The SB18 Site

Their rounding the bend and here they come...

2009-09-12T20:30:00.006-04:00

After the paint had set for 24 hours we could finally resume building something and it couldn’t happen soon enough. With all the delays, economic setbacks and miscellaneous side projects it seemed as though this stage would never arrive.

Arrive it has and it has certainly lifted the spirits and we’re working with a renewed vigor. All the parts that weren’t cut and waiting were quickly laid out and cut. I laid out the aft seat/decks as outlined on the plans sheet and cut them out and immediately remembered I had planed to leave the outside arc a little proud and trim it back to fit with the router. Well to late for that I guess. There was some discrepancy all right and it will take a little filling to correct but nothing major and certainly not the worst thing on the whole project. I knew the angled transom was a little wide and I would need to pull the hull sides in to mate the parts up. We did this very easily with a ratchet strap. All the pieces were stitched together just like the hull long ago and the fit wasn’t half bad all around. We tacked everything in place with thickened epoxy and then began the fillets on the inside.

This was the least fun I have had working on the entire boat. I don’t know of any other way to do this though so all I could to was recruit some help and get it over with. Laying face up in the aft bunk areas my helper would mix a batch of thickened epoxy and pass it to me through the aft end where the angled transoms would later be. One stringer then a hull/deck joint then the frame joint, slowly it all got its neat little fillet and I crawled out.

Of note here is an addition to the plans we felt necessary. There are no stringers designed into the frames under the cockpit floor, forward deck or along the aft deck/seats. These areas all span over 12 inches by up to 20+ inches and we felt it was going to be the week link in the boat. These are high traffic spots also.

We added the following stringers:
Cockpit deck - 2- 1 ½” x ¾”from the transom to frame “C” or the companion way frame evenly spaced.
Forward deck - 1- ¾” x ¾” about 8” in from and following the line of the gunwale from frame “E” to the spinnaker pole box forward of frame “A” each side.
Aft deck/seats an additional 1 ½” x ¾” by about 5 feet between frame “A” and “C”.

The pictures do not show the cockpit floor stringers.

That brings us up to date for the most part. We have been doing the filling and prep work to place the fiberglass on the deck and cockpit area but before that takes place we will need to tackle the cabin deck/roof. This has several possible approaches and we must decide on one quickly.

Time this segment:Cut and fit decks, seats and stringers 4 hours
Tack weld above parts in place 1 hour
Fillets inner stingers and joints 6 hoursLight sand, round over edges, prep decks, seats for fiberglass 1 hour Total this segment 12 hoursTotal Project: 145 hours

Where have I been?

2009-09-10T19:55:00.003-04:00

Lets see when last I made a post we were finishing up on the primer coats to the interior of the hull. Next up was of course the paint. System Three Topcoat in Orcas White was the choice. This is a water born polyurethane know as a WR-LPU and is supposed to be the thing when it comes to top paints. We sprayed the first coat and following the directions provided by System Three the product was thinned by less that 20%. It seemed to be going on OK but I was constantly fidgeting with the gun to get a setting that made me comfortable. This is not my first project to paint and I like to say I know what I’m doing in this area. About half way down the hull I looked back at what had been sprayed and I just about fell to my knees. RUNS. And a lot of them. I knew immediately that the paint was to thin because I was applying the thinnest coat I my have ever applied to anything. There wasn’t a lot to do but keep going and empty the gun. Then I quickly went over the entire thing with a foam roller and evened it out. All I could do now was walk away shaking my head and wait to see how it looked the next day. The time between coats is supposed to be when dry to the touch or about an hour. I new there was no chance of being satisfied with it the way it looked when I walked away so I decide to not even try for a second coat and would just give it the required light sanding in 24 hours and give it another coat after that. When I went to have a look the next day it wasn’t to bad but it sure wasn’t what I wanted in a finish so time to start sanding. A light once over and then wiped down it was time to try again. This time I thinned the paint a little less than 10%. Again getting the gun set was evidence that the same thing was going to happen and sure enough it starts to run. I quickly rolled it over and dumped the mixed paint thinking I’ll try one more thing. I mixed up a batch with out thinning and it went on beautifully. It went on smooth enough that if I didn’t tell you where I rolled and sprayed in the same coat you wouldn’t find it. My faith in the System Three products was restored and my self-confidence shot back up to normal. I am a painter.

Much more to tell you on the progress and some photos but we’ll get to that tomorrow.

Time this segment:
Prepping, cleaning the inner hull for paint 1 hour
One coat of paint, roll out runs 1 ½ hour
Sand first coat 1 ½ hours
Clean up, prep for paint 1 hour
Second coat of paint 1 ½ hours
Third Coat of paint 1 ½ hours
( no time counted on drying between coats)
Also note: Primer was allowed 1 full week to cure before paint was applied.
Total this segment 8 hours
Total Project: 133 hours

One is never enough… but 3 are just right.

2009-07-17T15:43:00.006-04:00

After receiving the S3 Yacht primer yesterday I quickly got another coat on before winding down the day. A third and final coat this morning made all the difference. There were a few spots that after one coat I had hoped would fill in a bit with additional coats and they did. Without laying on excessively heavy coats I was able to make a little grain go away that showed up in the aft bunks from what I guess were too thin a coats of epoxy and heavily grained plywood. They still show a little but I think now with a light sanding they will be fair enough when the topcoats are applied. The recommended dry time is one day before sanding so we’ll let it set idle until Sunday.

For the record we used 3.5 quarts of System Three Yacht Primer on this part of the paint process. We could have used about half if leaving the aft section unfinished.

Time this segment:

Prepping, cleaning the inner hull for primer 2 hours

Three coats of primer 3 hours

Total this segment 5 hours

Total Project: 125 hours

Promised photo...

2009-07-13T14:06:00.002-04:00

This is the first coat of primer. I was a little disappointed with the coverage but it is what it is. I will need another quart to get the recommended 3-4 mils dry film thickness. Not having a local supplier of this material will delay (again) getting the paint on but only by a day or two.

I know, I know. I never write anymore

2009-07-12T17:06:00.002-04:00

I know some of you have been wondering why there has been no activity on my blogs as of late. Well the old depression over our finances reared its ugly head again and threw the whole project into reduced production status. I finely kicked myself in the seat and said enough and fired the project back up into full swing. Two weeks of that time were spent on epoxy curing so in all we lost from about May 22nd to July 8th or 6 ½ weeks. Lets subtract the long 4th of July weekend since we were away for the holiday and to make me feel better. That brings us to right At 6 weeks lost to the monster.

Once back at it the first order of business was to go over the whole interior once again quickly with the sandpaper. I found several places that could have been filled and sanded one more time but the painting inside is more of an exercise than an attempt at perfection. I want to know how the System Three products go on and “learn” in an area far less scrutinized than the outer hull and decks will be. The interior of this boat will be used for storage of sails and little else.

Next getting the shop ready for applying the primer and paint. Everything takes longer than you want it to. I finished cleaning the shop or so I thought last night. This morning there was a fine layer of dust settled on all the horizontal surfaces, tables, shelves etc. This is not the first time I have cleaned it for paint duty, but it’s been a while so I wanted it as clean as I could expect or as I put it to myself “ a little cleaner than the last time I painted in here”. One benefit of the unplanned delay will be the possibility of completing the hull and deck sanding and fairing outside, eliminating the need to clean the shop to the extent it was this go round.

Today after dusting everything in the shop one last time and a quick vacuum of the boat I wiped all the surfaces to be painted with a 50-50 alcohol/water solution. After 3 rounds it looks good to me. I plan to begin applying the primer early tomorrow while the shop is still cool enough to keep from running any fans or even the dust filter.

We will be using the System Three Silvertip Yacht Primer, a waterborne, two-part marine epoxy primer. Two coats are the minimum recommended, three suggested if significant sanding is planed. We’ll see what two looks like and then make that call. This product dries by evaporation and multi coats are possible in a day. A full days cure is necessary before top coating.

Well that brings us all up to date. Keep an eye out for pictures to be posted late tomorrow.

PS: I need to tell you about the little 12’ sailboat we picked up for a hundred bucks some time. Perhaps later next week I’ll sit down and tell that story. Oh and then there’s the 10K rigging bid to address.

I’m not adding any time to the project here because it was negligible. Cleaning the hull took about 2 hours.

2009-05-27T22:05:00.002-04:00

Rest in Peace
Phil Bolger
1927-2009

I was never a student to Phil’s designs but always respected his education, writings and spirit.

Gloucester Times: Boat creator 'leaves on own terms'

Does anyone have a finished sailboat I can use for a couple of weeks?

2009-05-08T12:02:00.004-04:00

It’s been a frustrating 24 hours.

I was reviewing Sam Devlin’s Boat Building book for a refresher coarse on converting plans to the stitch and glue method (more on that some other time). I knew I had read somewhere about waiting on epoxy to cure a minimum of one week before priming or painting so while finishing up the chapters I needed I flip to the chapter on painting and confirmed the wait times recommended. The problem is every time I think I’m ready to put on some primer I see something I want to smooth out or sand and then need to recoat with epoxy, so add a week more. Now this morning I start reading up on primers, I see the same wait times for that process as well. Two weeks will be lost on waiting and there’s not much else to work on while this goes on. The ruder will get a little work I suppose but that’s a day at best. The deck panels are all cut out except one and that will be a 30-minute job if I take my time. So to sum it up the project is in limbo waiting on epoxy to cure a couple of more days before we can get the primer on and then we’ll have to wait another week so we can paint.

In short there will be no priming this weekend. This comes just when my motivation was back up to a level close to when we started the project.

This is where you wish you had an endless source of funds, a shop the size of a basketball stadium, a stockpile of materials and 2-3 projects going on at the same time. Oh, and nothing else to distract you.

Time to start looking at that next project. If you don’t here from me in the next 2 weeks now you know why.

Time this segment:
We won't count waiting!
Sanding/Fairing inside hull 6 hours
Total this segment 6 hours
Total Project: 120 hours

Do you still have a boat project? Well yes but...

2009-04-29T14:14:00.008-04:00

What’s been going on you must be asking yourself. It’s hard to believe it was mid February the last time I posted any updates. There haven’t been any leaps and bounds made that's for sure.

We picked up the plywood we needed to get the last of the sole finished, traced the panel off, cut and installed it. After the panels are in place filets were made all around the sole at every intersection with bulkheads and sides. Then the sanding began. And then a little touchup of a filet. Now more sanding. All seams are taped with the same 12 oz. biaxial tape as the rest of the hull and the weave filled with epoxy. Everything always takes me longer than I think it will and I must admit I’ve let some other things take priority. Now that spring is here of course I wish I’d have pushed myself to get farther along. The possibility of taking this boat out for a sail should be enough. Every time I do get to working on it and stand back to take a look I see her screaming across the water, but alas it’s just a vision.

I’m going back and forth as to the level of finish the interior should receive. One side say just leave it the way it is and move on while the other says do it up nice and paint it. I think for me it should be at least painted a nice bright white even if the seams are left a little rough. It just seems it would make it easer to keep clean and easer to find anything stowed away when it’s needed. It certainly isn’t a space that much time will be spent in. Well, now you’re up to date and maybe by this weekend I will either paint or move on. I’ll post the results either way. Maybe even less that 2 ½ months from now.

Time this segment:
Cutout mid-section sole panel using templates 1/2 hour
Install mid-sole sole panel 1/2 hours
Filets 2 hours
Sanding Filets 2 hours
Touch up Filets and tape seams 3 hours
Total this segment 10 hours
Total Project: 114 hours

Transom goes in and we got sole, well some

2009-02-17T17:09:00.004-05:00

The transom was cut at the same time as the hull parts and has been laying around in the boat, under the boat on a shelf, you get the idea. When the time came to install it we found that a few twist and bends had found there way in. In order to get it straight for installing we simply screwed it to a 3” x ¾” piece of plywood to hold it flat. As you can see from the photos we then clamped it in place aligning the center with the hull center. There was a gap at each side of ¼”, a little larger on the port side. Using a strap we were able to bring both side panels up and in so that the gaps were filled. Then a few fillets and it was in place.

We prepped the hull one last time for installing the transom and sole by coating all the area under the line of the sole with two coats of epoxy and filling any leftover holes from temporary screws. We had decide not to paint this area as it is for the most part never to be seen again.

All the sole pieces are in except the aft both sides. This allows us to tape the transom in with two layers of biaxial 12 oz tape first. The plans show the sole installed in 3 pieces each side, however it is impossible to install the mid-section this way. It simply will not go in because the opening in frame “C” is to small. We made a seam at frame “C” and solved the problem. The only effect for adjusting this on the plans might be in nesting and saving a small amount of plywood but without running a nesting solution program it’s hard to say.

There are a lot of fillets to get finished and then a lot of taping around the hull to sole joints before anything else will take place.

Time this segment:
2 Coats of epoxy below sole line 1 hour
Fill any remaining holes below the sole line ½ hour
Install and fillet Transom:1 hour
Install Forward and mid-section soles 1 ½ hours
Total Project: 107 hours

Template for the sole

2009-02-11T18:49:00.010-05:00

In order to make the sole installation as easy as possible we decide to first cut a template using corrugated cardboard. We purchased 4 sheets 4’ x 8’ from a local packaging supply company. This would prove much less expensive to make an error on than the plywood.

The plans clearly show all the required dimension to layout the panels and it is just a matter of transferring them onto the cardboard. Although you could just as easily work on one sheet at a time we tapped tow sheets plus 26” together end to end to give us a little over the required 18’. The dimension sheet shows 12” typical layouts. After getting all the measurements in place we simply bend a batten across the points using small paneling nails and a few clamps to help guide us. The material cuts easily with a razor knife.

It looked as if the aft section had more arch to it than would be required but after double checking all the measurements there was nothing much more to do than try it in the hull. Once the template was cut out we took measurements from the hull stating at the bow and marked the front of all the bulkheads on it. Next a notch is cutout to allow for the thickness of the bulkheads. There was a question as to rather we had frame “c” marked correctly because of the angle so we sliced the template just forward of the frame worked from there. As it turns out we were off by less than assumed. The template fit surprisingly well and made us fell good to know our hull was properly shaped. The aft end once laid in place became abundantly clear as to its odd shape. The sole doesn’t follow the chine in this area but flares into the aft section nicely.

Only minor adjustments will need to be made and then the plywood can be cut from the template. This should all take place in the next couple of days.

Time this segment: 1 ½ hours
Total Project: 103 hours

It took a long time to do nothing!

2009-02-04T14:16:00.003-05:00

It’s been to long since I have updated the blog and I apologize to my loyal readers. It’s been tough the last few months. Loads of work one week nothing the next. My moral has been just as unstable. Then it got bad. With all the extra time on hand I should have had the project much further along, but motivation was hard to come by. The economy is officially in the toilet now and I have come to accept things I guess. No work means more time to finish up the boat, although it also means less money to work with.

Because not much has taken place on the build it won’t take long to bring everyone up to speed.

First to correct the keel error we wrapped it with another 5 rounds of 12 oz glass. I noted in the forum that this was the least pleasing part of the build so far. Just as the first 5 layers the glass/epoxy wants to float off if you turn the keel to soon to complete the other side. No solution was found and we just let it cure most of the way and then flipped it. It’s finished now though and my estimate is about 2 hours of actual work but it was spread over about 3 days.

The spinnaker pole tube is also now in place. The hole for this is pre set during the layout process on bulkhead “E”. We carried the line forward through the hull and drilled a small hole to check alignment. After a few adjustments the hole is enlarged to accept the 3” PVC tube. We ran this long so we could be certain it would be lined up and then cut it back after the epoxy had cured. To keep the tube in place while we tacked it we used wedges and as it happened a plastic cup that was setting empty on the work bench. By roughing up the PVC the epoxy held very well. This had be a concern from the start but the designer reassured me it would be fine. The time to complete this I estimate at less that 2 hours spread over 1 or 2 days to allow curing.

As you can see we have the keel box installed. Because it was so cold in the shop we found we could get the fillets smoothed out only after they have been warmed up and to rest for about an hour with the whole cabin area covered and warmed. I don’t run the heat when it gets below 55 in the shop because it never shuts off. By butting a small portable heater and a flood lamp in the cabin and covering I can raise the temperature well into the 80’s very quickly.

Lining up the box was fun. No less than 3 levels used at a time, wish I would have had some pictures. I was concerned that it would be out of square and plumb and the boat would just sail in circles. What I ended up doing was installing the three sections separately and allowing that to cure before setting the next in place. Checking for square and plumb each time. Took longer but I’m confident that the keel will run true.

You will notice the “extra” timber in the box. We had to add this to compensate for the error in sizing earlier. We could have cut the box down to fit but felt this would be fine. We decreased the size of the forward most support to maintain the center as designed.

The box it’s self contains a foam wedge for collision protect.

The time for all steps of the keel box construction and installation is 6 hours.

Next a layer of biaxial tape over all the fillets and unless we have overlooked something the sole can go in. I look for that to happen over the weekend.

Time: Additional 5 layers on keel including sanding 2 hours
Install Spinnaker Tube 2 Hours
Build and install Keel Box 6 Hours
Total this segment 10 hours Total Project 101 ½ hours

Wrap it up…no really, wrap it up

2008-10-09T22:11:00.003-04:00

If you follow any of the threads on the Bateau forum you may have seen we ran into a discrepancy on the keel plans. It appears we received a set of plans that when being plotted at the printer the page may have been reduced to fit instead of full size. No big deal if you are just reading measurements and notations on a set of plans but there is a full size template on them that we copied and used to shape our keel. This only became obvious when we started working on the keel box and the fit was going to be sloppy at best. The guys at Bateau, Jacques and Evan, went right to work with us on the problem and decided we could wrap the existing keel in 5 more rounds of the 12 oz biaxial fabric and bring the strength up to the requirement. The shape will be only slightly different than designed and if you understand foils then note we now have a NACA 0013 instead of a 0012 (if you don’t understand foils you will need to do your own research as I certainly am not the one to explain it).This will have no effect on the keels efficiency I am told so this is the course of action we will take.

The material should arrive early next week and as this is one of those items that is not available locally no work on the keel box can move forward without a finished keel and without the keel box we can’t install the center section of the sole and so on. What I can do is get a few small things done such as fitting the spinnaker pole frame and support along with cutting the holes where the pole will slide in and out.

Although we are taking a small step back on the keel our biggest reason for being behind schedule is not related to the project itself but due more to involvement or distractions from other things. I have accepted that it may very well be the first of the year before the boat is ready now. The local drought has left our lakes at record lows anyway and even if the project were completed today we wouldn’t be able to splash the boat without traveling quite some distance.

There is no additional time on the actual build to add at this time but I suspect before the weekend is over I’ll have a few new pictures and some progress to report.

Wrap it up please:

2008-09-06T15:06:00.002-04:00

The plans call for the keel to be wrapped with 1 continued layer of 12 oz biaxial fabric clamping at the trailing edge. You do this 5 times to complet the layup. I found this method to be very annoying, trying to keep one side tight while working on the other. What I ended up doing was to wrap one edge around the trailing edge and to the line of the 5 layers of tape applied earlier. This allows the fabric to be kept taught and does not effect the foil shape as the entire keel will be faired before painting. The other side is brought back to the trailing edge and left wet to hang by it’s own weight and will be trimmed once the epoxy begins to harden enough to prevent moving the fabric (about 1 ½ hours with the Marinepoxy medium hardener). The scantlings call for the trailing edge to be ground to a 30 degree angle as the final shaping/fairing is done so again the clamping at the trailing edge does not make a difference.

On my previous post there was no update for the time spent on the project. To get us back up to speed here are the new totals. This is as of today’s work including the last post.

Time: Glue up stock ½ hour
Square and plane stock to size 1 hour
Layout lines and cut kerfs ½ hour
Rough plane to shape 1 hour
Sand to final shape before fiberglass strips are added 1 hour
Lay in 5 layers biaxial tape as called (each side) ½ hour
Fairing – 2 layers (each side) ½ hour (does not include time for epoxy to dry before sanding)
Lay biaxial fabric 1 hour
Total this segment 7 hours Total Project 91 ½ hours

What happens in August, Stays in August

2008-09-02T18:52:00.008-04:00

I can’t believe I skipped the entire month of August without a single post. A few reasons including a slump in boatbuilding enthusiasm I suppose. If you follow the forum thread you know I did get some work done on the keel. This step is not nearly as intimidating as it looks and if I had been a little more driven it could be done in about 2-3 days including time for epoxy to dry.

The process is to make a blank from Douglas fir large enough to carve the keel out of. In my case there is no 2” x 4” Douglas fir available in the area so 1” x 4” material would have to suffice. I will say though if I had to do this over I would either search a little further for the 2” x 4” or use another species and consider even larger dimensions. The blank needs to be approximately 14” x 1 ½” by 6’. I made this up a little oversize to allowing the whole thing to be planed and squared after gluing up.

Somewhere years ago I had made up some parts with a similar shape and used the same technique to do the keel. What you do is layout a set of equidistant lines in this case ¾” length wise on the stock. Then measuring from the horizontal surface of the part you can cut a kerf into the blank corresponding to the depth you need to remove at each mark. The kerfs now serve as your depth gauge and you simply trim away the unwanted area with a plane. If you spray-paint the whole thing after you cut the kerfs you will be able to readily see your gauges.

Follow this up with the belt sander and orbital sander and in no time you have the shape complete.

The scantlings call for 5 layers of reinforcing along the length with biaxial fabric or tape in widths ranging from about 5” down to 1 ½”. This also adds dimension to the keel and helps form the final shape. After applying the fabric I faired the entire keel with a mix of epoxy and wood flour. I cut out a template from some scrape masonite and used this as a trowel to get the shape fair and even the length of the keel.

The final step is to wrap the entire keel in a continuous layer of biaxial fabric, fair and paint.

Now keep in mind that this must be done in order to build the keel box otherwise you would just be guessing at the finished size of the keel and a tight fit is important here. The 350 lb bulb that goes on the end will be cast at a latter time as it has no bearing on the building process now.

Getting back to work on this has certainly put us back in the building mode and although off schedule by a few weeks we should get the boat finished up quickly now. The next steps are simple ones such as putting the keel box in place; setting the floor then the deck and that makes a boat.

We've been framed...

2008-07-30T22:03:00.011-04:00

We’ve had another busy week in the shop and have managed to get the frames installed, filets applied and taped in place. The first frame we installed was the forward most or frame “F” and then worked our way aft so that we would not have to crawl through the cabin frames as we went.

I found it easer to screw in some wood blocks laid on the lines we had drawn for each frame location and screw it in place from the back of each frame. These screws are then removed after the filets are applied to the opposite side and the holes filled with thickened epoxy. Another issue when building on the frames as molds and then flipping the hulls is hull shape is hard to hold so when we began to install the frames we needed to pull the hull back into shape. Not only did it need to come together at the shear clamps but at frame “E” it also needed the upper chine pulled up. So the frame would fit under the shear clamps. Again using the block method solved this problem and once that frame was set the rest went easily.

We then put a 3” piece of plywood across the shear clamps. This helps hold the frames in place and takes out any bow that had set in while they were out of the hull during the glassing period. Then using the level we could line the sides plumb and screw them in place. This helped pull the sides of the hull back up tight to the frames. There are also small wood blocks on each side also screwed to the frame and the hull to hold those areas in place while filets are installed. It is important that the hull is lying level on its building lines or the frames will not be correct.

Next up is applying the filets. These are simple thickened epoxy welds that fill any gaps and make a rounded transition for the tape to lie in. They are also considered a structural element. We use wood flour to thicken the epoxy for these. Using small batches of epoxy, about 3-4 oz, we add enough of the wood flour to get a consistency of peanut butter. The easiest method of getting this mixture in place is similar to a pastry bag, we use disposable bags instead of real pastry bags.

After the mixture is applied use a tongue depressor to smooth the filet. We cut one end off these so that it also serves as a scrapper to remove the excess filler as you go. The filets were left to cure overnight before removing the screws from the block and the other side then filled. After letting the second side cure for about 2-3 hours I could begin lying in the bi-axel tape to finish the seams.

The mast step was installed between frames “D” and “E” with thickened epoxy (temporary screws to be removed). All surfaces will now get 2 coats of epoxy to seal the bare wood.

This whole procedure seemed to go quickly until I added up the hours. Stephanie was only available a short time during this step but when she mixed epoxy and I laid in the filets it went much faster.

Time:Setup and plumb frames (this was done one at a time but each took about the same amount of time) 1 hour 30 min

Filet first side of frames 1 hour 30 min

Filet second side of frames 1 hour 30 min

Lay in bi-axel tape 4 hours

Total this segment: 8 hours 30 min

Total Project Hours To Date: 84 ½ hours

Moving right along

2008-07-27T20:14:00.002-04:00

Things are going well in the shop and I am happy to report there has been little excitement the past two weeks. We completed the inner taping, fabric lay-up and epoxy and have begun to install the bulkheads.

After I ran filets along the chines to smooth the transition between panels, sanded all the little drips from installing the shear clamps, we were ready to put in the 12 oz. bi-axel fabric. During this process Stephanie mixed epoxy while I wet out of the fabric and by using this two-person method it went fairly smooth with only minor irritation on my end. Working from the bow back and doing the chine taping one row at a time the only aggravation was picking up the threads used to hold the bi-axel tape together on the brush or roller. We did the port and starboard upper chines in the same day and waited for them to cure overnight before doing the lower chines simultaneously. The fabric was next and it went on well again letting the first side cure over night before doing the next. During the second side of the lay-up I managed to get a good bit of epoxy on myself by resting my knee in an area I had wet out while trying to reach an area I wasn’t happy with. Stephanie pointed out that she could have easily reached it from outside the hull where she was standing. I now have some very strong-kneed jeans.

As we were doing a test fit and getting ready to set the bulkheads in place something just looked wrong with bulkhead A when it was placed in the hull with the others. In double-checking the layout we found an error on my part in a measurement on that bulkhead at the cockpit floor line were we were off by 1”. This can be easily corrected and will have no effect on the structural part of the boat. We set up the final bulkhead locations by setting up a long level board and by pulling the measurements from the transom and plumbing them down were able to accurately get marks inside the hull.

Starting with bulkhead F, the forward most one, I set the part in place and notice a slight bow in it. Using a straight piece of ¾” plywood about 3” wide laid on the shear clamps I screwed the bulkhead to it and had a not only a way of taking out the bow but also a good way to hold the part in place while filet and taping took place. We used wood flour for the filets mixed to the consistency of peanut butter. I didn’t take a measurement on the mix ratio. You just have to mix a small amount of the flour at a time to get the right consistency. I let this cure overnight before taping both sides of the bulkhead to the hull with 6” bi-axel fabric.

Epoxy used to laminate port bi-axel cloth: 106 5/8 oz or approximately .6 gallons
Epoxy used to laminate starboard bi-axel cloth: 112 1/8 oz or approximately .7gallons
Total for laminations both inside and out is approximately 2.8 gallons

Time:
Cleanup drips and sand inner hull to prep for laminating 2 hours
Filet inner chines 1 hour
Tape inner chines 2 hours
Lay up fabric port 1 hour 20 min
Lay up fabric starboard 1 hour 10 min
Layout bulkhead locations 30 min
Install bulkhead F 10 min
Filet Bulkhead F 20 min
Tape bulkhead F both sides 1 hour
Total this segment: 9 hours 30 min
Total Project Hours To Date: 76 hours

I turned to another for help…

2008-07-14T18:48:00.004-04:00

Well, I had this great plan you see. After rolling the boat and building frame out the door I would disassemble the base leaving only the uprights on the frames then attaching the female molds I had made, roll the whole thing over, remove the upright supports and be done. Right?

Not so simple you say? Your right.

What really happened was I had removed the screws from the bulkheads a few weeks ago so when I took the base away there was nothing to keep the upright supports, which are screwed to the bulkheads, upright and the hull came down. The good thing is I saw what was about to take place just in time and I went to ask Stephanie if she could come down and help. I think it went something like this. “Stephanie can you come help me the boat is about to fall”. (Turn and run back out the door). Ah the boats still up. As I’m waiting for her I of course think “I’ll just take out one more screw while she’s coming down to help”. It was a controlled decent landing a little more than softly but less than hard. Maybe I should have waited that extra minute or two. Stephanie says there were some people walking by that stopped to watch the episode take place. I didn’t see them and I hope they understand this is not standard boat turning procedure. I most likely blamed Stephanie for being to slow to get down to help even though I should have just waited.

Some other good points. I had removed bulkhead “C” the largest one from the hull already so it was not damaged, as it surly would have been. Because of the way the boat fell all the other frames just sort of laid down and they received no damage.We were able to get the molds on but it took a little more effort. With a little work though we soon had the molds in place and simply turned it on its side with just a little effort. This seamed like a good photo op so Stephanie snapped the pictures below for your viewing pleasure.

The boat is back in the garage and we are adding filets and prepping the hull for the inner fiberglass work this week.

Time:

Disassemble building frame 30 min
Drop boat on ground 1-2 min

Pick boat up so that we could set the cradle in place 10 min
Place molds and bracing 1 hour

Turn Hull 10 min

Total this segment 2 hours

Total Project Hours To Date: 66 ½

Familiar ground…

2008-07-14T18:18:00.005-04:00

I felt a bit of déjà vu as I began to work on the female molds in preparation of turning the hull this weekend. The molds will act as wheels with the boat as the hub and allow the whole thing to be turned quite easily. I laid out lines on frames “A” and “D” so that I could make the molds to hold the boat during turning and as a cradle afterwards. I wanted to be able to work around the molds so the “D” mold was made to come apart just above the lower chine after turning. These were both made from ½” OSB or chipboard as some people call it. I doubled the edges where necessary and rounded the corners to roll easily when the time came.

I had originally thought of turning the boat using a lift built from 4x4 post and some pulleys but saw an article on the subject and with the weight of this boat being so light I think this method will be easier. We’ll see soon enough.

We had previously installed some casters on the building frame so the boat could be rolled outside, as the garage ceiling is not tall enough to turn the boat inside.

Time:
Install casters on building frame 30 min
Layout and cut molds 2 hours
Total this segment 2 hours 30 min

Total Project Hours To Date: 64 ½

Back on track...

2008-07-07T22:19:00.004-04:00

It feels good to be back to work on our SB18 project. This past weekend we got the bare outer hull coated with epoxy and glassed the bottom. Since the hull had been setting for a week or more with nothing going on we first sanded and wiped everything down for the epoxy and then were able to keep a fairly steady pace to work wet on wet for the rest of the process. We first laid out the fiberglass cloth rolled it back up and then applied the 2 coats of epoxy. After an initial cure we laid the starboard side fiberglass back in place and wet it out. It took about 45 minutes to get all the epoxy on using a 9” adhesive roller. Then we began going over the entire surface with the squeegee and the 6” resin roller working the air out and smoothing the fiberglass. This is one of those nerve-racking events during the project because you only have so long to work the epoxy before it goes into the curing or gel stage and is no longer workable. The surface must be well coated but not to heavily. You need to use just enough epoxy to turn the fiberglass transparent and adhere it to the core. White areas indicate either epoxy-starved areas or air under the fiberglass. I took a look back later that night and found a few areas I wish were a little better. They look kind of puckered where the fiberglass separated from the core. These will need attention to correct.

When we did the port side I had in my mind that we had used 90 oz of resin on the starboard side. As we approached that same weight on the port side I began to get concerned because it looked like we had a lot of dry areas to cover. Not wanting to cover the fiberglass with to much epoxy (known as a resin rich lay-up) I reluctantly had Stephanie mix up a little more. We got it all looking good and whatever it took was now irrelevant. I looked at the totals on the starboard side afterward and saw we had used 116 oz. We used a total of 114 oz on the port side.

An interesting note here, I read the building notes just as my fellow builder Marcelo (see http://forums.bateau2.com/viewtopic.php?t=17039 or his blog at http://sb18coral.zip.net/ ) did and applied 2 coats of epoxy to the entire outer hull. Evan Gatehouse, one of the co-designers of the SB 18 at Bateau, posted on Marcelo’s thread that the notes should call for 1 coat on entire hull and 2 coats on panels that will not receive any fiberglass. I had rather error on the side of to much than not enough within reason so I’ll just look at it as lost time and not resin waste. You may have seen another post of mine on the subject of glass weight. I was unable to get the 12 oz biaxial cloth locally called out in the scantlings but was able to get 17 oz. After Evan gave the go ahead that’s what we used in order to save another week waiting for material. I calculated the difference of the cloths weight to be about 4 lbs so not a big issue. I will use the 12 oz on the interior of the boat.

For the record books we used a total of 230 oz by weight of epoxy or 14.3 lbs or about 1.8 gallons. I think we were a little resin rich though and could have cut back just a bit. I hope Marcelo kept track of his epoxy use so I’ll know the full weight cost of the 17 oz fabric. In the future I vow to order materials ahead of schedule so that I don’t substitute for convince. Plus the fact that the Boatbuilders Central prices are hard to beat even after paying the shipping with gas prices so high.

Time:
Prep boat for fiberglass 1 hour 30 min
2 x Epoxy pre-coats 30min each 1 hour total
2 x Lay out and wet fiberglass 1 hour each 2 hours total
Total this segment 3 hours 30 min

This week I will bring the boatlift (read 4x4 post and some bolts) around to the front of the garage and roll the hull out to flip her over. It will be nice to see her upright. Until then…

Total Project Hours To Date: 62

They sent me back to finish the boat...

2008-07-05T14:12:00.007-04:00

Well as you may very well know I had been anticipating the Wooden Boat Show in Mystic Connecticut this past weekend. I am happy to report that I thoroughly enjoyed the event and came home with a renewed enthusiasm for boat building and some pretty good ideas as well. I made a quick go round on Saturday morning to see as much as quickly as possible and snap a few pictures, then I would be able to make my way back round and concentrate on what I was most interested in. Well I ended the first go round with some 220 plus photos of which more than half are worth keeping. You may view most of them in no particular order at http://picasaweb.google.com/sngatlanta also note these are unedited and not cropped. I can’t even begin to name the number of designs that were represented. Of most importance to me however was the presence of the multihulls at the show. Perhaps they are at last being accepted as equal in complexity and style to the monohulls. I spent the day talking with builders mostly, I’m not one to talk with suppliers much, and most everyone was genuinely excited to talk about their boat
.

One of the boats we have considered was to be presented at the show. The Tiki 30 a James Wharram design and built by David Halladay of Boatsmith of Jupiter FL. Their web address is http://tiki30.blogspot.com/ if you would like to know more about them. The boat was extremely well finished and they had made a few minor modifications from the plans that seem to work well. First and most noticeable when you walk up is the teak foredeck that replaces the net or trampoline found on most forward areas of multihulls. Another change was the widening of both seats that run down each side of the cockpit area providing what should make for a very comfy place to not only sit but take afternoon naps as well.

They also moved the outboard motor-well forward by a few feet allowing better movement around the cockpit and making the motor covering into a usable workspace or table. Seeing this boat has made me rethink some things about what we may want on our own catamaran. More on that another time.

Later that day on a little ½ hour ride around the harbor aboard the Sabino a 1908 coal-fired steamboat I met a older gentleman from Austin and as a fellow, although displaced, Texan I listen as he told me about his own boat building experiences which culminated with a couple of river boats of quite some size. I believe his last name was Fowler; he said he “was no gentleman though he was a damn attorney”.

All of this was enough for a day at a boat show but it got better. I had decided early on to attend the Tribute to Multihull Pioneers Banquet Saturday evening and was killing a little time before the event. Being at the show by myself I sat down at a table where I thought I would be able to see and here well enough but off to the side as not to get in the middle of strangers. As I sat for a moment a gentleman came and sat at the next table over and pulled out some papers from his jacket. It was James Wharram looking just a little nervous reviewing his notes for the presentation. I watched the people come and go drinks in hand mingling. Hanneke Boone, James associate came over and as well as a few others and “Trimaran” Jim Brown sat down with them. The couple across from me noticed they were beginning to serve dinner and I joined them in line to get a plate. Jim Brown has lost a good deal of eyesight and was asking for help when someone stepped in to fill his plate as I left the line and returned to my table. A voice from over my shoulder asked if the seat next to me was taken. I said no please fell free without turning around to see whom it might be. In a soft but firm voice the gentleman said “I’m Dick Newick”. I said, “I’ve heard of you”. He asked what my association with the tribute was and I explained that I had just recently become interested in multihulls and the opportunity to here the designers and pioneers speak was my only reason for attending. We talked about my interest and he pled his case as to the benefits if a tri vs. catamaran. He was attending with the owners of one of his designs and they also showed great interest in by project both present and future. Regrettably I have forgotten their names. Dick left me with the impression that these designers are regular guys with a passion to better the boating community by providing designs to fit the needs of an individual rather than everyone past and future that will sail a boat. He asked that I contact him before we begin to build our multihull and I most certainly will. I regret that I was unable to meet up with him the next morning as he requested to review some ideas but my flight did not allow the time.

I could make a short article of the event but should spend more time getting the SB 18 project back on track. We hope to get the hull completely glassed on the underside this weekend while we have a few extra days.

Time...

2008-06-04T20:45:00.003-04:00

A colleague at work asked “how many hours do you have invested in the project so far” and I couldn’t answer the question immediately. I think this is a big question for everyone and I will post the time with each new entry from here on.

An hour will be an hour regardless of rather it’s just myself or Stephanie and I both working that period but, if there are several helpers I will note it. I would guess that so far the participation has been 90/10. That’s Stephanie helping out about 10%

Hours to date: 58

Oh how work gets in the way…

2008-06-03T20:52:00.002-04:00

My paying gig is getting in the way of my boat building.

We took on an unusually large project at work and the lead-time is short so we’ve been working some long hours leaving little personal time. This should come to an end any day now and it will be nice to get back to the SB 18.

What we have accomplished since my last post has been mostly prep work. We spot-welded the panels as discussed earlier, removing the stitches after the epoxy had set up and cured for a day. I then took the belt sander and using 80-grit paper took the edge off all the joints and rounded to about 3/8”. Not having a lot of energy after the long workdays, I then filled the seams with thickened epoxy. I like to use wood flour whenever I can for thickening and this is what was used here and in the spot welds. These are not structural joints and the wood flour is easy to sand and shape. You could do this step as you are taping the seams but as I said I knew I would only put a short time in on the project so let this cure overnight. The next evening I sanded the seams a second time getting a fair rounded edge on all chines. The fiberglass tape should lay nicely over this and the extra effort here will help ease the faring latter on.

Here’s were it got ugly. The next day was all work and the boat sat pitifully in the shop for 48 hours. I was a wreck. Knowing that there were things to do and none of it taking place, I couldn’t concentrate on work. I couldn’t sleep well at night, so this evening when I got home a little earlier; I immediately went to work on the boat. After setting so long I needed to wash and sand lightly just in case any amine blush had formed on the epoxy. I didn’t notice any but I don’t take chances here. It only took about 20 minutes using acetone to wipe it down and then; a quick sand using the orbital sander and 80-grit paper I was back on track.

It was finally time to start putting some fiberglass tape on this boat. I mix my epoxy with an old drill that was dropped from the top of a job and broke the handle. I was able to glue it back together but it now stays in the garage for paint and epoxy mixing. If you can find a cheap drill to mix with get it but I can’t recommend a good drill, as it will most certainly end up covered with epoxy. Remember though that you don’t want to mix in a lot of air so either a variable speed drill or even better the type with variable high-low speeds. Using the drill on low I can mix epoxy efficiently and quickly. Rather than a store bought mixer I fashioned one from some heavy gauge wire. A little thicker than a coat hanger the stuff holds it’s shape well. Just picture a flat top question mark and that’s what it looks like. The store bought mixer is fine if you like but my homemade model gets to bottom better and is shorter, only about 6” long.

For the best result you want to coat the plywood with epoxy before covering. This will allow the plywood to soak up the epoxy so that it doesn’t wick it away from the fiberglass and leaving an epoxy starved bond. While this can be done ahead it’s a good practice to work wet on wet here. So I rolled on the epoxy with a foam roller 6” both sides of the joint and laid out the 12 oz. fiberglass tape I had pre measured and cut to the desired length. Now you need to brush on the epoxy over the tape. Starts on the high side, if there is one, allowing gravity to work for you, also always pull from dry to wet when brushing. The fiberglass tape should end up clear but don’t but so much epoxy on that it turns immediately. You will want to work it in good and if you have one roll it with an epoxy-laminating roller. I buy inexpensive 2” chip brushes in bags of 15 for this kind of work. They are cheap enough that if your mix starts to gel on you can just through it away.

I have 2 of the chines taped now and should sleep well tonight knowing that the boat project is again underway.

Now I wonder, should I take the day off from that paying gig?

Next time…Plans updates and a brief evaluation on the Marinepoxy. Glassing the bottom is the next major step.

Where are you…

2008-05-29T15:33:00.005-04:00

We have visitors to this site from all the countries below.

Sign the guest book and let everyone know where you are.

I know it’s been a few days since the last post but there just hasn’t been much going on and we are busy making up the time we took off for Memorial Day. The other slow down is due to my own error. In my haste to get the project going I put off ordering fiberglass tape and epoxy. The plans call for 12 oz. 45/45 biaxial tape and I don’t have a local source so it would have to be ordered. I was to get this done within the first week of the project but let it slip my mind and we ran out of the little amount on hand while splicing the panels together last week. That was the time you’d think I would go ahead and get some ordered right? Wrong, I put it off until Wednesday morning. Luckily I knew that I could get what I needed from our friends at Bateau’s Boat Builder Central Store and they would ship it out the same day via DHL as long as they have the item in stock They had everything in stock and a delivery is due Friday. I also ordered some of their Marinepoxy brand epoxy to give it a try. At a cost of around $50.00 per gallon when purchased in quantity it will save us $25.00 or more per gallon for the project and the plans call for 12 gallons. That’s $300.00 in savings, so I hope we like this stuff. I’ll let you know as soon as we get a chance to try it this weekend. I have a little bit of MAS epoxy left that I will use to spot weld the panels tonight while waiting for the materials to arrive and we can jump straight into taping Saturday morning.

The panel set up went so well I don’t have much to say about it. We did come up with the little jig pictured below to help hold the topside panel in place while we got the next ones in place. It is simply a 1” x 1” about 16” long fastened to a piece of masonite about 3” x 6”. We clamped these to the frames level with the deck and simply set the panel on it while lining up the next. I used maybe 4 screws to hold the panel to the frames but found that with the little jigs it was not necessary and they actually made it harder to stitch the panels so we removed them. After the bottom panel was in place and holding the other two up we unclamped them and moved them to the other side to complete it.

Here I must confess one error on my part. When I set the frames on the strong back I took great pains to set the angle of frame C. This is the frame with the companionway cut out. When I put the hull chine panel in place things just didn’t line up right. I scratched my head a while and thought, well they said there was room for some gaps and things may need adjusting after all the panels are on. Then in a flash of light I looked at the plans and saw my error. The top of the boat is of coarse upside down at this point and I simply angled the frame aft instead of forward. It would have made an interesting entry to say the least. Not wanting to take the two panels off Stephanie helped me realign the thing and low and behold everything fit like a glove. She didn’t even make fun of me!

If you have been following the forum at Beteau there is another SB 18 project starting up in St. Louis Missouri. Marcelo has his frames cut out and is ready to start building. We wish him the best of luck and look forward to seeing his boat on the water.

I also got an entry in the guest book from Larry A. expressing an interest in coming by to take a look at the project. Everyone is welcome to contact us and see first hand what its all about. I would prefer that most of you show up during the sanding process!

The skins are on...

2008-05-26T22:26:00.000-04:00

I'm not going to write much because it's late and we had a busy Memorial Day weekend but for everyone that is patiently waiting here are the pictures.

It’s getting sticky in here…

2008-05-24T22:40:00.000-04:00

Well, we stated gluing things together today and got all the hull panels done. We went back and forth on rather to reduce the panel thickness at each splice, but in the end I decided to go ahead and do it. Using the belt sander and 80 grit paper I took off about 1/16” by 3 ½” from each panel where the splices are making a 7” relief for the epoxy and 6” fiberglass tape. This will make the splices much fairer and should save a little frustration when it comes time to finish things up. We did this on the inner areas only as we have not decided rather to put glass tape over the exterior splices. This will be determined in the morning when we can uncover the splices and get a feel for there strength. After putting a bit of epoxy on the edge of the splice I then moved the panes to about 1/16” apart and filled the gap with thickened epoxy before pushing them tight. A generous coat of epoxy is next followed by the glass tape, covered with plastic and rolled out until the glass is clear to all edges. This technique yields a very smooth finish and if done right will require little or no filling of the glass weave. (for more information on this technique go to http://www.pbase.com/dr_dichro/electric_boat ). After everything looks good we place concrete blocks on the splice to hold it in place while the epoxy cures overnight.

By the way, you can’t fit an 18’ boat in a 25’ garage in flat pieces; you have to leave the end sticking out the door overnight.

Another area of debate is rather to pre-coat the entire panels before assembling the parts on the frame. Some of the more respected experts say yes while a few say no. I posted the question to the Bateau forum and got an overwhelming no. Jury’s still out on that one and I think I’ll read up on it in the Gougeon Brothers book while I fall asleep. There is no doubt about pre-coating the edges but the faces are in question.

Tomorrow we should start setting up the strong back and then the frames can be set in place. We hope to get the panels on the frames by Monday evening, which will give us our first look at a semi-completed SB 18 hull

.

Quick update…

2008-05-21T21:55:00.000-04:00

Just to keep everyone up to date midweek we have laid out all the hull panels and a few of the cockpit panels and should be able to get them cut tomorrow evening.

If you have followed the news for the Georgia area we had a tornado yesterday evening that touched down within a few hundred yards of our home. We received heavy pea sized hail, strong winds and over an inch of rain in less than 30 minutes. I have seen quite a bit of hail and some much larger than what we got but never this much so fast. I rarely get concerned when these storms arise in the spring as we’ve never had damage from one but yesterday made me a little nervous when the hail got so strong and then a sudden wind change. We were lucky this time and I think I’ll take the reports a little more serious from now on.

Also, we are getting readers from all over the globe on the blog and would appreciate everyone signing the guestbook. See the link above or to the right to view and sign the book.

Until the weekend when we hope to get some pre-coats on and start building the strong back everyone have a safe week.

A weekend’s reflection...

2008-05-18T21:51:00.000-04:00

It took a while but the answer to the mirror image issue came early Sunday morning. The sad part is it really wasn’t that big a problem. The plans most defiantly should be corrected to resolve this issue but I shouldn’t have tried to make it so complicated. I started out, as you know thinking of scanning the detail of the plans at issue and printing a mirrored image to get it to match the nesting plan. I would than sit down with pen in hand and write all the measurements on the print so that I could read them easily. Probably not more than 10-15 minutes work right? Well how about scanning the nesting plan and printing a mirrored image of that. It took about 2 minutes.

Now I only needed to solve the baseline issue. In boat building or cabinet making a 1/16th of an inch off can make a beautiful piece of woodwork look like the grandkids did it with a crayon and a handsaw and as you recall from the previous post I was concerned about being off by that much. This is not the case with the panels used to form the sides and bottom of the boat in what the designer calls a second-generation stitch and glue method. They even state that a little gap is preferred and allows the epoxy resin to bond the panels into a monolithic unit, so accepting that I simply determined the orientation of the first panel and snapped a chalk line. Working with a framing square and straight edge we laid everything out and in no time were cutting them.

So the update reads:

We had a great time at the ballpark today. For an 82-year-old, Mom can give any fan at the park a run for their money. The Braves won and we had a blast.

As far as the boat is concerned we got more done than I expected. We have the hull chine and hull topside panels cut out. I think during the week I can get the bottom, transom plates, cockpit and deck panels cut out leaving us ready to pre-coat all the panels with epoxy next weekend. While the epoxy cures we can begin building the strong back frame and hopefully be ready to set out frames during the following week.

We ran into a brick mirror…

2008-05-17T19:15:00.000-04:00

Well, all was going pretty good this morning. I got the last frame cut out first thing then after running a few errands and adding 8’ to the cutting frame I got the first hull chine laid out on the 6mm plywood. This was very straightforward layout work and we thought we had set the pace for the day. I found one small error in the plan here where a measurement was taken from a different base line than all the others. It was easily caught when we bent the batten across the points to mark for cutting. Using the circular saw to cut the large arced pieces (yes, you can cut arcs with a circular saw) I was done in no time at all. Then it’s just a mater of using the first one for a template, marking it, repeating the cutting process and tada it’s over.

I threw up 3 more sheets of plywood on the table after lunch in preparation for laying out the next panel, which was the hull topside. Here’s where it got ugly. It seems that in the program the designer used to draw the plans the hull topside panel got mirrored on the nesting plan. No big deal if you have a CNC machine cutting out parts but laying it out by hand got tedious real quick. Not only do you need to think in mirror you can not pull your marks from the edge of the plywood as the baseline runs at an angle in order to get the parts from the least amount of plywood. After working on it for a while I decided to come upstairs and scan the paper plans and print a mirrored image out. I can then sit down and write the measurements so there legible. With the exception of the baseline issue problem solved. I’m a little miffed as to what I want to do here. I can pull a line with a string and layout from that I suppose, even pop it in chalk I guess. I don’t like the idea though as a string can move and chalk lines can be 1/16” or more throwing the measurements off by as much.

I have come to the conclusion that I should scratch my head on this for the rest of the evening. If you have any ideas feel free to post them on the forum at http://forums.bateau2.com/viewtopic.php?t=16577

T.G.I.F.

2008-05-16T22:16:00.000-04:00

Well thank goodness another workweek has come to a screeching halt. It wasn’t such a bad one though as I did manage to get 2 more frames laid out and cut. In the morning we can get the last frame done and move on to precutting the hull skins. I like to think that we’ll get these completed but we’re taking Mom to the Braves game for her 82nd birthday on Sunday. No complaints about that, she’s a big fan and we don’t get to go as often as we’d like.

An interesting post came up on Bateau’s forum about some deeply discounted mast sections from US Spars. I haven’t heard back from them yet but expect to the first of the week with details and may consider a modification to the original plans with this mast. They are a little shorter (about 3’) and a heavier section than called for. They could be used as either a deck-stepped rig or a keel stepped reduced rig. I’m thinking deck stepped but will see. See the sidebar for a link to their site if you’re interested in more information.

If you have any questions the best way to contact me is through the thread we started on the Bateau forum at http://forums.bateau2.com/viewtopic.php?t=16577

3 by Sunday PM

2008-05-11T19:55:00.000-04:00

We had a great Mother’s Day and still managed to get 3 more of the frames cut out as planed. Everything has gone well so far and even though I said I wouldn’t post every frame we cut out I thought you may appreciate the update as we lined up the first four frames at the end of the day and you really get a feel for the scale of the boat. Wide stable looking lines are apparent with a sleek sport boat look.

Stephanie says we should include some tips along the way if there really is to be a point to documenting this project but so far I don’t know what to tell anyone taking on a project like this other than jump in and it will come together. There are some general woodworking tips I can give from previous experience as a cabinetmaker and carpenter. The first one is keep an electric pencil sharpener handy. I set mine right on the plywood while I’m laying things out. You’ll be surprised how fast your pencil will dull and you don’t want draw 1/8” lines and mess up the lines of the boat. Another old cabinetmakers trick is to use denatured alcohol to remove unwanted lines and mistakes instead of trying to erase them. It won’t harm or discolor the wood and it’s fast and easy. I like to make my center marks with a colored pencil and also laid out my baselines in color. Blue for centers and red for bases. For large arcs, but not more than about 34” I use a trammel and yard stick combination available at most hobby or art supplies. I don’t know if the big box stores have them but there worth tracking down or do a search online and order one. Just search for yardstick compass and it will come up.

It’s back to work in the morning but I hope to be able to get a little more done during the week. Even just getting the last 3 frames laid out would make the next weekend more productive. I also need to pick up more material during the week. Until then take a look at the gallery for new pictures and please sign the guest book. We would love to here any comments and words of encouragements.

It's official, we are under way...

2008-05-10T17:04:00.001-04:00

We picked up the 9mm plywood yesterday with no hitches and were pretty anxious to start the frames. I hauled the plywood around on top of the van all day to each job site and every time I saw it up there I’m sure I got a grin on my face. It was a long day though and by the time I got home I was beat and we unloaded the materials into the shop and got some rest. I had to run over to a job this morning and I was a little late getting started on the project but Frame A is cutout. The process of laying out the frame from the plans was a breeze. I first set a centerline and a baseline. From there it’s just a matter of working your way around the frame to complete it. I cut the radius with a 3” hole saw before cutting the rest with the circular saw. Leaving tabs at the corners helps hold the frame in place as you work around it and then simply go around with the jig saw to make the final cuts. I don’t plan to post each and every frame as we go so if you don’t see any changes on the blog assume I’m still cutting out frames and all is well. I can get 3 maybe 4 of the 7 cut out by the end of the weekend.

We decided rather than set the strong back up right away we should keep cutting panels while we have the max amount of floor space to work in, so I will need to pick up enough 6mm ply during the week for the hull.

I have included more pictures in the gallery if you would like to see them just follow the link to the right.

Scrap the foam…

2008-05-08T14:55:00.001-04:00

We just got back from the place that had the foam sheets and the stuff looked suspect at best. No labels anywhere to be found and beat all to heck made us decline this one. The plywood is marked plainly and we trust our source for that so we’re building out of BS1088 ply as previously planned. This will also prevent any more delays and have us cutting out bulkheads this weekend, cuts down on fiberglass work too. We have a local source for the plywood and I think we will be using them instead of shipping it from Florida ourselves. This will be easier to manage, as we won’t have to store anything while we cut out parts since space is at a prime around the shop. I mentioned earlier that we would get the ply from Bateau and if I didn’t have a local source I still would but buying local is something we always promote.

Looks like foam...

2008-05-08T11:45:00.000-04:00

I found a bunch of Divinycell H80 foam sheets locally and we are thinking of going with it for all the interior parts, deck and bulkheads. The designer, Jaques Mertens has forwarded the scantlings for its use and it looks very doable. Of significance here is the speed at which you are able to get information from the designer. I posted my questions on the forum and when I checked back in fewer than 30 minutes he had posted the response and emailed me the scantlings. More to come as we are really on our way now.

The plans arrive...

2008-05-05T17:56:00.000-04:00

Just as expected the plans arrived this morning from Bateau via DHL and after a quick look they are exactly what I had hoped. A found a few minor flaws right off but with the designers quick responses prior to purchasing the plans I expect this will get corrected as soon as I notify them. There are 12 pages of well-detailed CAD drawings and 8 pages of general notes. If your unfamiliar with Bateau you should look at their web site and you will quickly find a world of information about plans, materials, how-to’s and a forum where other builders trade info (as well as the forum geeks that have never built a bird house but are experts on boat building). I will be purchase the plywood and the bulk of the other materials from them as well most likely. I got a quote from them and was pleasantly surprised that the shipping from Florida wasn’t so bad as I expected.

I will give the plans a good look tonight and then I hope to be able to pick up materials this week and get started no latter than Saturday.

First step is to cut out the bulkheads and then I can build the strong back and get them set up. That should be a little more than two weekends worth.

The begining...

2008-05-02T10:23:00.000-04:00

The plans should arrive any day now. The garage is cleared and ready. Materials are at the yard-awaiting pick up and I am itching to get going.

Why the change of plans?

If you have seen our other blog “A Catamaran For Two” http://catamaran42.blogspot.com/ you know we are planning to build a mid sized catamaran for coastal and inland sailing. In the realization that a build of this size will no doubt take 2 years or more we have decided to build a smaller boat for much needed recreation during the interim. I wanted something that we (read I), could get on the water rather quickly at the nearby lake and occasionally take with us to visit the kids in Texas and Minnesota.

According to the designer the SB18 should be able to be completed in about 300-350 hours or in about 19 weeks of part time work getting us on the water in the fall for several weekends before the weather turns cold enough to run us back into the shop to dig in on the catamaran project.

Why the SB18?

Well, I’ve always admired the 650 Mini’s and the Open 30’, 40’s & 60’s but these boats are out of my league. This is the first sport boat type design that I felt would make a manageable build/sail possible.

It also uses some of the same building methods that we are accustomed to and will let use try some new materials such as honeycomb cores that we plan on using in the cat.