Sides on this week ...

[Simon]

.. with a bit of luck. Christmas slowed me down a hell of alot - I feel like I've hardly achieved anything for over a month, althugh that's not quite true. Anyway I've finally got to the point where the only thing between mw and installing the sides is that fairing job on the stringers and bulhead gussets. Any handy hints? :?:

BTW Frank, the new site is great ! 8)

And Buck - congrats on the new baby, looks mighty fine, was it a painful delivery?

[capt jake]

Simon, there used to be a photo of a jig on the old Weekender site that Frank first put up, regarding the fairing of the stringers. Kind of hard to explain, though when you see the pictures, it is quite simple.

If I get time, I will look and see if I can find it tommorrow, or maybe Frank know's right where it is. ??

[capt jake]

Simon, I could not find it oin the other site. It was basically an angle grinder with a long bar or rod attatched to the side of it to act as a guide for the angle of the stringer. The bar was run along , say the top stringer, while the grinder works on the bottom one. Then reverse the proceedure.

Hope that makes sense.

[Frank Hagan]

Hmmm ... can't seem to find it over there. I remember the builder used a router in a jig to get the right angle.

I just used a surform shaper and a straight-edge, like is done in the video. I thought it was going to be a tremendous chore, but found it was actually pretty easy to get them trimmed down to the right angle. I think the key is that you are making a good surface to screw the sides into ... small gaps and that sort of thing aren't going to matter, especially is you use as much 3M 5200 as I did! An epoxy fillet would also fill any gaps or voids.

[Simon]

Thanks guys, I do remember seeing that jig, I think it was Steve Clutterbuck in Sydney who was doing it. One question though - as you test to find out whether you have the right angle, what direciton should the straight edge be held - should it stay vertical the whole time (like parallel to the stem) or what? I mean depending on which angle its held the stringer either looks likeit needs fairing or it doesn't if you know what I mean. That doesn't make much sense on a reread. Oh well ... (reaches for the boat-in-a-can a.k.a epoxy) :?

[Steve Clutterbuck]

Simon,

You're right it was my jig. There is a picture of it in the MSN site under Steve's Weekender. I used a coarse sanding disk (40 grit from memory) and kept the guide stick more or less straight up and down. Making the jig is a 10 minute job and it makes fairing the stringers really easy. Lots of dust though. The jig consists of nothing more than a length of timber screwed to a 90 degree angle bracket. The bracket is attached to the grinder through one of the handle mounting holes.

Good luck. The way I'm going you will probably be finished before me.

[JMetzner]

I just used a belt sander and fine tuned with a random orbit sander. Used a good straight piece of 1x stock on edge to check for fit. Like Frank, I was surprised how quickly it went.

No jigs or anything, just took it slow at first, using an old belt on the sander till I got the hang of it.

No worries.

John M.

[Simon]

I made a jig for my belt sander out of a couple of pieces of scrap, a bolt and two clamps. I'll post a picture at a later date.

It worked well and I got one side faired and dry fitted the port forward quarter panel. Seems like it won't be too hard a job after all, the only problem being that I spent about two hours afterwards drinking beer and imagining what she'd look like with the sides completed! Otherwise I'd probably be finished by now

[Islands]

Weny looking at Steves photos and found the tool everyone was alking about :?: hope this helps :roll: :oops: 8) :shock:

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