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Core Sound 15 #162 — Building the “Norma T”


PadrePoint

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Day 6: Evening... Getting ready to fillet and tape
 

I needed to attend to some errands and family matters in the afternoon but I spent a couple/few hours tonight sanding and taping the bottom joint, sanding all the weld areas, cutting all the pieces of fiberglass tape, and doing some general straightening up of things. 
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After assembling all the large pieces of plywood this first week, producing significant and obvious development, I expect the build now begins to move toward a slower speed of development. I will complete the first week tomorrow and will have accomplished what I’d hoped to accomplish. One week ago tonight, I was driving to North Carolina to pick up the kit. 
 

Tomorrow, I will begin filleting all of the inside joints, placing the fiberglass tape, glueing down the keel batten, and applying coats of epoxy. I hope the next photo will show the entire inside of the hull nicely darkened with epoxy. 
 

(When I returned to this post to check for typos, and maybe because it’s getting late, it looked to me in the photo above that my boat was neatly “toilet-papered” by a prankster.)

?

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I believe that it was Howard Chapelle who said that every boat shop needs a “worrying chair”.  Taking a ride on a motorcycle would be just as effective.  Point is that there are times in our builds when we need to step away from the task, and clear our heads.  

 

@Tom Lathrop— What an elegant execution of a difficult problem!

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Day 7:

I made a very early morning start and spent about 9 hours today mixing batches of epoxy to do the filleting and taping inside all of the trunks.  I also got a first coat of epoxy on the surfaces inside the trunks and up to the inwales. The keel batten will be installed tonight then I will fillet/tape/coat the cockpit area... maybe. 
 

A little time is needed for stuff to harden... providing some down time. Netflix, here I come!

 

Post-supper:  “Maybe” won out. Tomorrow sounds like a great time to continue things.
 

Week one of the boat build is done. I’m feeling good about how things went. 

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Day 8: taping the joints and a first coat

 

I began this project one week ago today (Sunday to Sunday.)  I find it interesting that a number of steps in the project were intimidating to think about and I was nervous to begin them. But, I think, because of the accurate craftsmanship at B&B to provide an excellent kit I succeeded at each of the steps. 
 

Another thing I am enjoying in this project is using a wide variety of the tools that I’ve picked up over the years.   Many times I need (or just WANT) to get a new tool to help with some job. That’s satisfying in itself, but to have available for some detail process a tool from the past that is just the right thing for the moment is even more satisfying (as in, “no, it wasn’t a dumb purchase.”)
 

I’m amazed at the solidifying effect of filling in the joint corners with thickened epoxy and then fiberglass-taping over that. The boat feels very solid and firmly structured right now. 


I have one coat of epoxy on everything (inside). A lot of sanding will be done and two additional coats will be added. 
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Now, I need to again review Alan’s video series on building the CS15 to start getting ready for some of the next steps. 
 

MEANWHILE, my son sent me a couple photos of his boat project today. He has been fixing the boat I built in high school and painted the bottom of the hull today a new color.  His son is helping... just like my son helped me repaint the boat 25 years ago... generation to generation. 
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This was one of the tasks that I was a bit anxious about. 
The keel batten was part of my complete kit and was already cut to shape. I rounded over the top edges of the batten with a router and cut it to fit. I needed to sand down about 20 inches of the bottom point in the aft end of the batten to make the edges come down to the floor. Then, a little wedge pushed in between the batten and transom stiffener bowed the batten downward to meet the floor. 
I made about 10 pumps worth of thickened epoxy for the “mush” and placed the batten. I have a couple kettle ball weights that helped push the batten down a bit more and I put in screws from the bottom. Plenty of squeeze-out glue to shape a nice fillet. 

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Day 9: Not too exciting

 

After spending much of the day downstate, I spent a few hours with a sander. Two new coats of epoxy will be added some day. See
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Just for fun, since I hadn’t done this yet, I placed a level across the middle of the hull. I’ll take it. 
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Now it’s on to things like the rear bulkhead, centerboard trunk, hatches, and stringers. 

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Day 10:  A bit nervous in the morning

 

Today starts some of the new “sub-projects” like the centerboard trunk, hatch, hatch rings, beams, and seat tops. Reviewing video 6 and the printed plans yet again is helping me stir up the gumption to get-em started. My morning coffee has been used successfully so far as a delaying tactic... but it’s time.  (Truth be told, writing this entry is yet another successful stalling tactic.)?
 

Glassing areas larger than just the 3 inch tape (trunk and hatch) is another first for me but I’m sure I’ll develop some kind of technique.  So, let’s see how it all goes. 
 

(A bit later...). I guess that went OK. Encouraging.

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While I wait for the epoxy to harden, I’ll finish installing the rear bulkhead and transom seat stringers before picking up the hatch pieces. 
 

OK, the hatch pieces provided a fun puzzle. It took some time and tries to get the pieces oriented in what I THINK is correct. 
 

(A slight interruption to the day... had to head north this afternoon.). Evening: Hatch rings and covers are glued up but I’ll do more work on them tomorrow. I’ve added a couple coats of epoxy to the centerboard trunk.

 

I am done with the day. ?

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Day 11: Hatches

 

The hatches and hatch rings were glued up last night. Today, I spent a few hours sanding and rounding the edges before doing a dry fit in the boat. I had allowed one piece of a hatch ring to set up at an angle slightly off from its design, but was able to sand enough material to make the hatch covers fit well... so no harm done.  Before installing the hatch rings tomorrow I will put on three coats of epoxy during the rest of today (I need to run some errands this afternoon.) 

 

I cut the extra fiberglass from the centerboard trunk sides; I glassed the inside surfaces and gave two additional coats of epoxy. I am surprised how much bowing happens when glassing one side like this.  (The two pieces at a right angle to illustrate the amount of bend.). I suppose it makes sense that the side of the plywood being coated swells as it absorbs epoxy.  I will need to be mindful of this when gluing the trunk together. 
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Day 12: Hatch Rings Installed

 

The epoxy hardened from yesterday on the hatch rings, so I installed them. Again, the fit is very good with only a small amount of trimming. 
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The centerboard trunk will take a while to assemble with the epoxy applications. The seat tops will be next with coating the underside of the pieces.

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Day14:  Centerboard Trunk Installed


Well, I think I got things with the centerboard trunk and thwart supports adequately lined up and glued in; I even got in a double layer of fiberglass tape. And, there should be enough space inside the trunk to accommodate the centerboard (seems kind of close.)  I finished the taping in the bow and applied a second coat of epoxy to the bow area. The seats received a first coat of epoxy on the underneath side. 

 

It was kind of cold here today and I had the garage door opened for quite a while. (We even have 2-4 inches of snow in the central Wisconsin forecast for Mother’s Day.) 

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Once I had glued and filleted the trunk, I closed the garage door and made a bit of a tent for the space heater to help the epoxy cure.  The seats are upside down for the first underside epoxy coat... and things are starting to look like a sailboat... well, at least in my mind’s eye. 
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Week 3 / Day 15:

Today begins my third week of building the CS15. The first part of this 15th day has been about sanding to get ready for epoxy coats 2&3. That would include all of the surfaces inside the hull and the underneath sides of the seats. I thought of doing those coats today, but I will put them off for a while. 24CE9709-DC72-444D-BB6D-B8484116AC9D.jpeg.98ba8ae9b43f1b53cc45dcb3982a12ee.jpeg


I’ve been good about rounding exposed corner edges with a router before installing pieces and for some reason, it just didn’t occur to me to round the exposed corners of the thwart beams before gluing. That was a big part of my morning. It certainly is an easier task to round the corner edges BEFORE installing. But, the router was able to get into about 30% of the edges, and my sander (Black and Decker Mouse) got everything else. 


There are still a few places that could use more fillet, and a few small taping jobs haven’t been finished yet. That will be my afternoon... if I feel like it.  I’ll explain:

 

Even being retired this year, I still feel some of the residual “I’m done working” attitude on Sunday afternoon. We pastor-types have this syndrome called: Sunday Afternoon Crash” (SAC) as a kind of circadian rhythm... as in, ”Sunday afternoon is a time to hit the SAC.”  My Sunday sermons, while being mulled over throughout the week, typically require a bit of “pressure” to make mulled-over thoughts and research come together for a presentation. Waiting until Saturday, Saturday night, or even more exhilarating, SUNDAY morning often supplied the needed pressure. ?  The crash surfaces in the afternoon. 

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You are still going at an incredible pace and with very nice results. I see that everything is done for installing the seat tops real soon but I see one omission that I hope that you just have not gotten around to yet and that is the cleats on the forward bulkhead and the transom. They support the ends of the seat tops and go between the side stringers and the side tanks. 

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4 hours ago, Designer said:

but I see one omission that I hope that you just have not gotten around to yet and that is the cleats on the forward bulkhead and the transom.

 

Graham,


Wow... you guys at B&B dedicate huge amounts of time and energy in these forums and email responses, let alone the core purposes of your business. Thank you for your interest, responses, observations, and comments. 

 

A week ago, I had inquired with Alan to insure that I was to cut the 24 inch transom piece into the four correct cleat lengths. (Done)

 

I haven’t determined yet from where the two 3.5 inch cleats on the forward bulkhead come from. I will soon try to determine if they are cut from other cleats or whether I will just table-saw them out of the extra stock board you gave me.

 

Another thing I’m a little unsure about are the pieces pictured here (I can’t get the photo to orientate correctly):F36CAA4E-B995-4989-ABDF-0DFBE6081B55.jpeg.367a3e34769716400a1b7fc68ed4884a.jpeg

I’m assuming they are butt joint supports. I haven’t actually measured them yet to help me determine their intended destinations, but these are my guesses;

27A are for the four thwart/seat joints?

26B are for the two fore/aft seat top joints?

26A is for the aft seat tops joint?

24A and 25B???  (No idea at the moment.)

 

Oh, and I just looked at the introductory ClassGlobe 5.8 video Alan released about 10 hours ago. Interesting... but the CS15 is the boat for me. 

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Sometimes I think it is because of our knack for leaving out details in the plans is really because we enjoy answering forum questions and emails so much! In reality, customer service should always be at the top!

 

You are correct that these parts are all butt blocks. The Parts sheet shows the location somewhat by process of elimination. I will make a note that we need a little more indication in the plan sheets. 

 

24A is for the side decks

25B goes between the side decks and foredeck. (just a bit of foredeck overhangs the fwd bulkhed) 

26A and B are for the aft center and amidships seat top joints

27A are for underneath the fore and aft center thwarts connecting the bit of seat top that sticks inboard to join up with the thwart panel and the center panel itself. 

 

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