Another day of work

Stringers - Final Gluing
Originally uploaded by OzzyC.

Yesterday we did the final gluing of the stringers, and so far this is the part that Im most concerned about. We butt-joined the wider piece on the left to the narrow piece on the right. The now-joined stringer runs from the bow transom to the stern transom, and form the entire bow-to-stern frame pieces.

My concern is that that well break this specific joint in the period between when the joint dries and when we actually mount the pieces. Id highly recommend using a two-person moving method with these completed pieces. Set the stringers vertical (so theyre facing the way they will face when finally installed). Have one person lift with one hand on either side of the joint in this picture, and one person lift toward the back of the narrow section. I may do another video on this to more efficiently demonstrate what Im talking about.

But Im digressing...
Lets assume this joint is as strong as Id hope it should be... lets concentrate on what we did to set this butt joint... As usual, saturate all of the surfaces to be joined with unthickened epoxy, and saturate the fiberglass tape. Lay a coat of thickened epoxy on butt joints. Lay the plastic on the floor. Lay the bottom piece of fiberglass tape roughly where you want it. Set the boards on top of the bottom piece of fiberglass tape, and preset the butt joint. Lay the top piece of fiberglass tape on top of the plywood butt joint. Lay a piece of plastic on top of all of this. Use a square to get a precise 90 degree angle, as the picture hints at. Then use a piece of scrap wood, and temporarily screw the scrap wood to both sides of the butt joint. This will help keep the butt joint from floating during the curing process.

Remember, if you click on the picture, you can see the picture complete with comments and tags on the pics that can help you visualize what Im discussing. Again, the picture is courtesy of www.flickr.com

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Another Shot of the Hull

Hull2
Originally uploaded by OzzyC.

In this picture, weve still got weights on the front end, because we havent filleted the inside transom joints with thickened epoxy yet.

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Finished Taping the Seams

Glassing the Hull 003
Originally uploaded by OzzyC.

Greg got the front and rear transom joints taped. The corners have six layers of fiberglass on them. They should be able to withstand a direct blast from a nuclear warhead.

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Glassing the Hull

Glassing the Hull 011
Originally uploaded by OzzyC.

This picture shows the front half glassed and epoxied. If you look closely at the picture, you can see the line where theres no top layer of epoxy.

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Finished the Stringers

Reinforced Stringer 4
Originally uploaded by OzzyC.

Greg and I talked about my concern with the weak stringer joints, and he came up with a solution. But then again, Gregs an engineer, so why should I have doubted him in the first place, right? Greg cut out a gusset ("gusset" is a fancy-schmancy word for "piece of scrap wood designed to hold our stringer together temporarily") and screwed it to the stringer, providing a great temporary brace. The gussets will stay on the stringers until were ready to set them in place.

In addition to adding the gussets, we cut off the excess fiberglass tape and lightly sanded both sides of the stringers, mainly focusing on smoothing out the fiberglass joints.

If youd like to see a quick video synopsis of the days work, click here.

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Another reader question

Heres another question/comment from Squid.

---Begin Original Comment---
Looking good guys, did you order the pre cut kit for this boat? Do yo think it saved you a bunch of time? I dont think I could afford to get the kit for one of these big boats I would probably get enough wood at a time to do the hull and then buy more for the rest. keep up the great work guys you inspire me. cant wait till I build my next boat. It will either be this one or the HB-20, possibly stretched to a 22 (feet). You can strech by 10 percent.
Squid
---End Original Comment

Yessir, we did order the precut kit, and theres no doubt in my mind that its saved us a boatload of time. (I hope youll forgive the irresistable pun.) It saved us the hassle of measuring the dimensions of each piece -- and remeasuring, because were picky. It saved us the time of cutting each piece by hand, because they pre-routed everything, leaving us just small tabs to cut, and the kit may have even saved Greg some money, because he likely would have wasted more wood than the makers of the kit did. Okay, it didnt save any money, but it definitely saved us a lot of time. The big benefit of buying the kit is saving time. The biggest benefit of cutting the pieces yourself, as you alluded to, is that you can spread the cost out over a longer period of time by buying stuff as you need it.

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A Well Deserved Vacation

Its All About Friendship
Originally uploaded by OzzyC.

As I mentioned in last weeks post, we took the week off so we could attend our annual guys week vacation. Click here to view the pictures. You can also see a short video of Dave surfing Gilmores Mistake on the Wolf River, or a video of kids rafting the Wolf River.

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Filleting

Front Transom - Inside - 2
Originally uploaded by OzzyC.

In this picture, we are filleting the gap between the hull and front transom. In the picture you will notice the large gap filled with thickened epoxy. You see the stringer in the left-top of the picture, and you see that the stringer is covered with plastic, in order to prevent the stringer from sticking to the transom or hull during the epoxying process.

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Another Minor Milestone

Taping 002
Originally uploaded by OzzyC.

We havent done much the last couple of weeks, because my wife and I went on our honeymoon. Greg did a little work while I was gone, but not a whole lot... mainly a few last-minute things before doing what we did last night... laying tape!

Thats right, we laid tape on the three long seams. Greg said that hed to the transoms today, so we have not only a good physical bond, but a good chemical bond with the epoxy as well.

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