Thrillsbe

I rely heavily on this forum for feedback. I treasure your opinions. In that spirit, I will show you my overall plan for this boat. It is not intended to be a yacht tender. Instead, it will be for single-handed sailing, fishing, and rowing. In the future, grandkids might learn to sail using her. So, conventional pram seating isn’t as important as floation. And since I like to lay in the bottom of these boats (see photo), a section of floatation is conspicuously absent. The middle seat will be used only occasionally, so it is removable (for sailing comfort). Comments, please!

I got a little bit done today. I clamped where I could, and shot screws (on the other side) where my clamps wouldn’t reach.

Today, I went "up the mountain", and paid Chick Ludwig a visit. We brainstormed on this a bit. This evening, I got an email from Alan, and took the discussion a bit further. I believe I now have two good ways to proceed. Each have a few bugs to shake out, before I decide which direction to take. I'll have my parts in a week or so, and can get moving again. In the meantime, I might get started on my daggerboard trunk, daggerboard, and rudder.

Hey, guys, I think I just had an epiphany. I’m in the process of drilling and gluing. I did relent, and go with epoxy-lined holes, as you san see below. But here’s my thought: Wouldn’t it be incredibly easier to fit and fiddle the attachment of the Qhick Connect parts at this stage of the build, rather than after I have two hull halves to contend with? It might be worth waiting for my hardware. What do you think?

@Hirilonde-- i love the boot stripe! Yeah, the Quick Connect system has a bunch of holes drilled through the nesting bulkheads below the waterline. By rights, I should drill each one oversized, fill with epoxy, and re-drill to size. I'm inclined to give 'em a coat of epoxy, and use polysulfide bedding compound or silicone sealer. After all, 99% of this dink's life will be out of the water, under a tarp in the back yard. All that drilling is mainly going to add variation in the final hole locations. Exposure to moisture is a secondary concern. (Opposing views are welcome here. It's not like making political comments on FB. There, they crucify you for disagreeing.)

I think it’s machined out of Starboard.

@Hirilonde, I wish Garry’s photos were available. I’d love to see them. Yes, there are a lot of “fiddly bits” to this system. But it will be worth the worry, if it all works out. It it turns out to be a headache, I can always fill, drill, and go with the old 1/4” bolt attachment method. That’s the nice thing about working with wood and epoxy.

@Steve W, on second thought, I will use the double-sided tape idea to locate the aft center connector. I’ll make a new, undrilled doubler at this location. Thanks for the suggestion. That’s one of the great things about this forum. We can out our heads together to solve a problem. The outboard attachments will be easier to control. This center attachment could be the most troublesome.

Thanks for the input, guys. Today, I started gluing the parts together. The outboard doublers will be drilled later. Since my center doubler was predrilled, I’ll use a different method. You’ll see. Fingers crossed!

Well, it’s back to the drawing board, boys and girls! Last night, the folly of my wonderful scheme became very evident. Let me explain. As you know, I’m planning to use B&B’s slick Quick Connect system. This will speed up my boat launching, maximizing time on the lake (getting skunked by the Bass). It is very important that these fittings line up with their mating parts. The problem becomes how to get these various parts in perfect alignment. This was a cool problem for this engineer. I would draw on my 40+ years of engineering skills, using desctiptive geometry, geometric dimensioning & tolerancing, satellite imagery, and a handful of 16-penny nails. The latter were to serve as locating pins for the various bits. All the pre-drilled parts would fit together precisely. That was the plan. Nothing lined up! New plan: glue together the undrilled pieces, line the bulkead assemblies up & drill pilot holes through both halves. This will ensure good alignment of the two halves. I hope. Photos of that process will follow. (Unless someone else has a better idea.) Meanwhile, here’s one showing my 1/8” misalignment.

Chick & Ricknriver (try saying that out loud 3 times), let me repeat myself. Trying to nest two halves of a dinghy over your head sounds like something you’d see on an old-time movie. I don’t recommend it. But let me get this dink finished, and we csn try it— on YOUR car, not mine!

Doubling up my doublers tonight.

The Amanda is a nice boat! Where do you live? Maybe you can play with this one when I’m done with her, before you do anything drastic. Won’t you trailer the Amanda?

I’m closing in on going 3D! I’ve been getting my doublers ready for gluing to the nesting bulkheads. Quick Connect was designed for Micro, Graham’s tiny dink. There are differences between the two boats, and I’ve had to make some adjustments. My big concern is that the thicker doublers (1/2” instead of 1/4”) might affect the nesting geometry. While I worry over that, I am gluing doublers, and drilling holes. I’ll need to commit to Quick Connect (or not) in the next few days. Here is my progress.

I’m starting to lay out my doublers for the incorporation of Quick Connect. It is crucial to get perfect alignment of all the pieces. I’m starting by making one template that will transfer the holes to either the forward bulkhead (two-hole pattern) or the after bulkhead (three-hole pattern). I’m using a full-sized drawing of Quick Connect for this. The first template is to cut the clearance hole in the bulkheads. The other two photos are of making one template for drilling all the holes in the 1/2” doublers.