today.

Filling gaps b w BHs and gluing bottom

Today was spent filling in the gaps around the BHs. The first gaps to be filled were the ones in the notches between the chinelog and the BHs... the intrepid reader will remember I cut them too deep laterally. My wonderful wife who proved very adept at filling gaps around the stem went right to work on these notches, filling them with epoxy and shaping them with ply wrapped with packaging tape.


Once that was set, we glued on cedar spacers to fill the gaps between the bottom frame of the BHs and the bottom of the boat, which appeared because my notches in the BHs were too shallow, despite careful measuring. I didnt fool with cutting down the spacers before placing them, I glued them in place and Ill plane them down to match. I wanted to make sure to do the repair correctly rather than eyeball a piece that would look like it fit.



Finally, I glued together the two halves of the bottom. Very self explanatory. Shooting for gluing the bottom on Tuesday.

Quick Canoe

Since the Goat Island Skiff is laid up until next season, I nosed around the garage for a bit putting together a little somethingsomething that would get me out on the water.  The Goat is great, I love it, but something that could easily get onto the Merrimack River, which is close by, would be great.  Nothing like a little late fall paddle up a river with a float back down, right?  Right.

Enter:  3 sheets of Sureply vinyl floor underlayment from Lowes for 20 bucks a sheet.
Enter:  Miscellaneous wood left-over from the Goat.
Enter: A few quarts of Rustoleum (latex exterior house paint wouldve worked too) for 40 bucks.

ENTER:  QUICK CANOE

Add a little bit of your time, really, not much, and next thing you know, you have a canoe.

See the thread at Storers Forum here.

A new design, less than a year old, and already many have been built all over the world.  Some are experimenting with sailing rigs.  Others made skinnier prototype versions.  It comes with solid, fast, inexpensive boatbuilding technique.  Yes, you could probably get on the water for less than 200 bucks.  What in the name of Poseidon are you waiting for!?!?

Mast glued up rudder and daggerboard glassing

Ok, another frustrating boatbuilding day here in New Hampshire.

The mast got glued up today in a long session.  It takes a deceptively large amount of glue.

First, I laid down the mast ladder frame, with the two sides to be glued next to it.  I primed the wood to be glue with unthickened epoxy, and then made up the thick stuff.  Application of the glue went along the base plug, narrow staves, and ladder framework.  Afterwards, I picked up the ladder section and placed it upside down on the wide stave.  The other side of the ladder was then glued up and the wide stave dropped onto that, making a sandwich.  Mr. Storer recommends a clamp every foot.  I only have 9 clamps that can be used on the mast.  Mr. Storer advises his customers to use packing tape... use a clamp, wrap the mast with packing tape to hold the pressure, move on.  This method has been used by other Goat Island Skiff builders, successfully.  It kind of worked for me, but not to the degree I would have liked, the clamps hold more pressure.  Regardless, better than nothing, and with some careful maneuvering I was able to make sure that all gaps were closed up.

It took longer than I thought, and a lot more glue than I thought.  There were a few areas where I really had to force the staves into position, and this was a pain.  For some reason I dont have any real overlap in the lower half part of the mast or I could have used nails to hold it in place.  I used my muscles instead, and clamped them down, and hoped for the best.  In  a few locations theres an overlap on one side and an underlap on another... not much, about 1mm, but I see it, and it pisses me off.  I should be building to tighter tolerances by now.  I dont know if its impatience to get this done with, or its a level of meticulousness that drives me batty.

Off to check the bottom runners, shall we?

Oh look, gaps!

 In my quest to use less glue (I keep throwing out tons of squeezed out glue) I went with what I thought was a moderate amount of glue... but it obviously wasnt enough.  These are, surprisingly, my worst scarfs on this boat yet.  This is not the end of the world, I can force some glue in there, they are not necessarily under pressure (that would compromise the scarf) and they will fully glued onto the hull.  So this is not the end of the world.

This is:

My daggerboard.  What a mess.  I was so concentrated and focused on making sure I got it smooth around the end of the board, I didnt really care what happened along the edges of the glass.  I figured I could sand it smooth later.  Now, Im realizing I really screwed myself up the wazoo.  This clean up job without going through the soft wood of the board is going to murder my day tomorrow.  UGH.

Small Reach Regatta 2011!

Hello Intrepid Readers!  Me, myself, and I, along with my wife and my Goat Island Skiff have just returned from a long weekend at Lamoine State Park in Down East Maine, just across Frenchman Bay from Acadia National Park!

Not only was the location spectacular, but we sailed in company with dozens upon dozens of other small sail and oar boats!  Yes Reader, I can feel the perspiration on your brow already, for I am referring to the legendary Small Reach Regatta!  WOOT WOOT!

Due to constraints on my end I made it to Lamoine on Thursday morning as opposed to Wednesday night so I missed the meet+greet, but thats OK.  I enjoyed three days of sailing and camping and am already looking forward to the next SRR.

Remember:  You can click on any picture and then enlarge it to get a bigger one if you want bigger pictures.  I can also email you the original huge pictures if you would like a copy.  Just leave a comment and well get in touch.

Day One:  Lamoine State Park to Bean Island.  Winds were light.  I was the last boat off the beach and made good time but made a strategic error and stayed out to sea in hopes of better airs.  There was some venturi effect around the last point (Hancock Pt) and I was promptly passed by several of my peers as they blasted around the point.  Oh well!  We got to the backside of Bean Island, beached, and ate lunch!

This is the SRR:

The beach.  Find the Goat!

Goat Island Skiff surrounded by awesome.

Some Caledonia Yawls on the left and a Pacific Pelican on the right!

After lunch I meandered around the island and relaxed, and was one of the last sailboats off the island.  I didnt feel like rushing, but watched some of the fleet head out.

Oughtred JII (2)

A Superseed which supersedes the Melonseed.

Free Parking for Intrepid Reader of the Month if you can tell me where we saw this one before...

 Then I busted off of Bean Island and did a circumnavigation only to get becalmed on the way back.  No big deal.  A little bit of rowing and I made it to some wind and we were off again!

Clint Chase Boatbuilder and Better Half in Drake with downwind sailing rig up

CCBB and Co.  Notice patriotism.

Just awesome.  

Day Two was a sail down to some geological formations called the "Ovens" which are caves in the cliffs.  Allison and I ventured down to see and promptly ended up getting sucked into an oven, which meant down came the sail and out came the oars, toute suite.  Afterwards, a spirited upwind slog to Thomas Island for lunch!

More Awesome. A Don Kurylko Myst.

Fog rolling in over Frenchman Bay

Hooray Lunch!  Pathfinder, center.

The Fleet.

Goat Island Skiff heading back.  Me.  So I get a big picture. (Photo by Steven B)

Goat Island Skiff back at Lamoine on the Beach.  Acadia in background.  YEAH!

Day Three was an upwind slog up the Skillings River.  The final destination was going to be a small cove all the way up at the top.  It was a double whammy, we had the current with us initially but it turned about half-way up for us.  Allison and I doubled down and made it happen, slipping into the cove, rafting up with some others, stuffing PB+J into our mouths before setting back down river before we got caught in the mud.

On the way upriver, there was one portion of the fleet ahead of us, a small pack of three, and everyone else behind us.

Acadia in the clouds with the rest of the fleet behind us.

The pack of three consisted of a Coquina, a Core Sound 17, and our Goat Island Skiff.  The three of us tacked and tacked all on top of each other but keeping company, until the skipper of the Coquina decided to use the traveler on his rig, and he just blasted out of there.  I mean, he took off. 

Coquina

Coquina Again

So gorgeous.  This is about where she took off once the Skipper started using the traveler.  BOOM!  Gone.

That left us and Joe, who was skippering his sons Core Sound 17, which was a High School project.  Note cannibalized sails off other boats.  Love it!  The slog was a slog, but made bearable with the Coquina and Joe to share most of it with.

CS17 and Joe

Joe is a 4 realz Pirate!

Our constant shadow.

Up at the top of the river, we rafted up!

To my Port.

To my Starboard

The way back was better.  Current and wind at our backs we speedily made it out of the river and back to Lamoine where we frolicked some more with the good wind and rapidly clearing skies.

Goat Island Skiff heading downriver. (photo by Steven B)

Heading downriver.  The boom is a little high the downhaul slipped forward.  This was rectified. (Photo by Steven B)

Crotch Island Pinky-- A Dutch family borrowed this from The Apprenticeshop and proceeded to sailed the Living Baloney out of it!  So awesome!

Acadia and the fleet that didnt make it ahead of us now.

The Author of this blog

Superseed that supersedes the Melonseed with Acadia

The Fleet is spreading out

Sea Pearl Scout

Dragging my fingertips in the water hiking out like a hero.

Well, it was an awesome weekend, for sure!  I cant wait to get back next year and do some more sailing with other boats!  I sail alone all the time, and for one weekend, I can sail in a huge fleet of sail and oar boats and dominate the waves!

Crotch Island Pinky at sunset

Sunset over the harbor.

For some more incidental pictures, and the ones above, please see my album with my entire collection.

Until next time Intrepid Readers!