More deck stringers

Well not so much more as the same ones now glued into place. First off a merry Christmas and a great New year to all of you. May 2022 be a better year than this one.

So today I have sanded smooth and rounded off the underneath part of the deck stringers in preparation for glueing in. I used the belt sander to sand them all level and my trim router with a round over bit to give an 8mm round over so there are no sharp edges. I then glued them into place and put some fillets into the corners to help strengthen and spread any load into the structure of the boat. Once the deck is on I will run another fillet down the length of the stringer to give more glueing area to the deck. As you can see I have left the stringers a little proud of the deck so that when I fit the deck I can fair them down to the correct level. This means a proper wood to wood joint which makes the deck much stronger.

The gloves are covering the ends of the clamps so I don't permanently attach them to the boat. It has happened in the past and sometimes it takes some judicious use of a beating tool to remove them. Don't ask how I know.

Anyway thanks for viewing and see you all soon again.

Cheers Jay 

Deck stringers

Hello again

Today I glued up the port side (left hand) deck stringer. Unfortunately I don't have enough clamps to do both sides so it will be done in two hits.

I also trimmed and shaped the deck stringer mounting blocks.

No boat building tomorrow as we are off to watch England Rugby take on the might Springbok team. If the head is in the right place we'll be back to it on Sunday.

Cheers Jay 

Hmmmm boat building 😁

Well I've been off work for a few weeks due to working time stand down (it's a long story) and I have been busy with other little projects around the house like paving, building drawers and drinking beer ( that's a project isn't it 😁😁😁) and I have not done much boat work............. until today!!!!!!! Enough is enough this boat needs to be built so I got out some ply some glue and some clamps set up the router and went to town.

First I made a jig to clamp to the bulkheads to rout out the slot for the deck beams.

Slots cut

Then I cut the slots in the beam sections. I have decided to use laminated sections as that's way stronger. So tomorrow I will glue them together and then take them off and finish them (sanding and rounding off the bottom edges (epoxy sticks better to round edges than square) and it's a bit softer if you whack into them)

I also cut and glued the blocks to place on the transom and the bow for these deck beams to mount into. To cut the blocks safely on my table saw I knocked up a quick cross cut sled.

Tomorrow I will trim and glue them in place.

All in all a good productive day. 

As always thanks for reading and following my progress and please feel free to comment.

Cheers Jay 

Yes bulkheads all taped

Hi Guys and Gals

Today I have a huge sense of accomplishment, I have finished taping in the last two bulkheads. All the bulkheads have now been taped into the boat. These were D and E which are the two just in front of the keel and fore and aft of the mast. These need to be extra tough as there is a lot of pressure in this area when under sail. The mast is keel stepped (through the deck onto the bottom of the boat) so there are pressures in all sorts of directions in this area. To help with this I have added one extra layer of glass tape between the bulkheads to tie in the two bulkheads and give a bit more strength and stiffness. It was amazing to see the extra layer of glass soak up the excess resin in this area. I put it on and within 2-3 minutes it was almost wet through. So what does this mean??? Potentially I had a resin rich layup. I had squeegeed the layup after a few minutes to remove the excess but clearly it was not enough. Looking at the rest of the layups they looked OK so I am not too worried, nothing has broken and it will only add a few extra grams to the boat. How do you solve that, you spend a bunch of money on peel ply and cover every layup in peel ply. This is a dacron fabric which will soak up the excess and when you pull it off it leaves a keyed surface that does not need sanding to prepare for secondary bonding. A time saver but extra cost so it will be sanding for me.

The red fabric is an old gazebo top to keep the heat in as it is getting a bit chilly here in the UK and I need to boost the temp a bit to ensure proper cure of the epoxy. 

Thanks for visiting 

Cheers Jay 

More bulkhead taping

Not much progress from a visual perspective but some good progress. I managed to tape two and a half bulkheads into place yesterday and today. The rear of A the whole of B and the sides of C( main bulkhead.) I have also tab glued the bottom of C to the hull. I am hoping to get the last taping done next weekend and then we start adding the deck stringers, one each side. The plans don't call for it but other builders have done it and in my view it is a very small weight addition for a whole lot more strength in the deck.

Thanks for visiting and see you soon. 

Cheers Jay 

Progress on the bow

So this weekend I watched some rugby with my mate Phil and then we had food, a great poitjie made by my good wife Jenni. I then managed to talk him into helping with some boat building, didn't take much convincing 😁😁.

Phil helped and we made a template for the bow area. I had cut the piece originally but the hull shape ended up slightly different to the designed shape. We then used the template to recut a new piece of ply. This photo is of that piece glued in viewed from the top down. 

From slightly further back and underneath.

I also manged to fillet and glass tape bulkhead F (front one) into the hull. I am just waiting for the epoxy to set up on the bow and I will tape that in as well today and then cover her up for the week.

once again thanks for visiting and please feel free to comment on the work or critique if you have some worthwhile input. 

Cheers Jay 

And some glassing

I also managed to fibreglass tape one side of bulkhead A into place as well as the small quarter bulkhead right in the bow that helps support the spinnaker pole. All in all a good productive day.

Thanks for visiting. 

Cheers Jay 

And some more bulkheads

Managed to get all the bulkheads positioned today. They need some minor finessing and then I will be able to glue them in. 

First bulkhead

Big step today, main bulkhead is fitted. Some small adjustments to get it perfect but it's in and on the lines. The beauty of this building method is that parts don't need to fit to a joinery standard. As long as they are within a 5-10mm tolerance it's good to go.

The other thing that worked out perfectly today by sheer luck was that the boat was dead level left to right despite only being plonked onto the cradle and wedged into position. Gotta love flukes in life, they all count 😁😁.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to glue this one in place and fit a second, maybe a third.

Cheers Jay 

Long time no see!!!!

 Yes it has been a while, we have been extremely busy with other things. Our sailing club turned 75 and we helped celebrate that. For those who race, one of our past members Stanley "Sinbad" Milledge, was the inventor of the PY (Portsmouth Yardstick) Handicapping system that is used worldwide by sailing clubs to ensure fair racing between different classes of sail boat. The original yardstick as used by Sinbad is on display in our clubhouse. A fantastic part of history for our little club.

Anyway back to boat building. Today Sam and I did two things, 1) we signed our names in the hull 2) we fibreglassed  the first half of the inside hull bottom which will ensure that those signatures will never disappear. Once I start painting the inside of the boat I will create two little varnish "windows" so those will always be visible. You will have to crawl all the way back to the stern inside but they will be there.

First pic is Sam doing bubble busting duty with the roller, Second is view looking forward and third is view looking aft.

We did have a pretty big scare while we were working today. The boat is standing on a framework that supports a cradle that the boat is resting on. Well the screws in one of the legs broke while we were inside the hull and the port side dropped onto the leg with all the combined weight of Sam, me , all the kit we were using to work with and the hull itself. A combined weight of around 140kg onto a 75x75mm square post. To say that Sam and I got a fright is an understatement. I jumped straight out and checked what had given way while Sam stabilized everything inside. I reckon that the point loading on that part of the hull was around 30psi. I was expecting some repair work coming our way but there was nothing!!!!!! Not a mark not a crack absolutely nothing. HUGE relief all round. We lifted the cradle and put some screws into the frame and I then went round and reinforced ALL the legs.  The only loss was my drink that was balanced on the table, no great shakes although had it been a beer it would have been the equivalent of a child letting a balloon go.

All round a fair days work and I am pleased with the results. Next weekend we are going to do the other side and then I can start on the bulkheads.

Thanks for reading and see you soon for some more updates.

Cheers

Jay

Tapes!!!!

A bit more progress today, added the two stern tapes to reinforce the transom to Hull joint and also taped the two port side seams as well. Unfortunately during the midday heat it is way too hot to work in the tent.

More goop applied

Had a fair weekend, probably not as much progress as I should have but a braai with some good friends sort of got in the way a bit. I glued in the port side sheerclamp and both of the strengthening stringers from the bow to bulkhead C. I have also placed the bulkheads in the boat to give you an idea of what she will look like when done. Enjoy the pics, have a good week and as always thanks for reading and following my progress.

Cheers Jay

CLAMPS!!!!!!?!???

There is an expression in the boat building world that one never has enough clamps. Oh how true!!!! Today I was hoping to get both sheer clamps attached to the boat but despite borrowing clamps from my dear brother ( and he has more than I do) I only had enough to glue one side. So it's on and setting up.

The week ahead looks good for boat building weather but one has to pay the bills so the other side will have to wait until the weekend. Have a good week all and thanks for reading.

Cheers Jay 

Little progress

Hi All been a slow weekend for boat building due to commitments at the sailing club doing repairs on some of the safety boats and filming rigging videos so people can learn how to rig them properly. I have managed to dry fit the sheer clamps and they are now ready for glueing next weekend. Those are the strips that run around the inside of the boat and add extra strength to the hull/deck joint. Just creates some stiffness and more glueing area to the joint. I have also trimmed the extra ply on the hull sides at the stern of the boat. I have changed the design very slightly to allow more crew weight to be placed further aft when going downwind with the spinnaker up to stop nose diving. 

Cheers Jay

So hopefully this works, enjoy watching. Cheers

Jay

 

BIG DAY!!!!

Edit: can't figure how to upload a video at the moment will upload as soon as I have figured it out. 

Hi everyone. Today was a huge day in the building process...... TURNING DAY!!!! We had family round for a braai (South African bbq) and I took the opportunity to get the boat flipped over. I wanted to set up a camera to film the entire thing but got into it and forgot so we called (loudly) for someone to grab a camera and get a few quick shots. My ever patient and quick thinking wife Jenni decided to video it as well so sit back and enjoy the turn. For once we beat the rain gods and they didn't catch us turning the boat and try and make a hot tub out of it!! 😁 😁 As always thanks for visiting and feel free to comment.

Cheers Jay

off the legs and waiting to flip. I reckon the weight was around 40-45 kg.

on the cradle and job done. Time to light the fire. 

it ain't pretty

It's not pretty but it will work. Today my daughter Sam and I built a cradle for the boat to sit in when we flip her weekend after next. The timbers are the old frame work from the deck behind the house which I managed to salvage when I put the paving down. A bit mucky but why spend money on good timber for a once off frame. Next weekend I will spend some time sanding the outer chines to get rid of the excess glass and to be ready for turning. Have a good week and see you all soon.

Good progress

This weekend we glassed the bottom of the boat. It took around 5 hours spread over 2 days. I have allowed a 100mm (4 inch) overlap on the centre line of the boat to maximise stiffness in that area. Total weight added was 9.04 kilograms. This girly is starting to put on some weight 😁😁.

8 pots with 250g resin in each ready to go. We then zeroed the scales and added hardner as needed (75g per pot)

Starboard side.

Port side

Bow area.

Covers off trying to get some sun and heat into the epoxy to set it up quicker.

Thanks for reading and please feel free to comment or ask any questions.

Cheers Jay