Ahoy fellow enthusiast's.
Well I'm back on the build again, I framed in my seats and glued the front's on and am about to go out and glue the top's on.
I am not cutting in my hatches to get under the seat yet, I will cut them into the top of the seats after they have been glassed, i chose to do the tops instead of the fronts for my access as Craig had said there was some water troubles, I will cut them on the seat top's and I will gasket the frame underneath each access pannel.
As soon as I get them glued and screwed down I will begin to fair the top and cockpit to be glassed. hopefully within a week i will be done with this and can then flip the boat over and do the same to the bottom.
after all the weather and time. I must say my choice of merenti was a good one, No rot, shifting, nor checking after these 5 year's. she's in good shape {so far} I havent added my touch to it yet lol.
I will try to get a couple pics taken and loaded later today.
It feels good to be back on it and making way.
Brian.
Well, the seat's went in famously i did have to cut 1"x6" on the rear of the right seat. It was the only way to fit it on the sheet, No biggie it still hit's the stringer and screwed down. As for the missing wood I filled it in with thickened epoxy, I used wood flour to thicken the epoxy.
I was Planing and sanding the cabin top and gunnal's tp blend it all in, and i found some splitting in the stem.
It is on both sides,in the same location. About an inch out from where the sides attach to the stem following that line. If IÂ pull hard enough to the left and right, It does move a little bit. this part of the boat wont really get wet as it is high up.
I was wondering what I should do to repair this. When I began construction of the boat, I really had no idea about wood's. Differant types and such so, I used pine 1x12"'s. from my lumber yard I do believe it is syp, I hope so anyway. I did soak the keel with rot doctor epoxy when I first constructed it.
Should I mud it in with epoxy, Or mud it in and attatch a thin piece of wood to the area on both sides?
Or, any suggestions would be graciously recieved ???
If I'm understanding your troubles right, brian, maybe it would be a good idea to 'glass the sides of the keel and stem when you do the sides and bottoms. I wouldn't do all the way around so it covers the front and bottom of the keel/stem timber, but a layer of 'glass over the sides would stabilise them. I think.
When you buy 1x12's from the local store, you're buying flat sawn material. In most cases this means the edges of the 1x12 are quarter sawn which doesn't move that much, but the center of the board is flat sawn, which moves a lot. This disparity causes splits, checks, etc. and really weakens the 1x12 as a board across it's face. Had the 1x12's been cut down the middle and then glued /screwed into position (as 1x6's), you'd have much less issue with this, but . . .
As you've also learned "Rot Doctor" and for that matter all other penetrating epoxies aren't water proof, other wise you'd not have moisture gain occurring within the keel assembly. Moisture gain/lose, is an inevitable environmental condition, that only encapsulation can cure.
You could back fill with epoxy, but since the deadwood assembly isn't truly "encapsulated" then this too will probably pop out in time (more movement). It's likely this area will contract and expand with use, relative humidity and stress over the years, so I'd look to use something soft in the splits, not hard. This will let it move as the wood so feels inclined. Polysulfide would be my first modern material choice, maybe a polyurethane if high enough up. Rosin and bee's wax would be the old school method, though this is a mixture that's becoming increasingly more difficult to find.
I wouldn't 'glass the keel, mostly because this will just lock in more moisture and leave a smaller surface area for it to leave.
Yeah I do realize this keel probobly wont last a long long time. I kind of already had that feeling, as I used plastic resin glue to assemble it. Then I used rot doctor on the outside of it.
I used merenti and fir and epoxy for everything else from there.
I will most likel,y within a few season's, have to build and install a new keel. But I feel the rest of the boat has been built with good material's, and will last a good long while.
When I do it, I have a photo of a keel you and craig desighned a few years ago for the sarah lee and like what I saw because of the shape, it looks as though it could get into some good coastal cruising.
I have a half ass'ed design of a, I dont know what to call it, but a daggerboard?
 It will swivel down and drop when in use and can be swiveled back up when not.
Ok back to buisness, I was calking my seats in today using my coveted 5200, and was thinking,
{uh-oh}
But would that do well for a filler for the split wood on my stem?
maybe run some rot doctor I have left down deep inside it, just in case of any rot, and to get rid of the rest of the stuff I have left.
But do you think the 5200 would do well there?
Rot Doctor isn't water proof, so you can pour all you want, it'll still let moisture at the wood. 3M-5200 would fill the gap, but the damage is likely done. When it's real bad, we'll toss a PAR keel on the old girl and she'll be better for it. The 3M-5200 will give you some time, assuming the delamination is minor.
Brian I just checked out Rot Doctor, is this a first build or a restoration ? We'r building a weekender and the first thing we did was buy a shelter, even in New England it's high and dry and will continue the build in the Spring when weather permits.
When did ypu start your build?
Alan
I squirted 5200 in my keel cracks and it just came back later....it's a hopeless problem that I haven't found a solution for yet. I've used epoxy, and 5200 the cracks just expand and bust the filler apart again...glassing it didn't help either. It's a wood boat and wood boats have cracks in em....least that's what I tell myself and anyone else who asks.
This is a classic example(s) of true encapsulation techniques. If a builder follows the recommendations of the epoxy formulators, each piece of wood is embalmed in goo, making it dimensionally stable and unable to absorb moisture. This requires a lot of epoxy and lots of diligence in application.
If on the other hand, you apply epoxy as a paint and just on exposed surfaces, where as fastener holes, cut outs or other portions of the partly coated pieces are still raw wood, well then you have not stabilized the wood and it will act like wood does. This causes the wood to change dimension with environmental changes and since the partial coating prevents some of the moisture in the wood from escaping, it eventually causes rot.
Point is, if done right, you can take apart a boat you built 20 years ago and the wood will look like the day you installed it (I recently had this pleasure). If you don't encapsulate every square inch, every fastener hole and nook or crannie, then you can expect issues to pop up pretty quickly.
I did do all the particular's like;drilling out larger holes and filling with epoxy and then drilling the epoxy, and filled all the hole's. The biggest mistake I made was not encapsulating the keel wood. plus, truthfully, I dont think the wood I used on the keel is really any good, However if i had encapsulated it completely I would have faired much better. The one thats there, I will use till it need's to be junked as I built and paid for it.
I will do what I have to do to make it last as long as I can though lol. It makes me think. I wonder if a keel could be made out of merenti. It would match the boat, and so far the stuff I have on the boat is really good stuff! It's great under weather condition's as well. Maybe use merenti and encapsulate? yeah It would cost a bloody fortune I bet though.
See when I first built the keel, ummm {5 years ago} ahhem, I really had no idea what I was doing, and trust me I have learned quite a bit about it since, But when I first began, wood, glue? all were the same to me, Till I used some of it.
I used plastic resin and ss ring nails, and ss screw's. To construct the wood. then I drilled out holes and coated with rot doctor and then filled the holes with west systems thickened epoxy.
Then installed ss bolts and nut's to pull it together, I put them all over the keel, and then backfilled with thickened epoxy, all this with the rot doctor still curing.
I learned I liked epoxy at this point, and ordered 15 gallons from rakka. and used it fo absolutely everything since
Yeah Allen I have a shelter. I built most of what I have in there. I rolled it out into the yard to do some work to it, and now after I fair and glass the top and get it rolled over, I will put it back into the shed, the portable car/boat shed rock's. However it does need to be retarped this year as it does have some leak's.