Pedestals Chines and Level Floors! April 5th and 6th

Hi all!! This past weekend I got some more great progress done on the boat. I spent quite a few hours sanding the chines down so that they flowed into the sides and bottom for painting. I also cleaned up and sanded the forward and aft level floors and prepped them for their final lamination. I assembled the aft pedestal and glued them up, as well as got the guide hoops ready to cut and glass. This week I will be meeting with my committee to talk future plans and get everyone up to speed on the school end of things. I also hope to have my level floors finished laminating and pedestals glassed by next weekend!

(Forward level floor with one side laminated)

(Sanded Chines)
(Aft pedestal with face plate installed and top setting on top)

Chines and Pedestals..

This weekend I made some great progress on the boat. On the menu was finishing the chines, or outside joints where the bottom meets the sides. I also elected to get some laminating started and decided to glass one side of both front and aft level floors. Also I was able to glue up both the guide pedestal and the Aft pedestal. Finishing the chines is rather straight forward work. First, I took a hand plane and squared off the sides to the bottom. Next, I used a power plane to make 45 degree chamfers until the edge was rounded to approximately an 1 1/2 " radius. Then I used my sander and some 80 grit to make it a nice smooth rounded edge for the biaxial tape. Next, I mixed up some peanut butter epoxy and filled in any gaps between the side and bottom as well as all the tiny holes I made stitching the hull. I let this dry overnight. Today, I went and sanded all of my chines again and cleaned them to prep for my biaxial fiberglass. I made another wet out station and after doing some minor touch up with some more peanut butter epoxy and getting the right size strips of fiberglass, I wet out each strip and applied it to the chines like I did the interior. After all th joints were taped and wet out, I continued work with the pedestals. I assembled my molds and then predrilled screw holes in the ends of my laminations. Next, I applied epoxy to all inside sides of the 1/8" okoume plywood and paired them together. I then screwed one side to the mold and tightly wrapped them around the mold and secured them on the other side to dry. Lastly, I cut fiberglass cloth for the forward and aft level floors and glassed one side of each. This week I will try and get my chines sanded and finished as well try and finish my pedestals and level floors so that I can install them next week!

(Boat Flipped for bottom work)
(Chines planed square)
(Chines and Transom rounded)
(Chines with peanut butter epoxy applied)
(Chines ready for Biaxial Tape)
(Chines Taped ands drying)
(Wet-out table for tape and pedestals)
(Pedestal Jigs)
(Pedestal Laminations drying)

(Forward and Aft level floors glassed)

Progress....

Well it took me a week to find someone to help me flip the boat and then another week before I could get time to really work on it. I spent some time last week squaring the chines and evening them to the bottom. Tomorrow I will be rounding and finishing the chines including fiberglassing them. I will include pictures with my updates report Sunday night! Boat is looking great and can't wait to share with everyone!

Caleb

I knows it been a while....but it was worth it!!

Once again I apologize to all of you who have been desperately awaiting an update on my boat, but I have spent every free chance I got to work on the boat and haven't had a chance to update the blog. So here it is, the long awaited updates!

Feb. 9th & 10th
Today I continued working on the bottom plascore panel of the boat. I sanded down any high spots on the side I did last week and I flipped the panel over to do the interior side. I placed 6" of blocks under each end to help curve the bottom for assembly later. This will also help to keep the epoxy from puckering when it is bent into its final shape. Then I repeated the same process as before with tack coat, then kevlar, then more epoxy the glass, then more epoxy. I also took the opportunity to glass both sides of the transom so that it is ready for stitching next week!

(bottom with kevlar and fiberglass)
(Transom fiberglassed)

March. 2nd-5th
I can't belive it!! I finally have a boat! This past few days have been awesome and very encouraging. With the final completeion of the bottom panel and tansom glassed, I spent the last four days with the help from a good friend Geoff Wilson stitching my boat together. First I sanded down the edges of my side panel to help accept new epoxy. Then I drew a line parrallel to the out side bttom edge one inch up as a kep for drill holes. Next I drilled wholes every 6-12 inches where along the bottom of the side panels and planed the stem edges so that they would pair nicely together. I also screwed small blocks to the side panels to help keep the bottom from riding up to far. Then I placed the bottom panel on two saw horses and placed soem weight in the middle to help it curve. This was all in preparation for stitching hte boat together, a process that gives this "stitch and glue" style boat its name. The pre laminated panels are held in place with temporary wire tires until you can permanently bond them with the epoxy compound and fiberglass. So we started by stitching the stem together working our way down but keeping them loose at first. Next we worked our way back both sides evenly stitching the side panels to the bottom to create a tight and even connection. When we reached the transom I then beveled the edges to meet the side panels tightly and then stitched it on as well. Next I tighten up the stem and made adjustments to my stitched throughout to ensure good tight lines and a twist free hull. After I made five spreader/stretchers out of 2x4s. These cross braces served to hold the hull rigid until the interior bulkheads and dry boxes take over. After fitting these in I mixed up some more epoxy and thickened in with wood flour to a very thick sag-free consistency and placed it in small tabs between each wire. I triple checked the hull for no twists and even heights and I let it dry.

(completed bottom panel)
(completed side panels)
(stitching materials)
(stem stitched)
(hull completely stitched)
(installing spreaders)
(final hull shaped!)
(epoxy "peanut butter" tabs)

March 8th
Today was a just as exciting as the last few. It is so nice to finally see the hull in a boat shape! Today I worked on cleaning up the shop as well as filleting the interior joints. I started off by removing all of the wire stitches. The side were now held entirely by the tabs of epoxy I put on on Wednesday. I then lightly sanded the tabs to get rid of any bumps as wel as to clean up any debris from drilling the holes. I then brushed and cleaned teh joints to prep for my epoxy peanut butter fillets. Some other prep things that needed to be done was making a "wet out" table fro the fiberglass biaxial tape as well as making a curved end on a squeegee in order to make nice even fillets of epoxy. Then I went and rolled out my 12oz biaxial fiberglass tape on each joint and cut to size, then folded and placed on epoxy table for later. After I was all set I mixed up a batch of epoxy and thickend it with wood flour so that it would sag. I then worked my way around all my joints and dabbed it on. Then I went back over it all with my tool pressing it in and making nice 1 1/2" radius sized epoxy fillets. Next I mixed up some clear epoxy and completely wet out each piece of fiberglasss tape. Then I applied the tape over each peanutbuttered joints and smoth it out to get riod of any bubbles. I worked my way around until every joint was filleted and with epoxy and fiberglass. This will create an extremely strong bond. Next week I will be flipping the boat and finishing my chines!!!

(cured epoxy tabs with wires removed)
(tabs prepped for fillets)
(epoxy "wet-out" table)
(boat ready for fillets)

(epoxy-peanut butter fillet joints)

(right side is taped left side is just epoxy)

(biaxial tape being wet-out)
(stem finished!)
(transom finished!)
(all joints filleted and drying!)

Feb. 1st-3rd

Hi all!!!! Sorry for my delays in Posting but I have been very busy with work. For all of you that I haven't told in person, I have decided to push the completion date ahead on my boat. In order to have met the first semester deadline I would have had to have had the boat completed by early February, and with shipping delays and just overall workload, this wasn't a possibility. So therefore, I have decided to work on the boat part time around work, and have it completed for graduation in late May at the latest. So with that in mind, my posts will nto be as frequent as before due to my limited work time every week. Without further adue, here is what did last...

Today I spent on the bottom half of the bottom panel. First, I remade my sac sheets and covered them in plastic to place my bottom panels on. (look familiar?)

Then , I glued the key joint of the bottom panel together with the peanut butter like epoxy compound. And lastly, I glued the butt joints of the side pieces for extra width.

(bottom panels ready for assembly and epoxy)

(Bottom key joint assembled)

(Bottom joints glued with epoxy/wood flour compound)
(peanut butter like epoxy)

After epoxying the joints I mixed up a relatively small batch of clear epoxy and spread it over the bottom in order to provide a tack coat for the Kevlar to be applied next. Kevlar floats in epoxy, unlike fiberglass due to its density, and therefore needs to be glued down before it can be wet out. After the tack caot had an hour to "tack" up, I rolled out the Kevlar and smoothed it out on the sticky epoxy. An hour later I mixed up more clear epoxy and wet out the Kevlar. Next I rolled out fiberglass onto the wet out Kevlar and then wet out the glass with more epoxy. Lastly I placed plastic covered boards onto the joints and heavily weighted them for drying.

(tack coat applied to bottom panel)
(Kevlar laid out on tack coat)

(Bottom panel fiberglassed)
(Bottom panel weighted and drying)

Thanks again for looking, and if all goes well, a couple more days of work and I will have a hull!