Glen-L.com

we are coming to our wet season here in Utah as well the snow is building in the mountains already and the rains have started just a matter of time before it turns into snow in the valleys they say Tuesday for our first winter storm to hit here. I checked out the heater in the shop and removed the ac unit for the winter. once I get my frames done not much more I can do till I find some place larger to build in. the shop is just to small to put everything together in. So I can relate

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Don't be afraid to attempt anything. You might surprise your self in the attempt.
http://www.facebook.com/Home.Made.Boat.Building
Modified Jubilee-"Wild Flower" 40' house boat
14' Mr John-Wild Flower 2
32' Supper Huck- Wild flower 3

Rod H

Lowka53, I think this is going to be a rough one for us. Hopefully the high desert in the Sierras will get some much needed water but that's about the only bright side.

I'm thinking about ordering a stack of 1/4" ply and making frame templates. I chucked the idea of lofting it all into AutoCad and having it cut for me. Now that I have a plasma cutter it's really simple to do all the aluminum cutting myself.

It's an extra step but my thoughts are that if I have everything pre-fit then when I cut the Al I wont have much to do other than weld it into place and that should save time and money in wasted materials. The cost of Al just keeps going up and up and up.

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Steve Schefer
Santa Rosa, Ca.

New Years Resoluiton - Never leave something for someone else to do when I should be doing it myself.

I can understand that I know people who make a living scraping metal anything they can get there hands on and the cost of al is defentlly going up. I never was much on working with metal other than farm welding but at one time I tryed to get a job at hi low trailor welding frames but got beat out by a guy that was better at it than me.

_________________
Don't be afraid to attempt anything. You might surprise your self in the attempt.
http://www.facebook.com/Home.Made.Boat.Building
Modified Jubilee-"Wild Flower" 40' house boat
14' Mr John-Wild Flower 2
32' Supper Huck- Wild flower 3

Rod H

Well I sold my custom MonArk Legend 1800 with the hot rod V-6 Merc tonight. Shoot, I was hoping I'd just have lookers until later in the year but the money was right so I let it go. Boatless... I can't believe how long it's been since I didn't own a boat. Gotta get that keel laid so I don't have to say that again!

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Steve Schefer
Santa Rosa, Ca.

New Years Resoluiton - Never leave something for someone else to do when I should be doing it myself.

With the my other boat now gone, I assebmled the building form again and turned it so the bow is facing the main garage door. This give me plenty of room to setup and cut the frames. I won't add any time to the build for this.

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Steve Schefer
Santa Rosa, Ca.

New Years Resoluiton - Never leave something for someone else to do when I should be doing it myself.

Well here I go again. I got to thinkin about the Chevy Tahoe being 3 years old now and my age and my retirement age and the new boat weight and haulin junk and pickin up materials ... well you get the picture. I called the dealership today and told them to find me a truck. I'm thinkin a 2500HD crew cab with a 6.6L diesel, 4WD and a nice cushy interior for road trips.

We'll see what he comes up with.

More space in the garage/workshop now:

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Steve Schefer
Santa Rosa, Ca.

New Years Resoluiton - Never leave something for someone else to do when I should be doing it myself.

I added casters to the build form. Simple and effective. I will need to sink a couple of red heads into the concrete and then bolt through the center member to keep it from rolling around when I don't want it too.. Here's some pics.





Funny, but after the third time, it came into square and level really easy.. Actually, I think having more square surfaces helped a lot. The jug in the middle is 100lbs of sand blasting media. It's just there to keep things snug to the deck. I also left off the extension of the main member until I'm done cuting frames. It would just be in the way.

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Steve Schefer
Santa Rosa, Ca.

New Years Resoluiton - Never leave something for someone else to do when I should be doing it myself.

Steve - It just hit me. You actually set a completion date of August 2013. You ACTUALLY set a date!!!!. AWRIGHT.

My, I thought I was the only one with the gumption to set a date.

Attaboy

dave

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Dave

My Riviera build - the Midnight Cry Project

Video of Midnight in Action
Blog

Few things in the world measure up to the thrill and satisfaction of boating in a boat that you built.

Uh Oh... did I commit? LOL...

I'm optimistic I guess.. Believe it or not, I'm ahead of schedule...

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Steve Schefer
Santa Rosa, Ca.

New Years Resoluiton - Never leave something for someone else to do when I should be doing it myself.

I aint slackin.. I got my new Everlast PowerTig 250 on Monday. I dialed it in last night and I like it. I also got myself a Smith gas mixer and a big bottle of Ultra Pure Helium but I'm waiting on a set of gauges so I haven't got that all setup yet. I've just about got the tools lined up properly now and I'm almost ready to start buying some plate.

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Steve Schefer
Santa Rosa, Ca.

New Years Resoluiton - Never leave something for someone else to do when I should be doing it myself.

The shop is all setup now and I just placed my first order for Aluminum. I shopped around a lot and found the best deal right in my own neighborhood. Go figure.. LOL.

4) 1/4 x 48 x 96 5052-H32 @ 238.35 ea. (Frames 1 thru 4)
4) 3/16 x 48 x 96 5052-H32 @ 174.25 ea (Transom and frames 5 thru 7)
1) 3/8 x 24 x 120 5052 -H32 @ 249.25 ea (Chine)
12) 1/4 x 1-1/2 x 144 6061-T6 flat bar @ 12.25 ea (Various applications)
9) 3/16 x 1-1/2 x 1-1/2 x 300" 6061-T6 T=Bar @ 39.75 (Stiffners)

The order is supposed to be ready by Thursday and hopefully I can get it delivered Saturday (12/18/10).

Last Saturday I picked up a roll type tubing bender at Harbor Freight. Don't waste your money, this one is going back. My brother is loaning me his hydraulic tubing bender for the rails and transom step when I get to that point.

I also got their compact pipe bender which is actually not too bad for the price. It would have no place in a production shop but the little bit of test bending that I did showed a lot of promise.

As I mentioned before, I've equipped my welding gear with a gas mixer and I'm now mixing Helium with Argon to get better penetration at lower amperage. Testing shows that it really reduces the strength loss in the heat affected zone (haz) of 6061-T6. Instead of a 50% loss it's somewhere around 35% loss. It cost about 2,000.00 to get it all setup but I think in the long run it will be worth it.

So that's where we are right now.. I'm itching to get started. I've got one last Merc V-6 Hot Rod outboard to finish up for a customer then I'm free and clear to get cranking on some Aluminum cutting and TIG welding.

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Steve Schefer
Santa Rosa, Ca.

New Years Resoluiton - Never leave something for someone else to do when I should be doing it myself.

Sounds like everything's coming together just nice for you.
Like your approach to tooling . When I built my 34' steel sailboat, I didn't cut corners on the welder or Milwaukee nibler that I really utilized. I used and kept them for 6 years and still got most of my money out of them. The welder is still working daily in a metal shop 14 yrs later.
Doug

Hoooo Rah.... The first load of Aluminum arrived today. Everything on the list in the last post arrived on a flat bed this afternoon. It took a little coordinating to get it here but it's all here and so.... Today marks the first day of construction. The date is December 21st 2010. Today also marks the winter solstice and is the shortest day of this year. It is a Tuesday and it was raining all day except for when the metal arrived and then it was clear and stayed that way until I got it all put away.. There's an good omen for ya..!

Here's a picture of the plans laid out on a sheet of 3/16 5052-H32. The plans are wrinkled from the folding but my 1000 watt halogen work lamps fixed that in about an hour.

Side note: If you're using halogen lights around blue prints make sure they have UV filters on them or your plans lines will fade and dissappear. Also, don't weld around your plans or leave them in direct sunlight.



I opted out on making templates out of 1/4" ply. I hate carbon paper tracing because it never comes out right for me. Instead and since these plans are full sized, I lofted them directly to the metal. You really do have to loft them because you only get one half. These plans are set up so one half is with a 12 deg bottom and the other is with a 6. It's not that difficult, just take some reference measurements and transfer them and you're done. Here it is ready to double check, (notice I didn't say cut). I'll double check the layout tomorrow and if all is good I'll see if I can cut this stuff.



I also made the decision to go with a Yamaha 250 4 stroke outboard vs. the inboard Jet. There are several special interest groups that are pushing to dissallow jet boats on several lakes. Several rivers have already been put off limits because of spawning grounds disturbance. I think it's really all about the noise myself but why worry about it when this boat design adapts fine with the simple addition of an off-shore bracket and sponson.

The majority of boats being manufactured by custom boat builders are now all being sold with outboards and there are conflicting stories as to why. The most common reason is the forseable restrictions but the runner up was because of fouling. A couple of lakes that I fish have annual weed bed die offs and the seem to lay in wait for jet pumps.

I also no longer consider the delta pad necessary so I don't have to re-engineer the bottom. I didn't make that decision because of the jet change I made it after a ride in a similar designed boat that had one. It waddled badly at speed and I don't need that! The sales rep said they all did that and I'd get used to it.. Not!

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Steve Schefer
Santa Rosa, Ca.

New Years Resoluiton - Never leave something for someone else to do when I should be doing it myself.

It's also my 47th anniversary, I picked this day because it was the shortest day and the "Longest night"...HAHAHAHAHAHA...Now it doesn't matter, HAHAHAHA.. Why am I laughing??????Good luck on your first "DAY" of the build...Hope you have a good time...Dwain, The SKIIIIIIIIIIII KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNGGGGGGGGG.......

Work day 2, Wednesday Evening, 12/22/10 - 3 hour including cleanup.

I cut the transom out tonight. I first double checked my layout and did a couple of diaganol comparisons to make sure that both sides were identical.

The cutting...... I bought a non-ferrous metal blade for my Skill Mag-77 and then setup a straight edge with the correct offset. I made the one cut across the the top and it was a bear to keep it running straight. Don't get me wrong, I've framed a ton with this thing but that's what its best at.

I was trying to avoid using my Festool finish saw but I figured what the heck, give it a shot. Yeah, dumb me, there's a setting on it for Aluminum up to 1/2" and I had the right blade but forgot I bought it.

So here it is, the most accurate manual cutting system ever designed. Ya know, if you don't have one of these and you want to build a boat like this, you might consider saving for one. It'll set you back a chunk of change but it's worth every penny.. Here it is. The saw sits on a track and slides. The edge of the track is set dead on the cut line and you litteraly cannot make a bad cut. There are a couple of immitations out there. Dewalt (Black and Decker) makes one but the price is nearly the same and it's no where as good. Get the real Festool product or you're just wasting your money. WoodCraft is carrying Festool now, go try one out and you'll see what I'm talking about. I've got a whole stack of Festool tools. These are considered heirloom tools. You'll pass them down to your kids and they'll pass them on theirs.



Here's an example of how perfect the cut comes out -



Here it is all cut out and cleaned up. I use WD-40 as a lube. It works great and cleans up easier than PAM cooking spray.



I was feeling a little puffed up so I hung the transom on the form. It's just sitting on a couple of drywall screws so it's not exactly square or anything. That will happen later -



One of the things I discovered pretty quick was the amount of chips that fly everywhere. I think I'll put a fresh bag in my dust collector and use it. You can't really sweep the stuff up because it gets all bound up in the broom. A vacuum is the best tool for the job.

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Steve Schefer
Santa Rosa, Ca.

New Years Resoluiton - Never leave something for someone else to do when I should be doing it myself.