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PAR

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Everything posted by PAR

  1. Either way will do, though some argument could be made about the one piece sheathing, for abrasion resistance, in a high traffic area. It's possible you could get this single piece on, without cutting a dart or two, depending on the fabric weight, type and diameter of the corner radius. Yes, as with all fabrics going around an outside corner, you'll need a radius, to permit the 'glass to "lay down" neatly. I'd use a router with a healthy round over bit, cleaning it up with a belt sander or DA after, though there's other methods that work just fine too.
  2. They're only cute to prevent a grand smorgasbord, rather than a convenient snack the mothers and fathers may occasionally enjoy . . .
  3. I like to let the tarp hang clear over the rails, often just employing weights at the grommets, which I put in as needed, if one isn't there. Grommets kits are cheap and easy to install. The weights on larger boats are 1 gallon milk jugs with water in them, tied to a short length of line, tied to the grommets. Smaller boats use a 1/2 gallon jug. The weights keep in in place during the worst of summer thunder storms, which can see hurricane force winds, though my yard, being heavily forested sees less wind. Bungee cords work, though don't last very long, maybe a season. I've also laced a length of line through the grommets, zig-zagging down to the trailer all the way around. On boats in the water, I like to use a set of bows, instead of tent poles. I find the bows easier on the tarp and prevent low spots from catching pools of water. Agreed, ventilation is key and I have a set of "pancake fans" I use on stored stuff, that force air through the ends of the boat, usually blowing in the same direction to get a flow going. You can get small solar vents that do the same thing and these can be sewn or taped into the tarp as desired. The bungee cord, modified tarp method I've described is a direct theft from a awning company that makes real covers out of SunBrella. I stole the technique, juts using cheap tarp material. If you use care in shaping the tarp (darts, folds and pleats), it will lay down on the bows neatly and look quite professional too. If you want the tarp to last longer, paint it with elastiomeric roofing paint. This adds UV protection and will seal any tears or imperfections. It'll also make the tarp heavier, but for long term storage, it's worth the extra labor and cost. This treatment will easily double or triple the tarp's life, especially if it's dogged down good. For a cover that's going to come on and off frequently, I wouldn't bother with this paint job, but for long term storage, with occasional de-covering anticipated, it's a good, cheap solution. Chick, you know how we backwoods, curmudgeon like boat builders are. We're cheap, inventive and determined, as a rule, mostly because we're too poor to buy a good one or too cheap to have someone come out and put one on for us. I'm not a curmudgeon yet, as I have a few more years to go, though have graduated to geezer and am firmly enjoying it. The think Tom Lathrop has ventured into the embrace of curmudgeonisum.
  4. Place a tarp over the dinghy and any "bows" (PVC pipe works good) or tent supports. Get it to drape nice, folding "darts and pleats" into it as you walk around. I use spring clamps, attached to the trap 6" - 8" below the rub rail and hang a weight off them to pull the tarp down. Once satisfied with the "lay" of the tarp, use a Sharpie and draw a line, parallel to the sheer, but about 3" below it. Use the rub rail as a guide to steer the marker. Remove the tarp and cut on the line you've just traced. It's also wise to mark and folds, darts and pleats too, before you remove the tarp. Sew or double sided tape the pleats, darts and folds closed. Fold over the perimeter, where you cut around the sheer making a hem, leaving a small gap at the bow and the center of the transom, then sew or tape this over some heavy duty shock cord (bungee cord). Leave a tail at each end, where the gap in the hem is, which is where you'll pull to cinch up the tarp around the rub rail. Place you bow(s) or tent pole in the boat, toss the cover over, center the gap at the transom and go to the bow and pull the cord, which will cinch it up all around the sheer. Clip or tie the cord at each end and you're done.
  5. There's a good reason the stern and side wheeler disappeared shortly after the prop showed up.
  6. The Carolina Bow is a pretty common feature on this type of boat, so not any real theft, as it's been well done, if not overly so over the years. The broken sheer is also a fairly common feature and also not a surprise. The bracket has a number of logical reasons behind it's shape and a designer of Dudley 's skill wouldn't need to copy anything.
  7. Yeah, that's about as classic an example of an "unfair" surface as you could ask for. This is common with wood and epoxy work. The epoxy is much harder than the surrounding wood, so if you hit it with a sander to remove a drip or pile of goo on a fastener head, you grind down the epoxy all right, the the softer surrounding wood take a beating too. A fair surface is what you can see. These appear as waves, undulations and other defects in the actual surface, such as the big divots you'll need to fill above. Some of those look deep enough you'll hit them twice at least with filler and maybe want to add some fabric too. Do the fairing part first, as smoothing is just leveling the coatings, be these paint or goo. This process (smoothing) is called a few different things, but it's a surface coating treatment, like knocking down stipple after spraying paint or roller work or flattening brush strokes after hand painting. This process doesn't need fillers (usually) though some high build primer may be required to fill in deeper imperfections. Fairing is mostly "board 'o pain" stuff and you progressively identify and knock down the high spots, while also fill the lows. The first pass with the long board will ID the highs and lows, for more attention. A light misting with a contrasting primer can help a lot, as the high spots will get the primer removed, while the low spots will still have primer in them. I usually knock the highs down and lightly mist again to see how close these are, as the lows are still there and need to be filled. Some will fill with primer, while others (see above) will need filler. For most novices, I'd recommend a premix like QuikFair, from System Three. Fill the lows and knock them flat(ish) with a long board, leaving the other areas unattended until you've got the just filled area close. Mist with primer again and more board 'o pain time will ID, how much more needs to be sanded or maybe you need more filler (don't be surprised if you do). This is repeated, until you can go from one end of the boat to the other, after a light primer dusting and no highs or lows show up. This is where the sheathing can go on, though I like to seal the surface with straight goo, to lock down print through (tape) and the fairing compounds. Some smoothing can been done, before the sheathing, but generally it's not necessary, as you'll be doing this on the finish coats, assuming you got the sealing coat pretty smooth and didn't put it on with a wire brush. Once the sheathing is on, you'll go through the contrasting primer routine again, to find more areas and irregularities. You can get as anal as you like about this, but most just toss their hands up and surrender at some point.
  8. I've never seen this or maybe I did some time ago, but managed to turn it off.
  9. I've used the gooseneck approuch on masts, but prefer "bulkhead" connectors, to deck connectors. It seems the O ring/formed ring gets crunched pretty easily, but if replaced, they work pretty good, if mounted horizontally. They have better ones than the ones above, some with double water penetration, sleeves and gaskets, but these too wear out. The setup I like the most on mast wiring is the male/female wire ends that screw together (inline connectors). It's like above except no base, just the fitting on the wire. The connection can be taped, to further seal it, but it's easy enough to remove and the wire exit from the mast can be caulked (or placed in an exit box) and the wire going into the deck or cabin top can be handled the same way. I've been using Amphenol products and the "Amphe-EX" is a bullet (actually explosion) proof setup, for not a lot of money, assuming you don't wan to replace it in a generation. Available in deck, bulkhead, inline, etc. configurations, with many pin arrangements as you can like, including USB, coax and standard data transfer and power (2, 3, 4, 5 + pins, etc.). The EX series have waterproof, double strain relief connections.
  10. . . . leaves black marks all over the wood . . .
  11. Maybe I've rated a emergency care package, of course simply to critique the latest batch . . .
  12. I hope your "steam box" isn't a galvanized tube or pipe. I made this mistake on my first steam box, figuring it would be easy to use a galvanized chimney pipe. Steamed things like a charm, but . . .
  13. There are a few different connectors you can use, but the ones that work in these applications are "deck connectors" which have a threaded sleeve and rubber seal, that insure it can't come undone and water can't get in. Some cheaper ones, usually plastic have a 1/4 turn locking mechnisium, which works, but are not as tough if kicked or beat up. This is the "SeaDog" piece, with built in strain relief and chrome plated brass construction. This is the plastic version and it doesn't look like it has a positive lock. Just a passive lip that gets stretched over the base (maybe). This is what I'd recommend for a "combo" masthead light. If using just as an anchor, you can use the extra wires for masthead cockpit lighting, which is darn handy, when fishing around the bottom of the cooler for the last cold beer, well after sundown.
  14. A button head looks like flattened pan head. It has a a wider head, with a lower profile. Sometimes it's called a truss head. A truss head. A button head. A pan head. The big box stores will have rubber washers and various grades of screws, though at the retail level I've found Ace Hardware has a bigger selection of stainless screws. If you need quite a few, wholesale online is more cost effective.
  15. Well cool. When "we finish up your boat", can we get free beers and the occasional ride too . . .
  16. Ditto the above comments Robert and I know you elsewhere too and your value, even if you don't realize it is quite high. I do seek information on the interwebs, though more often that not, am sharing my ideas, observations and experience. I'm in an area where we have lots of wooden and other hull material boats, many brought down by "snow birds" (what we call the vacationing yankees that come down in the winter), many leave their boats to the warm waters all year or to guys like me that'll keep an eye on them. I for one would miss your wisdom, gentleness, thriftiness and warm regards that you always seem to spread to the other members, most of which don't have your experence and expertise, even if you still don't like epoxy . . . hang around, you'll be sorely missed otherwise.
  17. Yeah, you have the right idea, set the "glazing" in a rabbet and make this deep enough to accept both the glazing and a little piece of 1/4 round to hide the sealant too. If you use PVC or plastic 1/4 round, you can use a heat gun and easily bend it around just about any corner shape. Additionally, use a piano hinge and place the fasteners along the upper edge of the frame and the bottom edge of the windshield, so only the bar portion of the hinge is visible. Lexan is the usual glazing choice and a little more costly than plexi. I prefer to use real glass (laminated), but it's usually a weight thing on small boats, so . . . Don't screw the glazing to the frame, use just sealant. If you do screw the glazing in, make the holes in the glazing huge and employ button head fasteners over rubber washers. The typical arrangement is the hole in the glazing is just a bit smaller than the relaxed diameter of the rubber waster. Over the rubber waster is a regular stainless one, of the same or every so slightly smaller diameter. When you tighten down the button or pan head fastener, watch the rubber and as soon as you see some ooze out, stop. Do not over tighten, just make slightly firm contact. If you don't do this the glazing will expand and crack against and around the fasteners.
  18. As I (obviously too feebly) attempted to apologize about my concerns, now I'm terribly concerned, not in your build, but the wealth, knowledge and friendship you've brought to this site, which I'd be very sorry to lose. You're one of the troopers, not one of the jamokes. Your skills and expertise have saved dozens from major headaches, this would be a great lose to the members. Except for the first line of your signature, you're clearly very experienced, way more then 99% of the rest of the members here.
  19. The bottom line for waterproofing things is the film thickness, which just about every epoxy formulator suggest should be 10 mils. Normally applied (roller, brush, etc.) you need three coats, to get this thickness. Now, if you apply fabric directly to the surface, which hasn't been pre-sealed with epoxy, you can get 10 mils, but there's stuff in there that isn't actually epoxy (fillers, fabric, etc), which artificially bulks up the film thickness. In short, the surface that gets a sheathing (fabric) should be sealed with at least a single coat of straight goo, before a fabric goes down. This insures the substrate isn't going to suck any resin out of subsequent coating or sheathings and provides a uniform base for the fabric to grip. I've done both the tacky and dry to the touch, but still chemically active methods and both work. The tacky method can be messy, so can the wet method (pre-saturating the fabric) and I don't recommend the wet method for novices. The tacky method works good on vertical and overhead surfaces, but can be more difficult to manipulate the fabric (tug and stretch it), so I use the dry method, which has a previous sealing coat of epoxy, that's dried and either still chemically active, but dry to the touch or a previous coating that's been washed and sanded lightly for good tooth. With experience, you'll find if you lay 'glass fabric on raw wood or plywood, you'll also find areas that seem less "wetted out" then others. These ares will look slightly less transparent, maybe have a slight whitish tint, etc. These are the areas where the raw wood, sucked a little more resin than surrounding areas, slightly starving the bond line between the fabric and the wood. These "dry spots" are obvious when simply coating raw wood and we just go back and apply a little more in these spots. Under fabric, these are much harder to anticipate. Like most things, materials (peelply) need to be utilized in the areas they work and avoided when they aren't as good. I use much less peelply then I once did. I have different application techniques now, which makes this possible. All builders develop these "adjustments" to their methods as most learn the same as I, the hard way and have no choice but to adjust, or simply learn to drink and curse more. Most can get buy without the bother of peelply and if this is a "one off" you really don't need to learn the in's and out's of this application technique. This said you can get better results if you're a quick learner, but you'll have to learn, which means you'll have to screw up and do things over and for some, the budget isn't worth this level of "expertise" or understanding.
  20. Moisture will climb up (or down) threads through capillary action. If you still want the threads, insure the fastener doesn't have it's thread exposed (grind them off) at the joint. This will prevent the water from commuting across the joint along the threads. I'm not too worried about explosions and stuff on your build, maybe just an over reaction to a problem I recognized on my part.
  21. Not trying to scare you, though it's something I see a lot, but usually with glued down carpet, which has a more aggressive glue and inert materials in the carpet itself. I have seen these and similar mats as well as vinyl stick on's and roll flooring, all being nearly or completely inert, still trapping moisture between it and the substrate. This said, it does take years for a problem to crop up, if the plywood was well entombed in goo and fabric and (most importantly) hasn't been breached by a screw or something. I seen boats only 5 - 6 years old needing a new sole, but then again, some as old as 20 years, before needing a new something or other covered with whatever. This is the only reason I mention it. Boat builders as a general rule, even novice builders will care and look after their creation(s), a whole lot better then the average person that's just gotten a second mortgage and bought a new BayLiner bow rider. This means you catch any issues long before you have to rip out major portions of boat, just to get at all of the damage. In short, you'll likely be just fine, so no worries . . .
  22. In the second image, you stated; "Visible is the base for the forward companion sill, and the cleat holes. These are over sized, epoxy filled, and drilled and tapped to fit the screws. They will go through the bresthook, centerline beam, and a backing plate, then get washers and lock nuts." I have an issue with the holes being filled (good) drilled (good again) and then tapped (maybe good). My problem is these fasteners are to go through more structural elements, then get capped with washers and nuts? If the epoxy bond is tapped and the fasteners continue through to get a nut below, it'll place the fastener in a double shear situation (technically not a real double shear). Simply described, the nut being tightened on the previously tapped/threaded epoxy bond (holes), will likely just tear out the epoxy, unless big enough to physically challenge the fastener itself. I'm hoping I misunderstood how you wrote this or that you typed it slight incorrectly. If you're going to put a nut under everything, make sure the epoxy bond is slightly larger than the shank or thread diameter, so it (the nut) pulls straight down, compressing everything between the head and the nut, not the bolt head, epoxy threads and the nut.
  23. Yeah, most discover after some time, the pumps not as convenient as they'd hoped and move to weighing or syringes. I too use syringes and find all the things Alan says true, plus if you have some smaller, yet larger bore ones, you can precisely apply it into places that are exceedingly difficult with other methods. I was repairing a veneer teak, I did a few years ago, where the sun had opened a few seams and they'd started to buckle or blister in a few voids, inadvertently produced initially. Some I simply squirted some goo into and mashed them down under a brick, while others (about a half a dozen places total on this aft deck) I slit open the seams, propped it open and then squirted some goo in, before mashing it back down. I have several sizes for this, but the tip is what counts, so usually I use a 100 - 150 ML syringe and cut the tip back, so it can flow easily enough to not unseat the rubber plunger. On this deck I used a 75 ML and put a length of vinyl tubing on the tip, so I could get it under the seams. I did have to heat the epoxy ever so much (maybe 90 degrees), to get a good flow through the tubing, but I use a super slow mix, so still plenty of working time at this temperature.
  24. These molded mats work well on sealed surfaces, like GRP, but I don't trust anything that traps moisture against wood, though technically properly epoxy coated wood, should be fine (perfect world). The adhesive has good tack, though I question if it prevents all moisture from not getting trapped, between it and the substrate. I replace lots of soles each year and 95% of them, are because of a covering of some sort, that's supposed to be inert, glued down to a 'glass sheathed piece of plywood. Moisture eventually finds a way to a fastener, scratch, ding, etc. and gets into the plywood, where it's just a matter of time.
  25. Those are some stubby little legs you got there . . .
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