Building The Vera Cruise

[jprice]

I'm a little late to the discussion, but I've used the plastic bag trick, the empty caulk tubes, and the six-10 tubes from west.

IMO, the plastic bag idea turned out to be a lot messier and more awkward than I anticipated. I definitely prefer the caulk gun approach. While the six-10 stuff is great, it is damn expensive. Putting 6oz of thickened epoxy in the empty tubes has worked well for me. Although I'm using a slow hardner, and usually do it when the weather is cooler. I get it used up long before anything kicks off.
Also make sure you're thickening with the good silica, not the cheap stuff (glen-l refers to it as the #1 silica). Anything else besides that, and I could never get the right consistency. #2 silica or wood flour would be either too runny or too pasty... I could never find that happy medium.

[mrintense]

Nice looking ply Carl. Where did you end up ordering it from? Skip

I got them through Homestead Hardwoods out of Ohio. I emailed them to see if I could get a better price and they obliged.


So far today has been occupied with Fitting the first piece of plywood and creating a boat load of small square plywood washers.

I've already determined that I need to do a small amount of tapering of the outer surface of the sheer between frames 2 and 3 (port and starboard sides). No big deal, but still have to do it before continuing with the fitting.

[hoodman]

Did you get Meranti?

[mrintense]

Did you get Meranti?

No, it's Joubert Okoume 1088. This is considerably lighter than Meranti and doesn't splinter near as much. It is more expensive however. I had to save for nearly the entire year to get the funds for this and the screws.

Spent more time today test fitting the first panel. The fit is good. Only a small area at the transom and chine needs a minor amount of flattening out so that the panel buts up against the transom skin properly.

[Bill Edmundson]

Carl

Is that fun now?

Bill

[mrintense]

Carl

Is that fun now?

Bill

Yes it is Bill,

I was a bit hesitant to get started but now that I have, I feel the confidence building. I just love this hobby.

[Roberta]

Carl, Your work is OUTSTANDING!!!! Beautiful!!!!!

Roberta

[vupilot]

Dang Carl! Nice! Definitely one of the fun stages.

[mrintense]

Thanks Roberta and Chris!

I would like to say that these pictures show the panel before being glued up. So I suspect there will be some glue runs to contend with when I do that. What I am currently trying to do is figure out a reliable method for getting the screw holes drilled in the correct location on the panel. I tried using a bent piece of metal yesterday measuring down from the top edge of the chine and bottom edge of the sheer. The sheer is fine, but the changing angles on the bottom surface of the chine changes the vertical location of the holes as it moves forward.

The aft screw holes are also a bit of a problem because the frame is only 3/4" thick, so I do not want to miss them when drilling.

One idea I have is to trace the shape of the chine, sheer, and transom frame on the inside of the panel and then measure from that to get the correct hole locations. Frankly, this whole process is a bit scary because I don't want to ruin a piece of plywood. The engineer in me wants some tool or process that will guarantee correct location of these holes, but so far I am not confident in anything I have thought of. I remember seeing a video the other day about locating screw holes on a traditionally planked boat. I am going to look at that video again and see if that technique might work.

[sscobra]

Nice looking ply Carl. Where did you end up ordering it from? Skip

I got them through Homestead Hardwoods out of Ohio. I emailed them to see if I could get a better price and they obliged.


So far today has been occupied with Fitting the first piece of plywood and creating a boat load of small square plywood washers.

I've already determined that I need to do a small amount of tapering of the outer surface of the sheer between frames 2 and 3 (port and starboard sides). No big deal, but still have to do it before continuing with the fitting.

Looking really good Carl. "Boat load of small square plywood washers"...pun intended there Carl?
I have done the same. If you intend to staple through the washers, I have found a nice pneumatic stapler at the Woodcraft Store. It is the Freeman Professional Fine Wire Stapler. It looks like a quality piece even though it is made in China. It only costs $39.99 and uses ordinary T50 staples. I have only tested it on small test pieces and it works great. I will start using it today to begin putting down my final layer and will report on how well it works later. Skip

[mrintense]

Looking really good Carl. "Boat load of small square plywood washers"...pun intended there Carl? Skip

Yeah, I changed the original wording from bucket load to boat load intentionally Thanks for the compliments Skip.

As for the washers, I will only be using staples on the transom veneer over the plywood sub skin. An inexpensive staple gun would be good since I don't anticipate the need for a lot of these. The side skins are all screwed (and epoxied) into position. The staples are there primarily to spread the load as I force the panels into the curves.

[sscobra]

Carl you could trace around the sheer, chine, transom, and frames on the inside of the ply as you mentioned and then pull the ply off and drill small holes between the lines from the inside to the outside of the ply. You could drill all the holes at each member location or just drill two holes, say one at the top of a frame and one at the bottom of the frame and then connect to two holes with a pencil line on the outside of the ply. That way you wouldn't miss the 3/4" width of the transom or frames. If you plan on epoxying the ply on the framing with a few screws or staples, letting the epoxy cure and then doing all the remaining screws, I wouldn't pre-drill all the holes because the epoxy would just ooze through the holes, plugging them. That staple gun I mentioned before would be good for your transom planks but wouldn't work for fastening your ply to the framing. It can only handle staples up to 9/16". The Woodcraft Store does have other staple guns (in the $50 range) that can shoot staples up to 1 1/4". Speaking of your transom planks, I don't know what the lumber yard would charge you to re-saw them into 3/16" planks but if you want to save some money, you are welcome to bring your boards over here and use my band saw and planer. I will have to check my band saw to see if it can handle the 6" height. I know it is close to that but not sure of the actual number. Skip

[mrintense]

Skip, thanks for the offer. I will definitely consider that. I'd like to get out and see your boat anyway.

Today I got the first panel glued into position. To say I am excited is an understatement.

[Bill Edmundson]

Carl

This is where it starts to "feel" like you're building a boat! There is still a long way to go. But, you start seeing a BOAT! Congrats!

Bill

[neel thompson]

She really looks great Carl. I can tell by looking at the last picture that there is a lot of "engineer" in you. It almost appears that you measured the distance between spacers and between clamps. I did notice that some of the spacers are cocked about 30 degrees or so. Please work hard on keeping them straight when you put the next panel on... Thanks and best of luck with the plywood,,,,Neel