Wednesday, October 30, 2013

The Utility: Chines finished. Fairing completed.

I have finally gotten the 2nd set of additional chine strips shaped down to my liking. I'm predicting that all of the faired surfaces will still have to be adjusted a little when the planking is being fitted. That's fine. For the most part, however, I believe the fairing phase is basically done.

The first part of the planking stage will be to cover the transom with a layer of the Meranti Hydrotek. My goal is to bright-finish the transom, and I want it to match the deck. Before I can add another layer onto the transom, however, I have to sand down some remnants of dried epoxy.

Here are some iPhone photos of the progress:


Starboard chine at frame #1.

Starboard chine at frame #1.

Port chine at frame #1.

I have to sand off these bits of dried epoxy before I can add another layer onto the transom.

Friday, October 18, 2013

The Utility: Progress on the 2nd set of chine strips

Fairing these additional chine strips is coming along pretty quickly. Here are a couple of iPhone shots to show progress on the starboard side.

Faired flush with the side of frame #1.
A little more work is needed to blend the ends into the curvature of the chine. It's getting close, though.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

New plywood & more chine fixes.

With G7 over, it was time to get back to work on the boat. 

In early October, I placed my order for 5 sheets of 1/4” BS 1088 Meranti Hydtrotek with Homestead Hardwoods in Ohio. I received my well-packaged crate of plywood just a few days later. Right off, I was more impressed with the Hydrotek than the Douglas Fir marine plywood I’d been using up to this point. The Meranti has a more attractive appearance, and a much smoother surface. It is also a 5-ply structure, rather than 3-ply like the Fir, so the outer and center plies are considerably thinner. I’m looking forward to using it to plank the boat, although I’ve read that Meranti splinters considerably when it is cut... we’ll see.


 
My crate of Meranti Hydrotek, fresh off the truck.
 
BS 1088 Meranti Hydrotek
Before I can plank the boat, though, I still have to finish fairing the framework. That means I have to deal with another problem along the chines.

Originally, I had cut 1” deep notches in the frames to receive the chine logs. However, the “1-inch” board I bought for the chines was in reality only 3/4” thick. This turned out to not be a problem, everywhere except frame #1. At frame #1, the chines ended up being recessed too deeply into the frame notches, leaving 1/4” of the frame extending past the chines on the sides of the boat.

1/4" of frame #1 extends past chine log.

1/4" of frame #1 extends past chine log.

Originally, my plan was to simply fair the frames inward to meet the chines. I changed my mind, however, and decided to laminate on a little extra material to this section of the chines, much like I did up forward. 

I cut two strips of 1-3/4” x 4’ Southern Yellow Pine from the most vertical-grained board I could find at Lowes. I planed these by hand down to roughly 3/8” thickness, and attached them with thickened epoxy , centering them with the 2’ mark in the middle of the frame. The next step is to fair these strips down to shape so that they form a fair curve along the length of the chine. Hopefully I can begin to plank the boat not long after that.


Dry fitting the 1-3/4" x 4' strips into place.
The port side strip clamped on while the epoxy cures.

Next step is to fair it down.