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Not as planned

This morning I went outside to unveil the centercase parts that had been glueing overnight. Once I had the plastic covering off and the clamps all put away, I noticed a big mistake. You might be able to see from the pictures in the last post. What happened in my frenzy to glue-up and take pictures of it I managed to make two identical pieces. With the seat supports glued on the same side of each panel instead of on the outside faces of each panel. Not sure of how to un-glue epoxy I pulled out my power hand planer and worked everything down till I was at the plywood panel, then some scraping and sanding finished the job, I cut new pieces and glued them on to the right side this time. Lesson learned. Other then that I managed to fiberglass the other inside surface of the centercase and glue the end pieces on to that one. Not a completely lost day.

Leading up to the scarf

In anticipation of loosing shop space once the jig is fully set up and the bottom panel is attached I have been trying to get as much of the bulkheads and centercase completed beforehand. I now have all the bulkheads ready for placement except the transom. The seat fronts are cut. All my 1"x 6" rough cut Douglas fir has been dressed. I borrowed a thickness planer to do this then on the table saw cut the keel batten and all stringers. I have taken a risk and glued bulkheads four and five together with their braces. The risk is that if not properly measured they will be out of alignment when fitted to the bottom panel and centercase. All of the pieces for completing the assembly of the centercase are cut. I have also decided to fiberglass the inside of the centercase, this will have to be done before the final assembly stage. Once it is put together there wont be enough room to do anything inside. The centercase is a big job, since there are many pieces that need to be attached. They all can't be attached at once, some on the inside some on the outside. Each gluing faze needs 15 hours for the epoxy to cure. Patience!!! This is all leading to the bottom panel and the joining of two full sheets of plywood with a scarf joint. -My excuse is the shop space, I think I am actually avoiding getting on with the scarf joint. An eight to one angle cut along the end of each sheet of ply then mated and glued. The result is a four foot by 16 foot sheet of plywood.

The parts pile

The Measuring pumps make it a nice product

to work with. The pumps automatically give you

the right ratio.

Clamping in the form of weight.

Keeping an eye on the tempurature while waiting

for the epoxy to cure.

Time well spent

Surprisingly enough I think this has been the first weekend that I have been able to spend a good amount of time working on the boat. Up till now it has been after work during the week. Over the last few days I have been able to get the doublers on bulkheads one and two and the stem glued up and notched. I also have the port holes and ventilation holes cut out for these. I am super happy that I'm going to be able to work ahead with the epoxy using a lamp and plastic sheeting to keep the temperature up. That could potentially take a few months off of the overall build time. YAY!!!

Stem and First three bulkheads.

Stem Glue up. It was twenty degrees Celsius

under the plastic.

Rain and Wind

It's been raining each day now for over a week, around 250-300mm for the week. My make shift shop has been holding up. The rain hasn't been a problem, I get more worried about the wind. Ever since I started opening up the ends to let the wind blow through it hasn't been as much of a problem, I just have to keep a watch on the forecasts. Maybe it's a little crazy to be doing this boat building thing now, It's cold, wet and windy. On top of that it gets dark around five in the afternoon. But I think for me thats part of what drives me.
If its not a challenge or if its what "most" people would do then I feel less inclined to do it. I think thats maybe why it was so easy for me to get into sailing. I like a challenge as long as it makes sense. Having a worth while product when its all said and done, and being able to enjoy that for years to come makes sense. I also think a lot about how there are people out there who have these thoughts and dreams of someday doing this or that or building a boat or whatever. Yet, life goes on and maybe they aren't able to get around to those dreams. I think for me being younger the idea is that these kinds of activities are for when your older or retired, when you have more time. But I like thinking, why wait! Lets go! Just do it! So, It's two degrees Celsius (36 F) Its raining, you don't have a shop, your renting an apartment, How do you build a boat in this situation? Perseverance. Good landlords. Amazing girlfriend and be willing to work in less then ideal conditions.

Cutting out the seat fronts

Light sighted down the cut line to allow me to see

the pencil mark easier.

Without the flash!

Here is a shot of the built in blower on the jig saw

doing a good job of keeping my line of sight clear.

This is how we do epoxy work when its only two

degrees Celsius outside! I'm using West System

epoxy, cuz thats what I have used in the past. I haven't

used filler before though. The 406 Colloidal Silica by west

system is what I have chosen for filler. It thickens

the epoxy nicely. One nice side effect is that the squeeze

out doesn't drip and run as much.

No, its not a space ship. The plastic sheeting and the

lamp under keeps it above ten degrees celcius, more

then enough for the epoxy to cure.

Building Jig

It feels like its been a while. I haven't been idle. I wanted to do something about the amount of space I have to work in. It was beginning to feel small. So although I had good intentions of storing my plywood horizontally keeping it flat with clamps I have now built a rack with a slight lean to store the plywood on. Giving me an extra three feet or so to work with. It is still clamped tightly together with cheaper ply on the outside. Then I realized that I had too much room and needed to cramp it up again. I began the task of building the frame or building jig that the boat will eventually be sitting on during construction. I didn't think it would take as much time as it did to put together. What took me the most time was getting the cement bases that it would sit on level. Even then the actual length of each leg had to be cut to differing heights due to the ground being very uneven. I still have a few more braces length wise to add in. It wasn't really until I started building the frame that the size of the boat really sunk in. Then you can start to visualize and get a feel for the dimensions. My work space is going to be tight and cozy. I am thankful for the use of this space.

I have "Reefing lines" added to my tarps at each end

to allow the wind to blow through on really windy days.

Here you can see some of my new lights.

Cold start at 32 F. or 0 degrees Celsius

.

Not sure if they will stay or if they will get a layer of ply

on top, but I've got some shipping pallets as flooring

to keep me off the ground a little.

Cutting out Bulkheads

Now that I feel like I have spent more time working on and building the shelter for this project, then actually working on the project it's time to make some progress. The wood has arrived and the templates are traced out. There are no guidelines for marking out the pieces on the plywood, I feel like I have done a good job at keeping waste to a minimum. A step that I have been looking forward to has been to actually cut out the bulkheads. I purchased a Bosch barrel grip jigsaw Model: 1591EVSK. SO comfortable to use! As of today I have all eight bulkheads cut out and the transom as well. Now I feel like I'm actually starting to build a boat!

I have since added more light, so I dont have

to bend over so much to see my lines. Also I

have added safety glasses.