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Tom Lathrop

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Posts posted by Tom Lathrop

  1. Next time you run into the drying too quick issue with Rusto Marine, add some Penetrol. This is a flow promoter and works very well with straight alkyds like Rusto Marine. I just squirted a boat with it last week and about a 5% cut to get it through the gun and another 5% of Penetrol, to get it to "lay down". The same thing applies to roll and tip, except you probably don't need the initial solvent cut, just the Penetrol.

     

    That is great advice for any one who uses paints.  Most need some additive for best results in different conditions. All paint manufacturers will offer what they consider best for their particular formula but PAR's advice works well for alkyds.

     

    I once tried an experiment where I foam rolled a very thin coat of LPU cut about 40% (if I remember right) over a fresh roll and tip LPU finish on BRS LOON.  The finish came out about like a really good spray job and I will do it again if I use LPU again.  The only drawback I know of is that drying time is increased and dust and bugs might be more of a problem if you work outside.

  2. Most of us have "invented" a mixing paddle at one time or another.  Beware of the coathanger trick as thick stuff can cause the thin wire to bend and send whatever your are mixing all over the place as well as your new pants.  In really thick stuff, I like to clamp the can on a drill press and start slow.  Nice thing about the drill press is that you can keep mixing for a long time on old stuff.

  3. Tom,

     

    If you get rid of the sail tracks and battens and roll the sails on the mast, rigging time will be drastically reduced.  Attach the sheets to the clew with spring clips and this is about as simple as sailing gets.  That is how my original BRS LOON was rigged and I miss the simplicity of that set up.  I put sailtracks and battens on Lapwing and the rigging time is far greater than it was with the BRS which was the simplest set up I've ever had. 

  4. As to the saw, I immediately thought of the arbor/blade connection being broken when I heard magnetic clutch. The blade could be engaged or disengaged at the drive hub by magnets. You get it snug with a bolt, but the magnets would lock it up to cut. When you get bit, the blade will spin free while the arbor keeps turning. Surely, if we can move trains with magnets, we can connect a blade to an arbor, right?

    By we, I mean people who do math for fun. You guys think I'm sick? :)

    Here's the part about my back nobody ever believes. When it gets bad, super tight hamstring and lower back, flashing hot/cold/numb down the calf and foot, going for a run always makes it better. I am not advocating Chick go run a marathon on his hands to feel better, though.

     

    I think you have the idea I was thinking about although you probably did not mean that the blade spins free but that it is free from driving force of the arbor.  It therefore has minimal kinetic energy to get rid of with the brake.  It occurs to me that Teflon blades would not work well with this system.

  5. I actually already knew that rule about reaching across the tablesaw blade but now its tatooed on my brain.  I yell at anyone I see doing that.

    My thought on the magnetic clutch thing is to have the saw blade engage on start up so that only the blade and a minimal arbor mass are involved in stopping.  A second magnetic brake would grab the blade directly on both sides.

     

    SawStop uses the capacitance of the human body to ground(saw frame) to complete the circuit if the body touches the blade so no direct connection is needed. 

     

    Another competing system retracts the blade/arbor on contact.  That might be more mass to react than the one I mentioned.

     

    If a small touch of damage were allowed, a simpler system might be affordable on all tablesaws, even fairly cheap ones.  In today's climate, that is probably asking for too much reason though.

  6. To speed up the healing process, you'll want to deal with the "sensitivity" issue. This is common with major surgeries, where considerable tramia is involved. Simply put, touch your fingers a lot, several times a day, anytime you think of it in fact. Lightly tap your fingers on something, use your other hand and flutter it's fingers on your pissed off ones. What this does is desensitize the affected areas, making living with them a lot easier and functionality comes much faster. Don't believe me, ask any tramia or critical care nurse.

     

    In 1988, we were building a trimaran with Graham for the World 1000 race.  I challenged the law of probabilities on Graham's table saw with my left hand by reaching across the blade to remove a cut off.  In a flash my left thumb and forefinger were bloody to the bone but still intact.  Off to the emergency room for repairs and metal splints and back to work on the tri next day because we were up against a deadline. 

     

    The biggest problem was indeed the sensitivity issue after the wounds fully healed.  Holding a nut in place over a bolt that you could not see was very difficult for some time since I could not tell what the orientation was.  It has improved in nearly 30 years but there is still some numbness in the finger tips. 

     

    I strongly support further development of a safe table saw as the SawStop seems like a blunt instrument solution.  Effective for sure but not very elegant or economical.  I wonder if a magnetic clutch and brake system similar to the one on an auto air conditioner might hold some promise. 

  7. Probably we have had enough rain in the past month to solve California's problem.  This has normally been a dryer period but not lately.  On th bright side I remember a time in the 1980's when the area around Ft Lauderdale got 26" in a single 24 hour period.  Now, that was rain.  I had planned to sail double in a single/double handed race today but it was cancelled two days ago.  Would have sailed an Echells and both crew  must add to more than 150 years.  We are 152.  Weather looks great here right now but SC looks like they are being drowned.  Lots of Football on the tube.

  8. Update:  Chuck has decided on a do over and has removed all the wood lamination.  It is now on the way to the dump. The topsides will be painted as originally intended.  The only remaining issue is whether the staple holes through the Xynole sheath and into the plywood will present any problem.  The few screw holes can be filled in the normal manner.  He will do an experiment to see whether a high build primer will effectively seal the holes and if not, some thickened epoxy will be forced in with a squeegee.  I am pleased that he has chosen to do this since I thought the wood could become a maintenance headache in the future. 

     

    For those who have not tried it, filling small holes is not as simple as it might appear.  Thin liquid like epoxy or paint will not cover a hole or a sharp edge as the liquid will pull away from the edge due to surface tension.  The technical term is "surface free energy" and is what determines which material will cling to or be repelled by the other material.  An example is: water beads on wax while addition of soap will allow water spread flow easily over your waxed car.

  9. We have been deluged with an exceptional amount of rain in September and continuing today with more to come.  None of it is the result of Joaquin so far.  The ground in this area is so waterlogged that even a category one storm would uproot a prodigious number of trees with all that damage.  Like you I track every one of them and adopt a process of preparation tempered with knowledge that there is only so much we can do. It is the price of living in this place we love and where we want to be.  On the other hand, there have been no mud slides, no earthquakes, no major forest fires, no smog and traffic is light.  In addition, the state legislature adjourned yesterday and we are relatively safe from further insults from that bunch for a brief while.

  10. Hurricanes are far and away the most negative thing we face along the eastern coastal areas.  Especially true for Coastal North Carolina because we stick so far out into the Atlantic.  As a result, we watch the progress of them with a seriously interested eye.  When I felt the air become cooler and drier today, I breathed a sigh of relief as that spoke of a cold front that might help steer the beast away toward the east.  Many of us have had our shops flooded from past storms but we may be lucky enough to dodge this particular bullet.  I am in a waiting mode to see if its necessary to hoist all the shop machines back up to avoid the possible water damage.  Since I foolishly determined that the risk of hurricanes was over a couple weeks ago, I lowered them to do some work.  I'll wait as long as possible before going through that drudge again.  I own a lot of come-a-longs.

  11. Brent, I have a Catspaw 8 that I am not using.  Graham did this one a bit beamier than standard and it has side tank/seats full length plus forward bow chamber.  The Daggerboard slips into a trunk which is on the inside edge of the seat/tank but its not fully rigged for sailing.  It is very lightweight at about 55 pounds or so.

  12. Chuck

     

    I drill the hole as close to the bottom as possible and place the flange on the outside and cut the tube flush on the inside.  Never bothered with flaring the cut end.  The drilled hole should always be sealed with epoxy whether the tube is set in epoxy or a sealant.  Whether the plug fits on the outside or inside depends on the size of the boat and access.  On a Bluejacket, it should be outside so its easily accessible as well as easily seen.  Embarrassing to find that the plug has been forgotten after launching.  LIZ's plug is kept in the splashwell when not in use.

     

    Some don't use a transom drain but I like to have the plug removed and the bow lifted in storage so no water is ever left in the boat.  Having to depend on a bilge pump which always leaves some water in the bilge does not appeal to me.  Actually, the bilge should be dry although there may be slight rain leakage around the center tank cockpit seal.

     

    Hope to see you in Georgetown.

  13. Dave gave a really detailed answer but there is no typical answer to your question as it depends so much on the individual.  There is at least one designer who will tell you that a 23 foot cruising powerboat will take you 250 hours to build.  Its closer to the truth to say that the average novice will spend that much or more time on a 15 foot open skiff.  I will say that a reasonably skilled woodworker/builder can build a Bluejacket 24 to a pretty good standard of finish in 1500 hours.  A professional shop can probably do the same boat in less than half that time.  The big difference is that the professional shop will have all the skilled workers, proper space, tools and material either on hand or readily available plus they will not spend time in the moaning chair thinking about the next step since they have done it before.

     

    Another truth is that most will spend considerably more time on finishing a boat than in putting one together in structurally complete form.  A third truth is that just about all similar boats built in similar methods will take very similar amount of time to complete, regardless of times estimated by the provider of plans.  Building in workboat like finish, which many will prefer, will greatly shorten the time and probably lessen the cost also.  One Bluejacket 25.5 was completely finished in 10 months with the builder and a helper friend.

     

    It took me approximately 18 months to build the prototype to a fairly high standard.  Keep in mind that, other than the general structure, the design was also being completed along with the building and quite a bit of time was spent in the moaning chair thinking out the next few moves.  There was no hurry because I was enjoying the process.  Most builders will tell you that they also enjoyed the building process regardessof the amount of time they spent on it.

     

    Some will find that they cannot devote a continuous full time period  to the building of a boat.  That not only increases total time to finish but also the amount of time actually doing building tasks.  Its just not as efficient to break up the process in several time periods.  also another major factor is whether the building space is at the home, nearby or in some space further away.  Needing to travel to a more distant building site can be an even bigger time killer.

     

    There is much more that can be talked about on this subject but this has rambled on long enough.

     

    Tom

  14. Sounds like the answer is, "go ahead, or don't bother and use whatever you got."  

    Thanks.  

    I will try it on the spars.  

    -Matt 

    Using bidirectional glass sleeves on spars is a mistake.  It is good for hoop strength but is very poor for stiffening a spar.  The glass fibers need to be in line with the stress for either tension or compression strength.  If you doubt this, make a small sample and see for yourself.  Even carbon bidirectional sleeves don't add much stiffness in spars. 

     

    As others said, it makes no difference for a mast tube but not for the mast itself.

  15. Comfort with any tool, is opposite to the inverse of the square root, on the level of experience with it.

     

    OK Paul,

     

    Like most probably did, I just assumed I knew what you meant by that.  The second time, it looked kind of weird.  Then I wrote the math equation and it actually does seem possible although it contains a double negative that makes it so.  Not sure about the exponent though as that might be different for each worker. 

     

    I used to be indecisive.  Now, I'm not so sure.

  16. Just about everyone has weighed in, so why not me.  I have lots of tools including both circular and jig saws.  Both are useful but the jigsaw will do everything and the circular saw is more limited.  In awkward areas, the jigsaw can be worked at arm length one handed where a skillsaw would be both useless and dangerous.  I built a house and a couple boats and furniture with my first Bosch and gave it to my son where it still works after over 35 years.  The second one is still going also.  The only circular competition (somewhat) to the orbital jigsaw are the small ones which are very limited in cutting depth and power. 

     

    As for cutting straight lines, that is much more in the operator than the tool.  Blades are available for the Bosch that do things that a circular saw is totally useless for.  Sanders are the most overused tool in the shop but are vital is much of the work anyway.

  17. We are all glad that Graham bit the bullet and had an extrusion die made as these things are not cheap nor is it feasible to do that for a one off.  If you have the old stainless track and slides that jam on you, all is not lost.  The slides n Lapwing run up and down with ease.  The trick is to remove all the raw stamping edges left from the manufacturing process.  This is mainly on the track but some work on the slides is good also.  You must first file the under edge on each side of the track smooth.  Protect the mast while you are doing that.  Luckily, I did that before installing the track but have done it on Southern Skimmer although that was a hurry up job as we were late getting off for the EC.  If the slides have any edges that can catch, do them too. 

     

    Finally the track need lubrication.  Oils and such are useless for exterior exposure and beeswax is the real deal for lubricating stuff like this as well as stay turnbuckles.  Auto stores sell a door lach lube that is made with  beeswax or a reasonable substitute.  Toilet bowl sealing rings are similar too.  Heat the track a bit and rub the wax on.  Doesn't take much heat and just a swipe with a torch or heat gun will cause the wax to run.  May need to relube every five to ten years.

    • Like 2
  18. Chuck,

     

    There is always a way to do things. 

     

    Here is one way.  Get a dolly, or maybe two, from Harbor freight and place under the keel aft of where the keel runs level.  These dollies are cheap and useful for moving many things.  The keel is strong enough to take the load even if the support is concentrated in one spot.  Chines are strong enough to take high loads also.

     

    As to getting on the trailer, sawhorses, hydraulic jacks, timbers and ingenuity can prevail.  I have taken 4500# sailboats on and off trailers in like fashion singlehanded.  If there are a pair of trees or other strong supports around, a nylon lift sling (also Harbor Freight) plus a couple come-a-longs is ideal.  That, plus a pair of sawhorses under the stern is how I take LIZ on and off the trailer for bottom painting in my boathouse.  I'll be glad to discuss details on the phone if you like.

  19. Tom Thank you. The forward hatch is below decks, it is on hindges that seperate. We did not want the hatch flat on the deck because of the curvature. It is simple to remove and replace. I may add an adjustable hatch lift setup for the times when we just want to ventilate the fore cabin.

     

    Jim,

     

    You may find that you want ventilation most of the time, especially when sleeping.  Hinges are available that can accommodate the curvature and it is easy to mount regular hinges on wedge bases to allow the curved hatch to open all the way back.  Ours does on homemade glass/epoxy hinges I made.

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