Epoxy and Clamping Cover Boards

After fitting and sanding the inside curve of the outside cover boards that surround the entire boarder of the deck it is now time to epoxy/glue and clamp them into position.  I had to use a lot of clamps because I wanted to use a limited number of screws to hold the boards down.  The screws that I did use will be removed so I can countersink them.  I will reinstall with bronze silicon screws and cover the holes with wood plugs.

Clamping the boards down was a real challenge.  I was very lucky to be building in my basement because I have a finished wood ceiling and was able to make good use of it.  The problem that I had was in the placement of 3rd hand clamps and 2x4 braces.  The first problem that I had was that the ceiling lights were directly above the boat.  The lights were in the way making the braces clamp because they pushed from an angle vs. straight down and the second issue was the length of the 3rd hand poles.  The 3rd hand poles were about 2" to long.  The problem caused the braces to slip and once I had one brace in position another one would get loose and fall.  I was by myself during this clamping operation.  This was one time that I wished I had a helper.  One thing that I would do differently next time is not glue up too much at one time.  I mixed and spread more epoxy than I should have and I was just not prepared for that much clamping.

The next day it was time to do another area and I learned my lesson and only clamped and epoxy/glued one board.  Things went very smooth and my brother Dan stopped by to lend a hand for 20 min. to help hold things in position.

I have one more outside cover board to be glued down and the boarder will be in its place.  Next will be to layout and fit the King plank that will run down the center deck the entire length of the boat.

Time to Dress Her Up !

It is time to start putting on the top decking.  Covering up my boat project with the final boards begins to give you an idea how she will look. 

The first thing I had to accomplish was the layout on the sub deck.  I started by drawing out a 2" square grid.  I learned the hard way that easier is not always faster.  My metal square was exactly 2" wide so I thought that I would just use that width and do all the marking but any small error showed up over a long distance, in fact the measurements were more than 1/2" off by the time I got to the other end of the boat.  All that work had to be lightly sanded off and I started over.  This time I used a combination of a string, square, laser light and most important was a tape measure.  The grid pattern turned out really good the second time around and will give me the lines to measure from so that both sides of the boat layout will be symmetrical.

The next step in the layout process was to figure out the shape, curve and width of the decking boards.  My good friend Terry Kohler came by and we spent a good hour completing the layout and doing some of the calculations needed for the spacing.  I used a beam compass to layout the curve for the outside boarder.  Once the boarder was determined we figured that a 5 5/8" King Plank and 2 1/2" wide boards with 3/16" spacing will fill the interior area.

The outside boarder board measures about 7" wide and all the mahogany used for this area was taken from one 16' long by 10" wide board.  Layout proved to be a little time consuming to get all the grain to match as best I could.  Part of the problem came from three issues. The first issue I had was the length of the board.  The boat is curved and once I laid it out on the curve I only had a couple of of inches of remaining wood.  The second issue came when I resawed the 16' board in half.  I wanted to book match the grain and once the board was 5/16" thick it cupped a lot in the wrong direction.  The third issue I had was a split about 6" long on the end of the 16' board and of course when it was resawed, I now had a split in both boards.

Careful measuring proved that I could cover the areas needed with only a couple of 1-2" scraps. The cupping in the wood was solved by using towels soaked in very hot water and by putting pressure on the boards with a 3rd helping hand stick and 2X4's pressed between the wood and ceiling. I solved the last problem by orienting the boards so the end splits were place in the cut off areas.

The right tool for the job seams to be hand tools.  I continue to be amazed how many times I decide that I would rather use a hand tool over a power tool.  My outside boarder boards were 16' long and 10" wide and they were to large to fit on my table saw or chop saw without using some major gymnastics to get the correct angle.  The easiest way for me to make the joint cuts were to overlap the boards, draw a line, score the grain of the wood with a utility knife and make the cut by hand with a back saw.  I am pleased with the cuts and joints I made.

It seems that I always have someone supervising my work.  Our Bengal cat, "Storm" looks on.

Trip to Armstrong Millworks

Well it was time to go to Armstrong Millworks in Milford, Michigan and select the African Mahogany for the decking on the boat.  Good friend and Squirt Builder Art Atkinson volunteered to tag along and help me with selecting some great boards.

When Art was ready to re-saw his wood for the deck on his squirt he used his shop bandsaw to resaw his wood and he said that although his bandsaw did a good job, it was a painfully long task. I have basically the same bandsaw so I selected the easy way out and asked the guys at Armstrong's to resaw and sand the boards to the 5/16th thickness that I needed. Looking back, this was a great decision. The boards turned out great and now they are almost ready for installation. I will still need to run the edge on the jointer so I have one straight edge and then rip the boards to the correct width. Bottom line: Armstrong Millworks is highly recommended by me and others. I have been getting my wood supplies from them for years and they have always been great people to work with.

Dennis Armstrong

Adam is planning the rough wood

Adam and Dennis are resawing the 16' X 10" Mahogany

Art Atkinson lending a hand with the sanding

Ted Gauthier happy with wood grain

Sub Deck Milestone

 My big milestone this week was to epoxy the sub deck onto the top of the boat.  I used 1/4" Okoume Marine Plywood for the sub deck.  Once again my brother Gary came over and spent the entire day.  A very good friend Dave Pohl helped out for a good part of the afternoon.  We had a great system set up with one guy mixing epoxy and then spreading it out, drilling, countersinking the holes and then putting in the 3/4" silicon bronze screws.   Now that the entire sub deck has been installed, I will need to get the overhanging material trimmed flush with the edges so that the stainless steel bumper rails will fit properly along with the cabin areas so they will accept the trim molding.

Making the Sub-Deck

I was able to get a lot done on the project this Saturday with the help of my brothers Joey and Gary.  They are always there when I need them.  Most of the winter I had been working alone on the boat and did not need their assistance but now it was time to start handling large sheets of 1/4 " marine plywood.  Sometimes when you have more people working on a project it does not mean that you will get things accomplished twice as fast but this time we were really able to make good use of everyone.  Yes, I could have done this part of the project by myself but it would most likely taken me several days and not near as much fun.

The large square wood blocks where used as a washers to support the screws so they would not pull through the plywood under stress.

On Sunday, I took everything apart and flipped the decking over.  Everything received a coat of epoxy.

There is still a lot of work that will need to be done with the sub deck.  All the seams will need to be glued and clamped with epoxy.  The screw holes will all need to be drilled and countersunk to the correct size.  This will take time because I want to be sure that I have as much done in the cockpit area as I can before covering the deck.  It will be much easier to do it while the deck is open than to crawl under there later.  I will also need to do a little bit of fairing in one or two spots where the sub deck did not lay down as nice as I expect.

Steady Work and Making Progress

I have been slow to update my blog because there is little to show for all the work that I have been putting into my boat project.  I have been working on something almost every day.

Rebuild and paint the shifter control selector:  I cleaned, polished and painted the shifter control center and then installed all new cables.  I started to look at the control cables that I received with the used motor that I bought and found that the old cables were all rusted.  After giving it a little thought, I think it was best to just replace them with new and not worry about them breaking.. A safety thing for me..

In the photo below you can see the shifter all painted and put in its place.  Also the radio was installed by cutting a hole in the mahogany and mounting the brackets.  Here you can also see the red courtesy lights that I installed for a total of four LED strip lights.  The walls will have upholstery that is yet to be installed.

The wiring project on the boat was much larger than I ever imagined.  I am amazed how much wire is in a simple boat.  I now have about 80% of all the electrical installed and tested but most of it still needs to be secured.  I used a brother label maker to identify each end of each wire and then covered the label with clear shrink tubing to secure them in place.  I also did this when I built my airplane and the time it took paid itself back many times when you need to do repairs.  

The switches in the first picture are: 

Top = Key switch

Left of the switch panel is a little button switch that is for the courtesy lights

On the Switch panel from left to right are:  Horn, Anchor/Nav, Stereo, Bilge Pump1, Bilge Pump2.

Everything is connected and working but not secured

Volt, RPM and Fuel Gauges

Installed supports in both the main and passenger cabin areas around the deck.

 I made two speaker mounts that I installed just under the front deck.  You will not be able to see them when seating in the boat.

The Steering system has given me my biggest head ache and I have spent so much time and money trying to resolve this problem.  The problem that I have been having is not getting enough right and left turn of the motor.  In the photo below was an attempt to install a splash well mount steering system.  In this setup I used an 11' steering cable.  I was not happy with set up so now I am attempting a linkage type steering system that will be mounted above the deck.  The Linkage type steering required a 12' cable and a linkage arm.  It will also require me to build a custom mount. In my next post, I will show some photos of that setup and let you know how things work out.

It is just a Stick

I have spent more than a week working on my side bumper rails.  Sure they look like a couple of sticks attached to the side of the boat but they are much more than that and very challenging to build.  When I think that I will just go down in the basement and a make something up in a few hours I should know that I am just day dreaming.  On the surface it looks like it will be an easy task but with a boat, there are curves everywhere and this was no exception.  The side of the boat has a curve up and down, along the horizontal axis with a nice twist.  Now the chore was to mount a straight bumper rail just at the right location.

The first thing I did was take my time and that paid off by building a stand to hold the wood into position.  Every time I put the wood back into position it was in the same exact spot.  Then I only had to measure, mark, plane, cut, and sand for two full days to get it fit just right.  I am very happy with the results.

I decided to epoxy T-nuts into the bumper rail making hard points so I could bolt them on from the inside of the boat.  This way I could pull to rail to the side of the boat making a perfect joint so I could clamp, caulk and epoxy them into position.  One trick that worked out well was to put wax on the bolts so the epoxy would not stick to the bolts while I was setting the hard points.

Now that the bumper rails are done, it is time to start working on the steering linkage.