FINALLY- some progress photos

[Charlie Jones]

Things have been in such an uproar around me the last month and a half it seems like I just can't get things done as I want.

Picked up the Rhodes Meridian 25 in New York first two weeks of November. The weekend before we left, I blew the engine in my work truck. When we got home, I pulled it out and rebuilt it- reground crank, new crank bearings, new rod bearings, 2 new rods, 1 new piston. Within 300 miles I had a knock- pulled the engine again on Sunday afternoon and tore it down. Plasticguaged the rods and mains - Seems they sent the wrong bearings for the mains The parts place is springing for another new crank, bearings and all the gaskets so it won't cost me anything, but I get to spend the time redoing it! Oh well

Anyway- here's a shot of the Princess 22 with all the cockpit framing complete. I'm now making patterns for the seat top plywood, so this next week should show some more progress.

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[Roger Peterson]

Hi Charlie,

I'm just about ready to do the seat tops for my CS17. Could you show us how a real boatbuilder would make the patterns for the seat tops so they fit correctly "The First Time"? I always find the right way to do things "AFTER" I run out of wood. :oops:

Thanks,

Roger

[Guest]

May I jump in here to inject my farmer way of doing a pattern. Charles, feel free to answer in your own particular way. I am not oppose to learning other easier ways.

This is a way that I make a pattern for an inside piece with no grief. You will always need a reference point, and support for the pieces to lay on, for accuracy. I run off two inch or so wide sacrifical pieces, places in place, and screwed together, with at least two screws at each point to keep from any twisting upon removal of the pattern. This can even be scrap multiple scrap pieces. Sometimes I will use cross peices to prevent any racking in the pattern. In foward areas, this will require smaller pieces to address curves, which are scribed in plae and then sawn to fit the curves.

In doing a bulkhead, make sure you establish the approx. same point on both sides of the inside of the hull. Small screws just run into the first layer of the hull, allowing for the pieces to lay in place, while screwing the patern together. Use small spring clamps at each joint in the initial setup and positioning before screwing them together.

This is how I do the outside patterns for chocks and even bulkheads for the inside, subtrating the deminision, if using epoxy and glass to tab in the inside bulhead, where the fits doesn't need to be as accurate. This just happens to have a reverse strake in thi particular hull. BUt just do it across the boat, using again small sheetrock screws to locate the same position on both sides.

[Charlie Jones]

Oyster - I do the same basic thing often. However, on this particular job, I had some rather large chunks of card board so I just cut card board patterns.

I have a blueprint shop save cardboard for me. There are two pieces in each package of film they use and they mostly just toss it. I use the card board all the time in the shop to protect surfaces when stripping or staining things.

Your method has one big advantage for inside especially- if you can't get the pattern out, you can't get the part in

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[Greg Luckett]

I like this idea and the way you guys share the knowledge.

Thankyou!!!!

[Roger Peterson]

Thanks, Guys!

Sometimes the simplest answer is the hardest one to see, even when it's staring me in the face. Sometimes, I tend to make things harder than they need to be. :roll: ... any easy ways to frame a hatch in the seat?

Roger

[Guest]

Frame a hatch in a seat, Do you want a flush pull up hatch, or a hinged flush hatch? Whats your pleasure? Will you be attemptng to put water drains in the hatches? Talk to me. :wink:

[Roger Peterson]

I was thinking about a hinged hatch that would be flush on the top but waterproof. I guess the hatch top should go over the edge of the seat (at the front) so it could be drained. I'm not sure how it should be framed (to keep it waterproof) or hinged. I don't want to have an exposed hinge on the top of the seat but I would like to keep it as simple as possible.

Thanks for any advice...

Roger

[Guest]

Bill Heil did a hatch for his seating arrangment, and I took several shots of it, but cannot locate it for the life of me. Maybe he will chime in and tell us if he has a file for it. His hinge is a little complicated though, but this can also be overcomed with a little bit of ingenuity. Hey Bill, or Grahamn, HELP He made a jig and fabricated a complete fiberglass draining rig, much improved of what I could do, for draining and no leaking to his seat boxes. If we don't hear from him in a day or so, I can rough the rig up and simulate it for you. If not I can also show you the older style conventional way we do it.

[Charlie Jones]

The only real thing I can offer is to take pics of the hatches as I build them on the Princess. But the ones I'm building will have exposed hinges. I'm doing two different styles- the ones in the cockpit lockers will have sloped frames and will go over the edge of the seat. The ones in the bridge deck will be inset, with a water channel and drain.

But you'll have to wait til I get to each stage for pics - I'll hurry as fast as I can

[Roger Peterson]

Thanks for the reply! I would like to see anything that might turn on a light bulb for me. It's been to cold to do any epoxy work on the boat so I have been trying to figure out the framing for the hatches and cutting the wood, making patterns for the seat tops and waiting for a warm day to glue it all together. In North Texas it can be 32degrees today and 76 degrees tomorrow...

Roger

[Bill Heil]

In response re hatch hinges and seat drains.

i got the mold for the seat drains from graham. They are molded out of a number of layers of glass and epoxy and this is a whole lot easier than making them out of wood, which I have done before. I didn't make the glass very thick and then reinforced the flat parts with some pieces of plywood.

The hinges are somewhat complicated to describe, but they essentially are similar to the hinge arms on a car trunk. They aren't dificult, just take a lot of time/different operations because there are a bunch of pieces of wood.

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[Bill Heil]

In the previous picture, the light colored block of wood is attached to the boat, up under the foredeck. The notch fits around the 3/4 by 3-1/2 piece under the deck on the centerline that you put in before putting the deck on. This block, along with the hinge arms, is screwed to the center piece, so the whole assembly can be removed. The bolt head you see is a lag screw that acts as the pivot for the arms. There is another piece not shown that goes between the free ends of the two arms. This piece is glued to the underside of the hatch and the free ends then screw to that piece. In this way, the hatch can be removed from the arms, and the arms and pivot block can also be removed. Hope this helps. Bill Heil CS17 #34

[Guest]

Bill, by some chnace do you have a shot of the hatch open and closed? Thanks for your response. I can't locate mine on any disc.

[Bill Heil]

Here is a picture of the aft hatch open. You can see the spreader between the arms that I previously talked about. There is the only picture I can find of the hatch closed, obviously before things were quite finished. Cheers, Bill

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[Roger Peterson]

Nice Hatch and hinge, Bill. I wish my woodwork looked that clean! I get the idea for the hinge "like on a car trunk". I think I'll use your hinge design for my hatches as well. Thanks for the replys .

Roger