New Builder Building a squirt

[rbrandenstein]

I was building in my garage and my concern in the winter was gluing the joints with epoxy and having it not harden.
I bought a couple of cheap heaters at Harbor Freight and used a blue tarp over the hull to hold in the heat around the boat. I also bought some faster epoxy for the colder weather.
I put the probe from my digital cooking thermometer to confirm the temperature was OK.

[Ronb172]

Mt concern too, but we've had some pretty nice weather lately. Should be in the high 60's this week, so I'm taking advantage of it. I also. West Systems claim that using the fast hardener, you can use it down to 40 and I glue in the early afternoon while it's nice. By evening it's pretty well set up. If this thing springs apart when it hits the water, then I'll know I screwed up.

[Ronb172]

Began working on the chines. I decided to laminate them in stead of trying to bend one solid piece. Tomorrow is going to hit 70, so they say. I'll just keep building.

[Fred Østli]

Looking at the pictures, you are doing a great job!

laminating the chines might be a good idea, as many struggle a bit with that twist. Good luck on the next step!

Fred

[Ronb172]

I've read a lot of stories about chines breaking as the are being bent and twisted, so I decided to laminate them. More work but worth it IMHO. Sounds like we have a couple of good weather days left this week, so I should be able to get the first set of chines glued sown today and the lamination done tomorrow. Then I will get the shears ready to attach and hope for more warm weather, or pack it up for the winter.

[BarnacleMike]

Wise thinking on the chines. Be sure to get enough twist on them up forward, so that you'll have enough surface area to attach the bottom edge of the top side planking to. It's a common mistake to not twist the chines enough (I did it, myself). It's fixable... but also easier if you can get it "right" the first time.

Also, to help avoid breaking the chines, you can use only epoxy (not screws) to attach the chines to the forward frame.

[Ronb172]

Good points. Thanks.

[Ronb172]

Nice weather has come again to Utah, so I went out and started fairing. All is coming together nicely (as far as these inexperienced eyes can see). Bought a new band saw and will pick up a new planer tomorrow ( I have a wonderful wife). Will sure make life easier. I re-sawed some mahogany with the band saw today to fix a bad place on my transom and it cut that mahogany like warm butter. Guess I got carried away with the belt sander while fairing and had a dip in it. Wasn't too bad, but my anal side took over and told me to level it out. Since we are having pretty good weather this week, I'm going to pick up another stick of wood and use my new tools to cut and size my sheers. Sure having fun. I'm afraid I'm addicted to boat building.

[Lowka53]

the weather is nice again for awhile I thought I was going to get blown away last week the problem of living in the mouth of a canyon. You are really making progress I need to head your way a take a look at it. at this rate you might have it done for the gathering in July.

[Ronb172]

Well, this weather can't hold out for much longer Rod. And I leave fort Mexico in a couple of weeks for a few months. I got the wood for the sheers. I ripped and planed them to the size GlenL recommends on the plans, but it looks like a hell of a bend coming off the breasthook. I don't have a steamer so I'll soak them in hot water tonight and see how it goes.

[Ronb172]

I saw where someone on this site softened their sheers up this way. Thought I'd try it since I don't have a good steam generator. I thought I'd try the heating pad thing on the tube to keep the water warm. We'll see.

[BarnacleMike]

As long as you soak and/or steam them well, and bend them gradually, you should be fine. I bent mine over the course of several days, soaking & steaming them repeatedly.

[Ronb172]

Thanks for your input Mike. If my sheers were any thicker, I would have gone much slower. I was sweating on the starboard one but it went well. Took me most the day to get just this far. I'll glue them up in the morning as it's going to be another nice day here and my shop faces south so the sun is shinning in the shop most the day. Gets pretty warm. But the nights are cold.

[Ronb172]

Work continues, though slowly. Temps here are single digits at night so I thought I could at least cut out and clam the sides to the hull before I leave for Mexico and warmer weather. Hope to get feelings back in the fingers soon.

[Steve S]

Looking good. You're going to miss her.