More cockpit

On Tuesday we removed the roughed in cockpit and I took the disc sander to the inside of the hull. There were lots of epoxy drools from the repeated coring, filling, glassing, and smoothing of the deck and house and these were ground smooth. Areas where the cockpit bulkheads and frames would be glassed to the hull were sanded to get to the original fiberglass hull, hoping for a strong bond.

We put the cockpit framing back in the hull and I mixed batches of epoxy thickened with West 410 and Marjorie made fillets where the plywood met the hull.

I planed and sanded the curved, laminated, mahogany coaming. It looks pretty good. There were two places where the thin planks had not been entirely squeezed together. I cleaned these "cavities", filled them with epoxy, and clamped them.

On Wednesday Marjorie applied 3 inch fiberglass tape where plywood met the hull. I worked on designing and building storage under the cuddy cabin.
It is exciting to see our ideas take shape

Cockpit

I started on the cockpit seats Friday December 8. There have been a number of informal sketches of the cockpit on scrap paper and restaurant napkins but I basically make it up as I go.

The first step was to figure out where to start and what was level, etc. I used a carpenter's level and also the cheap laser level from Home Depot that I bought to scribe the waterline on the outside of the hull. I set up a 2X4 frame with C-clamps and sheetrock screws and tweaked this frame and measured, measured, measured.....for about a day. I discovered several departures from "symmetry" of up to half an inch both in my work and in the original factory built parts of the boat. I eventually had reference 2x4's that established the location of the proposed seats that was "mostly level, mostly centered, pretty symmetrical", etc.

I measured and cut the bulkheads and held them temporarily in place with a few gobs of Bondo. Then I measured the kick panels, shelves, and seats and cut them out of 1/2 inch, certified plywood from Home Depot. I used 1x2 framing that was glued to the plywood and by this evening, after about three days work, the seats are roughed in as the last picture shows. The next step is to remove the seat "modules" and clean up the inside of the hull with sanders and brushes. Then the seat modules will be set back into the hull and taped to the hull with fiberglass tape and epoxy.

Deck work

The first week of December was spent mostly on the deck. The sides of the cockpit were trimmed and filled to accept the coamings. We had put two coats of Interlux epoxy primer on the deck a couple of weeks earlier when we first moved into the heated space. I did some sanding and filling and put on the first coat of deck paint. It is an off-white with a touch of yellow or buff color.

I decided to make an aggressive non-skid and bought a 100 pound sack of number 30 sand for $7; I only needed a couple of pounds. I spent over a day masking off areas that would not receive non-skid. Then we put on a coat of deck paint and used a coffee can with holes punched in the bottom to spread sand on the wet paint. We put on a generous coat of sand that about covered the deck. My assumption was that the excess would easily sweep off and I would be left with a continuous, thin coating.

Well, the next day I found that most of the sand had stuck to the paint and the deck resembled a Zen sand garden. Fortunately, about half a day spent with a wire brush and vacuum cleaner reduced the sand to a density we liked and I applied another coat of paint. The next day I removed the masking tape and applied the last coat of deck paint to the whole deck. The masking tape separating the deck paint from the blue hull was removed and the results are striking. The non-skid nicely masks some of the rough places in my deck finishing work.

The non-skid is rough and aggressive so should you want to lounge on the deck in your bikini, it had better be made of leather. Hmm.. interesting....but we don't do that. My thinking is that this boat is sailed from the cockpit where there will be comfortable seats. Since there are no lifelines, when you do venture on deck you will have good footing.

I stuck some cleats and handrails to the deck with tape to see how this was looking and was happy with the results.

Mahogany Tales

On November 7 we bought 4, 8 foot long mahogany planks an inch thick and about 9 inches wide at Belgrade. We spent about an hour in a below freezing warehouse sorting through about 50 boards to find the ones we bought, for about $100.

Two planks were planed to 3/4 inch thick for coamings along the sides of the cockpit. The rear of the cockpit needs a board an inch thick, about 5 feet long and bent about 3 inches in the middle. I yielded to "professional help" of a hardwood store that does millwork who was going to re-saw one of my mahogany boards into some 1/4 inch planks that I would then bend with epoxy and laminate into the curved plank I need. The thin planks would be ready the next day.

The hardwood guy said he would give the plank to a "trust fund hippy" who had a big band saw. Three days later I picked up the pieces. Our one inch plank got converted into three pitiful, rough pieces averaging 1/8 inch thick. They were split, cupped, and gouged and looked like scrap (notice the "s"?). I will use some of it for something, but had to start over getting material to make the curved, rear, cockpit coaming.... Enough Professional Help, back to "do it yourself".

The next day Marjorie and I cut a 5 foot board 5 1/2 inches wide out of the remaining plank. (It was supposed to be 6 1/2 inches wide but I measured wrong! Since there were no more big pieces of mahogany I changed my design slightly; it may be better!) We turned this plank on edge and ran it through table saw twice and now had two planks a little under half an inch thick.

These two planks plus an 1/4 inch piece from the mill were slathered with epoxy, wrapped around a curved form, and clamped. I ran out of pipe clamps and made some extra clamps using miscellaneous threaded stock that I had in the garage.

I knew the beam would spring back some when the clamps were removed but I was at a loss to know how much so I guessed at 3/4 inches extra bend which was 20-25% extra curvature. Two days later when I removed the clamps there was good news; the thing did not blow up, and the springback was close to what I had guessed. My luck had turned.

Backdeck Beam

The first picture shows the 4x4 that was cut with big curves on Georges band saw. I dry fit it yesterday evening and today used Jonathan's curved plane to smooth out.

Tomorrow I will probably epoxy it in. I have worried about making this piece and am happy it seems done.

Thanks Jonathan about remembering that I had stored some of your tools including this useful antique.

I trimmed back the sides of the deck today to receive the combings. Shown in the picture with Marjorie is a scrap redwood plank that I temporarily put in to see how the combing angle was working.

I bought some mahogany boards on Monday to use for the combing. The mahogany plank will be wider.

Trailer

This afternoon we applied brushes, grinders, and a 3M gadget that you put in
a drill and managed to get most of the loose rust and paint off in about two
hours of dirty grinding. I than applied a coat of Rustoleum primer from
Home Depot and by 6:00PM it looked 98% better: see picture.


The picture shows some new lights I bought. Kenyon had them on sale for $29 for two lights on a stand with a spare bulb. Kenyon was sold out, but Simpkins Hallin matched the sale price. Marjorie encourages me to buy two lights and they are handy.

Bottom Paint

We put on some bottom point this afternoon and this is what it looked like at the end of the day. The bottom paint has copper particles in it and the paint dries in a minute. You can't go back and forth with the roller to smooth it out because the roller starts picking up the paint you just put on! You roll a couple of times, in the same direction, and that is it. The good part is that you can put on another coat in 10 minutes and hopefully cover the places you missed the first time. Funny stuff and, about twice the price of single malt Scotch!

The hull now has two coats of the final blue color. It looks beautiful to us even though the surface is not perfectly glossy.

Elliptical ports were recommended by Allan, Steve, and others so what you see is pieces of cardboard stuck to the house with tape to simulate this. What do your think? Looks pretty good to me!

Tomorrow I hope to clean some of the rust and scabby paint from the trailer and start to make it look better.

We don't know how much longer we will be able to use the heated warehouse lent by a neighbor so am trying to quickly do as much painting as we can. Next week the outside temperatures are expected to be around zero F.

The Blues

We sanded the final coat of gray primer on the hull for almost a day and a half. My skin and clothes were gray. This afternoon we put on the first colored paint, a single-part, polyurethane that costs about $25/quart. It took almost a quart to cover the hull. I rolled the paint on with a smooth, foam roller and Marjorie "tipped" with a good brush ($18) we bought from Home Depot. This is the standard way for amateurs to apply this paint and the results look good I think. I will put on at least one more coat of color.

We finished working at 6:00PM. I am eager to look at it in the daylight tomorrow morning.

The deck still looked rough this morning so I did some more filling and delayed the priming.� This "sow's ear" will never be a silk purse. After 71 years I should remember that I am not good at taping sheetrock, smoothing car bodies, smoothing fiberglass, or making fine cabinetry. I seem to have to prove this to myself now and again.

Marjorie brought lunch and came back later to help wipe down the topsides.� I taped the new water line that I had marked with the laser last week and applied a coat of gray primer.

By 4:00PM there was no more red to be seen!!!!! Never did like that red.

This morning we moved some tools, paint, lights, epoxy, tarps, etc. to the boat in her new, temporary, home. Temperatures have gotten too cold to work much more outside in our yard.� Thanks to Russ and Marsha for lending us this warehouse space for a couple of weeks and to the Wells for facilitating this connection. Marjorie went to the store for a few things this morning while I unloaded the van and organized stuff.

I built a light fixture that would put the light from three photo floods on the deck and this was a mixed blessing. I thought I had sanded the deck "pretty good" and planned to put on the first layer of primer this afternoon, but with the new, slanty light new irregularities showed up so I spent the afternoon until 6:00PM sanding and filling. Maybe tomorrow.

The heated shop is WONDERFUL!!!!!!

These pictures show the activities of the last few days. The cuddy cabin is epoxied in and taped and the final layer of fiberglass cloth was put on this afternoon. The weather looked like snow would start falling any moment, but it didn't.

George asked me last weekend "Will you put in ports?"

I had thought about this and one fact is that since the back of the "cabin" is open, there is no need for ports. Still, the picture of the cabin looks "funny" without ports. Maybe I should put in false portholes, just for appearance.

The pictures show the first trial fit of the cabin module. It will need a few adjustments and shims but will eventually work. Gratifying for me to see some of the ideas taking shape.

At sundown the temperature was 12 degrees and in the last hour it has dropped to 8 degrees. I expected to start fiberglassing the inside seams in the cuddy or cabin shell today.� Before fiberglassing the seams I felt I needed to bond some plywood reinforcements under the winches, halyard locks, and jib tracks. I knew "about" where these devices would be located but I realized before�cutting plywood and bonding reinforcements�I needed to get more specific about just where.

To the Carpenters Rule about "measure twice, cut once" I would add "think three times, measure twice, cut once".� I forget this�Rule often, to my peril. (As I write this, the dismal reports�about Iraq come drifting to me via Public Radio.� I wonder if�the people with power do not believe the Carpenter's Rule.� Note, this metaphor has nothing to do with "cut and run".)

The picture shows�my attempt to set up, in�my relatively warm garage, some of the rigging on the cabin top. I decided to recycle the winches that came on the Etchells.� They were made in Denmark and have permanent handles mounted on the bottom. The jib is small so you don't need much of a winch.

These winches will be used for the jib sheets, the red lines after the sails are up. The winches will be used to raise and tension the main and jib, the blue lines.� I may have to buy some halyard clutches where the little jam cleats are shown. The winches will be used for the slab reefing and the Cunningham, the white lines.

There will be changes, of course, but this is about what it will look like.

This morning the temperature was -4 deg F but the sky was clear. I did some work on the boat cabin module in the garage in the afternoon but did not consider doing anything to the boat which is outside under a polyethylene cover. The boat cover looks like a greenhouse and I wondered what would happen to the temperature under the cover on a cold sunny day.

The boat and the ambient temperature was -4 deg F at 8:00AM. By noon the ambient air was up to 24 and the boat was 40 degrees. At 3PM the ambient temperature was 29 deg F and the boat was 56 deg F!

What seems remarkable is that I could have done a small fiberglass job under the plastic cover on the boat at noon and the resin would have mostly set up by sundown!� The lesson is that I should not give up boat work, just because it is very cold. The solar heating is a distinct benefit on a day like this.

This weekend the sky was clear and temperatures were probably near 70 degrees! making use of the warm weather I got a layer of fiberglass on the cabin module, the foredeck and the afterdeck (shown in the picture).

I trimmed the curved frame around the deck to receive the cabin module, (picture). The Skil saw objected to all the angles and I had to push it very hard but it came out fine. It will be an exciting day when we see if the cabin module FITS the hole in the boat!

This morning the temperature was 14 degrees and as you see in the picture there was about 8 inches of snow on the scaffolds and steps. Notice there was a 55 degree drop in temperature in about 12 hours.

I epoxied the plywood panels together day before yesterday and when I took off the clamps yesterday morning, some of the glue joints popped open.� I had hoped they would last until I taped the joints, inside and out, with several layers of fiberglass and resin.

I cleaned the broken joints, made some temporary and some permanent screw blocks to hold it together and did it again.� This morning everything held when I removed the clamps!

I did a lot of sanding and then filled some flaws, holes, cracks and screwhead holes with epoxy and West 410 and went to lunch with Dan Spurr who thought he owed me one for helping with some fog horn tests.

When I got back I put on the first fiberglass tape on the exterior joints. I used scrap 10 oz fiberglass since there will be several layers of bigger pieces glass covering it.� It is nice to see the cabin shell looking nearer to it's final form without a bunch of clamps holding it together and I am happy with the shape.

Yesterday brought a skiff of new snow but today was partially clear and warmer. I really appreciate a warm day.

Great weather the last two day! Quite a contrast to the last week when there was snow, rain and cold temperatures. I am still working on the "cuddy" and you would think that four pieces of plywood could be connected in less than the week that I have been working on it (not full time). Today the plywood was forced together with a lot of clamps and tonight there are two lightbulbs under the cuddy to help the epoxy cure. I worked outside on the boat today as the weather was warm. I sanded and filled the foredeck trying to make it smoother.

still cold

My inspiration a couple of days ago was that I still have the original cuddy I cut out from the part of the boat I am keeping.� The original cuddy differs from the hole in my boat only by a saw cut! Because of this close fit, I think I can use the cut out part as the basis of a precision (I hope) jig which could be used to build my new cuddy, inside the garage where the weather is slightly better.

Yesterday I built legs for the jig and set it's height to correspond to the rise in the boat wrt the waterline, which is now our garage floor.� Today I mocked up the main dimensions of the cabin and this is hard for me. I had similar frustrations when mocking up the pop-top camper roofs. The "nice" dimensions are subtle so you try to set up a temporary visual aid but it is so flimsy that it keeps falling down. I will sleep on it again and maybe something will come to me.

The challenges of geometry are always waiting to prove me stupid.� Even with sheets of plywood (conic sections, right?) the intersection of�the curve of the cabin�roof�with a curve in the cabin side with a rising sheer curve of the deck gets messy.� Where do you start?

In design desperation, I moved the boats around in our (boat) yard, repositioning the Etchells so I can get a snowblower between my scaffolding and the garage wall, and moving the F-24 from the front yard to it's normal place in the side yard.� I haven't put the cover on yet as there is still snow on the boat.

There was steady rain all day yesterday and it changed to snow by evening. This morning we have 27 degrees and up to 6 inches of snow.

I bought 10 yards of 10 oz fiberglass cloth yesterday in Belgrade at the local fiberglass shop.� It cost me maybe $20 more than ordering it, but it is in hand. Another gallon of resin should arrive today thus if the weather warms up I am ready to start the final fiberglass coat on the deck. Temperatures of 50 degrees are predicted in a couple of days. In the meantime I am doing odd jobs around home, and writing emails!

I woke up at 5:30 this morning and after mourning the weather, got an exciting idea for pre-fabricating the cabin roof in the garage. Will let you know what happens. Gotta be ready to change schedule when you are blocked.

Saturday

After a bunch of grinding and filling the boat deck still looked pretty rough yesterday but I went ahead today and mopped on some fiberglass cloth and epoxy. Happy to report that today, it looks pretty good. When the paint goes on I expect that the flaws will jump out to the eye but I will hope that it is strong, if not totally beautiful. It will get another coat of cloth next week after I get more epoxy delivered from Florida, (Tuesday) and if the weather is agreeable. It is supposed to turn colder.

After two weeks of mostly wrecking stuff, cutting stainless bolts corroded into aluminum with a cold chisel, digging out rot, and carving off unwanted fiberglass with the Sawzall I am encouraged to be BUILDING up instead of wrecking. Once I get this deck in shape, I can think about fun stuff like the design of the seats and the cuddy, painting the hull, storage lockers, and the rigging.

I am thinking about putting a small outboard in a well. Boat people: Any thoughts or references on how to design a good outboard well? I think I have read about outboard wells that don't work.

Nice Weather

The Kerttu's spent last night here on their way back home from Michigan so I didn't get started until 10AM.

Yesterday I did brutal sanding of the uneven deck and spread a couple of pints of epoxy with West 410, a sanding filler. It is not a critical as a painted surface because it gets covered with two layers of fiberglass. The major high and low spots need to be eliminated at this stage.

I had planned on vigorous sanding with the possibility of getting a layer of mat on the exposed cores today. Well, the last coat of sanding sealer from yesterday afternoon was not set up so I am presently "cooking" it with some electric heat and lots of solar. This will delay me about 4 hours.

In the meantime I am building a sander strip on a flexible piece of wood to gauge the high spots. Jonathan recommended this and told me how to make one.

I also built a jig to attempt to hold a metal batten so I can score a grove marking the waterline. These boats are normally dry sailed and do not have bottom paint and waterlines molded into the hull like cruising boats. The old waterline that was painted on was way off. There is a feint boundary showing where the physical waterline was when it was moored in Canyon Ferry. I hope to identify a pretty good old waterline and then raise it 1.5 vertical inches. This will allow for extra weight of about 600 pounds of house, motor, anchor, etc. My jig is not working yet.

Some days you start slow.

Epoxy Working

I made this set-up yesterday morning. The shop is intended to keep it at a moderate and uniform temperature before mixing. The pumps seemed neat but the hardener is too viscous to pump and the resin is pretty slow. $6 wasted. I pour from each bottle into a paper cup set on the balance. I hung a washer on the beam to balance the weight of the cup, or tare. I write down the weights and batch number. Works great.

This morning the epoxy is all pretty much set up. I put a few hundred watts of electric heat during the night and that may have been good for a few degrees above the 35 deg minimum atmospheric temp. I suspect it would have done pretty good without the heat but I need anything to speed up this process.

The cups were the recipients of yesterdays mixes arranged sequentially. Should a mix be bad, I could trace it to my record of weights to figure out how I goofed.

I have epoxied another panel this morning and only one more to go! Then several days of grinding, filling, and laying glass cloth, that I do not have yet.