Polite Rain

In a shop, it's polite to wait until someone finishes a difficult glue up or stops playing with the sharp spinny thing before you interrupt. So I was grateful that the weather showed the same good manners.

I had just finished gluing up the port side (I refer to port and starboard as if I were sitting upside down in the boat, since it is currently upside down. This seems more correct. For absolute Clarity the port side is the side facing out into the garden in the photos) anyhow, as I was saying, I had just glued up the Sheer Clamp, all held in place with waxed deck screws and large washers. I was crouched in the gap between the bushes and the boat, just about to start drilling the holes for the starboard side when I felt a few drops of rain, then a few more, and like Cockroaches and Politicians, where there are one or two, there are always many many more.

Tarpaulin up, tools away and back inside for a hot shower. All the while thanking the polite rain for not disturbing me halfway through the port side, and for not letting me get well started on the starboard.

Incidentally, one very handy tool for boat back garden building is a Garden Kneeling Pad. Basically a piece of durable foam with a built in handle that's just right for kneeling on. Kneel in the cold wet mud, or hard concrete for a while and trimming those last two notches is a whole lot less fun. Get one for feck all + postage on ebay.

Looks like a Boat

Here you can see it's starting to come together. Both of the sheer clamps are fully fitted, Next is the glue up. The eagle eyed amongst you will notice that the frame for the cover is inside the chine between the first and second frames (from the pointy end). This will require some "rework" on my canopy frame.

As I mentioned before, twisting oak requires a little bit of leverage. I've swapped in the shorter clamps as the wood has already taken on a fair twist from when I steamed it. This helps keep it all in place until I can get the Screws and Glue in place.

And the pointy bit. The tape is to stop water getting in before I glue it up. 2 inch screws and big washers hold it all in place.  A nice fit if I do say so myself.

A little more progress....

The sheer strake notches for the "other" side of the boat are finally cut. The "other" side is of course the side beside the wall. And the Bushes. I think in hindsight that another 6 inches away from the wall would have made a lot of difference. 8-(

I can see the problem when I get to glassing and painting. It will require some "gentle" trimming of the bushes. My wife may not be happy.

It appears that the best way to actually attach the strake is to glue and screw it on at the front first, and then bend it into position. This way leverage works in your favour. In the absence of any friends who would be prepared to simply stand still, holding the end of a 16 foot "stick" for half an hour or so, I ended up just tying it off at the centre and the far end. This, after a little bit of adjusting (ok, a lot of adjusting) held the near end in place for me to drill and screw. I wish I had pictures, but by the time I was finished, It was dark, and I was tired and there was kids (and wives) to be fed.

Fuller bits rock, but they are fragile. Fortunately the one that snapped off had gone in far enough to protrude out the far side, making removing the broken bit a whole lot easier. You can't really leave the broken bit in. Steel and Oak are poor bedfellows. Acid and all that. It was (of course) my fault that it snapped, trying to squeeze the drill in where it just won't fit means it puts a whole lot of bending force on the drill bit. That only ever ends one way.

Next up is the glue up. Then the fairing, then I start with the skin....

Sheer Strake Notches

Trying to fit the sheer strake (blue) when the frame us upside down, and it's colder than a Snowman's toes can be fun. Working upside down is just hard work. A simple template (in red) helps get things lined up. 

This is just cut from a scrap of wood, ply is fine. And it quickly allows you to see how much you need to increase your notch by to have the outside corner of the sheer strake at the correct height.

If you think my diagram is a bit rough, you should see the joint. But it will be hidden away, epoxy fills all known gaps.... 8-)

Wooden it be nice....

Wooden it be nice to work on my boat.

I got all dressed down in my old clothes and overalls, unwrapped the boat.

I took out a few saws and markers to have a go at some of the remaining sheer strake notches.

Then I noticed a small spot on my glasses. The another. Then I felt one on my nose.
I could suddenly hear the pitter patter of tiny rain drops on the Poly Tarp.

Just like that, overcast became raining, and I had to cover over the boat and gear down.

Building a boat outdoors is a nice idea. But Rain is a dismal reality.

Oh well there's always next week.

Work has deadlines, My Maths degree has deadlines, The boat will just get done.

At least the hired help still shows up on time....

PMF 180 Rocks

In spite of dire weather forecasts, I got to spend an afternoon on the boat this weekend.

I added the twist to the second sheer strake. More cord, more truckers hitches and more clamps.

Then I started cutting the notches for the first sheer strake.

I really didn't fancy trying to chisel upwards, so I got out a blue marker pen, marked off the run of the sheer strake at each frame and then got out a mirror and the PMF 180.

It Rocks. It's not a precision instrument. This is not the thing to used for visible dovetails. But to cut a notch for sheer strake that will be epoxied and screwed into place, happy days.

You can set the blade at any angle to make it easier to get at things. It's noisy though, even through ear muffs.

I got all bar one frames sorted on the first side. Next weekend should see both sheer strakes ready to be glued and screwed into place.

Decking screws to draw it all tight and to be replaced by bronze later.

Sheer Madness

I decided to go with simple L shaped brackets to help me get the sheer strakes into place. Two minutes with a hand saw and some scrap ply and I had 10 L shaped pieces.
Once they were clamped in place, it gave the sheers something to rest on while I clamped it all up. You can see these more clearly in the second picture.

Now that they are steamed into place, and with the help of towels, boiling water, clamps and a truckers hitch, I am twisting them  a little to follow the line of the frames. To avoid the clamps damaging the sheer strakes, I clamped a cutoff either side and then twisted. With the leverage of the long bar clamps, and the 3:1 advantage of the truckers hitch (poor mans pulley) you do have to go slowly and carefully to avoid that snapping sound. I hate that snapping sound.

It's really starting to look like a boat now. I can see the shape of it.

I need to bevel each of the notches and then glue and screw. I have a Bosch PMF 180 (Fein multimaster clone) and it happily cuts oak. I suspect this will be easier than trying to lie under the frame and hit a chisel upwards.

Each step is a step closer.

It takes a lot of effort to go out in the Cold when you could just stay in the house and have a Christmas drink...

But I did postpone the drink, and wander out. It's small steps, saw the compound angle where the sheer strakes meet the stem. (Mark it out twice and check it again)

Break the edges of the sheer strakes with a block plane cause I am sick of splinters.

Tidy up a notch or two on the frames.

Now I'm nearly ready to steam the sheer strakes and bend them into place.

The chines rested on the frames, that made it easy to put them in place. The sheers will be underneath the frame notches. I am trying to decide if I should screw short battens to the bottom of each frame to rest the sheers on while I bend them into place, or just use cord slings.

Battens are more work up front, easier to bend the sheers in place, but will be in the way when I go to bevel the notches.

Slings may be too slow to get right when the sheer is cooling off from the steamer.

Battens first, then replace them with slings ?

As usual, lots of ancillary work makes the primary job go smoothly. If you ever see a craftsman work, and wonder how he does it all so easily, ask him, how much preparation has gone in that you didn't get to see !!!

Christmas Helpers

I was cleaning up the glue joints on my sheer strakes, when an old helper came along to supervise. He simply watched, approvingly, I presume, as he passed no scathing comments.

The joints came out just fine. A little work with a plane and the two pieces of wood just merge into one and other.

He used to drop along when I was digging the garden path and the stone circle. I guess he still associates me with upturned soil and worms.

I did manage to capture my supervisor on film....

Glue Up Photo

Photos as promised.

Kitchen Glue Up

It's cold and wet, and I don't have a 20' long shed.

So how do I glue up the sheer strakes ? 

In the kitchen of course. After the toddlers have toddled off to bed, I dragged the parts into the kitchen and glued them up. Of course this meant leaving an 18 foot long stick, complete with clamps, lying in the kitchen over night.

4 am comes and the littlest one awakes on cue.  So I wander down to get her night time bottle, and duly trip over my glue up. No major worries, it's got enough clamps to hold the titanic together. And since this is a PU adhesive, it's tighter than a ducks...

Then at 6:30 the next morning, I have to get it out of the kitchen before I go to work. 

Out through the window, since it will no longer fit around the corner to go out the back door. 

The neighbours must certainly wonder what that "Crazy Fool" was doing wandering around the garden with a head torch at 6:30am and dragging a long stick out through the kitchen window.

Remote Control Vac

I didn't spend a fortune on a shop vac that switches on when it senses the current drawn from your power tools. Switching it on and off is a PITA. Leave it running an you kill the motor. Leave it of and you poison your lungs.

I came across this tip in a wood working magazine (can't remember which one - sorry)

For less than €20 you can buy a remote control plug adaptor. Plug this into the wall, plug the vac into this, and a small pocket remote switches your vac on and off. 

Perfect. Keep the remote in you pocket and you have no climbing back and forth around the shed to fire up the sucker. (pun intended - sorry) 

Longer Sticks

It's hard to find 16' oak. And harder to transport it ! So for the sheer strakes, I had to build some longer sticks. I built the traditional Scarf Jig.
As you can see it's a 2x4 to clamp the oak too, and a guide rail for the circular saw.
The 2x4 was not square (who would have thought it?) so I had to set the saw at a slight angle to make a square cut. For once easier done than said.

Here you can see the four cuts. Not bad for a first try.
I need to tidy up the saw burn, but otherwise, happy days.

The view from above. As with everything preparation is 90% of the work, actually cutting the wood took seconds 8-)

As always the question, Epoxy or Balcotan Marine PU ? It's a nice smooth flat surface, that I can clamp good and tight and it will be above the water line. I'm leaning towards Balcotan PU. The test peice that I glued together with balcotan and left out in the weather, left in the shed, and generally abused is still holding strong.

Gluing it straight is just means I need something to clamp it too.

Sharper Still

One thing that I found was a buffing wheel on an arbour on my drill with some polishing compound will take the edge from "cuts a few hairs and scratches my arm" to " shaves cleanly, removing every single hair with ease".

You still need to get the back flat and put a reasonable edge on, otherwise you get a nice polished blunt edge....

Sharpening

Having a miserable cold, and being able to do feck all, I tried sharpening up a few chisels. It's theraputic. Back and forward, back an forward, change up a stone, repeat.

Of course we all know the Back of the chisel is the important part for sharpening. Here's a simple idea to make it a little easier to hold the chisel steady and flat on the stone, and make life a lot easier on your fingers.

Just whip a pencil onto the chisel as shown with heavy string. Every second loop, go around the pencil and change direction - this locks the pencil in place.

Two whippings 1 1/2 inches apart is about right.
You just can see in this picture, a low spot just at the business end of the blade (top as you look at the picture). It will never be sharp until I get down to that spot. One thing that helps is only flatten the last inch.
The traditional test it shaving hairs off the back of your arm. For those who think that's a myth.... Dada.... Real Live Arm Hairs


This was brought to you by DMT diamond whet stones. Including the XXCoarse, Coarse, XFine and XXFine.

A quick update......

I have removed the waxed deck screws in the first chine, they came out without even a struggle. I was a little concerned that the epoxy might have managed to get a grip, but the wax worked out just fine.

A little aside, wax melts just fine in the microwave, but it goes on really thick to COLD screws. I think that next time I will heat the screws in boiling water too. Then they won't cool down the wax so much and come out with 1/8" coatings.

I have replaced the deck screws with Bronze screws. An Old Brace that belonged to my grandfather has provided excellent service in setting the screws, as it gives a nice fine control rather than just stripping the head out as power tools can. Bronze is soooo soft.

I have glued and screwed the second chine. Next on my list is cutting the sheer clamps. Since I could not get 16' oak, I will have to scarf these in the aft section where there's not too much curvature.

Fitting these will be "fun" as firstly I'll be working UP from ground level to fit the notches, and secondly the starboard chine (if the boat were right way up) is quite near the wall and the shrubs.

I am not really sure how my wife is going to react when I propose cutting back (down?) those shrubs for glassing and painting operation. 8-(

Block and tackle.

I got a few of these cheap and cheerful pulleys on ebay. Not for sailing, but rather for building. A bit of 3mm or 4mm cord bought at your local hardware, and a pair of these make pulling the chines into place a whole world easier. 

Try getting a bar clamp to do that !! 

Gluing Chines

I did spend some time figuring out how to glue the chines logs in place. At about 14 foot long, they are quite unwieldly, and epoxy is slipperier that a slippy thing in slippy sauce. It's all very well saying the screws will hold it in place, but as you try to position the end at the transom, or perhaps at the stem, and the other you suddenly find this wisdom somewhat incomplete, as your epoxy starts to set.

One simple solution is to screw it in place staring at the middle without glue. Then mix up the epoxy suitably stiffened with amorphous silica. Only then do you unscrew the aft half of the chine, whack on the glue, then screw it back in place. The other end is suitable tamed. Then unscrew the forward half, apply the glue and replace it. Simple. It's like having a strong patient helper at the other end.

I got truly sick of stripping the head off the (expensive) bronze screws, so now
I use square head deck screws dipped in molten bees wax to hold things together. Much stronger than Bronze. And square heads just don't strip out. When it's suitably set (which may be several days, it's cold out there) I will replace the galvanised deck screws with Bronze.

I am assuming that there will not be so much epoxy in the existing screw hole that it prevents me inserting the bronze ones. Wish me luck.

I really need a boat shed.

When you are trying to build a boat outside, you need, not just good weather, but some likelihood of good weather for the next few hours.

So with showers making a regular appearance, I set up a "lathe" in my garden shed using a 650 watt drill, and a bolt set into 3/4 inch ply as a chuck.

I quickly gave up trying to use a chisel, perhaps I needed a little instruction, but the chisel simply bit into the wood and bent the bolt.

Attempt number two with a stanley surform round plane worked a lot better. I was able to shape some nice covers for the Center Board pivot.

A Forstner bit allowed me to cut a rebate on the inside to hold a gasket, since this will be oak on oak, a little rubber should make a better seal.

Now it feels like I am making progress again.

Fitting the chine

The next job was fitting the chine log. It's been sitting in place for a while in the poorly fitted notches. A great big todo.

I go to spend a few hours this weekend with a mallet and a few sharp chisels fixing the notches.

One thing I figured out is that while I am drawing things tight, square drive galvansied deck screws are way better than bronze. Bronze screws are way too expensive and strip too easily. For the gluing, I will wax the deck screws, bond the lot with epoxy and then replace the screws with bronze. I have about two frames to go on one side and I can start gluing.