Continuing progress on Guppy

[lewisboats]

Despite the fact that I know it has too much windage, it has buttocks lines that tend to match my own and a rather chubby front end that also has a disturbing familiarity... I persist in building this rather odd design of mine. It may or may not have any practical application being a rather slow and bulky single person lake and lagoon cruiser. Still, something about this ugly duckling insists that I build it, just to see if it works. Here is a picture of what it should end up resembling and I am building it here: http://www.angelfire.com/ego/lewisboatworks/html/GuppyIIbuildnav.htm and if you follow Duckworks Magazine each installment has shown up about 2 months after I sent it to Chuck.

Steve

Say...is there some reason I can't attach a 50k jpeg???

[Dave R1]

Neat little boat. Do you have any other views besides those shown in the drawing at the top of each page? I'm curious about what the cockpit area will look like. What sort of sailing rig will you use? Are you planning to run lines inside ala Paradox?

[Barry Pyeatt]

Re posting images. Limit works out to approx. 500 pixels in height by 800 in width.

[lewisboats]

Neat little boat. Do you have any other views besides those shown in the drawing at the top of each page? I'm curious about what the cockpit area will look like. What sort of sailing rig will you use? Are you planning to run lines inside ala Paradox?

No on the views. There is a small (3'x width) cockpit with wrap around sides and there is a removable slot top to allow sail handling. Seeing as it is cat rigged with an unstayed mast it will most likely be a Gaff, Lug or Sprit sail. Here (I hope) is the picture I was trying to post. This is more like what it will look like as the picture on the pages is of the original which was about 9 ft long.

Steve

[lewisboats]

Well, this is an old Geezer of a thread but I finally got going on Guppy again. I went with Select pine for the keel and I am going to glass it and shoe it with something hard. I laminated it from 16 1x2s for a total of 12" deep. Here are some pics of it going together and the total raw keel.

Steve

[Frank Hagan]

The people who have glassed keels have run into some problems ... so maybe one of the pros can chime in here.  You have to think about the movement that solid wood has ... there's a PDF with some info on calculating it HERE .  The thing you have to think about is what happens if you have a glass/epoxy shell around that solid wood keel as it shrinks and enlarges with the weather (even encapsulated wood will do so).  It may crack, allowing water to get in under the glass/epoxy shell, and cause rot that you won't see at first.

You may be better off just putting a "shoe" on the bottom ... people have used brass strips or UHMW plastic for this on the forums (see http://www.messing-about.com/forums/index.php?topic=2356.0 and see this thread for more discussion on a specific example of the rot that can happen when the keel is glassed: http://www.messing-about.com/forums/index.php?topic=3314.0

BTW - the "search" function on this new software works so much better!

[Barry Pyeatt]

I wouldn't recommend glassing in that keel either.  Just too much to go wrong with moisture getting into glassed keels.  I would heat up the end grain of the wood with a heat gun, heat up some epoxy and saturate the end grains.  It will be drawn into the end grain and seal it.  A less expensive and old traditional way would be to heat it up and apply hot boiled linseed oil to the end grain and let it be drawn into the wood grain.  As it cools it will eventually set up and be quite hard and prevent moisture from getting into the end grain of the boards. Do the same thing with the rest of the keel with several applications and not only will it harden the wood but seal it well too.  After it sets for a few days/weeks it will set up and allow you to apply a good painted finish to protect it.  I would also recommend a shoe of UHMW strip that will take the abuse and provide some protection from impact.  They are readily available online in various thicknesses and widths and even colors.  Attach with a really good industrial double faced tape and will be with it until you are ready to replace it. 

I would recommend applying a good strong glass fiber reenforced fillet the full length of both sides of the keel however.  That will help a lot.

[JeffM]

Steve, does this boat have a full keel, rather than the shoal keel/cb in your drawings?  Looks like a full, solid keel in the photos.

[lewisboats]

That shoal keel/CB in the pictures is the same as what is on it. It sure looks deeper but it is only 12" from the center of the Vee to the edge of the keel. I am still debating adding the foil, and if I do it will probably be bolted to one side or another rather than going down through the keel itself...much less of a hole thru the wood to worry about. I don't even know if I could cut down thru the keel accurately enough to make a slot for the blade.

Steve

[Greg Luckett]

I think that may be the first time I have seen a keel built that way.  Interesting 

[lewisboats]

Thank you...tho I don't think I am original. Devlin talks about laminating his keels together and I took him literally. My biggest problem is that I should have done one at a time then let the epoxy cure. Even though I left enough room to remove the end screws for each layer...they have all stripped the holes and now won't come out. I shall have to dig each one out or else use a sawsall and cut through them. I don't know why this happened...I drove them home dry fitting each plank, then removed and glued then re-drove them. I guess the glue might be the culprit but I don't see how. They just sit and spin when I try to remove them.  :'(

Steve

[Greg Luckett]

I have laminated side to side before and thought that was what was being discussed when seeing other discussions in the past.  Now some of those comments make more sense.   I love & appreciate the help and education I am getting from this group  :)

[lewisboats]

Once I get the profile to what I want it is time to break out the grinder and the 60 grit flap wheels and do a bit of edge tapering and rounding. Final finishing will be with my RO sander and some smoooother grits  ;D. I'm gonna bullnose the front edge, round the bottom and thin out the after edge down to about 1/2"-3/8" rounded over.

Steve

[JeffM]

Steve, I wonder if you broke those keel screws.  I've done it many times with those skinny exterior self-tapping types when I was too tired to think it through.  Maybe all you're turning is the screw head.

[lewisboats]

I thought of that myself...they were just 2" black phosphate drywall screws. I may increase the angle of the front of the keel and if I do it would bypass most of them anyways. If and when I get some time away from my 75 hour work weeks I'll pull it out and draw some more profiles to see what I like.

Steve

[barryhill]

Steve

Have you run across these guys? Might be crazy, but some interesting stuff in the gallery.              http://www.aroundinten.com/

Bob

[Greg Luckett]

Steve

Have you run across these guys? Might be crazy, but some interesting stuff in the gallery.               http://www.aroundinten.com/

Bob

Bob,

This is not Steve; I hope you do not mind my comments.

That link to those guys is interesting.  At first thought:  they are  NUTS, but then thinking about it more.  What was the size of that boat the Captain of the Bounty navigated thousands of miles in the Pacific after he was tossed off the Bounty?  Only a little longer, if memory serves me.  To circumnavigate a 10 footer is very risky and to be done with even a semblance of safety would require a large support vessel close by.  I suppose climbing Everest or the race to the South Pole was just as risky?  This is something to keep an eye on and see how it turns out.  Thank you for pointing it out.

Greg Luckett

[lewisboats]

Hey...I can design one of those too!

FreeShip tells me I displace 2800 lbs at the shown draft of 39" with a length of 10 ft and a beam of 5'9". depth from top of cabin roof to bottom of keel is 7' 1.5" with an interior maximum headroom of 4' 10" (sole to cabin roof). Hang 500 lbs of lead on the bottom of the keel and a hull wt of 350 lbs and you have 1950 lbs of "stuff" you can carry...'course I don't see WHERE you would put 1950 lbs of "stuff" but that is just a minor glitch  :  Estimated gonads to the wall speed of 3.5 kts...probably more like 2.5-3 kts and you will be spending many moons doing a round the world in this baby...and boy...will you stink at the end.  ;D

Steve

[ChrisObee]

What was the size of that boat the Captain of the Bounty navigated thousands of miles in the Pacific after he was tossed off the Bounty?  Only a little longer, if memory serves me. 

Greg Luckett

from  http://www.sttudy.org.uk/Bligh/bligh.htm

"Bligh and 18 other crew members loyal to him were set adrift  on April 28th in the Bounty

[lewisboats]

Seeing as how I think only the hull lengths count I would put a fold up (yes UP like a jack knife) or fixed bow sprit so I could have a bit of a Jib and use a high peaked Gaff rig to get the maximum amount of sail and still get a bit of lead to the CE over the CLR.  Sufficient canvas is a must to get this pig thru the water but 2 or even 3 reefs would be needed ( or extra storm sails) to handle all conditions.

Steve