Melissa Goudeseune

To remove the deadwood, I had drilled out the two aft mounting bolts. The resulting mess was cleaned up and filled prior to reinstalling. Masking tape marks the edges of where the deadwood will mount: There was a slight twist in the deadwood. We clamped a 2x4 to the deadwood and the transom, and used a rope to pull it straight. Here I am tying a butterfly knot as part of a trucker's hitch: Tightening the mounting screws from underneath the boat: The deadwood, installed:

New oarlock doublers were installed. These are securely glued against the inwale and the sheer strake. They will later be drilled for the oarlock sockets.

The oak gunwale cap was reinstalled. The mounting screws were removed after the glue dried, and those holes will be filled prior to painting.

With the centreboard trunk installed, it was now possible to work on bulkhead 4. This bulkhead is bisected by the trunk, which made fitting all the pieces rather challenging. The knees were first clamped in place. Then the horizontal pieces were clamped, and the verticals next to the CB trunk. This gave enough support to template the remaining curved section of the bulkhead. The L-shaped sections were glued together prior to their installation in the boat. As the alignment was critical, I set up a jig for each piece. Taped blocks were used to spread the clamping load, and to prevent them being glued to the bulkhead. The lower edges of the bulkhead were coated with S1 Sealer: The bulkhead, clamped in place. My brother Camille helped with this part (while visiting on vacation). The view from astern:

Some more photos of the centreboard trunk, from the other camera. The old trailer winch, clamped to the gantry crane. This was used to levitate the CB trunk into position: Forward view, showing the guide blocks at bulkhead 3: The trunk in position. The lifting bridle is still in place. Details of the forward and aft sections: Overview of the boat at this stage:

Activity has continued through the summer. Catching up on updates, first the centreboard trunk. I tried templating the CB trunk with cardboard. That didn't work, as it was way too wobbly. I ended up using the intact piece of the old trunk, and added parts on to it to match the shape I wanted. All this work was done with the boat inverted, as this was the only way to have clear access to the middle of the hull. The template was suspended through the centreboard slot with blocks and clamps: These photos have been rotated to the right-side-up view; the boat was still inverted during this work. The reinforcement for the mizzen mast step was also clamped in place, as my redesign of the CB trunk comes very close to the mizzen mast. The knees for bulkhead 4 were clamped in place, with a length of plywood to span them and give a vertical measurement for the CB trunk. Remember again that this was all done upside-down. The work was confusing, to say the least. Wood rails were glued to the upper and lower edges of both sides of the trunk: Test fitting the trunk. The gray tube at the back is for the bilge pump discharge. The inside of the trunk was coated with S1 Sealer (three coats). The mating surfaces of the triangular parts at the front were left bare, for a primary bond with the wood. A vertical piece was not installed at the forward edge of the trunk. I did not want to have any sealed compartments, so a drain hole was installed at this small enclosed triangle. Blocks, covered with packing tape, were clamped against bulkhead 3 to guide the CB trunk during installation. At the aft part of the slot, two wedges were clamped into the slot to guide that part. The CB trunk with glue applied, ready for installation. Note the rope bridle hanging down with a hook. This was used to levitate the trunk over the boat, and to slowly lower it into position. My Dad helped with the installation, as it took four hands to lift the boat and then to guide it over the middle of the boat. Once the trunk was installed, the router was used to cut the planking to the exact width of the trunk.

Hi Greg, I built a MechMate last year. Cutting dimensions are 1900mm x 5100mm x 200mm. That's a bit over 6 feet by 18 feet by 8 inches. Here's an overview photo of the machine. Mine is serial #83. Michel

There were some voids at the stem, and a slight recess between the stem and the planking. I decided to lift the boat sideways, so that the epoxy would tend to run into the joint, not out. Materials prepared for epoxying: bamboo taped above the correct position, and strips of biax: The entire side of the stem is now glassed, and will later be painted white.

The slot for the centreboard was uneven. I marked a new line, using the deadwood as a reference edge. A guide board was then clamped in place, and a router with a guide bearing was used to clean up the edge. What it looks like with the deadwood clamped in place: The garboard strakes were joined on the outside with epoxy and biaxial fibreglass. The wetted surface was also coated with S1 Sealer, except for the area near the centreboard slot:

I wasn't happy with the integrity of the paint on the outside of the hull, so I decided to sand it all off. Approximately 200 screws were removed, and the holes countersunk and patched. These were for the original stringers. The replacement stringers are only glued in place.

Bulkhead 2 going in:

The keel area in the forward section was epoxied and fibreglassed, bonding the garboard strakes, keel, and stem together. The planking has a fair amount of twist in the bow, so I decided to install a double layer of 1/4" plywood as the stringers in this area. The plywood is more able to conform to the twist than solid wood stringers. Extensions were also installed at bulkhead 1, so the stringers will be discontinuous, as they also were at the stern, providing limber holes inside the watertight compartment. The template for bulkhead 1 was done in two sections, which were then taped together: Bulkhead 1 was then cut out of 3/4" ply, and test-fitted. The bulkhead now extends to the height of the gunwales, and the deck will be at that level too. With the planking already installed, it was not practical to install the foredeck at the level of the seats -- normally it gets installed before the planking goes on.

The mast steps were modified from the design in the plans. This was prompted by wanting to make the forward watertight compartment actually watertight. My solution is to install a tube for the mast. Next, there needs to be a way to get water out of that tube, which means a drain hole at the bottom. I didn't want it to drain into the forward compartment, so this meant a tube through a limber hole in bulkhead 1. With all this complexity, I started in CAD. Here's the design for the step for the main mast: I cut out the parts from 3/4" plywood using my MechMate CNC router: The layers were then glued and clamped. The old step for the main mast is in the foreground: Here is the step for the main mast, temporarily installed:

Sweet! She looks great!

Bulkheads 1 and 2 came out today. This marks the end of the disassembly phase of this project -- there's nothing more to remove from the boat.

Test-fitting bulkhead 6. It was done in three sections: the knees, and the large section in the centre. There are no notches for the stringers, as the forward stringers were installed after the bulkhead was glued in place. Bulkhead 6 glued in place, with the hole cut for the inspection port: Templates for the knees on bulkhead 5: Bulkhead 5 installed, showing the view to the transom:

I wondered how to deal with any water accumulation in the aft flotation compartment. It's well-nigh impossible to sponge out any water that sits above the stringers. My solution is to install limber holes within the aft compartment. Any water (or condensation) will flow to the keel, where it can be mopped up with a sponge. So, the stringers will be discontinuous at bulkhead 6. I used small plywood blocks as doublers, to hold the end of the stringers in place while the glue dried. They were installed with staples from a pneumatic gun.

Moving aft, I removed all the stringers. In most cases, there was no adhesive bond between the stringer and the planking; only the screws were holding them together. With the stringers out, I sanded away the paint in this area, and then coated the entire aft section with S1 Sealer. This was followed with thickened epoxy and fibreglass, with balsa as a filler along the keel/garboard joint. This is the keel, at the aft section of the centreboard slot.

Here's a direct link to the search form: http://messing-about...earch&do=search

I used a laser to mark the lower edge of the holes in bulkhead #3. They align with the #3 stringers (counting from the garboard), to leave enough room on the bulkhead to install the cleats for the floorboards. Test fitting the lower sections of the bulkhead: Creative clamping for the centre section. There's nothing to clamp against, so I clamped a block of wood to serve that purpose. The lower edges were coated with S1 Sealer to guard against water ingress: Partway through the installation: The final product, resting while the glue dries:

Typically, the most challenging part of any project is figuring out how to clamp the workpiece. Once that's figured, out, the rest is fairly trivial . I assembled a right-angled frame to clamp to the gunwale, to act as a reference for installing the sections of the new bulkhead. The first parts cut out were the knees. These are closeups of port and starboard, bulkhead #3, with the 2" thick top edge of the bulkhead temporarily clamped in place. The limber holes in the centre section of the boat have also been completed, with a piece of 1/4" plywood to bridge the opening in the stringer. The limber holes will all be coated with S1 Sealer, once all the bulkheads have been replaced.

One thing I've done for layups where I need a quantity of epoxy (mixed over the space of an hour, for example) is to pre-dispense 2 floz of epoxy resin into a number of cups. The resin is what takes effort, and time, to pump. If needed, I'll write the volume on the cup with a Sharpie marker. Then, all i have to do is add the correct number of pumps of hardener (which pumps really easily by comparison), mix, and apply. The rest of the cups of resin-only are just sitting there waiting for me, and I'm not wasting their working time. I also always keep a logbook of what I mixed, and when I mixed it. In the middle of a layup, I can't possibly remember how many minutes of working time I have left on this particular batch. Looking at the log, I can see it was mixed at 9:42pm, the manufacturer says I have X minutes of working time, so I know whether to relax or hustle. This also helps me keep track of the thickeners I've used, and what ratios / quantities worked on the last batch.

Before removing the old bulkheads, I marked their position in a number of places with a permanent marker. With the new stringers in place, I needed a continuous line, to help with installing the new bulkheads. I used a laser to connect the dots, so to speak. Here's a few of the new stringers installed. They're rather discontinuous, for several reasons. I want to be certain that any water is able to drain. It's also difficult to get the new stringers to bend in 2 axes, which would be necessary for them to exactly follow the edges of the planks. Also, I'm doing this one section at a time, as I don't want to remove all six bulkheads at once. So, it's short stringers with little joiner pieces (not installed yet) across the limber holes.

Using the floor jack to lower the cradle back onto its wheels, after removing the temporary screws in the keel repair: I coated the inside of the centre section of the hull with S1 Sealer, and then further strengthened both sides of the keel, and various parts of the plywood, with fibreglass. Most of the glass I pre-cut as biaxial, and laid it out on some pink foam before mixing epoxy. A self-healing cutting mat and cutting wheel work great on fibreglass, without distorting the weave. Here's what it looked like after epoxy coating and fibreglass. I used 10 fl oz of S1 Sealer and 20 fl oz of EAST System epoxy. With this stage complete, the boat was lifted onto the trailer again, to spend a few days back in the tent (to help the epoxy cure) while I work on other, paying, projects.

Scott, Believe me, I've been scratching my head wondering about many of the builder's decisions. I'll give you one example. On page 20, the plans state "To ensure that the stringers do not trap water, it is important to provide limber holes." This was underlined in red by the builder. A diagram is included on the next page, similarly annotated in red by the builder. Now, how many limber holes do you thing were installed in the stringers? If you guessed zero, you're correct . Why did he omit them? I Don't Know. As I'm starting into the reassembly stage (first epoxy applied this afternoon), I've come up with a directive to guide my decisions. If it's more work to fix this one than to build a new boat from scratch, then I'll not bother. For example, this is why the interior will be completely painted. It would be more work to partially re-plank this vessel to allow a bright finish, than to build a new one. She'll be a nice boat when I'm done, but "Bristol Condition" is permanently out of reach for this particular vessel.