It's starting to look like a boat with a cabin now!

 

 

The bottoms of the three panels that make up the seat tops need three coats of clear epoxy before installation. One went on today and two more will be done tomorrow.

The cockpit drains were fitted today. These are made from 25mm PVC pipe. Once the pipes were a snug fit into the holes through the hull, and cut to the correct length, I keyed the ends of the pipes to ensure that the epoxy has a good surface to adhere to. Thickened epoxy was applied the ends of each pipe, and they were then slid the final few centimetres into place. A thin bead of epoxy was applied around each pipe, inside the aft locker. A thicker layer was added later.

The seat stringers were coated in unthickened epoxy, along with the bare sections of the hull inside the lockers.

Fibreglass tape was added to the top edges of the panel over the forward part of the ballast tank, and the sides of the cockpit bulkhead.

Following B&B's recommendation, I'm using a couple of bow eye U bolts for stern mooring lines and trailer tie-downs. It was easier to mount backing blocks and drill these before the seat tops were installed.

Beads of thickened epoxy were applied along all of the stringers and beams for one section of the seat top at a time. Pre-drilled screw holes helped with locking the panels in the correct location. Bricks were stacked on the panel and any squeezed out epoxy was removed.

The next panel to go down was the port side, as it had the large butt block on it, glued to the bridge deck section. Using the WEST System pumps, I found that each panel needed three batches comprising of four pumps of epoxy. I drilled in a couple of extra screws to both of the forward panels, to give a bit more pressure along the inside edges. The bricks were stacked on short lengths of timber. This stopped the bricks from denting the plywood, and also spread the weight a bit. Once the weights were on the panel I gave it a few minutes and then removed any squeeze-out. The starboard seat top was the last to be installed. I think I got a bit faster by the time I made it to this one.

The next morning all of the bricks were taken off the panels. The wires were removed. The screws were taken out of the seat tops. The hot knife does a great job of heating the screws enough to slightly soften the epoxy.

A backing block for the bow eye was shaped and glued into place.

The upper section of the transom beam was shaped to fit, and glued in place. Three screws held the transom beam in place while dry fitting it. The transom beam was clear coated in epoxy to prevent a dry joint, and then thickened epoxy was applied. The screws locked the beam in place, and the clamps provided the needed tension.

A thick fillet was run along the join of the bridge deck and the back of the cabin. I used some of the left over filleting glue to fill the holes where the screws had been removed.

Now it's time to dry fit the sheer strakes. Some of the reinforcing on the bulkheads had to be trimmed to allow the strakes to fit properly. The notches in the bulkheads had to be opened up a bit to accept the inwales that run along the top edge of the sheer strakes. Once the inwales had been dealt with, I could refit the sheer strakes. The sheer strakes were screwed to the temporary gunwale battens. Then the inwales were dry fitted and screwed to the sheer strakes. 30cm of each inwale was left extending out the back, and pulled together a precise distance, to make the curve of the sheer strakes fair.

The cabin beams were shaped and dry fitted. Once they have been glued in place they will be planed down to the curve of the cabin top.

Part of the hatch coaming is used to set the distance between the back of the cabin and the first hanging knee.

The breasthook was dry fitted and then the anchor well beams were also cut and dry fitted.

I also cut the anchor well drainage holes now, while there was easy access.

A combination of wedges and spacers set the sheer strakes to the correct width and angle at the stern and further into the cockpit.

I had selected seven 4.2 metre planks of 25mm by 200mm Hoop Pine at Mathews Timber, in Knoxfield. I didn't need to work on the masts and sprits just yet, but the neighbours were away, so it was a good time to make noise and cut down the planks into staves. 6 planks were cut into 34mm widths, giving me 30 staves, and a little left over. Some of the timbers warped quite a bit when being cut, making it difficult to get them through the saw bench. The bits that were left over were cut into 17 x 21mm strips, for the 2 metre inner birdsmouth sleeves that will fit inside the bottom of both masts. I needed to cut some more lengths from the seventh plank as well. The remainder of the seventh plank was cut into the lengths needed for the sprit booms. The 34 x 25mm staves were cut down to 34 x 17mm. These will be the staves for the birdsmouth masts. They will have to be scarfed together to make 5.715 metre lengths, with the joins staggered so that they are different on each stave. Some of the pieces warped quite badly when cut, with tension being released from the timber. Fortunately, I only need 24 out of the 30 lengths. It was a dusty, but satisfying, day! As a bonus I have lots of sawdust for the planned composting toilet for the boat.

The back of the fence on my saw table is set at 45°, perfect for cutting the pieces for the birdsmouth masts. The spring keeps the strake down onto the saw blade when passing it through. I am making offset birdsmouths, with the first cut being equal to the height of the shorter side of the strake. If I cut everything properly I should finish up with an octagon when assembling the pieces. Each strake is passed through twice, once to make the 17mm deep cut, and a second time to remove the waste material.

Today I am cutting the pieces for the 2 metre birdsmouth inserts which will fit inside the bottom section of both masts. The strakes were clear coated in epoxy before thickened epoxy was piped along each of the cut edges. I made some half-circle cradles to hold the pieces when they were being joined. Some of the excess epoxy was scraped off before streching tape around the staves. The stretched tape squeezed out some more epoxy, so that was scraped off as well.

The final task for today was tack welding the sheer strakes, starting in the cockpit, then the cabin, and finally the anchor well.

Having taken the tape off the first mast insert, today I glued up the second insert.  The inside edge and the edges that will be glued were all clear coated first. Then thickened epoxy was run along the birdsmouth cuts. Using the WEST System pumps, it worked out to around 8 pumps of epoxy per metre of mast. A stave was laid in the jig, and then the next was placed into the birdsmouth cut of the previous stave. The glue held the pieces together well during the assembly process. The initial squeeze-out was scraped off all of the joins, and the outer surfaces. Tape was stretched around the mast to keep the staves tensioned, and a bit more epoxy was scraped off.

The cabin beams were removed, first marking the intersection of the first hanging knee, as this distance is important for the companionway.

The inwales were removed and epoxy coated.

The top inside edge of the sheer strakes were clear coated with epoxy, in preparation for glueing the inwales in place.

Thickened epoxy was run along the outside edge of the sheer strakes and they were then refitted, and screwed in place to stop movement. Squeeze-out was removed from the top and bottom edges of the inwales.

A small fillet was run around the join of the hanging knees and inwales, filling any gaps.

The breasthook was glued in place, and then the two anchor well beams were glued in as well.

The temporary gunwales were removed. I found it was much better to take out the screws from the back of the boat first, and work forward to the bow.

The cabin beams were given two coats of epoxy today. I will do another coat tomorrow morning.

Prior to running a fillet along the sheer strakes I clear coated the edge with epoxy.

I'd thought I had a good fit along the sheer strake, so I was surprised at the gaps in some spots. The temporary gunwale had made it hard to spot this. Fortunately, the join will be covered in fibreglass tape on the inside, and fibreglass cloth on the outside.

The edge of the sheer strakes were clear coated and then filled with thickened epoxy.

Before taping the sheer strake seams, I sanded the filled screw holes in the seats.

I taped the sheer strake seams and also did the vertical seams in the cockpit. Clear coating first, followed by fibreglass tape.

The cockpit drain tubes were reinforced with narrow fibreglass tape, in the cockpit and in the transom. The ends of the PVC tubes were sanded first, to key them to accept the tape.

Before taping the sheer strake seams in the cabin, I brushed each join with unthickened epoxy. I find that this makes placing the tape much easier when at an odd angle, even though the tape has been wetted out before hand. Each segment of tape has been wetted out with epoxy. A piece of laminated chipboard is a great way of moving the rolled up pieces of fibeglass tape to the boat, ready for installing. Once the tape has been pushed into place along the seam with my fingers, I use a brush to dab out any air gaps or rolls in the tape. As much as possible, I try to make the edges of the fibreglass tape parallel with the seam that the tape is covering. After the horizontal seams had been taped, I moved on to covering the vertical seams between the sheer strakes and the bulkheads and hanging knees. Later, I taped the sheer strakes in the anchor well, to complete the seams.

Four 20mm diameter holes were drilled through the transom. These are the scuppers for the paddle storage and the cockpit seats.

The selvedge was scraped off the epoxied tape in the cockpit and the cabin. The edges were then sanded as well.

The bow knee was screwed to the breasthook and glued to the bow and the breasthook

I ran the stringers for the gunwale backing and the cockpit seats through the router table and finished them off by sanding the rounded edges.

The cabin roof has been joined with three inch fibreglass tape, and weighted down to keep the centreline seam flush.

The remaining uncoated sections of the cabin have been sanded and then coated with epoxy. The epoxy was rolled on, and then brushed to remove any air bubbles.

The hanging knees were coated at the same time.

Afterwards, the bare panels in the anchor well got their first coat also.

Once the first coat was complete in the cabin and anchor well, I turned the cabin roof over, sanded off the epoxy that had bled through, and added a fibreglass tape seam to this side. For this seam, the best option was to lay out the tape and then wet it out in place. The screw holes were filled with thickened epoxy. I will need to add more tomorrow to completely fill the holes. Weights weren't absolutely necessary, as the two pieces are already held in place by the tape on the other side, but it didn't hurt to use them.

When the epoxy was tacky, I recoated the cabin sections. I'll add a third coat tomorrow.

I applied the third and final coat of epoxy on the sheer strakes and associated panels in the cabin.

The edges of the fibreglass tape on both sides of the cabin top were sanded smooth.

The slot for the back of the main tabernacle had to be extended to 12cm to allow for the wider tabernacle and wooden mast.

Two coats of epoxy were applied to the underside of the cabin top today. The third coat will be added tomorrow morning.

The cabin beams had to be scrubbed with a scourer and warm water, to remove some amine blush.

I had marked where the beams intersect the hanging knees and bulkheads so that I could sand those areas, to key them for the epoxy.

After wetting out the slots, I added thickened epoxy and pushed the beams down into position. I had marked and pre-drilled the main beams at the washboard inside lip and the rear hanging knee, ensuring that the hatch coaming will fit properly later.

I found that my fingers were the best tools for removing squeezed-out epoxy from around the beams and hanging knees.

A screw through the main beam into the inwale kept it from lifting up at all.

This turned out to be exceptionally simple to do. Dry fitting everything first removed any problems that occurred.

After the beams were glued in place, I used a straight-edge to mark how much I will have to plane off the beams tomorrow.

I later spent some time looking up at the beams through the portholes, to identify any bits of excess epoxy that I had missed.