More Stuff is here!

Well, today I got about 1,000 nails, and 500ish screws. Should keep me busy for a while.

Time to assemble the pieces.

It's taken quite a bit of time, but my enthusiasm isn't waning. I've made quite a few pieces so far, okay so 20. I do have an excuse though because it takes a lot of time to laminate wood and I only get maybe a few hours per week to work on the sailboat. I had to order the screws and nails yesterday, and next week or the week after I'm looking forward to getting the frames put together and hopefully the breasthook, stem, and maybe getting started on the transom or centerboard trunk.

New look, New Stuff!!

In my never ending quest to learn more about boat building and pass it on to the three people that might be reading this I've added a "store" to the blog. It's a widget at the bottom left that links to amazon and gives me a very small kickback on the stuff i suggest buying. The real reason I'm doing it is as an easy way to tell you what I'm using to build this boat, and give suggestions on the types of tools you may want to consider using to build your own boat. If you choose to buy through the store I set up or not is up to you. It's just to help everyone out by showing them what i think works well. I don't have everything in it yet. For example, the power plane is the next tool I would like to get, but i actually found the same one is a bit cheaper including tax at Home Depot. Oh, I also made the site look better. woo! Goodnight

Huge Mistake!

Okay not really a mistake, but definitely a waste of money. I thought one place i might be able to get of cheap is clamps. Well, i was wrong. Don't get the cheap plastic clamps from harbor freight. Spend the 8 bucks for decent ones. the won't fall fall apart like most of mine just did or are in the process of. Pipe clamps work great!

Let's talk about marine adhesives and glues.

First and foremost I'm not an expert. Now, on to the discussion. In boating you have adhesives and you have sealants. The real question is...What's the difference?

From the dictionary

Sealant- any of various liquids, paints, chemicals, or soft substances that may be applied to a surface or circulated through a system of pipes or the like, drying to form a hard, watertight coating.

 

Adhesive-

 

Adjective-

Physics . of or pertaining to the molecular force that exists in the area of contact between unlike bodies and that acts to unite them.

 

–noun - a substance that causes something to adhere.

 

 

So when building a boat there need to be a clear understanding of what needs to be sealed and what needs to be adhered.

 

For example- Decking should be applied with a marine sealant because it is a non-permanent bond. You can rib it up and out. Additionally nearly everything after the main structure is completed should use a marine sealant.

 

Lets move on to adhesives. Adhesives provide a permanent bond. The sheer clamp, frames, and anything structural that you never ever want to come apart should  use an adhesive.

 

This is simple terms, and I still don't quite know exactly what needs what, but I'll figure it out along the way. If in doubt, ask a professional. They like giving advice, but always get a second opinion as well. With that it's time for breakfast. I'm out. Have a good day, and get building away! 

Done!

With cutting out pieces of the frames!!! I still have a little bit of tweaking to do. Making each piece just right but they are all done, finally. It's been like a 8 weeks or so. With them finished we are on to the next parts. Putting them together, making the centerboard trunk and transom. I'm just that much closer to my minuet sailboat!

Favorite task

I was doing some more stuff tonight on the sailboat.  Hopefully one of these days the ever growing pile of parts will turn into the glen-l minuet.

I realized something. I'm not really crazy about mixing epoxy, but the one thing that I look forward to doing is getting out my bench plane and smoothing out the laminated boards. It's almost relaxing, and very rewarding. Once I got the rhythm down it became my favorite part of boat building and woodworking.

Pile of parts.

The sailboat has a slowly growing pile of parts.

getting more bits finished and a different technique.

Today I decided to give a different technique a try for cutting out bits of the framing.

Use tracing paper to copy the full size templates.
 It is much easier than trying to handle the huge sheets of full size plans.

Transfer the tracings to large sheets of glossy construction paper with carbon tranfer paper. (i got mine from publix)
   -Cut them out
   -spray glue to lauan
   -cut out to use as template.
   -screw templates to wood
   -cut closely with jigsaw
   -pull out the router
   -do a final trimming with a flush cut router bit (the ones with bearings). *See tip before trying this
   - do a quick finish sanding.

After moving to this technique. I can cut out and finish sand a frame member in about five minutes. And I average about 10-12 minutes per piece if I include the entire process start to finish.

now for some links:
Craftsman Flush trim Router bit
Craftsman 30 piece bit set

The first bit is not exactly what i got. The specs are the same but mine was a few dollars more, about $17. The second link is to what i want for my birthday (if anyone is reading this), wink, wink wifey.

* Tip
  -If you choose to use this method be careful as you move the router to always cut with the grain(or down the grain). I ripped a chunk out by not paying attention. It is possible to cut across the grain at various angles.  I'll use a crude picture as an example. Imagine that the black lines are the grain direction and the arrow is the direction the router is moving. The router is moving down the grain. If the motion was reversed it becomes difficult to control and will tear the piece apart.