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Building a Two-Paw 8 in Baltimore


Crazer

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Milled the gunwales yesterday and dry fitted them today. Very exciting, since using my table saw that way was a new experience and a little intimidating. I didn't have too much trouble. I was finally able to glue up the nesting bulkheads and fast curing hardener will be here Friday so I can install the gunwales and start glassing this weekend. Anxious to get her done and on the water because the ban on recreational boating in Maryland is being lifted tomorrow, which means that I get to use her and my Cape Dory as soon as I get them in the water, and also that I'll probably be going back to work soon which will cut into my building time dramatically.

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Here’s a tip:  When gluing up the daggerboard slot, find a large, perfectly flat surface to do the gluing on.  You don’t want to have any twist in this piece, so the daggerboard slides freely. There are two possibilities. One is your table saw table.  The other (my favorite) is a granite countertop.  Be careful with choosing this last one.  If you’re not already a bachelor, you could become one!


Also, @Chick Ludwig taught me to sheath the two halves of the slot with fiberglass cloth before bonding the two halves.  If you’re interested, I can sketch something up for you.

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That would be great! Thanks for the tip. I think I'll be using the table saw haha. We do have granite countertops but not much square footage and since I do the cooking it'd just be shooting myself in the foot!

 

I leveled and straightened the boat today and cleaned up the nesting bulkhead one last time before installing it. I'm going to get the gunwales on tonight and start glassing tomorrow. Trying to stay on schedule to get her done by June for a planned trip around the DelMarVa peninsula.

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I templated and cut the forward bulkhead today and got started on filleting and taping the hull. I forgot how grueling of a process it was, and I only got halfway before calling it quits for the day. Having to lean down the whole time is incredibly taxing, and since I don't have disposable gloves I've been using the same pair of dishwashing gloves the whole time which makes the process incredibly messy. I'm getting married tomorrow so I won't be working on the boat again until Tuesday, but I'm pretty pleased with progress so far.

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Thanks Alan! And don't worry guys, I managed to sneak in a few hours on the boat today! I finished filleting and taping the hull, and got the centerboard case ready to glue up tomorrow. I've also got to go and wash and wax the big boat and put some bottom paint on while the weather is good but I've got a lot of momentum on the dinghy.

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Been working away steadily on the boat. Got the foredeck frame made up and installed and made a mast tube out of a few layers of 1708 I had left over from a repair project a few boats ago. I ordered way more than I needed for that project and pieces of that roll have made it into repairs and construction on four boats and counting! I laminated the king post from three layers of plywood and took the boat outside for final shaping and fiberglassing. I'm pretty pleased with the shape of the boat, and I feel like I'm over the half way mark on construction. The centerboard case and mast tube will go in tomorrow and she'll be structurally complete. Then epoxying, final shaping and fairing and paint and hardware!

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I got the mast tube installed. I deviated from the plans slightly in installing it. Instead of a mast step, I glassed the tube in using I technique I was taught for repairing Lasers when I was in college. I set the tube in thickened epoxy and made a filet top and bottom. Then I ran six pieces of ten ounce fiberglass vertically down the mast tube fanning out onto the hull. Should be plenty of strength for this boat. I made up the top of the forward tank and got everything coated in epoxy. Didn't quite manage to get the centerboard case installed but I did get it all glued up.

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I cut the boat in half this week. It was nerve wracking and I had a couple of problems with saw runout but otherwise it went okay. Nothing a little glass and epoxy can't fix. I think I used cardboard spacers that were too heavy and maybe installed with too much glue because that's where I had problems. I got the centerboard case installed, installed the forward tank top, and cut the hole for a Whale TC4 access hatch. It's not as clean as a flush mount hatch but it's rated for lifeboat use and comes on the recommendation of Paul Gartside who claims it's the most watertight screw hatch on the market. I kind of like its heavy purposefulness. I made the center seat which was intimidating but ultimately not that difficult. I left a little extra room to account for the coats of epoxy yet to come.

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I almost did the same thing, Don, but then I realized since she'll spend most of her life upside down anyways it's probably not necessary. I am concerned with getting some paint down in there since I don't want the epoxy exposed to UV. Either that or make some kind of cap for when I'm not sailing which will realistically be most of the time I'm using the boat.

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Hopefully your neighbors observed you cutting your boat in half.  I can imagine the dinnertime conversation: "You know that guy across the street building a boat?  I think he has given up on his project, today I saw him destroy it with a saw.".

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Some years ago I build a 2 Paws,  we lived in a close knit neighborhood in New Orleans and had an elderly lady across the street that watched the build with some interest.  When I got to the saw it in half stage, she saw that process and called Carol at work and said I had gone crazy, I was sawing the little boat I had been sanding so much up! 

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22 hours ago, Thrillsbe said:

When I built my mast sleeve, I took great pains to install a little drain in the bottom, so it wouldn’t fill up with rain water.  It just occurred to me that with a boat this small, you can just roll it over to empty any accumulation. Duh!

I like to have a drain in all my boats in case they fill with rain water when I'm transporting them, or if I leave one upright on the shore or at home, and they fill with rain. They then ar too heavy too turn over and dump. The drain---with a plug of course---is "plan B" to empty them.

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No calls to my wife but I'm sure my neighbors were watching since they're always outside and have commented (positively) on progress several times. I have to say, I expected it to be fun but I was genuinely unnerved seeing the two halves separated for the first time. I felt better once I bolted it back together.

 

She's structurally complete, I added the quarter knees, the keel and deadwood, and extended the gunwales around onto the transoms (not pictured.) Now it's on to epoxy, and then sanding and painting. There's a push to finish by the end of June for a planned sailing trip so I'm putting off the sailing hardware for now, although I have everything I need to finish.

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  • 7 months later...

Well I'm still grinding away on this project, quite literally. As expected progress came to a near halt once I went back to work and with the boat not being finished for our trip in June I didn't manage to do much over the summer. I changed jobs and didn't use my Cape Dory much so I didn't have much motivation. Now I'm pushing to get the thing done and out of my shop so I can focus on some carpentry for the big boat and getting started on our garden for next season. Still more epoxying and sanding to do but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel...

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