Spindrift 12 build log

[Hirilonde]

You are looking at level athwartship (across) only.  You want the boat to be level across from gunwale to gunwale for the entire length of the boat.

[Alan Stewart]

I think I need to just put in the breasthook and wire in the fwd bulkhead between the lines already drawn for me on the side panels and worry more about leveling and twist after I put on the gunwales. 

 

 

Walt, yes definitely. Lots you can do.

 

A quick overview....

 

-Assemble and glue cleats to top outboard side of longitudinal bulkheads.

-Install longitudinal bulkheads, fwd bulkheads, aft bulkheads and partial bulkheads. These can all be dropped right in to your unfolded hull. The longitudinal bulkheads dado into the fwd bulkhead and the transom for alignment. 

-install the breasthook

-Glue the gunwales on

-Glue the transom in

-install the quarter knees

-Tack weld the hull, longitudinal bulkheads, partial bulkhead, fwd bulkhead, aft bulkhead.

-Install trunk beams (can be dryfit fut to keep longitudinal bulkhead spacing correct) Remove the temp center frame, no longer needed. 

-Check for twist.

-Fillet and tape everything inside.

 

Even up to that point, the hull will have A LOT of ability to twist. It's really only after the seat tops and fore-deck are glued down that the hull will be "Locked in" and you want to check for twist before doing that. 

I wouldn't even worry about leveling the boat fore and aft at all right now. You don't need to know until you're installing the foredeck to make sure it has some aft slope for draining. Then you won't need to really worry about it until you paint the boat and then only if you plan to paint a waterline which is not required and many small boats don't even have. 

 

For a quick level check however...the tip of the bow should be about 5 1/2" higher than the highest point on the transom. 

 

-Alan

[Walt S.]

This morning, I put in the breasthook. I used 2 drywall screws on either side of the breasthook which were predrilled.  The only way I could find to wrangle the wet breasthook back into place was to put the four screws back into the hull slightly standing out on the inside so the breasthook could find the pre-drilled holes by the screws.   

Alan,

 

I wired in the forward bulkhead tonight.  I noticed it was bowing and not touching the bottom panels then realized this problem would be solved by installing the longitudinal bulkheads.  Or it could mean I need to plane the forward bulkhead sides down?    Looking now at the picture in the kit assembly guide, I can see that you put in all of the longitudinal, partial, and aft  bulkheads before filleting and taping and then installed the gunwales.  This is not in the kit assembly guide.  I've also been looking at Steve Kos' build log a bunch and he never did this before putting on the gunwales, which he somehow did by himself.  

 

 

[Alan Stewart]

Looking good, You can just clamp a piece of scrap 1x2 to the front side of the fwd bulkhead to take the bow out. You shouldn't need to plane anything off it. A small gap is normal. Anything less than 1/8" is perfectly acceptable. Every boat bends a tiny fraction differently. Resist the temptation to "pull" the hull into the bulkhead especially the bottom. Any small gaps in the fwd bulkhead will be totally covered over by filleting and glass tape. 

 

It's not important that the longitudinal bulkheads go in before the gunwales are glued on but it's fun to throw them in because they are there and why not and it makes the boat look more like a boat. Just the fwd bulkhead, temp center frame and transom are enough to do the gunwales. 

 

All of the internal structure parts (longitudinal bulkheads, fwd blkhd, partial bulkheads, aft bulkhead, transom) should be put in before you would think about tack welding and glassing the chines and keel. You want to make sure all the parts FIT before you go setting the hull in it's final shape. Your doing fine. 

[Walt S.]

Alan,

 

It seems like I should butt-join the longitudinal bulkheads together just like I did the sides and bottoms, correct?  Should I use fiberglass?  

[Alan Stewart]

The Longitudinal bulkheads are joined together with a butt joint and a butt block on the outboard side. Part numbers 8, 9 and 10. Make sure the dado in the stern end that will receive the aft bulkhead is opposite the butt block. Dado inboard, butt block outboard. Also, leave 3/4" clear at the top of the longitudinals above the butt block for the 3/4" square stiffener that glues to the top outboard edge.

[Walt S.]

Murphy and I got into a fight just now.  As I was putting the longitudinal bulkheads together, the wind came up from the side I hadn't bothered to tie down and made my tent into a sail breakign a couple of poles.  I guess this is why they tell you to make your foxhole a little better every day.  I finished clamping, threw my brush in the freezer and righted everything and made a new pole out of some pipe I had.  This time the windward side is tied down. It'll be interesting to see how long this tent lasts.  Backyard builders: make sure you tie down your tent/carport.

 

THere are a lot of ways things can go wrong and I will probably try them all.  It's always when you have wet hands too. 

[Walt S.]

This week, I put in the interior bulkheads and cleats. It was definitely worth making PVC clamps.

 

I've got a small (1/8") difference between the transom stiffener height and the hull height.  Should I ...

 

A ) Set the gunwales on at the hull height and plane them down to the height of the transom or

B ) Set the gunwales on to the height of the transom and plane down only the hull or

C )???

[Walt S.]

I have some more questions in no particular order:

 

How do I know if the bulkheads are correctly positioned? 

 

What type of glass for the hull? 4 oz S-glass? 4-oz E-glass? 6 oz E-glass?

 

Do I tape the outside and inside of the seams? 

 

When should I put on the side stringers? 

[Hirilonde]

  Should I ...

 

A ) Set the gunwales on at the hull height and plane them down to the height of the transom or

B ) Set the gunwales on to the height of the transom and plane down only the hull or

C )???

B

 

I have some more questions in no particular order:

 

How do I know if the bulkheads are correctly positioned? 

 

 

Measure and compare to the plans, but if they are cut and fit to each other well they probably land where they belong.

[Walt S.]

Alan,

One more question.  The gunwales have a bevel.  The bevel should face upwards, correct? 

[Alan Stewart]

Walt, Starting to look like a nice boat!

 

Gunwales go the other way (bevel side down). The bevel keeps the gunwale from catching on things it might rub up against like a dock. Also make takes some of the stiffness out to make bending easier. Also nicer to grip when carrying. 

 

Not sure why the transom height doesn't match the side panel, maybe another picture showing the bottom and top together. I assume the tabs in your chine are tightly meshed and wired and the transom is sitting on top of the bottom panel right at the aft edge. Also make sure he longitudinal bulkheads are pushed into the transom dados. 

 

The partial bulkheads that go in the side tanks to flat up against the back side of the temporary frame. You can tack weld them into the hull when it's time for that on the backside before you remove the temp frame. The forward bulkhead has lines drawn on the hull for it's position. The aft bulkhead fits into dados so that is fixed. Just let the longitudinal bulkheads bend naturally across the transom, temp frame and fwd bulkhead like you have them. 

 

-Alan

[Walt S.]

Walt, Starting to look like a nice boat!

 

 

 

Not sure why the transom height doesn't match the side panel, maybe another picture showing the bottom and top together. 

 

-Alan

 

THanks Alan.  I will double check the the transom alignment and post another picture or two.  THis could also be due to the difference between the bottoms.  Remember I forgot to join one bottom panel on top of the other and ended up with a 1/8" - 1/4" (worst case) misalignment?

 

When it cools off, I'll install the gunwales.  It's been close to 100 degrees here.  

[Walt S.]

Alan,

 

YOu were right.  One of the bottom chines was sagging relative to teh side on the port side where the transom wasn't aligning.  I fixed it.  

[Action Tiger]

I have been following along.

This is a good thread. The questions and answers are valuable, because sometimes a person asks a question another wouldn't even think of, and often questions and answers span multiple builds, here. That is, the techniques being discussed are transferable.

There is a lot of good boatbuilding advice in this thread, lots of good technical instruction. Very, very cool.

You are doing a great job, Walt. Just keep swimming!

Peace,

Robert

[Walt S.]

Robert,

Thanks!  My intent was to beat a path for newbs like myself. 

 

My dad came up last night and helped me put on the gunwales today.  We argued about whether or not they would snap if we dry-fit them all the way last night.  I said they wouldn't; he said they would but was then surprised that they bent as much as they did owing to Alan's beveling job.  8 squeeze and C clamps were enough to put them on from the bow to the temporary frame while we used spring and PVC clamps as we did the aft section (pictures to follow).  We relieved tension on the screws used to secure the gunwales to the breasthook with bailing wire through the foremost ends of the gunwales.  This is an idea I got from Alan's YouTube series on the CoreSound 15.  

 

Epoxy the entire length of both gunwales.  You do not need to worry about them going sticky on you if you're working in the morning, so there is no need to epoxy half at a time.  After applying 2 coatings of unthickened epoxy, I added B and B wood flour/carbosil until the thickened  to a mayonnaise consistency.  

 

The part A was viscous this morning and I had to help the mitered pump go back up.  The B and B 2:1 epoxy appears to be mercifully forgiving.  I will build an epoxy-warming box out of some foil-backed sheet foam insulation and duct tape and warm it with a Christmas light or CFL - something with low wattage.  

 

Spreading mixed epoxy into a roller tray is a really good idea and greatly increases working time. 

 

Here's another link to the Gougeon Brothers' boat construction book, which contains a ton of tips for newbs:

http://www.westsystem.com/ss/assets/HowTo-Publications/GougeonBook%20061205.pdf

 

Why am I already thinking about building a CoreSound 20?

[Walt S.]

One more thing for new boat builders.  Scoping the time required to complete the job is very important because if it takes too long, you'll never finish.  This is why I bought the kit.  I'm not good at reading plans and I don't want to spend time cutting the plywood.  I'd like to be better at both these skills, but I'd like to be better at a lot of things I don't get paid to do.  I'd rather pay Alan to do it for me.  Maybe next time around.  

 

This brings up another question I have for Alan.  Are you guys working on plans for a small racing catamaran or trimaran?  

[Ken_Potts]

I built my CS17 before kits were available and I was happy to lay everything out and cut and scarf the parts myself - I really liked that part of the project.  But if I did it again now that kits are available I'd definitely get the kit.  From what I've seen on this forum the kits really go together well.

[Walt S.]

Pics will have to wait. I'm going on vacation for a couple of days. 

[Chick Ludwig]

I always built from plans until Turtler. "He" was a "semi-kit" with just the hull panels. Then along came Summer Breeze. She was a full kit. Gotta say that I LOVE kits!!! Saves TONS of time and tedium---especially on the bigger boats. I may build a canoe or dink the "old fashioned" way, but, hopefully, never another big-un.