Cleaned excess epoxy and fiberglass from centerboard case.
Abrading and cleaning with alcohol - to remove amine blush from cured epoxy.
Second, thick layer of epoxy applied. Plywood edges sealed.
If it turns nice that would be it.
Small steps in the right direction: laminating insides of the centerboard case. As specified in plans I apply thick epoxy layer, armed with heavy-woven glass fiber.
One half of the case got NM Laminating Epoxy which I had left after Safir Motoko renovation. The rest was done with WEST material. As a first layer it went rather well.
I keep the mold girder open to use it as a bench for these jobs. Not much space left inside the shed.
I roughly shaped the transom timber crown and planed it to the right thickness, to match the plywood part. Gluing third layer on my workshop bench.
This third layer will substitute plywood doubler which is supplied with the kit. So I’m making a reverse version of a rabbet, for gluing to the transom. The aim is to save myself some work and to have solid-wood transom which I can finish bright with varnish or oil.
Next steps:
cleaning centerboard case from epoxy spills, grinding high spots and one more layer of epoxy
trimming wood trim on bulkheads and plywood stem
final shaping of the transom crown and gluing into plywood transom
marking and plaining transom bevels
One of those non-flashy jobs which take time and effects are almost invisible. But it has to be done at this stage, before I place bulkheads on the building frame.
Centerboard case got its wooden structure (larch). I will reinforce the interior with epoxy-fiberglass tomorrow before closing the box.
Mast-partners knees and frames 5.5 & 7 got their oak trim on exposed edges. Stem trim is mahogany.
I started also transom fabrication - wooden crown, with sculling socket, will be made of mahogany. I don’t have wood thick enough to carve 27mm thick piece so I’m gluing my 10mm planks together.
I plan to use solid wood instead of plywood for the transom doubler. It will be left bright, probably oiled.
My so far only diversion from plans will be thickening the transom by few millimeters by adding mahogany trim on the whole part. I want to keep the transom bright, varnished or oiled. The whole boat will be painted so having such big, wooden detail will accentuate that she is a wooden vessel.
The only unknown is if strakes have enough excess length to cover this increased transom thickness… If not I have a backup plan.
Time to glue false stem. I use WEST Flex epoxy, formulated for gluing oak.
All components got generously flushed with acetone and cleaned. Plywood stem taped with plastic tape.
It is a big job - 11 long and broad oak slats - so there will be a lot of squeezed out glue which should be utilized.
I prepared parts of centerboard case ready to receive glue and started mixing first batch of Flex.
This glue is magnificent but it is a pain to use, especially on such big jobs: it is already thick so dosing (1:1 volume) and mixing must be done on a plate. To coat all my components I had to make three batches.
Luckily it is moderate temperature today and this epoxy has rather long pot-life so I could prepare additional portions while some slats were already coated.
Then came clamping and trying to control all moving parts from sliding away from each other as clamps were being tightened. Pre-forming them by steaming helped a lot - I did not have to bend them now but still it was tricky.
I could have avoided that by drilling guide holes for a few screws - they would hold slats in the same line. Same as I did when I laminated oak frames on Meritaten. I skipped it here because I had not much wood excess for this and I didn’t want the hole to be visible on the stem, after gluing.
Anyway, with some cursing and ingenuity I managed to keep most of the company in position and tighten clamps. Of course - it would be handy to have a few clamps more at hand, as is always the case with gluing.
It might be that my cursing got Poseidon’s attention and he noticed that I am trying to build the boat by cheating - in every purist eyes glued lapstrake boats are not “real” wooden boats and Poseidon is one of them. As his jurisdiction does not span so far North he probably complaint to Ægir who might had said a word to Thor or even Zeus because dark clouds started to form when I was just mixing the first batch of epoxy.
To my luck these divine negotiations took enough time for me to finish clamping, collect most squeeze out goo and glue side-jobs in the shed.
Just as I was cleaning up after the job the sky broke loose and thunderstorm finally came - heavy, intensive rain.
I covered my work with a tarp and went home for a beer.
Stem assembly got roughly cleaned from excess epoxy. It will be beveled before going onto the mold so no need to scrutinize cleaning yet. Just enough to use it as a mold for false stem gluing.
My oak stock has become very dry.
These are leftovers after I repaired frames on Meritaten some years ago. I remember that I could make a 90 degrees bend with 5mm thick slat without any problem.
Well, that was then. When testing now I broke 5mm slat, 3mm went quite OK but the other broke so I tried with 2mm. It went well but I didn’t like the idea of loosing half of my oak into dust while producing these slats. Table saw cut is 3mm wide!
After steaming 5mm test slat it could bend almost 180 degrees without complains so I went with this size. Steaming for 20 minutes (1 hour for 1 inch of thickness).
Clamped “dry” for getting the bend before gluing.
I left them on side to cool down and started cleaning scarf joints on planks.
It turned out pretty OK, I was afraid that proud edges were higher than ply thickness but not.
On the worse-case plank the glue line is just a bit wider than I would like.
Dusty and a bit boring job so I paused it after first few strakes and ripped larch lists, for assembling centerboard case. I will prepare them for gluing and lamination tomorrow.
Back in the workshop after a week vacations.
While “idling” during the break I was evaluating options for wooden parts and color scheme of my boat.
I want to make sheer strake from solid mahogany and keep it bright: probably oiled with Owatrol or varnished. To match that the transom would also be mahogany.
False-stem would be made from oak, same with gunwales - adding a bright accents into mahogany.
Centerboard case would be trimmed with mahogany or walnut, if I have enough of the later in my shed.
As for hull color, initially I was leaning towards Roger Barns’ style of boat: mostly dark (black even!) hull.
I still fancy this configuration but there are drawbacks of dark hull on epoxy-glued boats. Mainly strip-planked boats suffer from excess heat but lapstrake hull will also get warm, possibly causing problems.
The opposite option would be light-color hull, even white, with dark, mahogany sheer strake. Also pleasing to the eye.
Both configurations will look good with red-tanned sails, wouldn’t hey?
Well, I still have time to decide.
The stem assembly is glued, I removed masking tape and roughly cleaned excess epoxy. I’ll posh it tomorrow, before I use it as a mould for making false stem.
I took closer look on my scarfed planks. Not all joints came out perfect, there are a few planks where scarves did not line up perfectly flat, resulting in ca 1 mm proud edge.
After watching a series of boat-building videos on Off Center Harbor I realized my mistake: when clamping the joint I placed the weight only on one (top) part of the scarf while I should have uniformly press both parts. This would spread the pressure better and result in more even joint.
Well, I’ll have to sand it flat, probably risking exposing some plywood veneers from deeper layer. The hull will be painted so I’m not sweating about it but it feels stupid now to miss this detail.
Next steps:
cleaning scarves on all planks
cleaning stem assembly and preparing it for moulding false stem
ripping oak slats for false stem and oak battens for CB-case
fabricating CB-case
gluing false stem
beveling the plywood stem
fabricating the transom
Once the above is done I can finally build all stations on the strongback.
I look so much towards this stage that I jumped ahead of me a bit and started placing first bulkhead supports and station molds on the strongback.
I leave the middle part of the girder to serve as a working bench for gluing CB-case and the transom.
Again - hats down for Francois Vivier for designing and Alec Jordan for preparing this kit. I had to only round a bit plywood edges, for easier installation, and all parts went onto the strongback with a nice, tight fit.
Rubber-mallet with dead blow was handy to drive these stations into their slots.
For doublers on some stations I use white wood glue - quick and clean, water based glue. These parts will not be part of the boat so no need for expensive epoxy goo here.
We are taking a break from nordic climate for a few days. Down here, the rythm of the day requires taking it easy due to extreme heat.
I use this time to analyse Ilur plans, before I continue the construction when back at home.
Last job before we start Midsommar - gluing all 3 layers which constitute stem.
For that job I use Hempel epoxy which I had rests in my shop. It is already thickened but floats well, fits exactly such application.
Squeezed excess is spread on plywood edges, to seal them from moisture. There will be a heavy bevel to accept planks so I don’t bother sealing the outside edge yet.
Screwed with sacrificial, bronze screws so parts don’t glide on the glue. Some lead-pigs hold all nice and flat. I’ll leave it to fully cure for 1-2 days.
Small milestone today: I glued the last of 20 planks. I thought it would be nice to have it done before Midsommar so I could start building the mold.
Planks hardly fit in my tiny workshop. The last pair is being glued on the girder, curing in 17 degrees at night.
A bit of effort to mask vicinity of joints pays in cleaner area and less work with removing excess epoxy. I have not yet decided if I will paint, oil or varnish the hull so I try keeping my options open.
First attempt to make scarfing jig failed miserably: after all tests and careful placement of router supports I discovered that the base board is not perfectly flat… Luckily I was running the last test piece before starting cutting real planks when I noticed that so no harm was made.
The second jig uses plywood base board - flat as a table. I also switched to bigger router as the battery on a small one was depleting rapidly, lasting only three planks or so.
Production-line approach: I cut scarf for all planks at once as I will be using the girder as gluing table while it is still empty. Only after all planks are scarfed I will start placing bulkheads and stations.
Cutting with a router gives uniform results and goes very quickly. A bit boring (and noisy) job so I wanted to be done with it all at once.
Next came aligning for actual gluing. I use the method shown by Alex Jordan here. It is very accurate and easy to follow.
Due to lack of space I can glue max four planks at a time. I use WEST epoxy.
First step is to wet the joint so that end grain can suck in thin epoxy, to saturate fibers.
Edges masked with plastic tape, for easier cleanup afterwards.
While the glue is soaking into the wood I thicken the remaining epoxy with wood dust, to mayonnaise consistency. It should still flow, to fill the joint, but not as easily as unthickened glue.
Some weight on the joint, cleaning up excess squeeze-out and I leave it for curing for several hours.
The score for today is six planks - four made in the morning and two more set in late evening, to cure overnight. Total of twenty planks to make so the progress is moderate.