Lee's Monaco utility build

[denbrlr]

Rich,

Thank you for the information. Assuming the motor stringers are parallel with the waterline, my boat is level so the waterline should be level. With this assumption in mind, I used my cross line laser level to find the lowest points of the bottom battens on the port side. I have five bottom battens and if I number them from 1-5 with number 1 nearest the keel, here is where the lowest points are:
- batten 1 - eight inches behind frame 5
- batten 2 - a little under two inches in front of frame 3
- batten 3 - a little over one inch in front of frame 2
- batten 4 - at the keel
- batten 5 - at the keel

Does this sound right? Where were the low points on your Monaco? Please let me know. Thank you.

Lee

[Rich Coey]

Looking back the waterline may not be exactly parallel with the stringers but its close. I don't remember exactly where I put the limbers but what you did sounds like you have it figured out. To be sure, there is nothing wrong with adding one a little forward and aft of where you figured. With that said, when you are driving around the attitude of the boat changes constantly and the water finds the limbers and flows down to the keel and doesn't flow back up.
When ever I stop any water that got in is at the keel between frames 5 and 6.

Rich

[Ozzieboat]

Lee
If anyone has had concerns about snapping battens you have to watch episode 67 of Sampson Boat Company. See sampsonboat.co.uk

[denbrlr]

Ozzieboat,

I watched that video and wow! Talk about large scale. It is a good thing one of those didn't break. That could have been dangerous.

Lee

[Sarnian]

that's a great series - I've been watching Leo for a couple of years or so now, pretty amazing what can be done. The guys at Acorn to Arabella are fun to watch too - and if you're locked indoors, you can either work on the boat or binge watch these free shows on youtube!

[denbrlr]

I made some plugs and epoxied them in my countersunk screw holes in the keel. I should have done that before I faired it but too late now I also used Famowood for other screw holes on the bottom battens and the first layer of ply on the transom.

As I was working, I found a few areas on some of the bottom battens that needed a little more fairing so that is done too. My next steps are to sand the wood plugs and Famowood, encapsulate and attach the second layer of ply on the transom, finish sealing and encapsulating the bottom battens, keel, etc., and then start on the bottom planking.

Lee

[Idigplanes]

Hi Lee, i got your PM and sent a reply, but i am not sure my messages are getting sent. Will you let me know if you received it? I need some specific help with getting this transom together on my riviera. It really seems to me that once the chine and sheer are cut out, there is nothing left of the glue joint.

[denbrlr]

Idigplanes,

I did get your PM. I will go ahead and reply here because it might help others. The transom is a tricky area. I don't recommend cutting out the notches for the sheer and chine logs ahead of time. That goes for the transom and all of the frames. I know some people do this but many of those notches end up with compound angles and if they are pre-cut, they will not be correct once you try to attach the sheer and chine logs. I think the notches on the patterns are more for reference.

On the transom, there is material left where the sheer and chine logs go. It is not a lot but it is enough. Remember that you will be epoxying the sheer and chine logs back in there so that in effect replaces the material on the transom and makes it whole again. Here are some pictures of my transom to show more details of how it is put together. I will try to find a couple more pictures that show after I attached the sheer and chine logs.

Lee

[denbrlr]

Idigplanes,

Here is another picture that shows how the chine log and sheer are notched into the transom. The angle isn't the best but it is the best picture I could find. If you zoom in (lower left of the picture), you can see how the sheer is notched into the transom. I took out too much material on the port side of the chine (at the transom) so I had to put a plywood spacer in. You can see this in the picture (the upper left part of the picture).

Lee

[denbrlr]

Idigplanes,

Here are a few more pictures showing the chine and sheer at the transom. Note the sheer lams are staggered towards the back of the boat (sorry for the messiness, I didn't blow off the sawdust before taking sheer the picture).

Lee

[denbrlr]

Well, the second layer of transom ply is on. This is the first time I used my Omer stapler and it is finicky and jams a lot (maybe every 10-20 staples). A a little sliver of the composite staple kept getting wedged in between the moving and non-moving part of the head. The only way to get it out was to take the head apart which I had to do several times while working against the (epoxy setting up) clock. I added some oil that came with the stapler at the head and that seemed to help some but it still jammed. I know some of you had some trouble with your Omer staplers but I didn't realize it would jam this much. I tried different air pressures ranging from 85-90psi on up to around 110psi but this didn't seem to matter too much if at all.

I guess I need to read more about these on the forum again but what tricks did you all use on these? Please let me know. Thank you.

Lee

[denbrlr]

After reading the forum a little more, it looks like the Omer stapler has worked well for others but again, it jammed a lot for me. The air pressure range is 60-90 psi so maybe the fact that I had it too high was the problem but I am not sure. Thoughts anyone?

Lee

[Aussie]

Lee,

My old man had bought one and we had nothing but trouble, went down to the local hardware and bought a cheapy and it lasted the
duration of the Build.

Like anything there is bound to be that one in every thousand that may have an issue, seems like I always end up with that one!

Jamie

[neel thompson]

Lee, I am one who had the same problem with my stapler. A friend of mine gave it to me after he had completed his build. He had the same problem with it and sent it to some company in New England where they rebuilt it. I had been using the brad nailer for everything until I got the stapler. It worked fine at first and then started to jam each time I used it. The air pressure adjustments on my compressor didn't help. I sent it back to Raptor in Texas to have it looked at. They said it was fine and sent it back to me with some samples of newer staples. It seemed to work for a short while and then the original problem came back. I called down there a few months ago and talked to their guy (can't remember his name) who fixes them. He said it needed a new something or other and for me to send it back down. I haven't done that yet. If I were you, I would call Raptor and talk to that guy. He is aware of the problem. It is a great tool for boat building when it works, but when you are gluing something up and it breaks down on you, it can be very frustrating. What I can tell you from my experience is it is not the air pressure. It is the stapler !! Please keep us posted... Neel

[denbrlr]

Thank you guys for the info. I am using Raptor composite staples but when you said to call Raptor, did you mean to call Omer since it is an Omer stapler? Please let me know. Thank you.

Lee