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Paul356

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Everything posted by Paul356

  1. Back at it. Just over a year since the kit arrived from B&B. But I got some time away from the office and work resumes in earnest. Oh, I also have a hull number, 381. Yesterday I got the cradle ready. Today my wife and I slid the panels out the garage attic shop window and down to driveway. I did the final cleanup, and now the butterflies are curing in the garage. With any luck, the big unfolding comes tomorrow. That will be a fun day. Some fotos from today (slight confession, it's a bottom panel in the first couple pix but a topside in the last one) :
  2. Here are some prayers and best wishes from Wisconsin.
  3. Good news re part 1; I'm sure the sequel will be every bit as good. Thoughts and prayers continue.
  4. I happened to talk to her this week, and her high spirits and optimism are amazing. Prayers for both are headed that way.
  5. You can't do any better than Alan's videos on building the CS 15, which of course is so similar to the 17. They are extremely instructive. I just finished watching them again, and both the keel batten (which I realized I had not understood) and fillets are dealt with in a very clear way, as is so much else. He's up to part 6. Spend an hour with those and you'll learn volumes. You'll also gain a lot of confidence that you can do it, because it seems a lot simpler seeing it done than reading about it, sometimes. I don't know how to paste a link in here, but just google "core sound 15 hull assembly part 1" and you'll be all set.
  6. Big day. It's finally warm enough to start gluing up panels in the garage attic. This is the first. And, yes, it will go out the window at the far end. I checked the fit earlier. I can't believe it either. It's really great to start this. Going 2-D, I guess. The garage itself is still fairly chilly, but the sun heats the attic.
  7. Working on the centerboard.
  8. I was not entirely idle this winter. These are some of the parts I made for the 17 in the basement, since it was far too cold to do any epoxy work on the boat itself outside. You can see (from right), the rudder blade, the rudder head with tiller attached, the centerboard and, hiding in the back, one of the centerboard sides with it's layer of cloth and cleat. in the front are three of the clever little seat hatches and frames. All still need some final finishing and trimming. I left the tiller head long because I want the tiller to swing up if I stand, or to fold back up out of the way. Although it doesn't quite show, the tiller is non-standard. I modified the tiller from my last boat to be a little stronger for the 15. It will be fun to have that familiar old stick with me again 25 years or so after I first made it. Not shown but also part of this winter's labors are a half dozen or more 16-foot strips I ripped to use for gunnels, stringers, etc. That was a chore on my old, tiny table saw. Just about the time I was done, I bought a new table saw. Once the weather offers to be reliably above 60 degrees during the days, the garage will become the boat shop and the hull will start to take shape.
  9. For the walkway cover, take a look at the "navy roof" in this issue of Wooden Boat, in the afticle on the wooden launch in ontario. slats in a canvas top. the top pulls out or back, sort of like a venetian blind. i thought it had some possibilities for things we do on our open sailors.
  10. I've frequenty coated the hardwood before varnishing. It brings out the luster and gives the wood protection against dings and scrapes. One or two coats of epoxy is probably worth 8 coats of varnish.
  11. Probably not quite what you had in mind, but a question for the group: I'm using the epoxy Graham provided, which I really like compared to the Brand X I used some years ago. However, I had some coagulation in the pump of the Part A base epoxy. It cleaned out with alcohol (and resulting mess), but I'm wondering what caused it. Too cold (probably sub-60 in the basement recently)? Or air coming back in through the pump? Maybe I need to take the pump out and cap the jug if I'm not using it regularly. This was a white, soft, semi-solid. Any thoughts appreciated. 15-below today here in Milwaukee, with windchills in the 30s/40s below. "Non-essential" employees like me were told to stay home. So I dream of warm days and gentle breezes on nice boats. p.s. -- thanks for the links. p.p.s. -- I didn't mean to slam 5:1 Brand X, but I find the 2:1 expoxy from B&B very easy to use and probably better suited to amateurs who dabble.
  12. I've used a chalkline to mark long planks for ripping out stringers. It works fine, if you're careful, get the line tight, make a clean, vertical snap of the line. I also know I'll be cleaning up the pieces in the table saw later, so slight variations are not a problem. I would not want to rely on a chalkline for cutting the side of a panel that had to be perfectly straight. It's an exercise in matching tools and degree of accuracy to the job at hand. Efficiency is one goal.
  13. I posted his before somewhere, but I made a simple jig and used my router to do essentially what you want to do. I also used the router and an edge gauge to cut lifts for the foil shape. Then did a lot of sanding with 60 grit in an orbital and some hand sanding, and some work with a small drawknife and chisels. And used some very thickened epoxy as filler (like Bondo on a car) when I needed to make a gouge disappear. Pretty happy with the whole thing. And, hey, speaking of kits, I wonder if it would be a whole lot easier and maybe even stronger to have the CB laminated out of three pieces of 3/8 ply, then shaped like the rudder. Here's the router jig. I actually made it with some of the pine Graham used in the shipping crate for the kit.
  14. ColumBine = CB = initials of younger daughter. Older daughter had a boat named after her well before No. 2 came along, so No. 2's turn now. And columbine flowers are a sentimental favorite here.
  15. Red-eye glue lines. Served up down south with ham?
  16. Well, this is kind of fun. I ripped the 16' stringers in my 24' garage attic. So, in one window, into the saw, and out the other window. As I mentioned before, I thought I'd be retiring, but ended up with a "retirement job" that's interesting and rewarding. But my boat building is moving at a considerably slower pace than I had expected. It's too cold to use epoxy outside now, but I can work on components like the stringers and glue up some of the smaller pieces inside, and the odd hours here and there working on the boat are welcome recreation. Working name for this craft: ColumBine.
  17. Does the Honda have reverse gear, or do you turn it 180?
  18. I've been gone a bit. I thought I would be retiring. Well, I retired today, but I start my retirement job next Thursday. That offer arrived on about the same day as my kit. Life can be funny some times. I'd held off starting the sides and bottom and hull knowing that this might unfold with me working a couple more years rather than working a lot on my CS17 . So, a couple of observations: --I think I'll put the garage back together and hold off on the hull until I see what's what and the weather is warm enough for epoxy, or next spring. --I can work on some of the smaller components, because it's at least "building a boat" and it is great therapy. In that vein, I spent a very rewarding hour or two recently with the block plane putting the initial shape into the rudder. It's amazing how it now feels like a "blade," with the tapered leading edge, and not like just a hunk of laminated plywood. I'll keep you posted on what's what. I'm glad folks like Lennie G are able to move ahead. I think you'll beat me into the water! Here's a picture of the rudder, the plane, and the shavings.
  19. Frustration. The dimension lumber is driving me crazy. I don't know where you guys are finding such good looking fir, etc., but Wisconsin, contrary to its lumberjack heritage, seems berift. I may have to drive to Mass or NC. Nonetheless, I found some relatively straight No. 2 doug fir 16 footers. The grain isn't much and there are a lot of knots to work around. I also had a lot of trouble trying to rip the sticks for the centerboard, and I'm not looking forward to making stringers. When I finished gluing up the sticks, I realized my CB blank was badly cupped. Tacking to stbd would be easy, getting back not so much. I was about ready to call it firewood, when ... Remedy. I made a very simple milling jig for my router, and now the blank is at least flat on both sides. I can shape, fill and glass it now. Phew. It's not perfect, but the board will be. Here's the jig:
  20. Same for me as the guys above. I made a movable framework. I'll put some panels on it for a flat surface to glue up the long scarfed pieces. Then I'll add frames at the bulkheads to hold the hull, probably with some reinforcement as well I've already used it as a trailer to haul a bunch of lumber up the driveway to the garage, and as a sawhorse for working on some of that lumber. Having used it just that little bit so far, it is incredibly handyl.
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