Done with rails.

The title says it all. No more woodworking left to do. I'm lO a little sad about that. I just have a little finish work and some sanding. I think the boat weighs right at 90 pounds right now. So I think I'll make a boat dolly since I'm going to use a utility trailer to haul it.

I'm already getting comments on how pretty the boat is from neighbors. They asked where they could get a boat like that too. I said the lumber yard.

Quick note on strength

The rub rail seems to add a substantial amount of rigedness to the boat. I wouldn't omit it.

Rubrail attached

I used stainless ring shank nails every six inches to attach the rub rails

Attaching the rub rails

Just takes lots of nails and clamps. I had to scarf two pieces of fir for enough length.

Interior sealed

Finished sealing the interior of the boat. I need to scarf the rub rails, attach them and paint the inside.

My dogs enemy.

A toy truck I took apart and programmed to chase anything that moved. Would have been easier with a few more sensors but was still a fun project. Used a genetic algorithm so it could learn the most efficient way to navigate. It really needs a wheel encoder to work more efficiently. Also experimented with averaging the mean and median of the white Gaussian noise to average the sensors values, but eventually chose to use the more system taxing invariant extended kalmen filter. Overkill I know, but I plan on building an unusual uav.

Construction overview.

Laurie this is for your power-point about me. If you want I can also let you have the first transom I tried building but realized I screwed up and some fiberglass for your class to see.

Construction steps:

I bought 4 sheets of 1/4" waterproof plywood

1.  Sheet 1
1.  Measure outer and innner frame dimensions
1. cut out to the outer dimensions
2. Sheet 2
1. Cut in Half
3. Sheet 3 and 4 were butted against and fiberglassed to each half of sheet 2
1. Sheet 3
1. Side panels bottom panel and stem were measured and cut out
2. Sheet 4
1. Bilge panels, transom and remaining stem pieces were measured and cut out
4.  
5. Stem assembly
1. Each piece was layered, epoxied, and clamped together.
2. The bevel was drawn and planed down with a hand power planer
6. Transom assembly
1. Douglas fir was cut to various dimensions and beveled to fit around the edge of the transom
2. The motor-board was beveled and epoxied into place last.
7. Hull assembly
1. The two center frames were set on temporary structures some distance apart.
2. The hull bottom panel was aligned on top of the frames and held in place with nails.
3. The stem was aligned, epoxied, clamped, and permanently nailed with Stainless nails
4. The Transom was aligned, epoxied, clamped, and nailed into place.
5. Both side panels were temporarily nailed to temporary blocks attached to the center frames.
1. They were simultaneously brought together at the transom epxoed, and nailed.
2. Simultaneously brought together at the stem empoxied and attached.
6. The bilge were test fit then epoxied and nailed to the transom then stem
7. the final frame was installed
8. The seams were taped on the inside then puttied with an epoxy/wood flour mixture along with the stem.
9. The seams were sanded smooth then fiber-glassed with 6-ounce bidirectional fiberglass tape, the stem got two layer.
10. several days of curing went by
11. Each frame was filleted with the epoxy/ wood flour mixture and fiber-glassed
12. The inner panel seams were filleted and fiber-glassed as well.
13. The deck, and seats were built
14. Now it looks like a boat
15. The fiberglass was sanded to a feather edge
16. The hull was flipped, sealed, and fiberglass cloth was applied to all of it.
17. The hull was sanded, primed, sanded, sanded, sanded, sanded etc.
18. More primer
19. The new motor arrived at my parents house
20. Flipped again.
21. Interior in sanded, corner knees installed sealed, and primed and painted.
22. Deck and seats stained, varnished and installed
23. Hull flipped again and painted
24. Rub rails installed
25. Bow eyelet installed
26. Motor test fit.
27. Finsished

My audience.

I just had a look at my blog stats. I never thought that my personal blog could attract a worldwide audience. Thanks for your time and here are the hits for this week:

United States            702

United Kingdom       178

Canada                      57

Australia                    47

China                        38

Germany                   36

Netherlands              26

Switzerland               22

Israel                        21

Singapore                 20

New motor.

This is my new 1965 Johnson seahorse 3hp motor. results of the leakdown test were 3%. New recoil, rebuilt carb, new points, perfectly clean fuel tank. Starts the first time every time. Thanks Dad!!!!! He found it in Maryland, bought it, had it shipped to his house, and did a cosmetic restoration. Needless to say a big thank you is in order.

Tomorrow, the boat will be flipped again. The interior will be sealed and primed. the deck will be completed along with the bow seat.. i will also make some corner knees. Tuesday, the final paint will be applied, rubrails stained and installed plus any small details taken care of that I may have missed. I will also get a home-built title, and register the boat. I am unbelievably excited for my first launch. It should float just fine.

Primed

Almost ready to paint. Just have to smooth out the primer a bit still. So more sanding.

Sanding.

Thought I would give a quick update for today. Sanding, sanding, sanding. Really, I feel like it'll never get painted. Just need to remember this is a little boat, not a show boat. I actually want to use it one day. So this is my plan:

Finish getting everything smoothed out
Two coats of primer
sand
two coats of paint
wet sand
wash
two coats of paint

wet sand
wash
rubbing compound
wash
polish
wash
wax
This week is gonna be tons of fun getting the cartopper finished.

I really have to thank my wife for doing the fill work. It's my least favorite part and she is much better at it than me.

Cost update

268.43
100 for motor
60 for paint prep
50 for paint
Total=478.43 this includes all supplies

I also spent almost 400 on tools. However most people already have jigsaws, tablesaws, hammers, drills, screwdrivers, etc...

Paint prep

Well the boat is almost finished. And now the fun starts. Paint prep. Lots of sanding.

Skeg

I glassed in the skeg tonight. Here are a few pictures.

Skeg is on

Well tonight i managed to get the skeg attached. It didn't go perfectly, but will work just fine. It is on straight but just a little less than 1/16" out of square. I didn't realize it until after the glue dried. However I highly doubt that I will be able to tell in any kind of current. I didn't bother planing it down until after I installed it and the glue dried so here is a before picture:




Look that's me. In the middle of the night.

Finished glassing

I finally finished the fiberglassing. I also sanded and put on a second coat of resin.this weekend ill build and install the skeg and paint.

The Cost of Cartopper

Today I finally fiberglassed the hull of my bolger cartopper. I've been dreading this day since the start, but now that i'm finished it wasn't really that big of a deal. I did it in two pieces, one on the port and other starboard. I overlapped the middle by about four inches. Then i started on the bilge panel working from the transom forward, moved on to the bottom panel, then the side panel. On the whole boat I had 1 very small bubble that I sanded through and puttied. My next step is one more coat of resin, building and attaching the stem, priming, painting, then finishing off the interior bits and rub rails.

Total cost so far. $243.68 plus a bit of gas.
I'll spend maybe another $50 to finish it between paint and 3 pieces of wood.

Work has stopped

Tomorrow I was going to fiberglass the hull. Well I have the sunburn from hell. So I will need to wait a few days. The sun n fun fly in was a blast though.

Sealed

Tonight I went ahead and sealed the hull. I also went by bateau.com and picked up some fiberglass. Joel was nice and told me about some of their boats. I really decided that I'll wait on the sailboat in favor of a runaboat. Its just hard to find any good quality wood around here. So it looks like the next build will be a rb14, but not until I can get the shop finished the way I want to.