Glen-L.com

Looks Great!!!

Roberta

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Roberta
Built Zip "Oliver IV" and Super Spartan "Jimmy 70"

Great work!

For tinted epoxy (small batches) I used mostly silica, a couple table spoons of microspheres, and slowly add some wood flour...don't make it too dark. On my deck work I made my own tapered wood plugs. As long as your screw head is just below the surface this works fine. After the epoxy dries you can pop the majority of the plug off with a sharp chisle then sand home.

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Bill

I told my wife we needed a three-car garage for my projects...she told me to ask her for permission next time before I buy a house.
http://www.unitybuild.net

Sawford,are you using just plywood on the deck or planking over as some have?

If planking, you don't need to fill the screw holes and have them match

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Boat building can best be defined as an endless series of
tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle, followed by a good bottle of beer.

Don't Dream Your Life, Live Your Dream

upspirate,
I plan on using just plywood for the hull, but on the deck, I will plywood then cover with thin, solid mahogany strips. My main concern is the top row of screws that will be seen along the entire side of the hull (those connecting the plywood to the shear). Also have some concern over the vertical butt joint in the plywood along the side. You can't see this joint in many of the pictures of other boats, but maybe the joint is lost in the photography... Any suggestions? Thanks much...sean

For the butt joint screws, I'm going to remove them after the epoxy has kicked and drill out the hole,install a wood bung Plug) of similar color to come close to the grain of the plywood.

Sometimes I like the look and contrast of bungs and don't try to hide the holes

These are from matching Sappele, but something similar to the plywood is what I will use on my Squirt build

_________________
Boat building can best be defined as an endless series of
tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle, followed by a good bottle of beer.

Don't Dream Your Life, Live Your Dream

Probably spent a total of 2.5 hours over the past week so not much progress to show. I cut the extra length of the battens, carved out the limbers (the method I thought would work did not - see footnote), faired the battens, and cut and attached the first bottom panel. I guess as a list, it seems like a decent bit for a couple of hours work.....but from a progress standpoint, it doesn't 'look' like much. Maybe this weekend I will be able to make the second (of four) bottom panel. Oh yah, I also ran out of silicone bronze screws (at least of the size I need)!

Footnote: I thought I would be able to use a forstner bit to drill the limbers in the permanently fastened battens. Turns out, the battens are too close together to get a drill and forstner bit into the gap in order to drill a straight hole. Instead, I had to use a rat tail file and file the limbers in manually. Chalk it up to experience and/or poor planning. Oh well, it puts power tools into perspective.

A router with a spade bit should do the trick for the limbers. I'll know for sure once I get to that point. All said you seem to be moving on at a pretty good click. You seem to get more done in 2 1/2 hours than I do in a week.

Router with a spade bit. Yep, that would have done the trick...something so obvious escaped me at the time. To date, I have not used a router on the boat, maybe that's why it never crossed my mind....but yah, the router is definitely the simple, obvious way to cut the limbers. I'm still scratching my head.....

One more panel 'anchored' maybe this weekend I can get one of the front bottom panels on....

Only had time to cut and install one of the bottom front panels this past weekend. It took some time mark the panel correctly. The sheet was originally over sized and it needed to be held in place, bent, torqued, twisted etc. and then held in that 'unnatural' position to mark it (I am running out of clamping locations, now that the frames and longitudinal members are all but covered). I could have used a few extra sets of hands. In the end, I placed some carbon paper on the chine, bent the panel into position, then smacked it a few times with my hand. The carbon paper transferred a line onto the panel. However, since I wasn't sure how accurately I marked it (and held the panel in position correctly), I decided to cut the panel a little large and then sand it to shape as I fitted it to the longitudinals/stem. It seemed to work pretty well....there is a small gap where the bottom and side panel come together adjacent to the stem, but this will be filled with thickened epoxy and be covered by the bottom paint and/or the stainless cutwater.

I also covered the transom with hydrotek. My 4 year old and I 'painted' the douglas fur and the hydrotek with epoxy tonight. We then put a few hold down screws in place that will later be covered by bottom paint and/or the rear edge rails (the ones that will run up and down - I don't know the name of them yet). At the top of the transom (closer to the floor since the boat is upside down) I just placed a series of clamps until the epoxy sets. The epoxy will permanently secure the outer sheet (the motor mount will also clamp everything together).

You are rolling along on closing up the hull. Kudos

Looks great! Its almost a boat!

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My Zip build log...
http://www.vupilot.blogspot.com
http://picasaweb.google.com/vupilot/Chr ... O0x7SvsQE#

"Nothing screams poor craftsmanship like wrinkles in your duct tape."

Looks Great!!!! That really feels wonderful to see that planking laying down so nicely!!! Good Job!!!

Roberta

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Roberta
Built Zip "Oliver IV" and Super Spartan "Jimmy 70"

Thanks guys/gals....it does feel good when the planking fits just like you imagined (hoped) it would. I installed the last panel this morning. I will do some sanding/filling at all the joints in the hull to create crisp joints/lines. Then, I have about 600 countersunk screws to fill and sand. I'll probably post some pics tomorrow evening..."Not to float my own boat", but I think it's starting to look pretty good!

Last panel in place, sanded all the lines, used some thickened epoxy to fill between the butt joints on the bottom panels, and filled about 75% of the screw holes. I sanded the screw holes on one side (at the shear). Need to finish filling over the remaining screws and cleaning/finishing all the joints and lines. I'll then do a full, light sanding of the entire hull in preparation for one full encapsulation coat...after that, it will time for fiberglass.

A few photos below....sorry, the first one was taken with a crooked camera. Looks like the boat is leaning to one side!