Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Interior sealed

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


Friday, April 22, 2011

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.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Primed

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



Friday, April 15, 2011

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.