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.