More fairing on the Utility. This time, the transom.

Warm greetings from Barnacle Mike’s crowded little boat shop. You know, one of the great things about the boatbuilding community is the fact that you meet some really cool people, both online and in person. The level of support and insight that you get from more experienced builders who kindly share their knowledge and give advice can truly help a newbie keep pushing his or her project forward. I’m very thankful for that.

An online boatbuilding friend, who has also been kind enough to follow my blog, sent me an e-mail the other day asking about the status of the Utility. It does seem like I’ve been paying a bit much attention to the Zip project lately. Truth is, I have still been slowly, slowly... s-l-o-w-l-y... fairing away at the Utility all the while. Still, his inquiry about its status gave me a little more motivation to get off my “transom” and put more elbow grease into getting the little boat past the fairing stage. (Thank you, Paul!)

So, that’s just what I did Saturday, fairing away at the transom sides until they were finished. The starboard side had a bit more excess material than the port side. So, I roughed it in with the belt sander, then worked it the rest of the way down with the mouse sander. Unfortunately, I did not follow the “best practice” of checking my work frequently with my test piece of plywood. (I thought the transom sides would be a no-brainer. I was wrong.) When I tested my “finished” work with the plywood, expecting to feel a broad smile cross my face as I witnessed my handiwork, I was disappointed to see several gaps appear. The culprit was an overly sharp bevel in a couple of spots. More gaps to fill with thickened epoxy. I’m getting pretty good at that, if I do say so myself.

Needless to say,  I was more cautious with the port side. I also went about it a little differently. This time, I started by carrying the line of the sheer and chine through the transom material first. Then, I “connected” the two spots by fairing the area in-between. This time I alternated between the mouse sander and a small block plane. I worked slowly and purposefully.

The results were much, much better.

I do still have a good bit more fairing to do, primarily in the mid-section of the boat. I also have to make a decision about the chines in that area, (more on that later). I could’ve worked on all this Sunday. However, yours truly decided he needed some time on the water. So, I spent the day canoeing. I’m sure you understand.

By the way, I met another boatbuilder out on the river. He was piloting a very nice-looking red drift boat upriver. It looked about 16’ long. The handsome-looking boat glided smoothly through the water, pushed by a silent electric trolling motor. He proudly said “yes” when I asked if he’d built it himself. He had some very nice things to say about Don Hill’s drift boat plans before we each went our separate ways. 

Yep. You’ve gotta love the boatbuilding community.

Starboard transom-chine joint after fairing.

Starboard transom-chine joint after fairing.

Starboard transom-chine joint after fairing

Starboard transom-sheer joint after fairing. As you can see, I've got a heck of a gap in that "Marine-Grade" plywood that I'm going to have to fill.

Port transom-chine joint before fairing.

Port transom-chine joint before fairing.

Port transom-chine joint after fairing.

Port transom-sheer joint before fairing. Notice all that epoxy thickened with #2 silica?

Port transom-sheer joint after fairing. I still have some thickened epoxy to file away.

Drawing out the next major Zip part

At first glance, the Zip has some rather odd frame designations.... Specifically, frame number "5-1/2".

It seems odd until you understand that the designations are logically based on boat design drawings. If you look at a cross-section drawing of the boat, there are several vertical lines that divide the hull into sub-sections. Each one of these vertical lines is called a "station." The numbering starts at zero (the transom), and ends at "F.P." (which stands for "Forward Perpendicular") at the foremost tip of the boat. In the case of the Zip, there are 8 stations including "F.P.", dividing the hull into 7 sub-sections of about 24-1/2" each. Frame # "5-1/2" is the frame placed between stations 5 and 6. It is located near the base of the stem.

Frame number 5-1/2 is a very important part. As the instructions indicate, the horizontal line formed by the floor member of frame # 5-1/2 is the plane from which the rest of the boat is set up. The instructions specifically state to take extra care to ensure that this part is accurately measured and constructed.

I just finished drawing this part, and I thought it would make a good blog post to illustrate how the Glen-L plans are copied to the wood.

First of all, you fold the carbon paper in half, so that the lines you trace through it are transferred to both the wood AND the back of the actual plans. Then you place the plans on the wood, and flatten them down securely. Push pins help for this.

Secondly, trace the plans for the part you want to build. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the centerline is THE crucial reference point for the boat. ALWAYS carefully draw the centerline. Make sure you extend your traced centerline beyond the needed dimensions of the part, for this reason:

Third, draw "sight holes" that are centered on the extended part of the traced centerline. I like to trace a small coin for this purpose. Use an exacto knife to cut your sight holes through the paper. You'll need these holes to align the plans after you flip them over.

Here I've traced out the floor timber, and have cut sight holes on the centerline.

Next, remove your push pins, plans, and carbon paper from the wood. The half-width of your part should be clearly visible.

Half-width of the floor timber drawn onto 3/4" Douglas Fir marine plywood.

Now, un-fold the carbon paper, and place it normally onto the wood where the second half of your part is to be drawn. Flip the plans over, and you'll see the carbon-copy you made on the back of the plans. Carefully and accurately align the sight holes on the extended centerline that is traced onto the wood. Again flatten the paper down securely. Now you're ready to trace the second half.

Plans flipped & aligned. Ready to draw the second half of the floor timber.

Trace the carbon-copied lines onto the wood, just like you did the first side. When you're done, the full part will be drawn onto the wood.

The full floor timber drawn onto the wood, waiting to be cut out.

Still fairing

The long, slow and laborious process of fairing continues. I was happy that over the weekend, I did make port and starboard contact at the bow. Although it's hard to tell if it's just the angle of the photo, it looks like I need to balance the symmetry of the joining sheer lines. I also have a small gap there on the front starboard side that I need to fill with epoxy.

The great news is, even though fairing is taking a long time, it is getting closer to being done.

Zip stem construction

Today's blog post is about assembling the stem for my Glen-L Zip. The Zip's stem, as with many Glen-L designs, is made from two identically shaped pieces of 3/4" marine-grade plywood, laminated together with marine epoxy and fastened with silicon bronze screws.

This is now the third stem I've built; the other two being for a Squirt and a Utility. Learning from previous experience, I did a few things differently this time.

First, I spent much more time and care in shaping the pieces beforehand. I feel very comfortable this time around with the shape being correct.

Second, I used less epoxy. The other two times, I globbed a bunch of thickened epoxy on, just to make certain there was enough. In reality, that just creates more of a mess, because the majority of it squeezes out.

Third, I kept a putty knife ready to scrape away the epoxy that squeezed out from between the two layers of plywood. This makes for much less sanding afterwards.

Also, having learned a tip from a fellow boatbuilder, I used an awl to quickly align the pre-drilled holes before driving the screws back in. This proved to be a great time-saver, since it can be a little tricky to mate the holes back together with epoxy spread over the wood, (particularly while wearing latex gloves, goggles, and a respirator).

For the epoxy, I used Glen-L Poxy Shield, thickened slightly with #2 silica. Poxy-shield is mixed in a 5:1 ratio, using 5 parts resin to 1 part hardener. It can be hard to find very small mixing cups in order to measure small batches of epoxy, so I've used my own method. I take a regular off-the-shelf mixing cup, and measure the distance between the pre-printed volume marks. So far, all the cups I've used had a distance of 8mm between the 4oz and 8oz markings. So, I add marks every 2mm between them to show the 5oz, 6oz and 7oz lines. That way, I can pour in 5oz of resin, then add hardener until the mixture reaches the 6oz line. There are, no doubt, more accurate ways to go about this. However, this way is quick, simple, cheap, and effective.

Perhaps not the most scientific method, but it works.

After mixing and thickening the epoxy, I spread it out on the mating surfaces of each stem piece, making sure the whole area was covered. Then, I put the pieces together & aligned a couple of holes with the awl. I dipped the silicon bronze screws in a little epoxy, then drove them down into the holes. Then, I clamped the pieces together solidly, driving the screws in further as needed. Afterwards, I scraped away the epoxy that had squeezed out from between the layers before the epoxy became unworkable. Then I left it alone to let the epoxy cure overnight.

Everything ready to go: Stem parts, Poxy-Shield resin and hardener, #2 silica, mixing cups, mixing stick, chip brush, awl, screwdriver, extra screws (just in case), clamps, and putty knife.

Glued, screwed, clamped and scraped with the epoxy curing.

On a final note, I also worked on the Utility over the weekend... still fairing. It seems like a never-ending process, but it's getting there.

Working on the Zip

This blog started off with a reference to the Zip plans I had just ordered back in April. The plans arrived a week after I made that first post, and I got started on the stem that very weekend.

During breaks while working on the Utility, I have slowly & purposefully been working on parts for the Zip. I have been taking my time, carefully shaping the parts. I'm in no rush at this point, since after all I still have the first boat to finish.

I've made it a point to cut just outside the lines on the parts so far, then sand them down to the line. So far I've got the stem shaped, as well as the lower piece of the breasthook. I cut the top piece of the breasthook earlier today. Not much to show so far, but here are some photos.

Tracing the stem onto 3/4" Douglas Fir marine plywood.

First stem piece cut. Using it as a template to trace out the second piece.

Carefully filing out the notch in the lower breasthook piece.

The shaped Zip stem needs to be epoxied. Construction on the Utility is underway in the background.

Fairing the Utility

I have been slowly and cautiously fairing the Utility. I still have a long way to go, but I am making progress.

"Fairing," in case you didn't already know, is the process of beveling all of the parts of the sub-structure of the hull (frames, stem, chines, breasthook, transom, etc...), so that the plywood planking, when added, will have properly-angled surfaces to mate to.

For the newbie amateur builder (ie: Me), it's probably the most daunting and intimidating step of building a boat. However, it's a necessary and extremely important step.

I started by fairing the aft bottom section of the boat. Testing with a couple of plywood pieces shows that I've got some slight gaps between the outer floor battens and the inner surface of the bottom planking. I'm planning to fill these gaps with thickened epoxy when I attach the planking.

I've done preliminary fairing on the bottom of the chines up to the forward frame.

Over the last several weeks, (since adding the chine strips described in my last post), I have been fairing the forward bottom section. Most of this work has been on the starboard side. I've been using the Rabl method for fairing this area. The Rabl method was developed by Sam Rabl, and is described in detail on the Glen-L website here: http://boatbuilders.glen-l.com/3820/fairing-by-the-rabl-method-2/

For me it is slow work. I've been using a couple of sizes of hand planes and a belt sander, and checking progress frequently with straight edges and my plywood test pieces. My recommendation to the new builder beginning the fairing process would be to simply take your time. Proceed slowly, check your work frequently, and expect this stage to take a long time. It's easy to try to hurry the work along, then inadvertently create gaps or gouges that you'll have to fix. (Trust me.)

I've still got a long way to go, but I will share some photos of the progress so far.

Fairing the stem

Fairing work in progress at the stem, chines and forward sheer.

Slowly bringing everything together to a point at the bow.

More fairing work has been done on the starboard sheer than on the port side so far.

The Utility, part 6: Fixing the chines

I made a common mistake when I installed the chines. Sure, I'd read about the possibility of making this mistake beforehand. However, I obviously didn't "get" it. Happily, it's a common mistake with a fairly simple fix. I'm going to share all this with you in hopes that the new builder might avoid this pitfall.

The mistake is: not getting enough twist in the forward section of the chine log.

The resulting problem is: inadequate twist in the forward section of the chine leaves you with NO SURFACE AREA for the side planking to mate to.

Here's an image to help illustrate:

You see, after the chine and sheers are installed, both of these pieces are faired. The forward section of the chine is basically beveled along a line running down the middle of the wood from the stem to the forward frame. The upper (top-side) section of this bevel is where the lower edge of the side planking will attach. The top-side edge of the planking will attach to the sheer (shown as the dashed white line in the photo).

If you do not put an adequate twist in the forward section of the chine, then the resulting angle will not point outward adequately to the sheer line. This problem is illustrated by the dashed red line in the photo.

To avoid this problem, be sure to twist the chine adequately in the direction shown by the green arrows before you permanently attach the chine to the stem & frames. I did not twist mine adequately, because I thought the wood was going to break. So what. Soak it, steam it.... whatever you have to do to make it twist enough. Otherwise, you're going to have a problem to fix — just like I did.

The Fix:

The fix is: add a wedge-shaped strip along the top-side half of the forward chine, so that you'll have an adequate angle toward the sheer & enough surface area to attach the planking to after fairing.

The Utility's chines are 2 inches wide. The distance from the tip of the stem to the forward frame is 4 feet. So, I ripped two 1-inch by 4-foot sections of wood from the remnants of my first chine log (which broke because I didn't steam it).

I placed a straight edge from the chine to the sheer, and measured the angle. I then beveled my new "chine strips" so they would angle 20 degrees outward from the surface of the installed chine log. The resulting strips were fairly thin.

Cross-section of the "chine strip" after beveling it 20° on a planer / jointer.

I then epoxied these strips onto the top-side half of the forward chine. They were a little long, so I had to trim them. They bent easily since they were so thin. Now, I should have an adequate surface area for fairing & attaching the side planking.

Forward end of the attached chine strip, trimmed along bow line.

Aft end of the chine strip at the forward frame. This will have to be beveled down to make a fair curve along with the rest of the chine log.