2007 building logs

September 07 More internal fit out

The last of the hull construction is the strengthening uni ropes in the tops of the 4 spanning bulkheads, (I also still have a uni stack on the front of the front bulkhead to do) and then the external furniture which also acts as part of the bulkhead structural strength. From then on I have internal furniture and fittings (plumbing and electrical). I will start on some of the top half of the boat soon too, with the hull to deck strip planking.

September 01 Pure Seal 9 months test

Having recovered from the near disaster (see last post in August) I put it behind me and got on with the job today. But first, regular readers will know that at the start of each season I report on the PureSeal test. I have good news. The second test sample is still performing properly. I am very encouraged. It has now been in the water 9 months, and it still cleans up and looks just as it did when it first went in the water. It gets a slight algae growth on it after 3 months in the water but I am told this is because it is static in the water and on a moving hull this would be far less, even so, this thin layer of algae rubs off with just a light rub with the pad of my finger, not using my fingernails or any tools just the soft pad of my index finger. If this was a hull, a light rub with a cloth or brush in the water would easily achieve the same result. It is still way to early to commit to it for me, but it cant do any better than it is and if it continues for say another 6 or 8 tests (18 months - 2 years) it will have survived for 3 years and that would do it for me and I would gladly put it on my boat, so each test it passes is one closer to convincing me. I should also add that I have no financial or other vested interest in this stuff, except that I am keen to use it if it proves itself, although as a result of the test I am reporting on I am hoping for a discount from the distributor!

September 01 Routing uni troughs

One of the hardest things to do on the build is to cut perfectly good bulkheads. Not physically difficult but emotionally. Of course this is all just in your mind, and I imagine drilling through hull holes will be equally difficult to do given that the idea of building the hulls so strong and then drilling holes in them is counter intuitive. Nevertheless, in order to create a spanning uni rope across the rear bulkhead in the way that the engineers designed, it is necessary to trim the rear bulkhead so that the trough is a smooth arc. Uni like any glass is weakened when it is sharply turned on a corner. So to avoid this a nice smooth curve is cut in the rear bulkhead and the sharp corners taken off bulkhead 5. This is not necessary on bulkheads 4 and 6.

Once I had trimmed the bulkheads I set about routing out 25mm troughs in bulkhead 4 and 6 and 15mm troughs in bulkheads 5 and 7. (For bulkhead 6 I routed the trough before I glue the top half of the bulkhead on as it is easier to reach before it is on, but I will need to glue it up before I can do the uni rope). As with all things it is often better to do some trial runs on offcuts first, which I did to set the router fences, and once I was happy with it I set about doing the actual bulkhead troughs. I also rolled a section of uni about 650mm wide, half a roll width, and fit it into the slot nicely. Of course when it is wet it may be a little thicker with the resin but I am sure it will still fit very well.

It took me all day to trim the bulkheads then play around with the router and test cut a panel and then to rout the slot into the 4 bulkheads. For the saloon wall with the cabin top contour, I have routed that part separately before I glue it on as it is easier to reach, and also routed the rest of the bulkhead sides that it will meet up with. I will have to glue that up before I can lay its uni down.

The router can not get right down to the end of the bulkhead near the hull panel tops so I did this last part with a chisel (and hammer). The idea is to taper the trough down to nothing and a chisel is a good way to achieve this. A tip here is to use the back of the chisel so it does not try to dig deeper with its blade, it is easier to control the depth of the cut backwards. Another tip is to keep the balsa chips (sawdust) as it is very effective in soaking up any spills of resin or hardener (unmixed) on your workshop floor, although if don't follow my lead you may not have the kind of spills I have been having!

With all the uni troughs cut I may start on the uni wet out and fill tomorrow. It may be too difficult to get the uni wet, rolled and in on my own during the open time, even though you use the ADR not the West on these tapes because of the longer open time and less heat generated in the troughs.

September 02 BH7 glued together

I had a fairly easy day today, just preparing for a big day of rope wet out and inserting into the troughs later in the week when I have some help lifting the 7 meter rope. I will wet it out on the cutting bench on a plastic sheet and roll it into a rope there also but then getting it onto the boat is a bit tricky on my own. I would roll the rope up if I don't get any help but it would be easier for 2 or 3 of us to just lift it.

Before I cut the uni I glued the top half of BH6 on finally giving the boat the full height now, so I have all of the dimensions now. It was a very satisfying moment when I put it up for the first time, it has been sitting on the hull for weeks in anticipation. I wasted 15 minutes just staring at it from different angles and standing in the doorway daydreaming.

In order for the top half to sit in place on its own (whilst the glue set) I screwed a timber plank either side to form a trough for it to sit in, and then I could screw into the panels to keep the join lined up. I also used some planks running vertically that I used as straps to pull the top and bottom tight into each other. Once I had it dry fitted, I took it down again, glued the join and put it back. I left the window panels in but cut the door out, I also switched the port and starboard sides because I have decided to put the helm station on the starboard side instead of the port side that is standard in this design for a single helm. The reason for the switch is Dennis told me that if another sail boat was approaching on my starboard side he would have right of way and I may not see him as clearly from the Port side, whereas if a boat was approaching on my Port side and I am helming on the Starboard side and don't see him as clearly I have right of way anyway. It just made good sense.

Once I had this panel glued, I cut the uni for the 4 ropes. I first ran a tape to get the trough lengths (each one is different) and I rolled out the uni on the cutting table (I first put down a sheet of plastic that I will wet out on) and cut the sheet to the longest tape (BH6) which is 8.5 meters. I cut it down the middle and then cut down one of the halves to 7.8 meters for BH5. I rolled them both up and rolled out another length 7.5 meters (BH4) and cut it down the middle and trimmed 200mm off for BH7. I left this on the plastic sheet ready for wet out and roll up. (Ignore the names of the thumbnails above, they are BH6 not BH7 as the names suggest)

I then started to make strips of mdf that I will use to clamp the tape down in the trough so nothing protrudes. I didn't have any packing tape to finish them (the packing tape is to stop the resin sticking to it). I will finish them during the week and start on the ropes as soon as I can, because the next job I can do once the bits I cut off are stuck back on is strip planking the hull to deck turns.

There has also been some progress on Nine Lives. The hulls are joined. It is still not taped and is only temporarily in place but it is in place and attached, it is now 1 boat.

September 03 Preparing to wet uni ropes

Whilst I spent half the day at the warehouse today unfortunately work (on the computer) got in the way so I only spent an hour or so working on the boat. I actually got everything ready to wet out the first uni rope and I still had an hour or so but I decided I did not want to rush the first one, even thought it doesn't look like a difficult job. Also it was a warm day and the shed was warm and then it poured with rain so I figured that the heat and humidity may lead to amine blush (and short open time on the resin) and that tomorrow is going to be cooler all day, more conducive to wetting out large amounts of glass.

I have also looked at various ways other builders have capped or pressed the uni into the troughs and I figure I have probably made my troughs a bit deeper than they need to be. I can easily put 600mm of uni rolled into a rope in the trough so that it does not protrude, but having said that, I have only tried it dry, but I don't think wet resin is going to make that much difference. So if i am correct all I have to do is ensure that the rope does not protrude higher than the glass sides to the trough and back fill once it is in and cap it so that it sets nice an full to form a filled edge.

So to cap the trough I have put clear packing tape on 3mm mdf and cut 30mm strips using the power saw with a fence on and these strips will cover the 25mm troughs and are super flexible to follow the curves of the trough tops and to pull it down hard against the edge I will just put a screw through the panel about 100mm below the trough and run an elastic band over the top from one side of the screw to the other at about 200mm spaces, more in the curves to keep the strip pulled down tight.

So I think I might have a go at one of them tomorrow and if it proves as easy as it looks I might get more than one done. But in the past jobs that looked difficult turned out easy so I may be fooled on this one because in the manual Brett says that it is not a pleasant job but so far I don't see it. Lets see what my tone is like tomorrow!

September 06 First uni rope in

The first uni rope has been wet out and inserted into the trough. I started with the rear bulkhead (BH7) and I decided that rather than capping it, letting it set then gluing the pieces I cut off back on again later, I could just glue them on whilst filling the trench with glue. Which is what I did. James helped me roll the uni and carry it to the trench which made the job quite fast and simple. We did it in less than 2 hours. I think I will be able to do the uni ropes on my own. The open time of the ADR is fairly good (nearly an hour) in cooler weather, so if the weather is cool on the weekend I should be able to get the rest of the ropes done.

In the flat area of the rear bulkhead (the part that didn't have a part cut off) I used the mdf and elastic bands to cap the trough after I filled the rest of it up with glue so the cap will square the bulkhead back off.

I will do this with the rest of the bulkheads so that they are ready for any strip planking or panels to be glued to them. I wont be able to get any more done until the weekend as I had a last minute 2 day trip to Auckland, New Zealand and get back late on Friday afternoon. Auckland would have to have one of the biggest marinas I have ever seen (Manly in Brisbane goes close) and I saw a number of very nice cats albeit from a little way across from public areas to secure marina berths. Auckland is a beautiful city and I cant wait to sail there once MM is finished.

September 08 Two more uni ropes done

Today I did the uni ropes in bulkheads 4 and 5, leaving only bulkhead 6 the large saloon door bulkhead to do, probably tomorrow. Then I can start to do the strip planking.

The capped section of the rear bulkhead has set and leaves a nice square top to glue to if needed or a nice surface to finish the top off. So the first task today once I had inspected the work earlier in the week was to place screws in the bulkhead below the trough for the rubber bands, then I prepared all of the tools for the day and mixed up the first batch of ADR resin.

I rolled out the next uni sheet and cut the corners off, this enables the uni rope to taper out in size in the last half meter and matches the taper in the depth of the trough. The reason for the taper is so the forces that flow down the uni trough taper out as it curves down into the hull sides. Then I wet it out using a squeegee. Once it is wet I roll it up into a rope. I then went back to the trough and put a 2mm layer of glue down for the uni to sit on and bed into, it acts like a cove filling the corners. Once the whole length is rolled up as tight as I can get it, I fold it over and over until I can carry it to the job. In the pic below I used spring clamps to hold the rope roll to stop it unravelling whilst I carried it to the boat but it wasn't necessary, I carried the second one without the clamps successfully. Then I lay it gently on top of the trough starting at one end over to the other. Then starting at the middle and working out to the hulls I pushed it down into the trough and using my finger I squeezed any air bubble out and made the uni as straight at I could get it.

Once the uni is pushed down I filled any gaps with glue and capped it. In the forward bulkhead there is very little space to fill because it is only 15mm deep, in fact the cap is needed to push the rope down into the trough, without the cap the uni clears the trough by about 5mm. On BH5 the trough is 25mm deep and there is enough clearance to require me to fill the rest of the trough with glue before capping it.

The 3mm mdf bends really easily to meet the curves of the bulkhead and the rubber bands pull it down adequately into the glass top of the trough resulting in the neat top when it sets. I decided not to glue the pieces that were cut off on BH5 back on wet on wet as they are small and it will probably be easier to glue them onto the set resin top tomorrow.

I should be able to make the final uni rope tomorrow and fill the last trough. Once done I think I will finish the forebeam ready to fit it, then the hull to deck planking can begin. Before the actual planking can be done I need to re fit the temp bulkhead sections in order to shape the curved sections properly and glue the duracore planks together and rip the planks.

September 09 Uni ropes completed

The last uni rope, the big one on BH6 the saloon door bulkhead is done. I just have to remove the caps and the screws holding it down to be finished. I also glued the off cuts from BH5 back on. They are now ready for the strips or other panels to go onto them. This uni took a little longer than the others. It took me 4 hours to complete. And being only 15mm deep the caps will be holding the uni in tight as they did with BH4 but I guess I must have had a little more resin on this uni because not only was the rope a bit slipperier to transport but also more resin was squeezed out once the caps were pulled on tight. This wasn't a problem just a bit more mess to clean up. 

When the uni is completely wet on the plastic sheet (my method is to pour resin on the glass and spread it around with a squeegee), it is a fairly easy task to roll it into a rope, but a tip is to only do about 100mm at a time and roll the rope as you walk down the table along the ropes length, and when you get to the other end come back the same way doing another 100mm until you have rolled the 600mm wide sheet into a roll. If you try to do any more than 100mm you will find it starts to twist the uni threads and becomes a looser rope. You will find that as you roll the rope it will do itself for you up to about 500mm ahead but you will still need to tighten the rope by hand. Once the entire rope is rolled, simply fold the rope in sections small enough (500mm - 800mm works) to carry to the job. On the first uni I had the centre of the uni marked and I then just lined this up with the centreline and I started from the middle to one end pushing it down as I went, leaving the other half hanging on the bulkhead, but for the other 3 I found it easier to just start at one end and work to the other laying the uni on top of the trough, before pushing it down into the trough once I had it completely in place, again starting at the centre out to the ends.

I really didn't find the uni's to be a difficult task at all, despite the hype around how disliked the job is by builders in the past. I found them easy to do and satisfying in that it all went together well and another job that all Schionning builders have done in the past is ticked off my list.

The next task I have set myself is to finish the forebeam which I started last December and then put aside for the dinghies in January and February then we moved to the new warehouse in March. So I have the 2 halves made, the bottom half has the ply web in it, both the top and bottom halves have the uni and double bias inside, so I need to glue the anchor u bolts into a cedar block and glue and glass the block in then glue the 2 halves together. The I have to sand the glue smooth before uni and glass on the outside and a layer of bog whilst the glass is wet, and then of course I have to sand it to finish it.

Next weekend hopefully as I am busy working this week. Then after that is done I can finally start on the strip planking. I have looking forward to this for a while now.

September 12 Working on the forebeam

Jo and I spent about 2 hours cleaning up yesterday, so the boat and the surrounds are now clean again, all of the sawdust I put down to mop up spilt hardener is picked up, all of the offcuts put away or thrown away and most of the dust vacuumed up. There was also quite a bit of balsa sawdust in the boat from inside the bulkhead rout out. In the process of cleaning up I rolled up the plastic sheeting that I had on the workbench to wet out the uni ropes. On Sunday I turned the plastic sheet over because the wet out from Saturday had left the resin on the plastic too tacky (sticky) to put the next dry uni on and get it off without it sticking too much. I thought it was too dry to stick to the bench. I was wrong! When I tried to remove the plastic sheet, it came away from the thin layer of resin that was stuck here and there to the mdf workbench top. Stuck down enough that I am going to have to sand off the resin I couldn't get off with a scraper, or I should say Jo couldn't get off with a scraper. No real harm done, another of my boneheaded goof ups and just added a bit of work to our clean up!

I have the forebeam on the workbench, still on its cradle for now, so that I can prepare it for final gluing and glassing. I have to sand back all of the uneven glue and fill all the gaps that are not full of glue ready for glassing. After I glue the 2 halves together, there will be another quick sand to remove any glue dags then I will lay down a layer of uni both sides, perhaps in one piece all around it, then repeat the process with a layer of double bias.

But before any of that I have to glue the U bolts that will be the anchor bridle points into the beam, in such a way that they can hold the full weight of the boat pulling on them. I will probably build a web out of ply and uni glass and glue in a stainless steel strap that the bolts will go through and the nuts on the other side, then fill the webs with resin. I will build that on the weekend, before gluing the 2 halves together.

September 15 Strip planks glued

I pottered around today doing bits and pieces. I sanded the top of the forebeam and made preparations for the anchor bridle blocks. I have a very solid cedar block that I can glue into the beam to hold the U bolts in. I will shape the block to the inside shape of the beam and glue it and glass it in. The shaping is a big job and will take me a while. The outside of the beam top and bottom needs to be sanded before it can be glassed on the outside. It will be sanded again after it is glassed and bogged, but this sanding takes off all of the uneven and sharp glue dags and also takes the sharp corners off the planks to give the outside a smoother rounder finish for the glass to stick to. Strip planking is basically a series of flat pieces shaped around a curve and the gaps filled with glue, but you still have the sharp edges to smooth down, for Australians imagine a 50c piece, if you take off all of the corners you will end up with one of the old round 50c pieces, well strip planking is a bit like that. I read somewhere that there is no such thing a a curved line, and all curves are made up of ever decreasing straight lines anyway. I am not sure if this is true but that's how a curved section is made from flat pieces.

I also read somewhere that cedar dust is quite dangerous even though it smells nice, so I always wear a safety mask when sanding. A combination of glue dust and cedar dust gets into the air and then settles on everything. Here you can see how it got on the back of my head. Tomorrow I will sand the bottom half of the beam and once glued together another sand will be needed before it can be glassed, then while the glass is green it will be bogged so it can be sanded again.

I have also made the first step in strip planking the sides, I have glued the duracore 300mm sheets into long planks that I can strip down into the thin planks needed. Duracore for those that don't know, is a similar product to the duflex that the hulls and bulkheads are made of but instead of glass on the outside of balsa core there is hoop pine veneer. The edges have scarf z joints the same as duflex with a longer lip. Be careful with your stack of duracore because there are 2 thicknesses in the kit, 16mm for the deck curve and 19mm for the cabin top. The joins are not structural as they are on the duflex because the planks are really just a core for the glass that will be applied to it inside and out but it is still a good idea to use pine strips to pull the joins down tight so that you end up with a fairer strip.

Tomorrow I can set a fence on a circular saw and start to rip 40mm strips off the 300mm planks ready to plank on the boat. I also have to trim the mdf temporary bulkheads down so that I can use the curved sections only and trim the rest off. I will sand the other half of the forebeam and perhaps start to fit the temp bulkheads back on the boat on legs and braces. Not long now and I can start the exciting part of this stage. At some point I also have to make and fit keelsons into the sections of the hull that do not have a web.

While I was gluing and sanding, Jo did a lot more cleaning up and then decided to wash her car. Whilst washing her car she had to fend of a rather cranky and belligerent bush turkey that was somehow offended by her washing the car. In the end we chased it off by squirting it with a hose. We are not supposed to use hoses here because of the drought we are still in but I can assure you it was a very quick spray! We had a good laugh though. We are going to have to keep the place a bit cleaner because Jo isn't happy about how we are keeping the place.

September 16 Temp bulkheads trimmed

Today I sanded the outside of the bottom half of the forebeam. I just have to glue the timber blocks and U-bolts in before I can glue the 2 halves together. Hopefully I will get that done this week and next weekend I can finish the beam.

I also trimmed the mdf temporary bulkheads down to just the top part with the hull side to deck curves from about 200mm below the WL1200 level. You only need to have just past the centreline but in order to make it easier to fix them in position I have left them full width, then I can run a leg brace to the chamfer and fix the sides to the hulls and the tops to a plank on the inside of the centreline so that I can run the strips to the centreline. It is important to have the centreline and WL1200 marks on the temps as these are needed to line the temps back up again in the hulls to ensure a fair panel when planking.

The bottom half of the mdf temp bulkheads have been cut into step sides and stringers that I can run treads across and brace with timber to make the steps I have needed since I got the bridgedeck up. I hope to have these steps finished in the next few days.

The duracore planks are very flexible at 300mm so the 40mm strips should be even more flexible.

The only thing I wanted to have done today that I didn't get done was to strip off some 40mm strip planks from the 300mm sheets. I plan to make some wider strips also as the flatter area on the top after the curve finishes to the centreline can be made from wider strips. There is a school of thought that I should run the strips off as i need them that way I can make them whatever width is needed as I go. I know from the instructions that 40mm is the standard width so I can cut a few of these and know I will need them. I want to cut a few off so know how easy it is to do and then to place the centreline one down as the starting point. I should get some stripped off during the week.

September 22 Attaching temp bulkheads

I found that finishing the forebeam was harder than I thought. After much discussion with various people including Mike in Perth who is also building a 1230 bi rig cat single handed, I have decided to plough on and use my simple U bolt anchor bridle points. Mikes concern is that the outer seal of epoxy will no doubt crack with the stresses the shackles will come under in different directions with a cat swinging on it in the wind and tide at anchor and once the seal is broken salt water ingress is inevitable and even 316 stainless steel will corrode if there is a lack of oxygen around the stainless. I spoke with a few others with experience in stainless and boatbuilding and have decided that the corrosion will be slow enough as to not concern me but as a further safeguard there is another type of resin called Techniglue MPA20 I can use to seal the bolts into the beam that is a little more flexible and may not crack and therefore retain the seal. So until I get some of that resin I will hold off finishing the beam. But that wasn't the real hold up. I found I couldn't drill the holes for the U bolt into the 6mm 316 stainless straps that will back the timber blocks inside the beam. I blunted 2 bits and am still not through the first strap. I may have to take it to a metal mill to get the holes drilled. I even had to keep the drill bit wet to try to keep it cool. It didn't make any difference! So I left the beam for later and got on with other stuff.

As I cut the temp bulkheads down to just the top corners that have the round hull to deck turn inside shape, I cut the rest of the 2 of the temps down into the sides of a set of steps. I cut the rest of the mdf into the steps but fearing that mdf although heavy and strong may not hold my weight I ran 70mm x 50mm rails under the centre of each step to be sure. I glued and screwed it together. It still had a little side to side movement so I attached a leg to the middle that ran past the top that I will clamp to the underside of the bridgedeck. Towards the end of the build when I raise the duckboard height and make the duckboard into a long compartment, I will need to raise the height of these steps but until then these will do.

I attached mdf blocks or tabs to the side and top of the temp bulkhead so that I have plates with which to attach the temp bulkhead in the hull, I can clamp it in place until I have it fully aligned, remember there are 5 different ways that the bulkhead can be out of alignment, then once exactly in place I can screw it to the hull and the hardwood scaffolding plank I have clamped to the bulkheads. I cant screw down into the edges of these bulkheads because they have the uni rope embedded in them and you cant break any of the uni strands with a screw or you severely weaken the rope. To get around this I will have blocks screwed into the side of the bulkhead, (screws below the uni rope) and I will be able to run screws through the strip planks into the mdf. I may also need a third attachment or bracing point, a leg from the inside bottom corner to the chamfer or bridgedeck. The positioning of the temp bulkheads whilst not structural or super critical is important to get right so that the shape that the bulkheads and temps create as a mold is the correct one and the whole thing is fair to the eye.

I have also run a pine 40mm x 16mm x 10 meter (smaller planks joined together) stringer along the centreline and I will strip plank to this temporary stringer. The hull to deck will not be glued to the boat yet, first it needs to be glassed inside and out, so the bulkheads, temp bulkheads, hull edges and the pine centreline mark will all have clear packing tape on them to stop any glue sticking to them. The only glue that will stick is the glue that attaches each strip to its neighbour. But before any glue comes out the entire section will be dry fitted as there will be many strips that will taper or finish shorter or longer than others. Once the entire side is planked then they can be removed one at a time and glued back in again. Then once they are all glued and set to each other, the panel comes off for glassing and goes back on with the glass wet to set.

Tomorrow I will strip down the duracore and perhaps dry fit the first planks. Very exciting. Then we will start to see the trademark hull turn that makes Schionning cats so recognisable and distinctive.

September 22 Temp bulkheads in

I attached 3 of the 5 temp bulkheads today, I couldn't attach the last 2 because the height of them will in some way be dictated by the height of the rear bulkhead which is currently the wrong height. It is set for a walk through transom but I am not having the walk through transom. The way the plans came at the start was that there were 2 options, galley down with outboards and non walk throughs or galley up with walk throughs. We wanted galley up from day one, but were not sure on the walk throughs at that stage so went with the standard plans for galley up. What didn't occur to us at the time is that we could mix and match. so ideally we would order the kit to be cut for galley up and non walk throughs. As it is we have the walk throughs but it is not a difficult task to build the transoms back to the height I need for non walk throughs. As it happens I am changing the rear step profile from the standard non walk through anyway because we are retaining the catwalk which is not part of the non walk through plans. So I pretty mach have to design it myself.

So I have built the transom back up to the height of the seat backs and will work back from there. I will set the next 2 temp bulkheads and see how the slope of the deck works from the temps and if I like the angle I will continue it down to the rear bulkhead. I don't want a large lip up from the deck to the seat back height but I guess a small lip may be a good idea to keep any water that may wash down the hull sides from flowing into the cockpit. But this whole profile will have to be worked out as I go and then replicated on the other side.

I wasted an hour today attaching the temp bulkheads only to realise I had started fitting them out of sequence. I thought there were 2 temps between 4 & 5 and 5 & 6 so started fitting temps 3 and 4 between bulkheads 5 and 6, only to realise there was only 1 temp between 4 & 5 so temps 2 & 3 go between bulkheads 5 and 6, if that all makes sense, anyway, I had to take them down and re fit the correct ones.

So after I did that I clamped a 25mm duflex offcut in the space of the walk through transoms, and traced the inside shape. James helped me cut it to shape and I fitted it to the opening. I will trace another one for the other side tomorrow and glue this piece in, then I can start to fit the last 2 temp bulkheads and then start on the strip planking.

There has been some progress on Nine Lives but I forgot my camera today so I had to use my phone. Below are 2 new photos and I will take some more from the inside of the nine lives later in the week.

September 26 Adjusting temps and rear bulkhead height

I have been experimenting over the last couple of days with the height of the rear bulkhead. I am having a cross between a walkthrough and non walkthrough and neither fully suits so I am experimenting until I get the height I need to accommodate the outboard, still have a raised duckboard and still have a reasonable angle on the rise of the steps. I also have another idea (actually it is James idea) for the seal of the outboard hole in the hull when the outboard is raised which requires a little extra clearance of the outboard at the hull hence the need for more height in the outboard compartment but more on that later.

Because I want a little more height in the outboard chamber, I have raised the height of the transom. I had to raise the height anyway because it is currently cut for the walkthrough, and the non walk through height is the height of the section with the curve on the current bulkhead. But the non walkthrough does not have a duckboard and to complicate matters further I want to raise the duckboard to the height of the seats so that the area below will be a full length locker for non collapsible things such as fishing rods, boat hooks, gaffs etc. and at that height my centre walk through will be at seat height so you walk through from the duckboard to the seat top and step down into the cockpit. This additional height meant that the steps have to reach that height first or otherwise I will need to have another set of steps on the duckboard and I want to avoid that but that meant the steps will need to be higher and steeper. It is not higher by much, only about 150mm but it needs to be thought through properly first.

Once I had decided on the height of the rear transom, and this was pretty much dictated by the height I felt I needed for the outboard (probably a 30hp 4 stroke) I trimmed the section I will glue into that space to the size I had marked. As it is higher I have also made the radius of the turn a little larger. I will use this piece as a stencil for the other hull then glue it into the space ready to plank. I have also run a temporary stringer across the bottom bulkhead and plank to it, to the centreline and then cut it away when I am shaping the stairs. Once I had put the bulkhead add on back in place I then made a little mistake in the set up of the last 2 temp bulkheads. No big deal and a great learning experience but it did eat up some time.

What I did was work out the height difference between the 2 bulkheads then I split the fall between them into 3 so I could work out the height of the 2 temp bulkheads evening out the fall. Mistake. An even fall results in a flat line not a curved one. I realised this the moment I put the batten on to see how the fall looked. The rest of the boat curves and here is a flat slope. It didn't look right from the first glance. An experienced boat builder would see this in their mind before setting out the bulkheads but to my credit I saw it straight away once I had a visual.

James gave me a hint. He suggested I attach a long batten around the middle of the hull length and attach it to the rear most bulkhead and pull it down to the permanent bulkhead 6 (saloon bulkhead) and then move the temps up to meet the natural curve that will be in the batten. That's what I did and the pics above demonstrate the difference in height and the more pleasing curve that it presents. The added height is also an added bonus in extra interior headroom. I will have a slightly better headroom in the rear of my hulls compared to either of the other options. I will have a slightly higher waistline of the cockpit but we are talking 100mm so it is negligible from the outside but 100mm from the inside (added headroom) is quite significant and will make my idea of where I put the shower work really well. More on this when it comes to internal fit out.

 

So everything worked out really well, the changes make some of my future changes all the more workable and will still look really sleek and practical. I experimented with step rises but I still don't have it quite right yet. The step profile in the picture does not leave me enough height for the outboard, but I will get that right with a bit more experimenting with cardboard cut outs.

So now I have finally set the temp bulkheads in place I can start stripping the Duracore and start on the dry planking. And along the way I also want to finish the forebeam.

There has also been a considerable visual change to Nine Lives over the past few days. The forebeam has been made and fitted, the last of the bridgedeck panels glued in and the saloon turret formed and most of the deck panels are also glued on.

September 28 Ready to start strip planking

Today I made the final preparations for strip planking this weekend. I clamped together 3 of the now full length x 300mm planks and ran a power circular saw with a fence on to 40mm and ran off planks ready for planking.

All of the temp bulkheads are in place, the planks are ripped and ready to attach. I have mdf strips ready to pull the planks tight to each other and a pack of icy-pole sticks to act as spacers between each plank so I can get glue in between them at my leisure. If there is enough people you can butter up a plank then place another plank against it and clear the excess glue that comes out, but if there is only one of you it is easier to attach the planks with a small gap and then use a trowel to push glue into the gaps. So everything is ready to go. I will attach the planks dry then glue them once the whole area is planked. So hopefully one side will get done this weekend.

September 29 Strip planking started

I only put in a half day today because of the football grand final, a game no footy lover misses no matter if your own side finished second last!

But I did get a start on the hull to deck strip planking. I have been looking forward to doing this part of the build for a long time. One reason is because I believe it is what defines this design and sets it apart from other flat panel boats, so much so that apart from the chine that sits about 300mm above the waterline, there is very little visual evidence that the design is a flat panel hard chined boat. Also because it is another of those milestone jobs that every Schionning builder must do and another to tick off the list. It is great to finally see the things I have watched in pictures of other builders boats finally happening in exactly the same way on my build, it is very satisfying and reassuring.

First I had a few final preparatory tasks such as running clear packing tape along all of the bulkheads and the top of hull panel 1 because I don't want to glue the panel on yet. I glue the planks up and then remove the whole panel for glassing before replacing it to set in the correct shape before removing them again until I am ready to seal the shell, after some of the larger furniture is installed. The final task before planking could start was to run some mdf along the radius of the main bulkheads that have uni ropes in them. You cant screw into the uni or else you break strands which weakens the uni so the boomerang shaped mdf is there to be screwed into along side the 3 bulkheads with uni ropes at the surface (the rear bulkhead had the uni buried in it deeper).

It is a bit tricky at times lifting 12 meter strips on your own, it is not the weight, the whole length couldn't weight more than 2kgs but is very flexible. I started by running a wider than normal strip down the middle along the centreline, then another along the top of hull panel 1 which provides the edges of this panel. Then I ran a plank down the middle of the radius. Then I ran a second plank along the top up against the plank that was already there, again a thicker plank about 60mm because the bulk of it is along a still flat area. I tapered the plank at the bow for the first 3 or 4 meters by running the power saw along a line I drew on the plank.

The taper at the bow helps to make planks that need to fill a radius over a meter at the middle of the hull squeeze into less than half that at the bows. I will need to taper some out before the bow to fit it all in. In the end it doesn't matter how the area is filled so long as it is and is fair. Wherever I was running a plank butted up to another plank I place icy pole sticks between them to leave space for me to squeeze glue into once the whole thing is planked and faired up but pulling or pushing planks in or out to meet its neighbour fairly.

So tomorrow I should get a lot more if not all of this first side planked.

September 30 Strip planking done

What a great way to end what has been a great month for me on the build, to be able to finish the strip planking of the hull turn of the Port hull. Well almost, I just have to trim the planks, that is pull or push high or low planks up or down depending on where it sits, but this is preparatory work for gluing the planking.

I mentioned yesterday how satisfying this part of the build is. I mentioned that the distinctive Schionning look was the main reason but there was another reason I didn't mention. If you ask a prospective builder (as I once was) what part of the build process was the most daunting many would say the strip planking. In fact if not for the Wilderness kits with the pre cut panelling the other option is a totally strip planked boat and many are scared off by the idea and I probably would never have started building and even minimal strip planking is daunting. So much so that you can even buy the strip planked parts pre made by someone else, so it isn't just me that was concerned by the idea. Until now. I am here to tell you that if you are contemplating a more expensive kit with pre-formed curved sections because you fear the strip planking, don't! At least not if this is the only reason. Strip planking would have to be one of the easiest parts of the build. Really! It is a very simple process and the material is super easy to work with. I cut the tapers with a battery circular saw by eye and I marked out the cuts by eye and although I got it wrong here and there, fixing the mistakes was also super easy. So for 2 days work I have 1 of the 2 sides stripped.

In the photo above left you can see that I cut one of the strips too narrow in a section and rather than pull it out and replace it I thought fixing the gap would not be too difficult and it wasn't, you will see the result in the next photos below. You will want to keep the gaps to the minimum you can as they will need filling with glue which is heavier than the duracore and more expensive and more difficult to keep in the larger the gap but in the end this is a core for the glass that will cover it so it doesn't matter that much and wont be visible or effect the strength of the panel. I tapered each plank because the most forward radius is the smallest and once the smallest radius at the bow is filled with core the rest of the planks need to end in an angle. This is not difficult to do and is easy to mark by eye and cut by hand. Then it is a matter of filling the gaps with ever smaller planks until the entire panel is done.

Jo calls this part of the build the whale because it resemble the sides of a sperm whale. This is a long weekend here in Sydney (although not in Melbourne so I may still get work to do) so tomorrow I will work on the boat and the task for the day is to fair the planks ready for gluing. I will use mdf straps to push and pull the planks into line and may need to attach some block from the inside to coerce some of the planks from the inside. Once that is done I can set about squeezing glue into the gaps between each plank, then Once it is set I will have to sand it smooth ready to be glassed in place on the boat between the screws, probably from the inside then I can take the screws out and glass the other side. And then is is on to the other hull.