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PiedTyper

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  1. Greetings all! Okay, sorry for dipping out on this for a bit, ran into a few hiccups in my non-boat-building life that took all hands for a bit, such is life right? The down side of this is that I've not had a lot of time for the making part but have had abundant time for the thinking part... Y'all know how I am about questions for things way past the part I'm at lol. THE UPDATES The hunt for board lumber is back/still on. I did stop at a couple of the big boxes in the greater Mineral Bluff metropolitan area and found my options anemic at best. I then decided that if I'm going to dump that much money into it and have to cull through piles of terrible lumber that I'd rather do it at a local lumber yard and keep the money in the neighborhood. The catch? Well, they're only open Monday through Friday... The implications of that are obvious... I'm hopeful this week is the week, hopefully I'll get a sunny day and disappear from my other obligations for a bit. Almost all of my fiberglass, epoxy, and various related sundries have arrived at this point. Currently, I'm still waiting for my bottom sheathing fiberglass and a couple silicone epoxy mixing cups to arrive. At that point I should be good to go on that front. I finally got the electrical system all worked out in order to integrate the running/anchor/deck lights into the build. My three primary concerns were to a) Be legal and easy to operate single handed in all configurations (sail/row/motor/anchored) b) Not have saggy baggy dangling wires all about the boat constantly. c) Not have to worry about stuff walking off easily which dovetails with having easy/reliably places to stow things when not in use. The highlight of it all is the (removable) center seat having integrated solar panels to charge the whole kit so I don't have to worry about batteries all the time. #Technology THE MODIFICATIONS So I've been thinking a lot about the additional flotation situation. Reaching way back to my high school geometry class and doing lots of "meh close enough" maths, I came up with the number 1746 cu/in. In theory, that is how much additional displacement for flotation my 10n would need to float more cork-like, that would bring the total longitudinal half flotation to 1.76 cu/ft or about 110LBS, aka the theoretical weight of the boat. I understand that the boat Isn't rectangular so the available flotation isn't as linear as 1/2 and I'm good, but hey, any amount of water that I wouldn't have to bail post capsize is an improvement. For those of you playing at home, that's about the same as continuing the foredeck line to the center seat top at a thickness of about 4 2/3". That leaves me thinking.... Is it really worth the sacrifice in available interior capacity do undertake such a project, and if it is, is it worth the weight penalty as well? I'm not sure. This is where the, what I'm now calling the (Good grief I hope we have a good sense of humor in here. **fingers crossed**) "Thrillsbe Removable Additional Suspension Helpers" (or T.R.A.S.H for short) come in. I really like the idea of some sort of ultra-light removable supplemental flotation. Something modular so I can take out the T.R.A.S.H. when motoring and the space is needed or reinstall when sailing and I'm most likely to end up swimming next to my boat. Yeah, it might not be the most elegant of solutions, but hey, life is rarely elegant! All of that being said, this task has made it to the deferred section of my project. Once the boat is complete I'm planning to get a couple chunks of the pink styrofoam and mock up a couple pieces of T.R.A.S.H., head out to the lake and see what works best for my application. The winner will probably just be wrapped in a thin layer of fiberglass for durability and I'll move on with my life. As previously alluded to, I'm building a removable solar panel center seat to add battery charging capability for my nav/anchor lights. It'll feed a pair of LiFePo batteries (one in the foredeck and one in an aft seat) that will in turn power my integrated LED nav lights for a really, REALLY long time. I'm planning to modify the design of the boom slightly. The original plans call for the center mainsail sheet block to be attached to the boom via qty 2 #10-32x3.5" flat head machine screws. Presumably machine screws were selected because this block is going to take a beating that wood screws just wouldn't survive and presumable flat head screws so that their heads don't chafe the foot of the sail. The concern that I have with this design is that the head of the screw is totally unsupported in the wood, a situation I just cant bring myself to do on purpose. The other issue with it is totally self-inflicted, I am using all 316 stainless fasteners on my project, a #10-32x3.5 flat head machine screw (or even a #10-24) is a pretty a pretty rare bird in 316. My solution: Flip the orientation of the machine screw to be inserted from the bottom of the boom, instead of the top, then recess a t-nut into the top of the boom then glue a plug in on top of the t-nut. At that point i can use a #10-32x3+/- pan head machine screw (which is easier to source 2 at a time). I'm also planning to build my mast step out of plastic. The current material of choice is solid PVC sheet (not expanded) assembled in layers like its' wooden equivalent, the trick being that PVC and Epoxy don't exactly stick to each other. The current plan is to make the epoxy bed for the mast step as indicated in the plans, then use the appropriate adhesive (and the prescribed screws) to make the final attachment. We shall see how that one works. Worst case scenario is that it doesn't work and I have to make a wooden one. THE QUESTIONS I'm considering adding t-nuts embedded into the gunwales between the second and final lamination as a provision for attaching oarlock sockets. Provided that I properly treat the holes, Loctite in the screws, and properly bed the whole assembly to the boat, does anyone see anything else I should be concerned about? There are only two things I can think of that might give me grief in the long haul is if the machine screw were to break off in the t-nut, getting it out might be nearly impossible. At that point, I'd probably just drill out the hole, epoxy in a piece of dowel, and then use a screw in its' place... The second being that it might affect the structural integrity of the gunwale at that point, but honestly, I'm not sure that it'll even be enough to worry about. So as you all may have gathered, I'm planning to add the optional fiberglass sheathing to the bottom of the boat. There isn't really a whole lot of Spindrift specific info out there regarding this process but from what I gather, the general practice is to use a single sheet of 4-6oz cloth across the entire bottom in lieu of fiberglass tape at just the seams. Since the Spindrift calls for 10oz tape at the seams, I'm left with a couple options. a) Use 4oz cloth, and add an additional layer of 6oz tape at the seams (or the inverse) or, b) sheath the bottom in cloth, in-between- the tape seams, c) tape the seams with 10oz tape, then just add a layer of cloth over the whole bottom, or d) (the option I'm favoring) sheath the two bottom pieces independently, then tape over the seams as prescribed in the plans. Does anyone have any really impassioned opinions on options A-C or any practical reason why option D is a terrible idea? Thanks all for taking the time to read my brain dump!
  2. I think that conclusively solves the mystery of deadwood! So yeah, what your plans show is what I was expecting to see for the deadwood 1x2 listed on the materials list, but this is what the 10n plans show: So to me, that suggests that the plans may have changed but the materials list did not. Instead of having a piece of deadwood to make the shape, the update is a single piece keel all out of one 1x2. The scribing for the coping seems pretty straightforward. Makes sense and I'll roll with that. Worst case scenario, if someone shows up with different info, I'll just have to rip the 1x2 and buy a piece of 1x2 for the deadwood later. Thank you again for all of your help, it truly means a lot to know y'all will make sure I don't stray too far off the path. -Dana
  3. Update on the mystery of deadwood... Sounds like it could be an episode of Scooby Doo... Anyway, I've slept on this and the following are the facts as I currently know them. Exhibit A) The materials list gives us two material numbers: Qty 1 - 1"x1"x10' - Keel Qty 1 - 1"x2"x3' - Deadwood Exhibit B) The plans identify the keel as being 1-1/2"x3/4" (a 1"x2") of an undisclosed length Exhibit C) The Instructions indicate that the keel is supplied in 2 pieces, presumably one for the forward half of the boat and the other for the aft half since the instructions suggest that the keel is attached AFTER the boat is cut in half and might make it difficult to accurately do the cut & bend method as the plans suggest. This leaves me with the following theories: The materials list is INCORRECT (Option 1A) The design has been modified and the list not updated. The current method is to cope a single (unknown length) 1"x2" to form the entire keel. The Materials list is CORRECT (Option 2A) The design has been modified and the plans have not been fully updated. The current method is to laminate the deadwood lumber to the keel lumber, and cope the whole keel without requiring the keel to be significantly "bent" around the hull. (Option 2B) The design has been modified and the plans have not been clarified. The current method is to make the keel out of the 1"x1" cut into two pieces and laminated into one piece with the cut off making the aft 1/3ish of the keel board into a 1"x2"ish board. Then the assembly is coped and installed per the plans. This leaves the deadwood as a component used somewhere else in the boat but not identified as "deadwood" in the plans. As I sit here, I can see the advantages and disadvantages of all three options, my inclination is to use a single piece of 1x2 (+/-) lumber coped on the edge where the keel meets the bottom of the aft half of the boat and bent around the forward half of the boat as seen in the plans. This would leave very little end grain exposed on the wearing edge of the keel board. However in this model it might make sense to use a 1x1 laminated to a section of deadwood on the aft section of the boat because the 1x1 will have less probability of internal stresses in the board and is more likely to stay straight and less likely to split/splinter once coped and bent around the hull, especially if a hardwood is used. So that's where I am as I finalize my materials list for the lumber yard tomorrow. -Dana
  4. Okay I'm stumped, what piece exactly is the "Deadwood" 1"x2"x3'? I've scoured the plans a few times but am obviously missing what this piece of wood turns into and when it gets there... Just to be clear, I'd expect it to be something to do with the keel/transom intersection, but the entire keel appears to be made out of a single coped 1x2 in the plans but the instructions suggest it's in two pieces, and the materials list identifies the keel as being a single piece of 1x1x10'...
  5. Okay, so what I'm hearing is that there is no "definitive" number but so long as its between 8 & 12:1 (and they match) I should be A-OK. Re: Gluing the scarf I've never worked with epoxy in woodworking but in traditional glue-ups I've read that you're not supposed to apply too much clamp pressure as it can squeeze all/most of the glue out of the joint and compromise the resulting bond. Is this an issue with epoxy? Is there a such thing as -too much- pressure so long as it's within normal hand clamp forces? I'm not threatening to throw it in the 20-ton press, but I'm not above putting it on the vacuum table or throwing a few hundred pounds of Linotype pigs on top to ensure the most reliable bond possible. Sorry for so many questions on this subject, I really don't want to mess this bit up. Re: Aft Seat Option Have any of you opted in for the aft seat? If yes, then how is it working out for you. If no, then why did you opt out? I'm thinking about adding the cleats but just skipping the seat up front because I'm just not sure when I'd use it... Rowing maybe? Wouldn't another human that far aft would make it harder to row? Re: Flotation Okay, so I know all of you are expert sailors to which this scenario would never happen but lets talk hypothetically for a moment. Hypothetically speaking, lets say you're sailing along unknowingly carrying too much sail and all of a sudden you find yourself swimming next to a capsized dinghy, how well is the dinghy floating on its' side? For those of you that added additional flotation, where did you stash it?
  6. Re: Scarf Joints Hey, off the top of your collective heads, does anyone know the angle at which the plywood should be tapered for a proper scarf joints? The number 15 is what comes to my mind but I've got absolutely no recollection where I would have gotten such a number from...
  7. So to this point, Raka's literature says specifically that the fast and slow hardeners are compatible and that they can be mixed "to customize working characteristics and cure times" so long as the ratio of Resin:Hardener remains the same. Is there some other reason that might be a misrepresentation or oversimplification? I've been the victim of believing the instructions before so I wouldn't be surprised if the answer was something like "Yes, but if you mix the hardeners, the resulting pot has a melting point of 88 degrees.".
  8. Thrillsbe: lol who would'a thought! I am truly appreciative of your generosity in sharing (name) space for us. The amount of agonizing the whole house went through over names is not an exercise that I'm looking to repeat any time soon! Everyone else, thank you so much for the input and encouragement! I'm pretty stoked about this project and can't wait until its taking up all the free space in the basement. So while we're on the subject of protecting the bottom. I ultimately plan to use this boat as a tender for my eventual cruising vessel. Of course that is dependent on learning to sail the dinghy first haha! At any rate, obviously the life of a trainer and a tender is hard and involves a lot of beaching on less than optimal ground. I vaguely remember reading somewhere about an optional single layer of fiberglass cloth over the entire bottom (or any portion thereof), in addition to the tape on keel and chines. To me it seems like it could add a substantial amount of weight but it might go a long way towards the long term durability of the boat. Do you all have any thoughts on the subject or is this a reasonably unfounded concern and I should just go with the plywood as-is? That being said, is putting a sacrificial layer of glass tape over the finished keel (like on a canoe) an option in lieu of a chafe strip? (I just looked at the shipping charges to order it lol) In other news, I just got done giving the ole' debit card a workout: epoxy (Raka: I went with it because i could get the resin with a gallon of fast AND a gallon of slow hardener for the same price as the System Three which was second place. Yes I have too much hardener now, but I can fine tune the mix for the thin bits AND the thick bits.), fillers (Cell-o-fill, cabosil, phenolic microballoons, and graphite [for the cast in place rudder pivot bushing]), glass tape, mast tubes, rigging hardware (plus a few spares of critical bits), stainless fasteners, stainless oarlocks & sockets. Still on my to-get list: Board Lumber - Yeah, still debating this one. I made tentative stops at the local lumber yards and at this point I'm leaning towards a mix of lumber since it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to find one variety of clear wood in all the sizes i need. Suitable materials that I found reasonably local are: Cypress, Poplar, (unspecified) Fir, Yellow Pine, Red Cedar, White Cedar, Eastern White Pine, and (unspecified) Spruce. The lumber for the gunwales seems like it might be the tricky one to sort out.... Running Rigging - Does anybody happen to have measurements of what their finished lines were/are for a 10 with the end boom sheeting setup? Sheet Metal - Obviously i need the small snippet of metal for the mast step rigging base plate, and I'm planning to add a couple pieces to the transom so that the intermittent use of an outboard won't destroy my transom. Are there any other places that you all wish you would have added a bit of extra metal? I was thinking perhaps a top plate or a top and bottom plate for the mast collar? It seems like that might be something that could be toast in a heartbeat with the leverage of an un-seated mast while assembling the rigging the middle of a rough anchorage. Sail - I know I know, its not the preferred method to make your own, but it sure does seem like an interesting project, I do happen to have a sewing machine that breezes through heavy canvas, leather, and upholstery fabric 4-5 layers at a time, and I also have a walking foot patcher stitcher that I use for leather work. I'm not too concerned about not having the appropriate equipment, my concern is having the right design/measurements. That being said, that Sailrite kit looks to be just the ticket, and perk is that I would be able to pattern from the pieces and make future sails when i inevitably destroy the first one. The only catch is that their kit doesn't appear to have a mast sleeve zipper included... I emailed them to ask about it, no reply yet but I suspect that adding a zipper might not be a huge deal if i just re-cut a new mast sleeve with the additional material added for the seam allowances. Navigation Lights - Do you all just use the flashlight jobbies for night time operations? I'm thinking about integrating some LED nav-lights into the gunwales, and maybe a couple red LED deck lights on the underside of the boom or perhaps on the inside of the gunwales about where the oarlock sockets mount. Has anybody gone down this path? Any advice or opinions? ....and breath.... THANKS AGAIN! -Dana
  9. THANK YOU SO MUCH! That was a huge help. I hadn't thought about how the poplar would react to abrasion in an application like the keel. I can definitely appreciate the advantage of something like a long grain pine in that application. I will definitely look into a more hard wearing lumber for those sorts of pieces. So I came up with a couple more epoxy questions: 1) Is the "3 Gallon" number Resin including hardener or resin plus the appropriate amount of hardener? 2) So basically I'm just looking for low viscosity "Marine" resin in 2:1 ratio? -Dana
  10. Hello all, Total boat building newb here, so I'm going to preemptively apologize for my naivete on the subject but looking forward to learning! I love to learn things from the ground up so undoubtedly, I'm probably going to take the long route to completing this project. So as the title suggests, I am building a Spindrift 10N and currently have my plywood and plans parked in the basement, but now I'm stalled... Being a total novice, I turned to the internet in an attempt to find a work-around for the continuing B&B Epoxy outage, but there is a whole lot of truly conflicting information out there and I'm thoroughly confused. What are suitable alternatives to the B&B epoxy? Obviously there is WEST, but it's insanely expensive compared to other supposed competitors and well, price is a factor. Since I plan to use the heck out of this boat, and literally the whole thing is held together by epoxy, what am I looking at/for? I live in the "mountains" of north Georgia (for now) and am trying to source the balance of the solid stock lumber required for the project. Is there any particular functional/structural disadvantage to using "poplar" (I use quotation marks since "poplar" in a lumber yard is like "pine" in that it can be one of several species of wood) for the framing bits? We don't have a whole lot of other choices that fall in the weight/board-ft range of the fir/spruce recommended in the instructions. Not to mention reliably provide relatively clear boards. Next up, the sail. Has anybody made their own sail? Is that even a thing people do? I'm having a bit of trouble decoding the diagram but I'm pretty confident that it seems to be within my capabilities. I'm not above buying a pre-fab one, but it seems like learning the basic ins and outs of making a sail might be useful skills to acquire for future adventures. All of that being said, there doesn't appear to be a materials list or sufficient information on the diagram to construct one without some trial and error so if anybody has undertaken the challenge, I'd love to get some lessons learned advice. Finally, a hundred or so more questions are undoubtedly to follow. I look forward to the adventure. Best Regards, Dana
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