A little more painting

Its October, and with it have come the low grey clouds, rain, and cooler temperatures to usher it in. It was a beautiful day.

I got a little more painting done on the boat tonight... working on that center section I epoxied a few days ago. Its slow going, painting it with a brush. Hopefully Ill make some more progress on it tomorrow.

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Fitting the Utility’s port side planking — and a little more progress on the Zip

Having previously used the starboard side planking as a template to draw and cut the port side, fitting the port side planking was relatively quick and simple. Busy days full of other obligations have meant that I’ve had to work on the boat incrementally... 20 minutes here, 45 minutes there... but, its getting done.

Thanks to a little help from my daughter, I’m now most of the way through driving the screws to hold the planking down. The new DeWalt titanium drill bits I bought have been a real pleasure to work with, particularly since my older ones had become almost too dull to use.

Dry-fitting the forward port side planking.

February brought with it an unusual amount of snow this year. In addition to school cancellations, there were a few days when I got snowed-in at home. I took advantage of these days to draw out the construction drawings for my Zip on a big sheet of eucaboard.  I drew the frames out as they would overlap one another, based on their shared x,y axis & set-up level. This will be a great reference for checking  the frame parts for accurate shape & for assembling the frames. It is also a very useful tool for checking the relative dimensions of various aspects of the hull.

My Zip construction drawing on a big sheet of eucaboard.

Last Christmas, I received a copy of How to Fiberglass Boats, by Ken Hankinson, along with the accompanying DVD. I finished reading it recently, and I’ve enjoyed watching the DVD. It’s useful information for those, like me, with minimal experience at working with fiberglass. It takes a lot of the mystery out of the process, and its very helpful to watch someone else actually doing it. 

Additionally, the book is very enlightening about precautions to take when working with epoxy.

With any luck, Ill be able to fiberglass the Utility’s hull before summer.

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Forward frame is fit!

After a couple of hours of trying to get this frame in place, i finally figured out how to do it.  i put blocks aft of the frame to keep it from slipping and a couple of strategically placed sheetrock screws.  Then, I put a marine battery on top to weight it against the bottom.  It looks pretty good at this point. 

Will let it sit overnight and then begin tabbing in place.  

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3d day

Went 3d with a small hiccup.  One crack to mend....

In the course of unfolding the stitched  halves.  the starboard bottom panel did a reverse flex and cracked just before the bow.  will patch with glass on the inside and sand smooth.  nothing terminal yet.  I did need to add a little reinforcement at the bow to get things lined up better.  It is pretty spectacular when this thing unfolds.  I recommend an extra pair of hands here.  

This crack was not as bad as it looked.  a couple of layers of glass set in epoxy on this side, backed up by a scrap piece of 1/4" ply set over release film and screwed in place created an almost invisible yet strong joint.  Sad to say, I have had to do this process many times while building boats.

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A little touch up Pull the tape

There was a spot on the transom where I hadnt taped it accurately, and that left a little unpainted notch in my "waterline." So, I touched it up the same as Id painted it... 2 coats of primer, 2 coats of paint... just with a small brush instead of a foam roller.

After it all dried, I pulled the tape off. Soon it will be time to tape off the bottom and the transom, and paint the sides of the hull.

First, Ive got to drill a hole for the bow eye.

Oops.

2 coats of primer.

2 coats of paint.

The un-taped transom.

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Laminating the front seat More painting

I decided to start working on the forward thwart. Both thwarts are cut from 22/32" AC exterior-grade plywood. My plan is to laminate 1/4" Meranti plywood onto the top, so that the seats will match the deck and the transom.

My original plan was to stain the sides of the lighter-colored AC plywood. However, Ive changed my mind & now plan to paint the sides Sea Foam Green to match the accent color on the sheers.

The forward thwart is 12" long x 45" wide at the base. (The sides are bevelled, so the top is wider than the bottom). Luckily, I had a piece of Meranti large enough to use, so I dont yet have to cut into one of the remaining sheets.

I cut out the middle section of it, arranging it so that it will have an attractive grain pattern showing on the top of the seat.

Grain pattern for the forward thwart.

Then I turned it over and coated it with epoxy. I coated the mating surface of the AC plywood thwart with epoxy, and stuck them together. Since the whole thing was laying flat, with flat mating surfaces, I did not use thickened epoxy. I weighted the thwart down with concrete blocks and a paint can to get good adhesion.

I set the whole thing on waxed paper to avoid accidentally gluing it to my working surface.

With the remaining epoxy from the batch, I added a 2nd layer to encapsulate the aft section of the boat. I got the port side done before I ran out of epoxy. Once it cured, it was ready for paint.

Half of the aft section with 2 layers of epoxy.

Once the epoxy on the thwart cured, I put the whole assembly in my bench vise for further work.

First layer of Whidbey White painted in the aft section.

Cleat removed from the port quarter knee; quarter knee taped off, and more paint applied to the back.

A light frosting of paint on the underside of the thwart.

A third coat of Whidbey White on everything but the transom.

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The Utility Finally a little progress

After being held up by various delays, including a week of unusually harsh winter weather, Ive finally made a little progress. Ive added the first coat of epoxy to encapsulate the stem, as well as the undersides of the breasthook, sheer, and chine at the forward end of the boat.

These surfaces will need 2 additional coats before Im ready to resume planking.

It is possible that my epoxy mixture was not entirely accurate; or that the curing process was slowed by exposure to cold temperatures; or a combination of the two. Whatever the cause, it is taking a considerable amount of time to cure. It is, however, progressively curing. 

This happened to me once before, early-on in my Squirt build. Some epoxy that I applied during rather cold weather remained pliable for a couple of days. It did eventually harden, however. I will know in a couple more days if this batch is going to fully cure or not. I think it will.

The forward end of the boat, all taped up for encapsulation. This is so I wont get epoxy on the surfaces where the planking will attach later.

UPDATE: The epoxy did eventually cure, although it took 2 days. I had mixed and applied the epoxy in low temperatures on the borderline of the 50 degree F limit of the Silvertip slow hardener.

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Its the little things

A caveat with this design.  Most of the instructions for building the basic hull are densely packed on the hull assemble sheet.  I did not do a couple of things correctly, and had to spend time correcting later.

1.  taper the stringers on the sides.  If you dont you will have problems when you stack and tape the panels
2.  Shape the stem BEFORE you unfold the butterfly.  You will get a nicer line.  My forefoot is too straight so is not as pleasing aesthetically.
3.  Get a helper when you unfold the panels,  this will limit breakage and surprises.
4.  Read, read, read.  I think I will put together a better punch assembly key step by step to help with the build of another.  It is not a difficult boat to build, but attention to detail is important.

Here are some pictures of the beginning of fitting the frames.  The center one is temporary.  The others get wired in for gluing.  Only after I am satisfied that all in in alignment will I epoxy any seams.

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hmmm not straight and little errors

I need to find out which bottom panel is incorrect.  The center station is either too wide on one, or too narrow on the other.  will measure the center frame to see where the error is.  I also cut the side seat stringers an inch too short.  It should not matter much.

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and a little more painting

The middle section of the boat now has 2 coats of Whidbey White on it.

I think its going to take a third coat, at least, to look right. The dark shades of the wood, and definitely the dark epoxy that Id thickened with mahogany sawdust, are still showing through the paint in several places.

The other news that Im happy to share today, is that I have received both a H.I.N. (Hull Identification Number) and a boat registration number from the state. Soon Ill be attaching the registration number decals to the front of the hull. Id like to find some sea foam green decals that match the bottom paint.

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