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Core Sound 20 Mk 3 -- #4 "Chessie" . .


Pete McCrary

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Thanks to all for kind comments. The injury is minor but painful and slow healing. Large muscle to the outside of right thy. The impact was hard enough that the stool I was sitting on split! It was made of 3/4" oak! Felt much better this am -- so I went shopping for a "come-along" of higher load limit than the x7 pulley at the bow. That activity set me back to yesterday's pain and stiffness. Dear wife said "told you so." But I was so anxious to get to finishing "Chessie." She's has always claimed that men (especially me) are sissies to pain and terrible patients. This time I'll listen ... and go easy for a few days.

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Alan suggested that a hinge on the trailer's tongue would allow me to keep "Chessie" in my garage and on her trailer with the garage door closed -- and [he] gave me a link to such hinges on the Internet. The local "Truck & Trailer" shop is presently installing a hinge which will be ready Monday afternoon. Now I'll be kinda forced to give the thy a rest for healing.

BTW, I won't be rebuilding the cradle. And for future builders, I have 6 casters (4 with both wheel and swivel brakes) along with 24 lag bolts, all of which I'd sell just for the shipping costs. The attachment plates are sized to fit on 4 x 4 legs with 4 holes for lag bolts. Just let me know the address and I'll price the shipping.

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Tomorrow afternoon I should be getting "Chessie's" trailer with a hinged tongue. So, today, I "fine tuned" the CB tackle. Before I started I verified the CB pendent's travel from full down to full up: 15.5 inches. A bit more than expected. This required that I move the pulley block aft about 4". Here are two photos of the arrangement full up and full down:

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Next is a photo of the stool that I was sitting on (inside "Chessie") when the cradle collapsed. Looks like it might have tilted during the fall and then the edge of it came between my thy and the suddenly stopped boat bottom. The injury still is hurtful and stiff -- but each day sees and improvement.

post-4915-0-35380300-1476643644_thumb.jpeg That stool is made of 3/4" oak. I'll repair it with a plywood doubler under.

Fitting the trailer to "Chessie's" bottom will take a few days. I tell myself -- it's not wasted time since I'd have to do it anyway before moving her out of the garage. Now, at least, when finished and ready for her maiden voyage, I won't have to mess with the trailer.

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Pete,

Please make sure to brag that you are tougher than a well built oak stool. And always emphasize you snapped it over your thigh!:)

Seriously, that stool makes it seem more serious that I thought. I'm really glad you aren't really hurt, and Chessie lived.

I hope your trailer is perfect!

Peace,

Robert

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Yes. I'm lucky I didn't break my femer. My sister-in-law (~ my age, 83) broke hers -- just slipped on her deck chasing a squirrel with a broomstick. She didn't fall on anything but the deck. But I think old women's bones are more brittle than ours. Today recovery is about 99%. Full ROM and very little pain. Notice a little weakness climbing stairs. I'll be 100% by the end of the week. Trailer guy called and it won't be ready until tomorrow. I'm taking the afternoon off.

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At this point I'm sure that I won't make this year's mess-about. But definitely next year.

Yesterday I "chopped up" the collapsed cradle and shipped the 6 casters to a fellow builder. As I took it apart, I noticed the split on the cross-beam where the failure started (forward port-side). Here's a photo:

post-4915-0-79421400-1476805728_thumb.jpeg Notice the dry-wall screw entry point and the angle of the cross-grain.

For the benefit of future builders I suggest your cradle legs be 4 x 4s and not 2 x 4s. And definitely use 6 legs. And if you use casters, always set the brakes, especially if you are going to work inside the boat. Make sure the 2 x 4 beams are straight-grained and don't stow [the cradle] outside unless covered. And I'd definitely drill pilot holes even for the dry-wall screws which will go into stock lumber without pilot holes. However, that causes a splitting wedge -- especially if driving into the end-grain. My cradle failure started where a dry-wall screw went into the end of one of the 2 x 4 cross-beams. It had a cross-grain and the angle was such that it only had to split over a length of 9". And mine was weakened after being outside while "Chessie" was bottoms-up.

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We were thinking about the good time for all at the mess-about. "Chessie" couldn't make it ... But next year we'll all be there.

Matching "Chessie" to her trailer took more time than I expected, so not much construction since the cradle collapse. At this point I only need to "lag-bolt" the bunks to their support brackets. Then I'll be ready to resume building. Here are a few photos of rhe trailer rig:

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Positioned to swing tongue and close garage door. Next photo shows the forward (3rd roller). Most of the load is on the middle roller, but this one supports enough of the load to deflect the 2 x 6 by about 3/4" (my guess ~ 200 lbs). I could increase the loading by adding spacers under the roller frame.

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Looking forward from under the transom. Spacers had to be placed under the roller brackets to get the boat high enough to keep the chines from being too close to the trailer frame. You can see a 1 x 6 just laying on the cross-member. That will be attached permanently under the CB as a "safety net" to prevent the board from dragging on the highway in case of its "tackle" giving way -- or, more likely, the skipper forgetting to raise the board before hauling her. Next photo shows tight fit of boat/trailer assembly with garage door closed. There's about a 24" space aft of the transom for a "pass-thru."

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Temporary spacer (2 x 4 block between frame and chine) shows 3.5" clearance. Next photo looking aft on Port side.

Now I hope to make daily progress on the final buildout. The interruption has been frustrating -- but at least [now] when she's finished she'll be on her trailer and "road-ready" -- WITHOUT FURTHER ADOO!

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Pete, I was worried about you as you hadn't posted in awhile. I can now see you've been busy. I'm back at taping and sealing the interior. Yuck. I thought I was done, but I keep finding more.

 

I am curious about your trailer. I too will purchase a new trailer.  What model did you buy. I like the swing keel support you added and the drop axle. Do you think the clearance between the fenders is enough? Is that forward bow support going to stay?

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Pete. Somewhere on the forum we had a discussion on how to best support a plywood hull on a trailer. The CS17 and 20 Mk-3 hulls don't have a solid "timber" down the center, instead relying on a built-up epoxy putty wide "fillet".  On Summer Breeze, I felt that supporting most of the weight on keel rollers would cause the hull to "sag" over the roller, so I chose to support the hull mostly on the side bunks. The fewer rollers, the worse this could be. Of course, if the rollers are directly under a bulkhead, this would negate the problem. I mounted the bunks on edge and cut them to fit the contour of the hull, and made sure that they would span across the bulkheads under the cabin seats (settees?)

 

You may want to add some padding on the inboard side of your fenders---they look mighty close to the hull.

 

Summer Breeze said that she is looking forward to meeting Chessie soon! The Appalachian Messabout would be a good place to do it!

 

Just another little thought, It's a good idea to lower the center board onto the "safety net" while on the highway. And, yes, the skipper will likely forget to raise the board when loading the boat. Guess how I know this...   Oh, and be sure to raise the board before launching. It will get caught up on the trailer otherwise and drive you nuts! Graham has a sign on his winch stand saying to raise the board. Good idea. I'm gonna add a sign on mine, too.

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Steve: It's a Load Rite model 5s-1722ov. The clearance between the fenders is just about 1.5" each side. That may be a little close, but the fenders can be moved out an inch or so on each side. If she's held down properly, I don't think I'll have a problem. The keel batten (with SS 3/4" half oval) slips into a groove at the center of the tapered rollers. To bounce out of that there'd have to be a big bounce while making a sharp turn at speed -- like a 270 degree off-ramp. When trailering, I take those gently.

Chick: I'm not too concerned about the rollers on the keel. The keel's v-shape (combined with its concave curve) is extremely strong. And it's reinforced not only by a thick fillet, but with a glued-on keel batten (3/4" x 7/8") topped with a 3/4" hollow-back half-oval. The mid-roller is a little ahead Blk 3 -- the CG is a little aft of Blk 3. Note also that the unsupported crossways span is limited by the longitudinal bunk supports which are less than 12" from the centerline. Increasing the loading of the forward roller will also increase the loading on the aft roller and decrease the load on the mid-roller. I can also transfer some of the load to the side bunks by jacking the supports tight up against the hull's bottom when tightening the bunk supports. The bunk supports are on the same cross-beams as the mid and aft rollers.

From my defense of this configuration you can sense that I too have some concern about the rollers. So, I asked Graham about rollers on the keel, and he assured me that it would be ok. Maybe he could have additional comments regarding my setup.

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Finally! Trailer is road-ready and is substituting for the collapsed cradle. Had to delay "boat" construction for two & a half weeks. At least it's work that I'd have to do later [anyway].

October 30 -- a beautiful Indian Summer day. Kitty "Lucy" thought so too. Instead of watching me work on "Chessie," she catnapped all afternoon.

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Bedded the ventilation deck plates in Blk 1 and permanently epoxied (in place) the tabernacle. Next I'll be preparing the cockpit for decking.

post-4915-0-23461900-1477856103_thumb.jpeg post-4915-0-20868200-1477856131_thumb.jpeg

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Chick and Steve: I, too, am concerned about the fender clearance. Especially if I encountered a road hump while in a tight clover-leaf turn. That could bounce the boat off the center of her rollers with a hard hit on the outside chine.

So I fabricated "cushions" for each fender. They are 3/4" pine with carpet (for stair treads) as extra cushioning. When boat is centered on the rollers -- there's still about 3/4" space (each side) between the boat's chines and the cushions. They will also serve as gentle centering guides when floating the boat back onto the trailer.

post-4915-0-05076300-1478116672_thumb.jpeg post-4915-0-07286400-1478116699_thumb.jpeg

No attachments required. Notice the verticle rabbits cut into the wood -- they just fit over the 1/2" U-bolts that clamp the axle assembly in place. And the bottom part of the wood cushion simply rests between the sides of the trailer frame and the inboard sides of each fender -- and on the top of the brackets that support the fenders. I think they [the cushion boards] are high enough so they won't float when launching or recovering. If they do -- I'll have to figure out something. The boards will be glassed on their inboard sides and epoxied all around.

post-4915-0-50515700-1478117160_thumb.jpeg A four-wheel dolly supports frame when tongue rotated. Load limit: 1,000 lbs.

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The dolly lets me move the boat around a bit when in the garage. The last two photos show that by having [the boat & trailer] at an angle, I can get a little extra work space at either end. It's good to be back at work -- building.

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