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The Building of Old Codger


Chick Ludwig

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Today was supposed to be "Sand the poxied cabin and locker spaces day that I coated last Friday, day.", but, I tried and Mr. Sander just kept clogging his discs. I guess the slow hardener, cool nights, and whatever else just is gonna take a bit longer to cure hard enough to sand. Maybe the 120 grit discs are a little too fine? I usually use 80 grit discs, which on the dual action finishing sander work well. But, never fear. We found something else to occupy a bit of the day.

 

Another coat of poxy in the "under sole" area and flotation boxes. Then, the cockpit sole assembly was built and poxied on the bottom. I turned the 6mm ply so the main grain would go cross ways. That meant I had to splice on a little piece since the sole is over 4 feet long. Truth be told, that wasn't so much for strength as to make best use of the plywood I had. All the full sheets have been cut up already, so the sole came out of a "left over" piece. I think that if I'm careful, there are enough left overs to finish the boat. I hope.

 

Only one picture for y'all today. Remember the "notches" left along the tops of the cross frames that I showed ya last time? And I said that I'd explain later? Well, here ya go. The stringers attached to the bottom of the sole fit into the notches. Tomorrow, I'll flip it over and glass the top, then, if it cures enough to mess with, I'll pucky it in it's place in the cockpit.

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If you’re gumming up, you’re spinning too fast with too fine (which, I don’t think 120 is) or you’re not cured yet.

PAR set me straight with a ton of literature on epoxy not long ago, and I learned that it cures over time. Sometimes it takes 48 hours, sometimes it takes 100. It’s like paint, though, in that “dry” doesn’t mean “cured” necessarily.

 

Just wait a few days. I just took some 120 to my long suffering leeboard, faring glass and smoothing the schmootz, and it never clogged. It cut clean and left a very smooth surface, in fact, which surprised me a bit, actually.

 

Yes, I was using the wood eraser, not the long board.

 

And, yes, 120 grit paper, on a 7” disc, spinning 500rpm will just eat away your knee, too. I got me a doozy of a scab to prove it. ;)

 

Peace,

Robert

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14 hours ago, Action Tiger said:

If you’re gumming up, you’re spinning too fast with too fine (which, I don’t think 120 is) or you’re not cured yet.

Agreed, Tiger. I'm gonna wait awhile to finish. No way to slow down Mr. Sander, and NO WAY I'm gonna hand sand! WAY to lazy, and WAY too much shoulder pain to do THAT.

Speaking of Knee sanding...I often sand living parts while trying to sand the silly boat. At least I haven't lost anything to Mr. Table Saw recently!

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The trick to long boarding by “hand” is to use the body. It’s like throwing a ball. The arm mostly holds the ball and the body does all the whipping of the arm.

 

Same same with the long board. I call it the hula. Enough sway in the hips and the arms just hold on and apply a little pressure.

 

Just in case. :)

 

Peace,

Robert

 

This curing drives me nuts, sometimes. The orange boat is not a spot where things are being glassed in small areas, and I have to wait to feather the layers as I go. It’s tedious, but really the best way.

It is the sole reason I always have some easily stopped/started side project. For the waiting...

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Kinda hard to use the long board for sanding the resin coat inside the cabin, under the sole, etc. I'd love to see pics of the Tiger down inside a locker using it!

 

Got the cockpit sole glassed on top and installed today. Picture in my next installment of this excitin' adventure.

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No work on the boat today. Miss Debbie and I went for a day cruise down on Lake Keowee, about an hour and fifteen minutes away from home. We had a great time. This is the first we've been out this year! Too busy with boat building and life. Not to mention the aggravation moving everything out of the way to get the great whale al-u-minium boat out of the carport. On top of moving things out of the way, Turtler had a flat tire on his trailer that wouldn't roll to pull him out of the way. Had to cram myself down between the boats to change the wheel Bagh!!! Dumb excuses of course. Speaking of "life". Between commitments with the kids at church, and relatives from out of town, I won't be able to work on the boat until next Wednesday at the earliest.

 

To catch y'all up, yesterday I hung Mr. Tohatsu on the back to check clearances for the upcoming motor splash well and the fuel and battery stowage locker. Did I tell ya about raising the transom height---twice---to match the long shaft motor rather than the short shaft I'd originally planned on? Well, guess what. Turns out that the transom now is too high! I had to cut an inch of my additions back off! Kinda like the guy trying to cut the leg on his kitchen chair that was wobbling saying, "I've cut it off three times, and it's STILL too short!" Anyway, I found out what I needed to know, so, next job is building the storage locker/splash well.

 

Here's a coupla pictures for ya.

First one is of Mr. Tohatsu sitting as big as life on the transom, with the battery and tank in their future homes. The one inch hasn't been cut off yet.

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Next is the jam-packed boat storage area in my carport.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I finished sanding the interior areas of the cabin and cockpit, re-coated the spaces under the cockpit seats with the last coat of poxy, and planned how I'm gonna run wiring from the starting motor to the battery (...or is it from the battery to the starter?), battery to the switch panel, and switch panel back to the stern navigation/anchor light. I decided to mount the battery under the port side seat for better balance and because I don't like for the battery to be right next to the fuel tank. (Say, "KA-BOOM!!!)

 

No pictures. Nothin' new to actually see. Maybe next time. Oh yeah, we did take the grandson and his buddy out in the great aluminum beast. We went to Lake Keowee. I surreptitiously (I know, look it up.) checked out some interesting coves to spend the night in when Lost Cove is finally finished. It's a good lake for the shakedown cruise. I'll be below half throttle most of the time to keep the motor at correct rpm's during the break-in period. We'll, 'til next time y'all, BYE!

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So, "life" continues to get in the way of the good stuff. Had to spend the day with a handyman who was repairing our roof, our rental house roof, and misc. other aggravating problems on the rental. But, I got a bit done. Cockpit seat tops are roughed out, motor well framing begun, and general well design figured out. Gotta build a "battery shelf" in the port side seat, and assemble the cockpit hatch kits that Alan made me before gluing down the seat tops. Gettin' closer, y'all! Can't wait to start enclosing the cabin.

 

Boy, was it HOT today! Sure woulda loved a BIG glass of Real Southern Sweet Tea, but I was good and drank ice water instead.

 

For what they're worth, here are a couple of pictures.

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Today's job was to complete the motor well, actually a splash well, and the bridge deck. The pictures show them set in place temporarily. I've since removed them for the night so they can be resin coated on the backside. The fuel tank door will either be hinged on top, or drop into guides at the bottom with turn buttons on top. Heck, how should I know? I make this stuff up as I go along....

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2 hours ago, Chick Ludwig said:

Gotta be patient, Oyster, all will be provided. Also "ports" for the battery cable and fuel line to go through the deck.

 

I was just responding to your comments,  Sounds like you were planning to close it up, nothing more or nothing less.

 

"The fuel tank door will either be hinged on top, or drop into guides at the bottom with turn buttons on top."

 

Anyway, neat boat! back to the bleachers...:<}}

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I always appreciate feedback. You guys often catch me on things. I'm having to do some research on exactly what is required to ventilate this type of fuel tank locker. Water will flow from the cockpit, through "ports" in the bottom of the vertical bulkhead, through the tank locker, and out the scuppers through the transom. Maybe that along with the fuel and battery cable holes in the top, and a gap at the bottom of the door will give enough natural ventilation. Waddaya think???

 

Just got home from a trip to pick up a turtle 3 hours away, company coming tomorrow and Friday. Something on Saturday. Church and dinner out Sunday. Maybe back to the boat Monday. Oh, mow the lawn! I'm NEVER gonna get this dang thing finished.......

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According to the boat foundation of North America vent size is to be computed by this formula. First take the length of the hull, multiply by the horse power, then divide that by the size of the fuel tank in gallons, then multiply that by the age of the fuel line, divide by two if its a plastic tank or by 4 if metal tank. Now it gets tricky Rx4+27-N23x 2.2= ?? All crap just go get a VS can trace it out and bore a hole, with a glass of tea in hand:).

 

Scott

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I like the simplicity of that formula, Scott. I've followed it exactly and created the perfect solution. Check it out in the following photos. Dang, I hope it'll be ok---I forgot the Real Southern Sweet Tea glass in hand.

 

This is the result of the formula Scott shared with me. A carefully constructed ventilation device. Cut from the bottom of the door.

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This is the conduit that will lead the starter wires to the battery compartment.

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I've been picking away at things since our last visit. I assembled the cockpit hatch coamings over the weekend and installed them today. A little trick to hold the pieces together so you can fillet the joints is to run some "super glue" into the joints in several places as you manually hold the parts in the correct alignment.. I use the thin formulation of the super glue. It bonds instantly. Well, almost. A few seconds. I have some that I use for building my balsa models. It comes from a model supplier. The stuff you get in the hardware stores is thicker, and doesn't flow into the tight joints the way the thin does.

 

The first picture shows the coamings installed. Also the wire run from the battery to the switch panel inside the cabin. You can also see the wire from the switch panel back to the stern navigation/anchor light. (No Vern, you aren't blind. The light comes later.) Once the seat tops are installed, these wires won't be accessible. Naturally I ran out of wire ty-raps. Gonna have to travel into town to Lowe's to get some before installing the seat tops. Rats!

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This picture shows Mr. Battery Box nestled in his comfy battery platform. Naturally he'll be seat belted in.

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Guess I'd better go out in the garop and begin cutting up sheets of insulation foam to stuff into the aft corner flotation boxes. Gotta keep the Coasties happy! (Coast Guard Guys)

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