2006 building logs

Aug 2006 Building the Starboard hull

I have now started on the Starboard hull. The build should be the same as it was for the Port hull, except faster as I now know a little better what I am doing and should be able to make decisions faster and make less mistakes. I will also know what not to spend so much time on as they are not as critical as they seem at first and also know what to do to end up with the same result faster. I will report everything even though some of it will be a repeat of the port hull.

4 Aug 2006 Standing bulkheads on the Starboard hull

I have formally started building the starboard hull. I have stood the first 2 bulkheads, bulkheads 0 and 1. I am using the same leg positions as used on the port hull so that no matter if I had made a mistake in the original positioning of the bulkheads in the port hull they will match the positions of the bulkheads in the starboard hull anyway. I am using the same bolt holes to fasten the legs in position. In this way I should not have to measure the distance from bulkhead 0 each bulkhead needs to be, but I cant help myself and am still measuring anyway. So far so good.

Of course I am still making sure the bulkheads are at the correct height and also are square to a stringline run down the side of the hull at WL1200 and exactly the same distance from the centreline at each end and then double checking it is square by measuring the distance from the bulkhead in front at various points around the bulkhead. I also have to make sure that they are plumb and level on all planes by using the square and a level and again measuring from the bulkhead in front and from the strongback.

Last time I spent far more time and care than needed in making sure everything was right to the micro millimetre on the port hull. Whilst it is important that the bulkheads are in the right place, at the right height and level, plumb and square, a millimetre here or there is not going to be either visible or effect the way the boat sails. There are 4 bulkheads that traverse the boat (bulkheads 4, 5 , 6, 7) and join to each other and need to meet up so these are the 4 that the most care needs to be taken on, the rest will only effect the shape of the hull if they are too far out but again a millimetre here or there wont make much difference.

I am going to the boat show tomorrow but hope to have at least 3 or 4 more bulkheads and temporaries stood on Sunday.

6 Aug 2006 Some habits die hard

I mentioned that I should be able to finish the starboard hull a little faster than I did the port hull. That is provided I actually get off my butt and do the work, and that I don't repeat some of the things I did on the port hull. This weekend I only managed 3 hours work. I went to the boat show on Saturday. Boat shows are great places to get ideas for fitout and also great places to get motivated. Its hard not to want a finished boat when standing on one. That said, it didn't motivate me to get into it today. Jo and I went window shopping for furniture, which took half the day, then I felt really lazy and tired this afternoon and only got motivated to go and do anything at 3pm then when I did start I didn't want to stop but had promised to make dinner so went home at 6pm. So little work done and what little I did was to fuss over being a millimeter out on bulkhead 1 which I couldn't get past without correcting it. Its an old habit of mine. I just cant help measuring, re measuring, measuring again, then just to be sure re re measuring. And if it is out, I have to correct it and re do the whole measure, re measure process!

In a way it is a good habit to have but half an hour goes by and I realize I haven't really done anything. In 3 hours today I only managed to adjust bulkhead 0 and 1 and stand bulkhead 2. No doubt I will fuss over bulkhead 2 for half an hour before I actually do anything tomorrow.

So I did manage to get the third bulkhead stood today, bulkhead 2 and the measurements are good and the bulkheads are all plumb, level and square. Tomorrow I hope to have bulkhead 3 attached to the strongback and maybe even bulkhead 4, the first of the traversing bulkheads. Then, like last week, I will be in Melbourne until Thursday.

7 Aug 2006 Bulkheads 3 and 4 stood

I managed another few hours work today to make up for the lack of work yesterday and I stood bulkheads 3 and 4 today. I will be away until Friday so I wanted to have bulkhead 4 stood today as it is the first of the traversing bulkheads and I wanted an idea of how far the bulkhead return stretched to the other hull. I was worried I may not have enough room to get between the 2 hulls but it worked out ok.

One of the methods I use to save time on attaching the legs to each bulkhead is that I have marked out a template on a sheet of 3mm packing mdf. On the sheet I have marked a centre line and a DWL line, WL1200 line and also a line at 2 meters or WL2000. This is the height that I had set up the bulkheads at DWL to on the first hull. So the bottom of the foot crossbeam on each leg is at the 2000mm line.

You may recall that I was in 2 minds about whether this was a good height for the hull as it seemed a little high, however the upside is you can easily get in and under the hull to get inside without too much trouble, the lower it is the harder it is to get inside, so in retrospect this outweighed the perceived disadvantage of the hull being higher up. So I have gone with the same height this time. The deciding factor was going to be the difficulty turning the hull and it turned out not to be too much of a problem so I have stuck with it, besides it saves me having to make any adjustments to the legs or the setup process.

With the template I have I place the bulkhead on the template and line up all of the lines marked then I set the legs on the 2 meter line and centred on the centre line and then I clamp the legs to the bulkhead, then I stand the bulkhead and clamp it to the strongback and start the measuring and plumbing process. I already know where the legs should be stood as I am using the same position they were in for the port hull (I still measure against BH0 to be sure). I then ensure the bulkhead is attached (still clamped at this stage) to the legs so that it sits at the right height using a tape measure, the DWL line and stringlines either side. I also check it is centred using the centre stringlines over and under the bulkhead.

Then I ensure the bulkhead is the same distance from the bulkhead behind (not twisted) and square to the WL1200 stringline and that all lines are level (centreline is level vertically and WL1200 line is level horizontally). The only plane left is to ensure the bulkhead is not leaning forward or back using a level against the face and then bracing the legs in the correct position to plumb it. If all of this lines up to another round of measuring and plumbing to ensure that nothing has moved (often correcting one plane or angle disturbs another) I then screw it all down before removing the clamps and then one final round of measuring and levelling and re adjusting where needed.

Now that I have got to bulkhead 4, the next bulkhead is the first of the MDF temps. These things are heavy and usually take a little longer to get into position. I should get this done on Friday and then get the rest done on the weekend. It took me about 40 hours work over 10 days to get them all stood last time. I think it will take about half that this time around.

One final note. I spent a lot of time trimming peel ply last time as I wanted to remove as little as needed each time thinking it would protect the panels from drips and save grinding and sanding time. But in the end I spent more time trimming peel ply than sanding drips so I have just opted to remove most of the peel ply in one go. Having done that Murphy's Law would suggest I will get resin drips all over now!

12 Aug 2006 Temp 1, Bulkhead 5, Temp 2 stood

If you ask different people what part of the same movie they all liked you will likely get different answers from many of them. I am not sure if other builders enjoy the same areas of building and there are many parts of boatbuilding that are not enjoyable, such as sanding but, for me standing bulkheads is very enjoyable. As each one goes up the shape of the hull reveals itself. It is a very satisfying process. Another aspect that appeals to me (although I must say that it can also be a source of frustration if all is not exact) is the measuring, plumbing, leveling, squaring and general exactness required in this stage of the build.

So today was a good day, I loved every minute of it. I stood 2 temp bulkheads and bulkhead 5. The temps are very heavy and awkward to position on your own so they took me a lot longer than I expected they would. They took as long this time as last time but I guess they don't get any lighter second time around. I also have a minor injury that is slowing me down a bit. I have strained a ligament in my left knee and have to wear a neoprene knee brace for a while, but it has only slowed me a little.

I predicted that I might be able to put the bulkheads up in about half the time this hull but it does not seem that I will make that sort of time. I think I will be faster but not by half, maybe a quarter so instead of 40 hours, I think 30 is achievable. I am just over half way (8 of 15) and have spent 18 hours standing them so far.

I will probably get another 2 temps and a bulkhead tomorrow. I am hoping to have all of the bulkheads stood by the end of next week (by getting 1 stood each afternoon) and perhaps start some of the planking late next weekend, remembering I still have to glass the inside of them.

13 Aug 2006 Temp 3, Bulkhead 6, Temp 4 and 5 stood

What a very productive day. 3 temps and a bulkhead stood in 6 hours. That's an average of only 1.5 hours for each, about half what they were taking on the first hull. As I said yesterday I really love this part of the build. No dust, no noise so I can listen to the radio (Roy and HG on JJJ) and the joy of watching the hull develop as I go. I waste a lot of time just admiring my work!

The temp bulkheads are very heavy and although I have been able to stand them on my own, it would be silly not to have someone hold them up whilst I clamp them down which saves the balancing act that I normally do to get it done on my own. That someone on temp 3 was Jo and although the help in holding it up took only as long as it took me to tighten 4 clamps, (less than 2 minutes!) I am acknowledging my lovely wife's help today but I am not going to bother adding her 2 minutes to the man-hours log.

Bulkhead 6 was stood and the keen eyed of you will notice that it does not have a doorway like the other bulkheads but a squarish opening wider at the top (bottom when the hull is turned the right way). This is the opening in the bulkhead to the bed in the aft cabin. The port hull has the main bathroom in this position and the starboard has another berth.

With temps 4 and 5 stood the last of the big heavy ones are now done. The next is bulkhead 7 which is the last of the spanning bulkheads and form the back of the cockpit seating and the back of the boat apart from the duckboard. After that there is only a small bulkhead that forms the steps in the rear of the hull overhang and then a very small temp to help form the transom shape.

So with the 3 stood yesterday and 4 today I have stood 7 bulkheads in 14 hours and more than half the boat done this weekend. I will have the rest of the bulkheads (2 bulkheads and 1 temp) left stood this week and should get started on the hull planking next weekend. I think its fair to say I am well into making the second hull now.

14 Aug 2006 Last bulkheads stood

The last of the bulkheads were stood today with only a small temp to go, you can see it leaning against the wall in the last photo ready to stand so it should go up in about an hour or so.

 

The full shape of the hull has now emerged, the curve (rocker) in the keel, the twist in the chamfer, the widening from the bow and tapering again to the stern all now visible. The last bulkhead (8) and the last temp (6) are the easiest to stand because they are so light but still difficult to get into the exact position because being small they are so far from the things I measure against such as the stringline at WL1200.

With just an hour or so to go until all of the bulkheads and temps are stood I think I can confidently say that I have done the starboard hull 25% faster than the port hull took.

I will probably start glassing the inside of the hull planks the rest of the evenings this week in readiness to start planking on the weekend.

15 Aug 2006 Preparing to plank the hull

Well it took slightly longer to stand the last temporary bulkhead tbh6 than I thought. I had anticipated it would take an hour but it took about and hour and a half. I got it stood in about 20 minutes but it took me ages to get it exactly right. I would move it on one plane and put it out on another. Then I would adjust it again to correct and it would be out on a different plane again, and so it went until I finally got it close enough. The main reason for the difficulty is the legs are not as rigid as the others because these last 2 bulkheads or temps are much smaller and lighter and as a result of me not using the more rigid legs they move a little in all directions. It is still a mm off exactly right but it is a temp and I cant see that it would make any difference once the temp is removed. It sits in the stern to maintain the correct shape of the exit of the hull and I cant imagine that a mm out would be either visible or make any difference to the hull shape or performance. Having said that, I have made sure that the 2 most important measurements, square and level are exactly right.

Now that the bulkheads and temps are all stood the next step is to prepare the hull planks by glassing the inside of the planks that will be attached to the main spanning bulkheads for additional reinforcement. I need to pull the panels away from the wall and walk them outside to be turned around as they are currently the wrong way (the bow of the planks is at the stern of the boat). Once I have glassed the planks I will start to attach them to the bulkheads.

18 Aug 2006 Ready to start planking the hull

With the bulkheads all stood, checked, braced and re checked I am ready to start attaching the hull panels, starting with the keel boards. I have glassed them in the places adjacent to bulkheads 1, 4, 5, 6 and 7 where the plans call for reinforcement so that the tapes that join the bulkhead to the hull will have this glass to attach to.

I have been told by some other builders that it is quite ok to recycle the peel ply that is removed from the panels (the factory applied peel ply). The purpose of the peel ply is to negate the need for sanding the set glass by keying the resin surface and also to absorb any excess resin in the wetout by drawing it out (it also acts as protection for the panels from glue spills etc). So I have re used the peel ply that was removed from the keel boards.

Tomorrow I will attach the keel panels to the hull. They take a day to set. I need them set so I can run ratchet straps over them to the strongback to lift the rest of the panels into place, so I cant start on the rest of the panels until Sunday. So for the rest of tomorrow I will be preparing the rest of the panels.

The next panels on the hull (after the keel boards) are what I call the bilge boards. I have one each side of the hull, ready to glass tomorrow and attach on Sunday, you can see one in the last picture.

With any luck I I may get most of the panels on this next week.

19 Aug 2006 Planking started

Today the hull planking started. Unfortunately due to my worsening knee injury, it is progressing slowly. It took me all day, 8 hours just to attach the keel boards. I didn't even manage to glass the next panels, so that will happen tomorrow but that means that the next panels wont be lifted into place until the day after at the earliest. No matter, it will mean the glue will be well and truly set on the keel.

I did have a moment of relief where I did manage to get work done at my usual pace but this was fleeting. It was quite strange actually. I was in mild pain as I have been for about a week and I climbed a ladder and twisted the wrong way and bang blinding pain, I yelled out, climbed down the ladder and the pain, ALL THE PAIN, was gone. I could move my knee in all directions and put weight on it in any way, I even danced a jig to prove to Jo the pain had completely disappeared, like I had never injured it at all. This lasted about an hour, it was great, and then I twisted again and bang, intense pain only this time it stayed the rest of the day. I have since been told this is a common occurrence with a cartilage injury. It folds in the knee causing the pain, and can go back into the correct position giving the impression of being instantly healed only to fold again. I may have to have arthroscopic surgery to clean the knee out.

I started by lifting the keel boards onto the bulkheads and then using the ratchet straps to pull them down onto the bulkheads. I then screwed them down into the temps, which hold very well. I use blocks on the bulkheads to screw down into as this holds much better than the balsa in the bulkheads. I screwed the blocks into place then screwed the panels down into the blocks, using mdf washers to make sure the screws couldn't be pulled through the panel by the upward force caused by the bend, more acute at the ends of the hull as the bend is more prominent.

Then once it was completely screwed down, I released the screws at the back half up to tbh3 and applied glue to the bulkheads starting at bulkhead 6, then 7, then 8 screwing them down as I went, then screwing the temps behind them as I worked to the stern. Once I had all of the bulkheads and temps aft of tbh2 glued and or screwed back down, I released all of the temps and bulkhead forward of tbh2. I then wedged up the panels so that I could get glue onto bulkhead 5 which is between temps 1 and 2. When I had it glued I removed the wedge and screwed it down then screwed down temp 1. I then applied glue to all of the bulkheads forward of tbh1 starting with bulkhead 4 and 3 then screwing them down, then 2 and 1 and screwing them down and finally 0 before screwing it down. Here and there I also needed a clamp to pull the panels toward each other more tightly while the screws pulled them down to the bulkheads. I also smeared the excess glue into a small cove and cleaned the joins and also ran a level on the bulkheads as I glued them to the panels adjusting here and there to maintain the bulkheads at plumb.

Once I had finished the keel panels it was past 6pm so that was it for the day. I may not get much done tomorrow either as my knee should really be rested. My will to get more done may see me attempt to at least glass the next panels ready to be attached later. This can be done with minimal climbing of ladders which will at least be a bit easier on the knee.

I don't think its fair to count the full 8 hours today as I only managed about 4 hours of work in that 8 hours, but there are going to be times when progress is frustratingly slow for a variety of reasons and all must be reported if I am to be true to the whole process. So today I worked for 8 hours regardless of the speed of the work.

20 Aug 2006 Ready to attach bilge panels

Perhaps I would not have had time to glass the bilge panels yesterday even if I wasn't hobbling around as it took me 3 hours to complete the job today but then I was also hobbling around today, but it didn't seem like it was slowing me down all that much today. I have to first prepare the panels by removing the excess of the tabs that I left when releasing them from the sheets with the jigsaw. In retrospect I was being far too cautious when cutting them out fearing cutting too far into the panel thinking that being anything less than perfectly cut would be bad when in reality it doesn't matter at all how poorly cut they are because the panels are often 5mm apart on the hull anyway and the gaps filled with glue or filler. Removing the tabs so that the panel is perfectly straight is preferable but not critical and you can save yourself the effort of using the rasp (time consuming and itchy work) by cutting them as close as you can with the jigsaw and don't worry about cutting away too much, it is better than not enough.

After doing the rasp work, I removed the peel ply from the inside of the panels and recycled the pieces I would use over the glass. I then marked the panels where the glass would go. I then cut the glass to size. I mixed up some resin (and hardener) and painted the panel where the first glass would go and layed the glass over it and moved on to the next one to paint the area while giving the resin on the first one time to soak up into the glass. I then return to the first glass and paint on more resin directly onto the glass to complete the wet out (removing any dry spots), I then squeegee out any excess and attach the peel ply. I then move on to the next one and complete it in the same way, until all 10 glass sections (2 panels, 5 bulkheads needing glass reinforcement) are attached.

No photos today as I forgot the camera. Tomorrow I should be able to lift one of the panels up into place using the ratchet straps and perhaps even get it glued down.

21 Aug 2006 Outboard bilge panel attached

Still hobbling, I see the sports doc on Wednesday and fear it may need an operation. Nevertheless I still managed to attach the outboard bilge panel. It only took a couple of hours so I am confident I will get the other side up tomorrow. Then the bigger panels may take a little longer and I may need to wait until I know what my knee is going to need.

The panels are easy enough to get up and into place, even the bigger panels as the process is basically the same. The panels need to be prepared for fitting, I find that the Ryobi battery router is perfect for removing the glass overhang cleanly and easily. And once ready to fit they are fairly easy to get into position alone, except the chamfer panel, which is a bit more difficult.

Once the excess is trimmed (planed off) from the release tabs and the reinforcement glass is applied and has set, peel ply removed and overhang trimmed the panels are ready to lift into position using the ratchet straps that are draped over the keel from the strongback to the panel and I ratchet it up a foot or so at a time before switching ratchets and ratcheting that one up and so on until it is in position. Then once it is in place I screw it to the temps and the bulkheads, then release half again, apply glue to the bulkheads and re screw it down before doing the other half, I prefer to do the stern half first then the bow but it makes no difference.

The panels are quite light but their length makes them difficult to handle. The ratchet method makes it very easy to get the long panels into the exact position hard up against the panel above (as hard up as you can get which in some places is a 5mm gap) and then a simple matter to screw down into place. When half the panel is released again for gluing it is held in place by the other half that is still attached.

I went back and read the February log before attempting these panels for the first time. I thought I would need help to lift the panels and it took me longer to do than I am achieving now even with a dodgy leg. So I should still have most of the hull planked this month (I am off to the snow next week for a week of watching everyone else having fun by the look of things!).

22 Aug 2006 No I'm not a doctor

Today my knee improved markedly because I couldn't get a decent sleep with my knee strapped so I decided to remove the strapping (bandages holding the joint still) and awoke to much less pain and walking did not make it worsen during the day. So my home doctoring was actually making it worse. And to think I was going to start doing house calls...perhaps not.

Getting up and down the ladders was nowhere near as painful today and hence progress was swift. It only took me 2 hours to complete what took 3 for the exact same work the day before. I attached the inboard bilge board today.

Same process as yesterday. I lift it into place using the ratchet straps. Once I have placed it exactly where it should be, fore and aft and hard up against the panel above all around, I start at the middle temp bulkheads and working forward and aft I screw the bulkheads and temps down. Then I remove the screws again from the rear half of the bulkheads and temps, apply the glue and re screw down the bulkheads and temps then repeat this at the bow. That's it.

I may change the plan and instead of attaching the next panels next I will do some of the internal work inside the bow at the keel that is so hard to get to once the larger panels are attached. This includes gluing and filling the panel joins, internal coving and taping and attaching the keelson. I didn't do it this way on the first hull and now I have to figure out how I am going to reach down 5 feet upside down (on the now turned over hull) into a 1 foot square area to attach the coves, tapes and keelson.

23 Aug 2006 My football career is over

It's official, my knee will need surgery. I have torn the cartilage and will need arthroscopic surgery to repair it (Randal diagnosed me correctly over the internet!). I saw a sports doctor today, had x-rays and have an appointment to see an orthopedic surgeon Monday week, next week I have a week at the snow watching everyone else have fun, and in the words of the doctor when I asked if I could snowboard if I wanted to, ABSOLUTELY NOT.

Now if you think that is bad, it gets worse. I don't have private health insurance, taking the gamble many years ago that nothing bad (that I couldn't sue someone else to pay for, i.e. if injured at work workers comp pays, in a car accident the road accident insurance would cover it, etc) would ever happen to me. I figured if the illness was life threatening I would be ok in the public health system. Well, the waiting list for knee surgery is 2 years! 18 months if a lot of old people waiting for joint replacement surgery died suddenly!! (No disrespect to old folk, I hope to be one one day).

So there is only one option, I dip into the savings I have from self insuring for all these years and pay for it myself. About $6000 is the going rate for knee surgery. I can have the surgery in about 2 weeks (sooner if I wasn't going to the snow to watch other people having fun, do I sound bitter about that?). To put that in terms boaties will understand, that's a spanking new 4 stroke high thrust 20hp outboard! I wonder how the boat will go with only one outboard? Kidding, we will still have 2 motors.

Actually on that note, I want to say how lucky we are. Not only are we building a beautiful catamaran and have the money and the time to do so, but that we live in a country and enjoy a quality of life that allows us not only the option to afford such surgery when things go wrong, but a system that has the facilities to provide the medical attention we need. Some people live in places that don't have hospitals, or doctors and must live with the pain or worse. No options. So whilst I joke about the bad luck, I consider myself to be one of the luckiest people. Life doesn't get much better. Except perhaps when we finish the boat and push off (nah, I am really enjoying the build anyway so I don't want to skip any of the stages....well, maybe the sanding).

 

Time Spent: 45.00 Hours

Total build time so far: 545.00 Hours   Total Elapsed Time: 11 Months 3 weeks

September 2006 logs