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ARRRRRG

 

 

Debbie made a sign out of a paddle for me to put over my flag.

I made a boat cover out of a tarp so that water will not drop into the cockpit. When I'm done building, I figure I can use it to make an extra set of sails. I like stuff that is multipurpose.  

Boat Cover

I was surprised that Debbie didn't say anything when I told her I'm gonna use the tarp for sails. I didn't know to leave well enough alone. I pushed the envelope the other day when I mentioned to her that I'm going to make a trolling motor out of a gas weedeater. The kind with the bend in the shaft. I figure I can mount it on the transom and attach a propeller to the end. It should push the boat along pretty good when the wind dies and a gallon of gas should be more than enough to keep me going all day. She couldn't keep quiet about that idea. I thought that telling her that I decided against the electric weedeater and a battery would show her that I really thought this through. You didn't hear it from me, but Debbie knows more "sailor" words than I realized.

On to the boat build. I put the seat braces in and I did pretty good with five of them. Unfortunately, there are six total. 

Seat Braces

As you can see, I had a little problem with the front port brace.
My first attempt ended up too far inboard.

This doesn't look like the plans.

I'm going to blame it on the fumes from the glue because I know that the beer couldn't have had anything to do with it. After all, I've been drinking beer for years and it's never made me glue a seat brace in the wrong place. I start using this fancy epoxy glue and the next thing I know, I'm putting a seat brace in the wrong place. That's my story and I'm stickin to it.
 
I decided that before gluing the seat bottoms down I wanted to fiberglass the bottom of the cockpit. I've never fiberglassed anything before so I figured that starting on a nice horizontal surface would be a good idea. Also, if I screw it up I can always put carpet or a wooden sole over it.

The first thing I did was fair out the deck using a piece of 1/4" plywood with an 18" belt from my sander stapled to it. The plywood flexes to the shape of the wood. I was going to put handles on it but it works just fine without them. I might add the handles when I start working vertically against the outside of the hull.

Faired Cockpit Sole

Then I put the fiberglass down. I spent some time smoothing it all out. It's pretty easy to cut and lays down flat nicely.

Fiberglass

The next step is to mix up some unthickened epoxy. I poured some out and used a piece of plastic to squeegee the epoxy into the fabric to wet it out. As the fabric becomes saturated it becomes transparent. I didn't worry about filling the weave at this point. The main thing is to make sure the fabric is down against the surface because you don't want to have air bubbles between the fabric and the wood. Here is what it looked like after it's all wetted out.

Wetted Fiberglass

I went around with a razor knife and trimmed off the excess fiberglass. After about 24 hours, I'm ready to put down more epoxy to start filling in the weave. It took a couple of coats to get it all filled in so that I can't feel the weave. I ends up looking and feeling like it's coated in plastic. After doing a little fairing it should give me a nice smooth surface to paint. Here is what it looks like. The seat bottoms are dry fit on the braces but you can still see how it looks. 

Fiberglassed Cockpit

If love bugs ever become extinct, I have their DNA preserved in my boat. The little suckers just dive bombed right into the wet goo. It sounds kind of gross, but I will sand out whatever parts of them that are sticking above the surface before painting.

The fiberglassing went just the way that all the manuals and forum posts said it would. I feel much more confident about doing the rest of the boat now. 

Before attaching the seat bottoms I wanted to paint the undersides. 

Underside of Seat Bottoms

While all of the the coats of epoxy and paint were drying I decided I wanted to test out having the boat on the trailer. I ate my wheates, plus some spinach for good measure, and just picked it up and slid it right on. It sat pretty well but I still want to do some adjustments. 

Trailer Test

Actually, that little crank on the front comes in pretty handy. And the rollers did what rollers do. The trailer tilts down so that the back end was on the ground. I just cranked it right up onto the trailer.

I took the time to cut out the hole in the transom for the tiller. Then I attached the block that the rudder will attach to. 

Rudder Block

Finally, here are the seats all glued, screwed down and the screw holes filled in with thickened epoxy. The pieces at the front are bumpers that will get attached to the front ends of the seats.  They are made out of cedar which is a nice soft wood. I laminated three layers together and then cut them out and sanded them. These will be much better to bang into than the pointy corners of the seat bottoms.

Seats Attached

 

At Least it Should Float

OK, I'm way past due for an update so this may end up being a long post. I've been working on things a little at a time. I got sidetracked a few times to do some other things around the house but that is another blog. One day our next door neighbor, Carrie, stopped by to ask Debbie and I if we would hold each others hand. The next thing I know we are married! It's a good thing that TJ and Brittainy happen to be there to sign as witnesses. We also had a few friends there and plenty of food so Carrie couldn't have picked a better time to pop over. Since Debbie has been so very supportive of my boat build I figure she's a keeper.

So to pick up on how things are going with the trailer, I listed the boat on Craigslist on Friday night and it was gone by Saturday afternoon at a pretty good price. Debbie has a friend who has a friend that happens to work on trailers for a living and does some work on the side.  I brought it to him to change out the springs and hubs, grease everything up, replace all the rusty bolts, put new tires on it, a new winch and a new folding jack stand with a wheel on it. He also repainted it with some kind of galvanizing coating. It took him a few weeks but he gave me a really good price. I could have done this all myself. Since he could get a better price on the parts than I can I think I saved a little money by having him do it. So that left me with this 

Trailer Refurb

  
 He didn't do anything with the bunks that the boat sits on including taking them off when he refinished it. Other than that I'm pleased with the job he did. I will recommend him to anyone who needs trailer work.

I ordered some bunk carpeting, rubber keel rollers and a set of glide-on posts. I've got a big ass truck with a topper on it which makes it impossible to even see the trailer when it's hooked up to the back of it. I doubt that I'll be able to see much of the boat when it's loaded on the trailer. I thought about ordering a back-up camera but decided that the glide-ons should do the trick. I still may end up getting a back-up camera because it's challenging enough for me to back the boat down a ramp when launching it when I can see it. It would really be a leap of faith to try it without knowing where the boat/trailer is. The only thing I need to do before it's road worthy is to rewire the lights because one of the tail lights doesn't light up. Here is what it looks like now. The truck is in the background so you can see what I mean about not being able to see the trailer.

Finished Trailer

 Now all I have to do is finish the boat.


In the last update I had finished cutting out the sides, seats and seat braces. The next step was to tip the boat over so that I could put one of the sides on. That way I could work with gravity instead of against it. Gravity has been kicking my ass all my life. Especially when I have too much to drink or eat. It's good to get some positive use out of it.

Hull Side

Then I placed the panels on and screwed them down with a couple of screws to hold the boards against the curves of the decks.  I drew a line as a guide on where I wanted to place the screws so that they will hit the middle of the stringers. I drilled and counter sunk the screw holes and started the screws so that they would be ready to go when I started the glue up.

Hull Side

I glued and screwed the starboard side on. Then, I flipped the boat over so that the other side was up. I decided that I wanted to caulk all of the seams with 5200. 5200 is marine caulk made by 3M. It's used extensively on boats especially to bed through hulls or any other area that you want a good seal on. It is sticky, very flexible when it dries and holds up well against the harsh conditions on a boat. The plans didn't call for it although the DVD shows them using it on the bigger Weekender yacht. The epoxy should be all that is needed but I figured it wouldn't hurt to have an extra measure of insurance, especially when it comes to keeping water out of the boat. Before installing the port side of the hull I went ahead and caulked the peak and lazerette because I knew that it would be hard to reach onto those two areas once everything is closed up.

Caulk

 
 Then I fitted the two pieces of the port side using a couple of screws to secure them while I prepared them to be permanently attached. I used a stick to mark where the bottom of the hull bottom was on the side by placing the stick against the hull bottom and putting my thumb on the stick where it hit the end of the side panel. Then I put the stick on the outside of the side panel and marked where the end of the stick came to. It's a lot easier to do than to explain. You can just make out the marks I made in this picture.

Port Side Panels

After attaching the side panels I had a complete hull. This is a big milestone for me and warrants two pictures.

Complete Hull From the Bow

Complete Hull From the Stern

I'll trim the sides down to where they need to be along with the ends to be flush with the transom. I finished caulking all of the seams. 

Sealed Interior

You can also see that I drilled and started the screws that will hold the stringer around the cockpit for the top of the seat back. Here is a little better shot of that. 

Cockpit Stringers

 I glued and screwed the stringers up under the deck. I had been thinking that I might need to go ahead and paint the inside of the hull before putting the seats in. Once the seats are installed it will be difficult to get at the sides. That led me to have to make a decision as to what color to paint the cockpit. Most cockpits are white but the thing about that is the reflection on a clear day can blind a captain even with sunglasses on. I am going with an off white to help cut down on the glare. Then I had to decide what kind of paint to use. Some people use regular house paint, some use floor paint, others use boat paint. My boat is going to be on the trailer most of the time so I knew I didn't need to use the expensive boat paint that keeps stuff from growing on the hull when it stays in the water. I decided to use Rustolium boat paint. I didn't even know they made boat paint but evidently a captain on a fishing ship back around the first part of the 20th century noticed that wherever the fish oil got on the deck of his metal boat that area didn't rust. His wife had been nagging him about being gone all the time so he quit fishing and started making paint. And that is how Rustolium paint was born. Not only did it work good on boats but it works on anything metal to inhibit rust. Of course I am building a wooden boat that shouldn't rust but I'm going to use their paint anyway because it is relatively inexpensive for boat paint and there are good reviews on the internet about it. I always believe anything I read on the internet. 

I went down to Walmart and bought up all of their oyster white spay cans of Rustolium paint. I told the guy he better hurry up and order more because I am on a mission and need a lot more cans to do my boat....... and I'm going to use it on my truck so that it matches the boat. 


Ok, I'll come clean. I'm making some of this up. I don't know that the captain had a nagging wife but if he was a crab fisherman on the Bearing sea I don't blame him for wanting to get out of the fishing business. A fellow could die from all the smoking and coffee drinking those Bearing sea captains have to endure. Errr, that's a bad joke and totally inappropriate. My appologies to the family of  Captain Phil, God rest his sole. (If I have totally lost you google "Deadliest Catch".) 

Ok, I am not using the spray cans from Wally world either and I'm not going to use Rustolium to paint my truck. They sell quart cans of Rustolium boat paint at Lowes and Ace Hardware. It's made specifically for boats not lawn furniture and wagons. I got their primer and top coat paint.

One last thing, I don't really believe everything I read on the internet (gasp!). I've read that there are businesses out there that go on the different forums and post complimentary things about their products. There are even businesses that contract with other businesses to do this for them. They call it "marketing". Of course, I read about this deceptive practice on the internet so you never know who is telling the truth or making stuff up. 

Hmmmf. I feel like I've been to confession. I'm going to go off and do my penance now. Man, did I get off track.


I can't just paint the hull and be done with it. The process is that first I need to sand starting with 80 grit sand paper. Then I move up to 120. Finally I get to 220 grit and am happy enough with the finish. Now I want to put a coat of epoxy on the wood to seal it. Then I sand some more before putting down two coats of primer sanding in between. Finally a couple of coats of top coat and I'm done. I like the color and I think it came out pretty good for my first attempt at boat painting. 

Paint Hull Interior

 To recap, my last post was in February, I spent March getting ready for the wedding, April was spend honeymooning and being newlywedded, not to mention recovering from all of that. I spent the month of May thinking about what I wanted to use to paint the boat and ordering some more epoxy and a roll of fiberglass. June came along and I thought I would get to do a lot on the boat but then Debbie decided to come through for a visit. Not my Debbie but the tropical depression that caused it to rain constantly for days on end. We got over 2 feet of rain! There was a lot of wind to go along with the rain as well. Right before going to bed one night I decided to go check the boat because there was a lot of strong winds blowing the rain sideways and I wanted to make sure it was ok.

When I got to the boat the old sphincter muscle tightened up a bunch. Good thing too because I probably would have pooped my pants if it hadn't. (potty humor - I always laugh in the face of adversity). The boat was full of about 6 to 8 inches of water. YIKES! The canopy cover had been blown loose and water was falling right into the boat. I secured the canopy and grabbed a bucket to start bailing. It took me a good 20 minutes to get the level down to where I could just sop it up with a towel. I knew I was going to need to buy a hand pump before taking the boat out but I didn't think I needed it during the build. Also, I've been debating whether or not to put a drain plug in. I have the plans from another boat builder to drill out a hole through the keel for a drain but I don't like the idea of doing that. I think I'll just put it to the side of the keel through the transom. I'll pull out the plug when the boat is on the trailer and have the bow tipped up to drain any water that finds it's way into the cockpit. I just need to remember to put the plug back in before launching the boat. 

I kept a close eye on things until the rain and wind stopped. The county was declared a disaster area and some people are still flooded out of their home. I decided to let the boat dry out really good for 4 or 5 weeks to see if there was any damage. I had already put the epoxy on the sides so I wasn't too worried about them. It was the bottom deck that I was concerned about. There were not any exposed edges that got soaked so I was optimistic that the top ply would dry out and be none the worse. I figured that the water should not have penetrated more than the first ply because the glue should have kept it from moving into the other plys. It dried up pretty well except for one spot where it separated and bulged up a bit. I don't think there was enough glue in that spot. I dug out all the the wood that de-laminated and what started as a small area ended up being about three times bigger. I wanted to make sure I got all of the loose wood out.

Bad Wood

You can see where there was a void in the glue between the plys. I mixed up a batch of epoxy thicked to a putty with wood flower and microballoons. I used this to fill in the void. After it dried I sanded it and I think everything will be fine.

Hull Bottom Repair

 
 I went on and sanded the rest of the hull bottom and coated it with unthickened epoxy so that if this should happen again the water should not be able to make its way into the wood. I intend to fiberglass the decks and seats before painting them which will help minimize the wear and tear. The fiberglass holds the epoxy so that you can put down several layers of goo. I didn't think fiberglassing the sides on the inside was necessary. I will fiberglass the entire outside of the hull though. 


It's kind of ironic to me that water can mess up a boat. On the bright side, if it holds water that means it should keep water out too right? Unless it's loaded down too heavy it should float. I have this recurring dream that when everything is done and I launch the boat for the first time it slides off of the trailer and just keeps going down until it sinks to the bottom. I haven't had it recently so maybe some good came out of this.


I think everything else is fine but time will tell. Once the epoxy is down you are stuck with whatever moisture level was in the wood at the time. I haven't even finished the build but I have already done my first repair to it. One good thing about a wooden boat is that if a piece goes bad you can cut it out and replace it using epoxy to seal and strengthen the repair.
   
Ok that should catch you up. The next step is to install the seats. Then I need to determine if I want to go ahead and do some more finishing on the top or flip the boat and work on the outside of the hull. Once I get the finish on the outside of the hull done I will probably go ahead and put the boat on the trailer. That is another milestone for me.

Wanna Buy a Boat?

No, I haven't given up on my boat build. Debbie said she won't let me use the sled I made to hold the boat while I build it as a trailer. She didn't give me a reason. She just said something about it being dumb, idiotic, assinine..... or something like that. I quit listening after she said, "What, are you a moron?" 

Plan B, I saw an ad on Craigslist for a 14' galvanized trailer at a good price. I bought it from a fellow who raises bees. I asked him if he ever got stung and he said "hell yes, constantly". I told him I really appreciate his sacrifice so I can enjoy my Honey Nut Cheerios. He even gave me a free bottle of Tupelo Honey with the trailer. Sweet! 

Trailer

As you can see, it came with a boat and a trolling motor on it which I plan to sell as soon as I get it titled in my name. It was kind of funny because when I went to look at it the guy wanted to point out how great the features on the boat are. He couldn't understand why I didn't comment on the interior and kept looking at the bottom of the hull. I thought about keeping the trolling motor but it's a bow mount then Debbie started muttering to herself and giving me that look again. The trailer itself is galvanized but there are several parts on it that are not. As soon as I get the boat off of it I'll start refurbishing it. It was the right price even with what I'll have to put into it, especially if I can sell the boat for a decent price. It's a fiberglass boat and I thought about sanding it, filling in the blemishes and repainting it just for the practice before I get to that part on my boat. Should it not sell quickly I may still do that. If you know someone who lives on a river, a lake or has an empty trailer that they need a boat for let me know. 


Well, I started sanding. The angle on the stringers on the decks are a compromise and work pretty good in the middle of the boat but as you work your way to the bow and stern the angle changes. I used the belt sander and a straight edge to make sure that when I put the sides on they will be flush up against the stringers. I didn't take a before and after picture so you will just have to take my word for it. I also worked on the edges on the rudder. The leading edge is rounded over a little and the trailing edge is sanded to a point. 

Rudder Leading Edge

Rudder Trailing Edge

Then I smoothed out and rounded off the rudder box sides.

Rudder Assembly

In between sanding I cut out the sides and the seats. 

The sides are made from two 1/4" sheets of plywood and were pretty quick. I just cut each sheet in half and then cut out the angles. 

Hull Sides 1

Hull Sides 2

Next I lofted two sheets of 1/4" plywood for the seats and seat backs. I did the same as before measuring out the station lines and using the nails and a stringer to loft the shapes.

Lofting the Seats

Lofted Seats

Then I cut them out. I'm getting to be an old pro at lofting and cutting the plywood pieces. Of course these are the last cuts I'll be making on plywood because the rest of the cuts from here on out will be cutting up sticks

Seats and Seat Backs

Seats

I also cut out the seat support pieces. I free-handed the front on one piece and then duplicated it on the rest. I'm more of a connect the dots sort of guy but I'm pretty pleased with how they came out. There is some ink writing stamped on one of them and it reminds me of Mr Spock.

Vulcan Seat Supports

The plans call for searching at the dump for discarded windsurfer masts for spars - really, I'm not making that up. I haven't gone to the dump because it's dangerous fighting off all the other rednecks besides all the really good stuff is dropped on the side of a dirt road in the middle of the forest anyway. Also, a fellow could get shot if Bubba thinks the windsurfer mast I found is a fishing pole. Another good reason to avoid it is that the dump smells like a dump. 

The windsurfer spars are very light weight and strong. I priced them out on the internet and even the used ones are pretty pricey plus the shipping is expensive as hell. The plans say as an alternative, you can use aluminum but they are too expensive as well. I needed to come up with a better (cheaper) alternative. I researched it and decided I can make my own spars. The video that came with the plans, which is for the next size up boat called the Weekender, show making spars out of a long 4" X 4". You just cut and sand it down to the shape and size you want. The Weekender is a little longer and heavier than the Skipjack because it has a cabin. I sent an email to the designer, Peter Stevenson, about getting the plans for the solid spars that the weekender uses. I thought it was a reasonable request because both boats use the same size sails. He responded that it wouldn't be a good idea to put that much weight aloft on a Skipjack since it is so much lighter than the Weekender.  Foiled again! 

I did some more research and came across a way to build hollow spars using the birdsmouth method. There are even some people who have used these type of spars on a Skipjack. Eureka!  It's called "birdsmouth" because of the way that you cut the side of eight staves. They nest inside each other in a circular pattern to form a hollow mast that only weighs about 60% of what a solid mast would weigh. The best part is that the mast only looses a small percentage of it's strength. Evidently, the wood in the middle is just along for the ride.  


To make the cuts you can use a table saw or it's even easier to use a router since they make birdsmouth bits. So I spent the money I would have spent on windsurfer masts to buy a router along with a table and a set of the special birdsmouth bits. The router will pay for itself eventually because I can use it to make a lot of different things. I bought some 1" X 2" X 8' wood that only cost $ 0.75 each and went at it. I loaded the bit into the router table and ran one piece through. After that I cut it up into approximately eight 1' lengths, nested them together using tape and rubber bands to hold everything together. When I make the actual spars I will glue all of the joints. The 45 degree angle at each joint give a large area for the glue to adhere to which makes for very strong joints. Here is the result.

Birdsmouth Test

Birdsmouth Test

It was pretty simple and I really like the result. Not bad for my first time using a router table. When I make the spars I will sand off the excess to make the outside round. I'll place solid pieces of wood in the center to reinforce the ends and wherever I need to through-bolt attachment points. 1" X 2" staves are actually 3/4" X 1 1/2". This made the outside diameter 4" and the inside diameter about 2". That's bigger than I'll need. I'll use the router to get the actual size of the staves down to 1/2" X 1" which will give me a spar 2 1/2" thick. This may change a little as I work with some calculators I found on-line to determine the best wall thickness for my needs. Another good thing about making hollow spars is that I can run wiring or even the sheets up through the middle. 

MR SANDMAN

So, I didn't goof off on boat building during the holidays entirely, but almost. It seemed like the weekends that were nice I had something to do and the weekends I could have done some work were cold and/or rainy. That's my story and I'm stickin to it. 

I made a few of the small but important parts.  They include the gussets that will connect the sides to the stem, the mast box, the joiners for the sides (since I couldn't find a piece of plywood that is fourteen feet long) and the stringers and gussets for the transom and lazarette.

Important Parts

My son TJ stopped by the day I was cutting some of these. That was good because he helped me figure out the compound cuts that had to be made and then flipped around for the opposing side. It could get a little confusing. I asked him if he would like to run the saw but he declined. He said that he didn't want to be responsible for the part that breaks and sinks my boat. Geeest! I guess I'll have to take all the blame myself then. My plan is to keep all the water on the outside of the boat. Wait, if any of these parts fail I'm sure it would be because they were cut at the wrong angle. Yeah, that's the ticket! I sure hope TJ had those angles right!!

Since I knew that I wouldn't get back to the boat for a bit I figured it would be good to "train" my lazarette to bend like it needs to. I used one of the ratchet tie downs from my truck and clamped the stringer to the top for good measure.

Lazarette Class

When I got back to boat building I started with the bow gussets.

Bow Gusset

Then came the mast box. 

Mast Box

 Finally, I attached the lazarette.

Lazarette

Quite a Bend

Ok, so you know how whenever you see someone on TV or in the movies who is building a boat they always seem to be sanding it? Well that's the part I'm starting to get into... removing wood  a few dust particles at a time. Also, remember how I told you that the epoxy is toxic? Not only do you not want it on your skin but it would not be a good thing to breath it in. This looks like a job for..................look, over near the cooler, able to yank splitters out with his teeth, more fierce than a belt sander. It's a martian. It's a alcoholic (well maybe just a little). NO! It's.................SANDMAN!! 

MR SANDMAN

Is that a snazzy outfit or what?

I Didn't Even Get Seasick

Here is a short video of one of the designers of the boat I'm building, Mike Stevenson, sailing the Skipjack on Tomales Bay just north of San Fransisco. It's good to see the designer actively sailing the boat I'm building. It was a cold and rainy day with a stiff wind. He said that he only got knocked down twice! It'll be awhile before I will be sailing in these conditions. This gives you a good idea of what it'll be like when I'm done boat building and start sailing.