2007 building logs

Feb 07 New work on boat

This month I will finish the dinghies, finish the forebeam and get a start on the daggerboards. I will also seek out a new warehouse so that I can move in March or April so that I can join the 2 hulls. This is an exciting time around the boat. With the dingy job nearing completion it is great to actually finish something. And each job such as the forebeam, the daggers etc are smaller projects that also give a feeling of completing something even if, in the end they are still just parts of the whole.

Feb 01 More work on the dingy

Today I taped all of the external hull panel joins. I sanded the sharp edges off the joins and rounded them, coved the right angle of the bridgedeck to hull joins and taped them all, using my usual method of wetting out the tapes on a flat bench with a paint brush and squeegee and rolling them up to take to the job and rolling them out onto the boat, smoothing the air bubbles out as I go.

Once the hull joins were rounded (with a router, then a disc grinder to further remove the sharp edge) and sanded smooth and then all the dust and balsa sawdust cleaned off I then started coving the 90 degree hull to deck joins and filling any holes in the panels that will be under the tape. The balsa edges also needed some filling. I will be applying the wet tape onto wet filler so I wont need to sand any of these filled areas.

I started at the coved tapes first because they are on the inside of the boat. I didn't want to have to lean over freshly taped joins so it made sense to work from the inside out. The open balsa edges were coated with resin before glassing so that the resin soaked into the grain a little deeper. As I finished each tape I applied re-cycled peel ply. It is not recommended (to re-use peel ply) but I find it still keys the surface well and we will probable feather some bog over the tapes to blend them out but wont do this until later so it saves a bit of sanding.

On Saturday we hope to get the forward bulkhead glued in and the rest of the internal joins coved and taped. Then all that will be left will be to seal all of the exposed balsa ends and attach the hull tops. Then we may give it a quick bog and fair before a couple of coats of resin to seal the hull ready for a test run.

I managed 4 hours on the dingy today and Warren dropped by for about an hour for a total of 26 hours for me and about 20 hours for Warren. I think about 30 hours each will see one dingy finished and perhaps another 12 hours each will see the second one finished if there are not too many modifications to be made.

Feb 02 Dingy almost finished

Today Warren sanded the tapes on the dingy hull and we then gave the underside of the hull a coat of resin to seal it. We then cut the forward bulkhead, cut the slots in the hull for it and fitted it to the hull and glued it in.

The resin coat was applied by pouring resin onto the hull and sqeegeeing it over the hull. We decided to do it outside in the sun so that it would dry faster so that we could get more work done. We gave the work area a bit of a clean up while we waited for the resin to tack off a bit and we then turned the hull over and lay it on the milk crates and started on the bulkhead.

The slot for the forward bulkhead was cut into the hull sides and we also stuck a problem which in hindsight was obvious but we didn't realize it at the time. Because of the additional chine in the boat the forward bulkhead would not be able to slot in from above as we attached the rear bulkhead because the chine makes the top of the hull narrower than the middle. So the solution was that we would need to cut the slot into the chine also. Easy.

Once the bulkhead was trimmed to the correct size we glued it in and glassed over the slot we cut into the side and left it to dry over night.

With the forward beam in the dingy the internal space is set. On my dingy (the next one) we might put the beam a little further back. That will make the passenger space and side compartments a little smaller but will allow for a slightly larger anchor locker. Every decision is a compromise in some area.

Tomorrow we will cove and glass the internal joins and generally seal the internals of the boat. We should also get the covers (hull tops and forward compartment) made but we may not attach them. On Sunday we may get to put her in the water for a test run. Another 4 hours each today for a total so far of 24 for Warren and 30 for me although Warren worked for an hour or so while I was busy answering emails for work so lets call it 29 for me.

Feb 03 Dingy leaves for test

Today we taped the internal bulkhead tapes. Just a lazy 2 hours each on the boat today. We coved and taped the about half of all of the internal joins. All the bulkhead to hull tapes. We still have to do the hull plank tapes but will do that tomorrow after we have water tested the hull.

For the test we will screw the hull tops on so that Warren can sit on the pontoon to drive it. We have a 15hp for the test and although the hull could handle more power, I am going to use a 15hp as I am not building mine for speed. But we should get a great idea of the performance of the hull and any modifications that may need to be made.

So hopefully we will have some test results to report tomorrow.

Feb 03 We couldn't wait

I left Waz at around 1pm with the dingy on the back of the ute. The plan was that Warren was going to do a little more work to the boat that afternoon and tomorrow we would test it.

At around 8pm we were watching tv and heard a boat go screaming by. Jo said, I think that is your boat. We went out onto the balcony and sure enough, Warren was doing donuts in front of our jetty!

The light was fading but we managed a quick video. Tomorrow we will give the boat a more extensive test and I will make a better quality video but for now, click here or on the picture below.

One of the things we have learnt from the test is that the transom needs to be higher so that the cavity plate on the outboard sits higher at plane, this will minimize the rooster tail being thrown out and improve performance even more. This engine on the boat is a 15hp motor. So one of the tasks on this and my hull will be to build up the transom height by about 2 inches. I thought Warren should have put the lids on before the test but he didn't think it mattered too much. He was right, there was not water in them after 15 minutes of tearing around.

Now that we have tested the dingy tomorrow is now a day off! Monday I am checking out a new warehouse to move to and if that is suitable we may be joining the hulls next month!

Feb 07 Finishing the first dingy

After the test on the weekend, we have an idea of the minor mods needed to get the hull to where we want. We noticed that the transom height was a little low for a short shaft motor so we will build that to the correct height. I have bought a long shaft so I will need to build mine even higher. We were worried that the nose might lift at speed and that wind could get into the tunnel and flip her but as hard as Warren tried he couldn't get the nose to fly. So the hull extensions past the transom work really well. We hadn't covered them in yet in case we needed to extend them but that is not needed.

So today we put in a few more hours and finished more of the first dingy. We wanted to be sure we dried her out before glassing as we did test it with some exposed balsa but it was so stable that we doubt it got wet at all.

We finished coving and glassing the insides of the hulls ready to glass the lids on which we also did, and we also glassed on the anchor well lid. We glassed in 5mm ply floors into the centre hatches to just above the height of the centre area so we could drain them into there. (Don't forget to give the underside of this ply a seal coat of resin). The anchor well can drain directly out from below.  There will be bungs in the back of the centre area to drain it out.

The lids for the hulls were glued on and once they set a final trim and shape to round off the edges etc will take place before final glassing and finishing. I had 2 offcuts that were almost the exact shape needed for the bows, just slightly oversize. The rear lids were then glued and screwed. You could use one piece lids if you have them.

Once the hull lids were on we cut and kerfed the anchor lid. Warren wants his anchor lid shaped like a Thundercat, which has a curve down (hollowed) shape which at speed puts downward pressure on the bow, like a reverse plane wing. To do this, the kerfs are on the outside of the lid, the inside of the curve. We glued the slots, then glued and screwed the front, then wedged the middle down to the curved shape we wanted then screwed the back. Once set we will put a layer of glass on. I don't want mine that shape, I want the traditional reverse D shape so my kerfs will be on the inside and I will cut 2 shaped pieces and glue them inside the anchor well to glue and screw down into to get the shape I want.

 

We also cut the sharp bows off the hulls and put a mini bulkhead of 12mm ply in to seal them and glassed them from the inside, they will also get glass on the outside when the lids are glassed on. Then we will shape rubber bows to the old profile and glue them on.

With the lids on, we only have the rear buoyancy compartments to build and the transom plates to fit, which will also seal the rear bulkhead, to finish the structure. Then the fit out of hardware, (bungs, cleats, rowlocks?, towing points bow and stern and a hold rope down each hull) to finish. We have still to decide how we want to final finish the hulls, probably just a coat of white and a coat of clear. About another 6 hours each today for a total so far of about 30 hours for Warren, 35 for me. My guess is about another 6 hours each and then we can start putting together the second boat. Most of the parts were cut as we went so it should go together fairly quickly now we know what we are doing. This will also give a good idea what it would take to build 1 boat, with plans, from scratch.

 

This is Warrens cat, a Crowther 40ft, very similar in dimensions to MM. This pic was taken on Australia day with one of ex America's cup winning boat Australia 2's spinnakers, that needed to be cut down to fit.

Soon I will spend some time on MM, remember, the big full size boat I am building! I have almost finalized a new warehouse to finish her (The leases aren't signed yet so I don't want to jinx it!) so I could be joining hulls next month all going well.

Feb 08 Fairing the first dingy

Whilst I have been in Melbourne (on business not to avoid fairing!) Warren has been fairing the dingy. It looks great and is ready to paint. Warren has even gone to the trouble of scalloping in the anchor locker.

Warren is thinking he might paint his in camo colours. I think it would look awesome. If I had the money on mine I would love to have an airbrusher paint in a sharks jaws open complete with beady eyes on each bow and a white underbelly and grey color down the hull. The nose still has to go back on but you can see that the shape with the nose on is a bit like the shape of a shark from side on.

Still a little bit to do but not much, this one will be on the water (painted or not) on the weekend, it has to, Warren's inflatable is gone!

Feb 10 Last bits and pieces on dingy

My website has been down again recently, sorry about that. I am losing patience with the budget server. It seems to be down once a month! They always acknowledge the outage but it happens so often. I went a year with the last provider without a day down, 3 months at 1/4 the price and it is down 3 times, each time for a couple of days! You really do pay for what you get.

Warren spent about another 6 hours on the boat whilst I was on Melbourne. He has added a ply plate to the rear bulkhead. With the weight of the outboard pivoting at the top of the transom it is a good idea to spread that load out over a larger area. We also have a metal plate for the front so that the attaching bolts can't wear through. He also has the rear buoyancy compartments covered in.

All there was left for me to do today was to glass the joins over. I did this. I also found a screw still in the hull side that was placed to hold the false compartment floors in place. As I unscrewed it air started hissing out of the hole. The air pressure would have increased inside the sealed compartment as it heated from the the resin and glass inside. Being sealed it was a good sign that the boat is sealed and wont leak. I filled the hole and glassed a small patch on.

All that is left is to sand the tapes that I put on today, attach the hardware including cutting hatches and hinging the lids back on as doors and painting (which probably includes a bit better fairing). We also have some really dense foam to make bump strips for the hulls and the bow. One of the reasons cruisers like inflatable's is that you can bash into your boat and not do any damage, hopefully the foam strips will also work well.

I think we should take it out for another run first though. Not because it needs it, but because it is FUN!

(Still 0 Hours on the big boat this month. But I will be working on her soon.)

Feb 15 Started 2nd dingy

Today we started to assemble the second dingy. Most of the parts are either already cut or we know the dimensions we have to cut to so the cutting wont take long.

Before I get to the second dingy I want to report on the fun we had on the weekend. Warren invited Jo and I to join him on a day sail from Ettalong over to Palm Beach on Pittwater, about 5 nautical miles away. The purpose of the sail was to tow across water an outrigger canoe for a race regatta rather than tow it behind a car for 2 hours around each way. So the 12 crew members (6 men and 4 women and support crew), Jo and I and Warren motored across in the morning because what little wind there was was directly on the nose, and sailed back in the afternoon.

The highlights for Jo were that she got to drive a 40ft cat, something I have not yet done, and she got to cross the swell of Broken Bay where it opens to the ocean and not feel sea sick like she did the day we crossed it on a ferry. She did feel a little off in the afternoon when one of the guys steering was chasing speed and zigzagging a lot to catch waves to surf in on and criss crossing the swell can be unpleasant. One of the highlights for me, besides staying aboard for a few hours whilst everyone else went ashore for their various races, was that in order to reload the crew and gear and then unload them back at Ettalong, Warren beached the cat. It couldn't have been easier. It simply slid up onto the beach, was loaded up with about 1 ton (1000kg's) of people and gear and then simply pushed off again. Then repeated to unload them all just to prove how easy it can be. The Crowther has fixed rudders so it should be even easier to beach our cat although I am sure it will take a while to learn how to make it as easy as Warren makes it.

We had a great day aboard. Jo and I were alone on board for a lot of the day and did things I look forward to on our boat, such as lazily reading the Sunday paper, swimming and watching the world go by without a care in the world. It makes all of the work building pale into insignificance.

We have finished Warren's dingy, well as much as we will do together, Warren will cut the lockers and hinge the lids on, and attach the various deck furniture himself. We have now started on mine. But before we did we gave his one final shake down. We found that with the lids on the resin is quite slippery and you slide around a little whilst driving so we think the solution is to apply marine carpet to the tops of the hull sides to sit on without slipping around. Other than that we are very happy with the dingy the way it is now. It is super fast and maneuverable.

One of the other tests we did was to have 3 85kg guys (I am 90kgs, Warren is 80kgs and Tony is 85kgs) all stand on one hull and it barely sank half way to the chamfered panel retaining about 200mm of freeboard. I cant imagine when we will ever need to have that much weight on one side of the boat and none on the other but it can do it easily. I also had a drive and Warren encouraged me to drive it fast to illustrate that at speed the boat actually feels smoother as it cuts through chop. A cushion of air forms under the wing and the boat doesn't slam as you might expect it to. That is not to say that it is uncomfortable going slowly through the chop as you would on a normal tender. It is very stable and handles the conditions easily. Click here to see a small test video of Warren driving the boat fast!

Today Warren and I spent about 3 hours getting started on the construction or more accurately, assembly of the second dingy. Most of the panels are already made and ready to glue together. We are taking a slightly different approach to making the second one to save time. We are going to glue it all together first then do all of the taping in one go. This way we will also save a little weight by not taping over tapes.

We have glued the inside hull panels to the bridgedeck and also glued in the rear (transom) bulkhead. We cut the kerfs into the deck, glued it up, then glued it one side at a time to the side panels and held it in place with screws to set overnight. We also glued in the rear bulkhead. Tomorrow we will glue in the forward bulkhead and the internal bulkheads ready for the rest of the hull panels and we may have them all in over the weekend.

Feb 15 Dingy 2 frame finished

I managed another 3 hours this afternoon on the second dingy. I attached (glued) the internal bulkhead and the forward bulkhead. So now all that needs to be done is to attach the various hull panels. To fit the forward bulkhead I had to cut the slot into the side panels and slide the bulkhead down to the floor. I find it easy enough to cut the slots on the boat rather than on the panels before they are fit but I guess if we were mass producing these I would have the slots cut into a template and mark and cut the panels before assembling the boat.

The reason I mention this is that I inadvertently cut my forward bulkhead to the same dimensions as Warren's but I wanted my forward bulkhead back slightly further (about 100mm) and because of the curve in the hulls and centre floor it affects the size of the forward bulkhead (the further back the bigger it becomes). So I had to glue a 30mm strip to the bottom of the inside part of the bulkhead and a similar size strip to the top (inside the hulls) to make the bulkhead about 60mm taller overall. For a generic version of this dingy we will have to make a judgment call on which of the 2 dinghies is more practical after mine is done so that we can establish the exact size and position of the forward bulkhead. So far all the other parts are the same on both boats.

Once the glue is set tomorrow I can start to fit the hull panels and cut the chamfer. I can also remove the mdf temp bulkheads that are as heavy as the rest of the panels put together. The hull and side panels have kerfs which takes a little longer to fit and each one must be set before the next one can be fitted, so tomorrow I will only be able to do the hull panels and then Sunday the side panels, if I work on it both days. That would just leave the lids and these must be last anyway as the taping inside will need to be done before they go on. The outside tapes can all be done together after the lids are on.

I have spent 6 hours on dingy 2 so far (and Warren about 3 hours) and the boat is about a quarter done. So I am guessing 24 hours will cover it.

Feb 18 Dingy 2 keel panels on.

It was another warmish weekend so I only managed a few hours each day. Yesterday I needed to glue panels together so until they set I couldn't proceed anyway and today I attached them so again that was it for the day. 3 hours yesterday 3 hours today, for a total of 12 hours so far and about half way.

I am starting to run out of offcuts large enough to get the hull panels out in one piece. Remember this is the second dingy so it is not surprising that I would start to run out of larger offcuts. But I have enough larger pieces to make up panels long and wide enough to finish the second dingy by gluing them together. I glued the keel panels together on Saturday then attached them to the dingy on Sunday.

After I had glued the smaller pieces yesterday, I started today by cutting the keel panels to shape using the full size stencil I made from 3mm mdf (I have made a stencil of each panel from Warren's dingy out of the mdf packing material that came with the pallets of panels). The keel panels are all cut slightly oversize and glued to the hulls oversize then are trimmed off once the next panels are butt joint attached and have set in place. After I had cut the keel panels to shape I marked then cut the kerfs. A tip here. We noticed that the kerfs cut more cleanly when the peel ply is left on and removed later. Without the peel ply the fibreglass splinters, no matter how you use the saw, fast or slow. Because I was gluing panels together to get the keel panels I had removed the peel ply already. So I needed to sand the splinters away before I could glue the kerfs.

Because of having to scrounge now for panels big enough I have had to make a compromise on how I made and attached the keel panels. On the first dingy we glued the panel down onto the upright inside hull panel. I just didn't have panels wide enough to do that, I was short by 20mm so instead I glued my keels into the side of the inside panels. The only difference to the end result will be 20mm less bridgedeck clearance. This method was a little more difficult to glue as I didn't have the curve to push down into to pull the panel down and also you can overhang the edge and trim it clean later. With the method today I had to try to exactly shape the panel to the curve and glue it to the flat inside edge. I did the best I could and filled any gaps with a glue/filler mix. I also had to trim the bulkheads down by 19mm (the thickness of a panel). In all I figure I added at least an hours extra work doing it this way.

Fortunately the panels are cut to oversize anyway so they can be trimmed again after the next panels butt into these but I don't have much spare left now because I needed most of the overhang to get the shape trimmed correctly. In retrospect I probably had enough oversize to glue them in the normal way and if I was doing it again I would do them the easy way. I would have had to fill gaps here and there where the panels were not quite wide enough but I think it would have been less work. Once the glass is on the overall strength will be the same with either method.

Tomorrow I will glue the panels together to make the hull outside sides. Because of the cosmetic chamfer we put in these panels are not a wide now so I should be able to get them out pretty easily. I already have the tops sorted so once I have made the sides I am fine. I have plenty of panels large and long in 1 piece to make the chamfers.

I am almost there with the second dingy. Once all the panels are glued on I can start the filleting and taping. I figure that once the panels are all on I will be at about half way on this dingy.

I am starting to feel guilty about not having done anything on the main boat for a month now. I started on the dingy project about the 20 Jan. I do know that I have a place to move the hulls to and I also have the method of moving them sorted so next month I may be able to get the hulls joined so its not all bad.

Feb 22 Dingy 2 hull panels on.

As I run out of offcuts big enough to make full size parts I have to make smaller parts that can be glued together. On the hull sides I have cut separate bow panels and side panels. We glued the sides on today and I will then glue the bow sections on tomorrow. Whilst I have the duflex for the bow sections and hull tops and cosmetic chamfer, I don't have any more pieces large enough for the hull sides (outside) and although we have enough smaller parts to glue together to make them up I have decided to use 2 duracore panels I have for strip planking that are 300mm wide. I will just need to glass these inside and out and as I have to tape the joins anyway there will only be slightly more glass and resin needed to glass the entire sides and I also think it is less work and will be lighter than all that cutting and gluing of duflex.

We have also cut the chamfer shape out of the bulkheads ready to glue the small chamfer panel on. I have plenty of pieces big enough for these as they are long but thin (of which there are plenty of offcuts). For mine, again for no other reason than aesthetics I will have a tapering chamfer, larger than Warrens at the stern and getting gradually narrower to the bow. (Warren's was a consistent size along its length and only narrowed at the very front). You can also see the enlarged (heightened) transom to accommodate my long shaft outboard. It is probably oversize but we can trim it easily later. I wanted a long shaft so that if I decide to use outboards on the cat, they will also be long shaft and in case of a failure I could use the dingy motor in an emergency.

Before gluing the panels on today, the keel panels were trimmed down to match the profile of the bulkheads so that the next panels have a flat surface to glue to. These will also overhang and need trimming but we lined up the top to the corner on each bulkhead of the next panel around (the cosmetic chamfer) so we will only need to trim the bottom at the join to the keel. When trimming we will also round it so the tapes don't have a sharp edge to go around.

Once the bow sections are kerfed and glued to the rest of the hull side panels and the keel panel edge they will also be trimmed and the cosmetic chamfer will be tested with the template before being cut, kerfed and glued on. If I get that done tomorrow I can trim it up Sunday afternoon ready to tape inside and out before the final panels are cut and fit (then also trimmed and taped) to finish the construction of the boat.

We only did 2 hours today for a total of 14 hours on this dingy. This weekend Jo and I are going to Sydney to see American Choppers. That should be a lot of fun, we really enjoy their show. We are staying in Sydney on Saturday night.

Feb 22 Dingy 2 more hull panels on.

I only managed an hour today so it was only enough time to cut, kerf and fit (and glue on) the bows of the hull side panels. With these glued on the next step is the cosmetic chamfer panels. Once they are glued on the joins are cleaned up (the oversize panels trimmed back with a plane), rounded (a router and sander work well here) and then taped with glass and the internal joins get coved then taped. Once that is done, the lids are glued and taped on then the whole boat gets a final sand ready for painting. We also glue a ply shelf inside the center compartment to level it off for petrol tank, etc before the lids go on. Once the final sand and resin coat is applied, the boat can be painted and any hardware attached and hatches cut and edges sealed to finish it.

So with just the chamfers and tops to go and the taping inside and out, etc. the boat is almost finished. I am hoping to have it done by next weekend as after that I will start to get busy with the move to the other shed, and once in there I will be very keen to join the hulls. I also hope to finally glue the 2 forebeam halves together this week so that it is easier to transport as 1 piece. I will sand it in the new warehouse ready for fitting once the hulls are joined.

Even thought not much has been done to MM for a while I really feel like I have been productive so far this year, and have had a productive month. We started on the dingy project on 23 Jan so exactly 1 month today, and in that time we have launched one and are almost finished the second dingy. And as a contrast, it took us 36 hours (18 each) to get to this stage on the first boat and it has taken 21 hours (15 for me and 6 for Warren) to get to the same stage. Of course we were making the second and subsequent boats as we made the first. I think it would take a first timer about 30 hours start to finish (including fairing and painting) on a boat from scratch with a set of plans using the offcuts of their main build, slightly less if you bought materials for the job as it takes a while to sort through and find offcuts the correct size for the various panels but if you were only making 1 dingy you would have ample offcuts as I have almost finished 2 from my offcuts so 1 would be a snap and you would not need to be so careful choosing them.

Feb 25 Dingy 2 chines on.

Jo and I spent the weekend in Sydney loosely around the Orange County Choppers show on Saturday night. Before we went to that I spent an hour cutting the chines and kerfing them ready to glue on Sunday afternoon.

Unfortunately it rained from around 7pm Saturday until we left around 9pm. Fortunately we had umbrellas. For those that don't know, there is a show on cable TV called American Choppers where the Teutel family build theme bikes for celebrities and charities amid family bickering liberally sprinkled with bleeped out swearing. Good wholesome family fun! We like the show and thought the event would be fun. They built a bike (well assembled it anyway) on stage and then raffled it. We waited for the raffle to be drawn then left due to the rain. Needless to say we didn't win! We decided that missing the OCC band was not a big deal in the circumstances. We also spent the night in a hotel in town and had a chocolate fondue which I ate so much of I got a tummy ache, we then watched our football team only just hang on to win the first game of the year on a late replay. Pizza, way to much chocolate and a 2 am finish! What a way to go!

We did some shopping on Sunday and got home around 2. Enough time for me to get a quick 2 hours work done gluing the cosmetic chine panels onto the boat.

I was surprised this took 2 hours but it did. I didn't have any problems, nor did I dawdle but for some reason I got there at 2.30pm and got home at around 4.45pm so 2 hours is what it took.

Now that these chines are glued onto the boat I can start to trim all the overhanging joins off and round the joins so that I can tape them. I can also start to cove the internal joins and tape them up also. I still have some minor panels to attach at the stern to make up the buoyancy compartments for the outboard but other than that there is only the lids to fit. 18 hours for me on this one now. Almost done. The end of another great weekend.

Feb 27 Dingy 2 taping.

I did a little more work on dingy 2 today. I have trimmed the panels to size and have rounded the sharp edges off them ready for taping. But before I do the external taping I will finish the internal coving and taping so that the lids can be glued on and the taping of the whole boat can be done at one time and then sanded and clear resin coated/painted.

I did 3 hours work on the boat for a total of 21 hours for me. I should be able to finish the internal coving and taping tomorrow and get the lids on later this week. I am hoping to finish the boat on the weekend.

Tomorrow I should have the keys to the new warehouse so I will include some photos of MM's new home for the next 3 years until launch, empty. Exiting times.