So true: so true. I am satisfied with 90 percent of that side. I just have one spot that is giving me problems, and I am just about ready to say screw it. I know that when I get the glass on, I will find that I can't live with something I have let go, but if I stay here, I'll never sail this boat. The most frustrating thing about this part is the wait for things to set up so I can get at them again. In the meantime, I am building the rudder and starting on the sticks.
Al
Well, the hull is glassed and I don't see any spots that I can't live with or fix easily. I just finished up yesterday so the glass is pretty green, which is great for scraping. I have a little bit of scraping to do on each end, but it shouldn't take more than an hour. The filling and feathering of the bad spots seem to have disappeared under the glass when I look at it's reflection, so I doubt that I will be unhappy when I roll on some paint. Now I can fit the keelson and skeg which I will glue over the glassed bottom. I will paint the bottom only for now, after which I will roll her back upright and finish assembling everything. I only work on the boat when I don't have something else to do, so progress will probably be pretty slow. I am looking forward to fitting the interior pieces because that is what I do most of the time on other projects. I won't have this boat on the water this year, but next spring she should be everything I can hope for in a brand new build.
Al
I haven't exactly been breaking my neck getting things done lately, but there is some noticeable progress, so I thought I would do an update.
I have completed glassing everything below the waterline With only the stem caps to be added at a later date. The keelson is on, and the end grain of the plywood keelson protected both with a 3/8 by 3/4 pine strip and an epoxy fillet for the full length. Now the center of the bottom is 1 1/2 inches thick. Six hundred pounds of lead will be riding on top of that, so I think it was a good idea to add that in the plans, not to mention being able to beach the boat on it. The skeg is mounted and filleted to the keelson, but I haven't decided if I will also screw the skeg on in addition to the epoxy joint. That will have to wait until I have flipped the boat once more. The pic of the hull pre-paint, shows the pine edge as well as the fillet. I thought that all that was going to be a lot of work, but it turned out to be easy, and a ton of work.
In the pic of the painted bottom you can see that there is a good bit of the port side coated with paint. I had intended to only paint the bottom, but I had enough paint left over that I decided to check if the remediation that I did to hide the effects of having broken the side stringers was a success. With fairing, you can play around all you like, but you can't tell a darn thing until you slap some paint over it. As of now, I don't think anyone will be able to tell that I messed up. My scarf joints didn't turn out as well as I would have liked so I also painted over them to see if they disappeared, and yes, they did. So far, I am pleased with the job I am doing on the hull finish. I expect that it will turn out as well as Duckie's, which is plenty good enough for me. As I did on Duckie, I am not finishing the bottom to perfection. As long as it keeps the water out and stands up to the abuse I expect it will have to endure, I will be satisfied.
I have settled on the paint scheme based on what I can get locally, so the bottom up to the waterline will be red, partly for safety, and red and black were my high school colors. The sides will be black, because I build black boats. There will be a white stripe separating the two colors. If possible I will leave the stem caps bright. One of my sailing teachers is dropping by in ten days so I would like to have the bottom done enough to flip the boat upright. This guy is not entirely happy that I am building this boat, and I think I know why, so I want to run the modifications that I have planned by him to see if I am on the right track. In the end, I think that Indy will be unsinkable as well as not wanting to go turtle, or so I hope, so he should be a bit more on board.
Anyway, once I get her upright, I expect that real progress will be quicker.
Al
Really nice! I'm enjoying watching your progress. Wonderful photos.
Well, there is a bit more noticeable progress so I thought I would post it while I am waiting for some glue to set up.
I changed my mind about the color of the bottom when I found rustoleum had a hammered copper color in quarts. My original plan was to paint the bottom copper, but I hadn't found the right paint for the job, until now. I bought a couple quarts and finished painting the bottom up to the chines. This was some interesting paint. It rolled on like honey. There was a component in the paint that lifted when I rolled it out leaving some long strings behind. This concerned me but I waited to see what would happen and they disappeared. Another interesting thing about this paint is that you are supposed to recoat within an hour. I suppose you could wait for up to four hours because that is the limit that the can says you can wait, but I did it after an hour had passed. The first coat was stable enough that it didn't move around at all when I rolled out the second coat so in the end I got a nice even coat on. I had to wait a few days: almost a week, before I could handle it, but then I flipped the boat with no problem. As you can see by the pic, the finish is stippled, but it isn't bad so I don't think that it will affect the speed of the boat enough for me to notice. In the end I have three coats of primer, rustoleum topside paint, and two coats of copper top coat. That should be enough for a trailer sailer that won't get wet for extended periods.
I also painted the first coat of primer on the sides. I got a little carried away and painted places that I shouldn't have, but I expect that I can remove the little bit that shouldn't be there when the time comes. Right now the first coat of primer is dry and looking pretty good. I long boarded some of it to see how bad the glass job went, and found that all the bad spots disappeared pretty well. You can see some of that in one of the pics. I plan to long board the first coat of primer to see where I need to build it up a bit, then add some high build primer to those spots and sand the whole thing smooth. After that, I should be able to simply roll on the remaining coats, however many they may be, and end up with as nice a finish as I care to have.
Right now I am working to dry fit the cockpit sole, mainly so that it is easier to climb in and out of the boat while I have it on the floor. I finally used up the first of my plywood stocks, so today I will haul some more home. At least enough to finish dry fitting the cockpit.
The weather hasn't been cooperating lately, so my sailing hasn't been what I was hoping for. Instead, I am plodding along on the boat build which should make it a sure thing that I will have it at the Lake Pepin messabout next spring.
Al
You can wet sand the stipple out, progressing from 320 up through as smooth as your elbows will tolerate.
Rather than making the paint thinner by sanding, I was considering top coating it with a clear coat that is compatible with rustoleum, Mostly, I am thinking about how much this little bit of stipple will slow me down. I have seen a lot of bottom paint jobs that weren't very smooth, but never heard any complaints about it. I brushed some of this paint on a piece of plywood to see what would happen, and it came out pretty smooth. Maybe all I have to do is brush on another coat to smooth it out. I am going to paint the sides with the same paint up to the waterline after I have gotten the black done. I will monkey around with that and see if I might want to flip the boat over yet again to fix up the bottom.
I am pretty happy with the look of copper, and if this works out I will probably paint the bottom of my weekender with the same stuff.
Yesterday, I dry fitted the cockpit sole after I made a lumber run. It took a couple hours and came out pretty good. I can see where the plan falls short when it comes to making the sole stiff enough, but I have already made a plan to reinforce it without making it too heavy.
I got a chance to sit in the cockpit for the first time to get a feel of how it is going to look and feel underway. I can tell that I will have to sit right up next to the cabin, but that is just the same as with Duckie. I also got a feel for how long the tiller is going to have to be. There is also going to be plenty of back support from the combings. I really will be sitting down inside the cockpit. I can also see that there will be no hiking out with this one without making some extreme adjustments or special equipment.
Al
The stipple will not make any noticeable speed difference. It is a measureable difference, but so insignificant, it's not worth worrying about, unless a racer or show boat. If you clear over the stipple, it'll still show, though might feel smoother to the touch. The clear will also likely change the copper color a fair bit, so do a test first. Lastly, andold poor mans way to get show quality finishes out of cheap paint is to thin the crap out of it (50%) and roll it on, tipping if necessary. It'll run and sag, but this gets wet sanded out. You'll need 6 or 7 coats of this super thin paint, but the wet sanding will flatten it and as the film thickness bulks up with subsequent coats, each is smoothed in the wet sanding process, making a dead bang sweet surface. Of course, the drawback is you're sanding you brains out, but on home builts, paper and labor are cheap.
Thanks Paul,
It seems that you can tell when I am baiting you for a response. I am not going to go for a show finish on the hull because it invites everyone to look too closely. I prefer to hide my sins rather than repent. The finish that I have on my weekender is nothing but the result of rolling on with an ultra-fine foam roller. I don't do anything after rolling out the final coat. That finish has been pretty well received by most people and I am pretty happy with it. I use semi gloss for the topsides to both cut the glare and to hide my sloppy work. Works like a charm.
I am cutting and fitting fiddly bits right now, which is fun for me. I hope to have the cockpit dry fitted by the end of next week. If it keeps raining like it has been that should be no problem.
Al
What a crappy summer. Because of it, I am making some progress on the CY. I have been cutting out some of the larger pieces that make up the interior as well as painting the bottom inside areas getting ready to seal them off forever. Before I can glue down the next layer of panels I have to fit them and make some changes to the interior of the areas that will be closed off. For example, I decided that the way the plan lays out the cockpit sole, it will be too flimsy, so I scabbed in a stout board that runs down the middle of the sole and will support the plywood very well. Similarly, the bunk doesn't have enough support, so I have devised a frame that will both support the bunk panels and frame the access port for the storage area. I want to finish this up so that I can crawl into the bunk and see how it fits.
As I fit these panels to the boat I find that I am straightening out some of the bulkheads that warped while I was doing other things. So far the angles are pretty good and by following the plan I am able to get the joints fairly close. But by this point in any boat build that I have done, I am having to work to the boat that I have and not the ideal of the plan. Little mistakes and things that I overlooked start to show up, so I have to account for them. On this particular build it is beyond my skills to have put the bulkheads exactly square to the centerline, so the interior fits are off by sometimes quite a bit. In the end, it really doesn't matter. I massage what I can back into shape or simply cut to fit the mistake. To notice these little errors, a person would have to go over the boat with a tri-square and a tape measure. I'd kill the guy who did that.
Anyway, the pics show most of what I have done recently. The pieces do fit, but not necessarily as good as they are going to. You should be able to get an idea of the interior volume and layout. I think I am going to be pretty comfy in there.
Al