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Motor Canoe project


Chick Ludwig

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FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Counter tops finished, messabout over, rain stopped, etc., etc. Time to get back to Mr. Motor Canoe. Well, no, that's not his real name. Maybe "Buzztail"? That's what some of us southern folks call a rattle snake. I dunno. What do y'all think's a good name for an outboard herp huntin machine? (For y'all that don't know, herp is short for herptile. That's reptiles and amphibians.) Turtles are reptiles. That's what we're going after. Turtles. Already got a boat named Turtler.

 

Ok, so here's what's up today. Got the hull panel forward and aft pieces together the other day. Today I'll join the sides to the bottom just like most of the other B&B boats. I prefer doing each side separately. Yes, I know I can stack 'em Vern. I just like to do it this way. Do ya' mind? I'll flip them and glass tape the other side of the joint later today. Meanwhile, I gotta go and pick up my black walnut from my buddy at the saw mill. They'll become my inwales and outwales. Slotted just like Turtler's. Guess I'll have time to mow the lawn, too. Oh, joysville....

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Those are the transom and temporary frames stacked behind the hull panels. My old drafting spline weights (ducks) have become part-holder-downers. I used to design my own boats, but Graham has spoiled all of that for me. His are so much better. (Non-payed actual customer endorsement.)

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HOLD THE PHONE,y'all !!!!!

Let's title this post "The Master Saves My Bacon".

I'd just finished the last post all happy with myself for a job well done, when the phone rang. I could tell right away that it was the Master. Calling to tell me how he liked what i did. No hello---just "Cease and desist!!!!". "STOP! what you're doing!" He had happened to be looking at the forum and saw my post. Well, it turns out that I'd glassed the joint way to far. "It won't bend", say's he. Huh?, says me. "Only glass it 7 inches", says he. And this after much hurried calculation and deliberation. After more pontification and some other kinds of "..tion" words, he suggested that I go out and cut the glass tape back to where it was only 7 inches long.

 

Maybe I'd better explain. This design has no building directions. It's a custom, one-off. If you guys like it, it will become a stock B&B design, but for now, I'm just making-it-up-as-I go-along. The Master (Graham, in case you don't know.) supplied patterns and left the rest up to me. I just assumed that the edges would be glassed together for the entire length that they touched. Bad assumption. (See, those "...tion" word's will get ya every time.)

 

But, don't worry and fret. all's well. The poxy was still soft, so I just cut it and peeled the extra glass off. Phewwww! Thanks graham!

 

Here's a picture of the "fix" in progress.

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Chick,

 

One more quick tip. I am sure that you know this but if you forgot about it, it could spoil your day tomorrow when you turn the parts over to glass the other side.

 

Remember that with cured epoxy and glass on one side, with the glass side under tension it is very strong. When the non glassed side is under tension it is very weak and the glass could crack along the joint line. If you flip it over carefully with two people or clamp a batten across the joint so that there is no sudden whip as that large part is turned over, you will be fine.

 

I typically glass both sides at a time with three sheets of plastic, under, over and in between the panels for release and clamped between two pieced of flat wood until cured.

 

The advantage is that you get both sides glued at one time, it is no longer fragile, the clamped glass squashes down to about half thickness and comes out very smooth.  

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Thanks, Graham. Actually, that's what I usually do. That's how the fwd. and aft pieces were done. I got a "bee in my bonnet" and wanted to do one side at a time. I dunno why, now that i'm giving it more thought. Guess I'm remembering back to doing those first couple of Moccasin canoes all those years ago before learning the stacking/plastic trick. Oh, well. Too late now. I'll be sure to clamp sticks across to turn. Maybe it's a good thing in this case. Woulda been harder to remove that extra length of glass with 'em all stacked.

 

Special public service announcement:.This whole episode was done to show the newbie boat builder the wrong way to do things. Our express purpose was instructional. We'll spare no expense in training up the new generation of messers. (That's my story and i'm sticking to it!)

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Hiya, Rick!!! Watcha been up to with your boats and stuff. i know y'all had a great boat show. Wish I coulda been there.

 

Yeah, we do all we can to screw things up for the enjoyment and benefit of our gloating ...I mean, admiring, friends!

 

Now it's time to go on out to the garage and see what trouble I can get into...

 

 

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Have any of y'all ever gone out to work on your project in the morning and left your brain in bed? Well, I did when I went out to mark my hull sections the other day. All went well when I marked the bottom pieces and forward end of the sides, but when I lined up the pattern to mark the aft end of the sides I used a wrong line. Then I glassed all of the pieces together as you've seen in the previous posts.

 

Fast forward to today. I began wiring the keel and chines together and....something ain't right here...the sides are shorter by about four inches than the bottom! Quick call to Graham. It's not his fault. My line, my marking, my cut. I allowed as I'd just hack off the bottom to match. What's a silly little four inches anyway. Graham just kinda sighed and thought bad thoughts about "dang amateurs" or something. Didn't actually say.

 

Thankfully, I came to my senses and added the missing inches. As you'll see from the following pictures, we're back on track now. Tomorrow I'll wire in the transom and fillet the corners. It'll be ok. You'll see. Lesson for you newbies. Measure carefully, be sure you're using the right line to cut to, and, most of all, wake your brain up and take it to work with you. 

 

As the man said as he was trying to make a chair sit on all four legs...."I've cut it three times and it's still too short."

 

Where the offending side is spliced in.

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Temporary bulkheads and stringer to hold sheer in line while filleting and glassing the seems.

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Kinda looks like a motor canoe already.

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I've been hearing that "coming up a little short" line for way too many decades now. Some years ago, I found a roll of 36" wide Mylar and have been using it to make these types of joints for years. Visqueen (clear plastic painter's drop cloth - polyethylene - stuff) I've found is usually too light, unless you can get some of the 9 - 10 mil stuff, which is commonly found at the big box store. The Mylar lays flat, doesn't wrinkle and isn't affected by exotherm either, which some of the very light weight stuff (6 mil or less) can do at times, especially under a fair bit of clamping pressure. Additionally, the Mylar prevents print through, which can be a disadvantage at times, if trying to match a grain pattern on a repaired plank or something. I agree with Graham in that doing both sides of a butt or scarf joint is a wise thing. It's really easy to break and one sided joint just flipping it over for the next pass of goo. All of us have this tee-shirt. I have seen 10 mil polyethylene sheeting at the big box stores recently, which is pretty heavy.

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PAR, the pattern paper wasn't the problem. The pattern for the sides and bottom were drawn full length and weren't marked where they were to be cut from an 8 ft. sheet of plywood. I made the cut off line myself and just made the mark in the wrong place when i cut the aft sides. graham assumed that I was bright enough to figure it out myself. usually I am. Not on that day, though. Like I said. Brain still in bed. 

Repeated special public service announcement: This whole episode was done to show the newbie boat builder the wrong way to do things. Our express purpose was instructional. We'll spare no expense in training up the new generation of messers.

 

I like the mylar idea, or thick plastic. I've had the thin stuff melt and stick to the poxy before. And it will leave wrinkles. Now i have some 1o mil stuff that works well.

 

As for doing both sides of the joint at once, I agree. Just didn't do it this time. But, never fear. I clamped a piece of wood across the whole thing and flipped it without damage, then applied "the next pass of goo". All's well that ends well.

 

Maybe the rest of the build will go the way a supposed experienced builder would do things---or maybe we'll intentionally plan some more what-not-to-do episodes. Now it's time to head out to the old garage and get ready to get ready to begin filleting.

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Hey, y'all. No disasters today. Even had some time between "life stuff" to get some done on the MC (Motor Canoe).

 

Let's go right to the pictures.

 

Transom wired in. You'll note where the sides were extended.

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Here's how I keep my resin warm. "Quick and dirty", but it's lasted through 2 boats and starting the forth. 40 watt bulb in the work light.

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Be sure to bend the wires over so they don't grab you a you walk by. (Ask me how I learned that.)

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All joints are filleted. You don't really wanna see 'em all, do ya?

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I even had time to rip and plane the in and out wales. No, not "whales" like swallowed Jonah.

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We won't be back to work on the MC until Monday. Y'all have a blessed weekend, y'hear?

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Chick, really enjoying your MC story - thanks. That just might be my next project. Regarding marking out and cutting the wrong line -  we've all done it, we just don't publicise it! :) As a boss of mine once said - measure twice, cut once, and keep your darn fingers outa the saw!

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