Fourth strake no.1 & skeg

August 28, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

It went smooth, no problems but it took a good amount of preparations.

As this strake spans above flotation tanks there was hardly any place I could use clamps. It took 22 bronze screws to hold it while gluing.

Holes pre-drilled and countersunk. The bottom strake will be drilled after the plank is placed on glue.

Screws ready at hand so I don’t look for them when the clock starts ticking.

All end-grain which will be covered or glued gets saturated with thin epoxy. I will never see these edges again so protecting them from humidity is a must.

And off we go!

Screws and holes bedded with epoxy, screw heads covered with putty so they will not be visible after the hull is painted. They do not penetrate plank underneath so from the inside there will be no mark that they sit there.

Gathered squeeze-out used to make watertight fillets in flotation tanks. Nothing gets wasted.

Later in the evening I came back to the shed to mount the skeg. After installing the fourth strake on the other side I would have more restrained access to it so it was time to do it now.

Plaining garboards to receive the skeg.

As always - pre-wetting exposed end-grain.

And the skeg is mounted. Squeeze-out used to make fillet around the component.

Third strake no.2

August 27, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

Done!

It was a bit challenging at the stem - to align it with its brother on the other side and to clamp it reliably for gluing but after some cursing all went well.

While waiting for the glue to set I used my time for some housekeeping procedures. I love cleaving wood - who needs gym-pass??

Later in the evening when the glue was hardened I dared to move the boat and started fitting strake four. This will be tricky to clamp - I have no access to the previous strake due to flotation tanks’ bulkheads.

Screws are the only option.

To be continued tomorrow.

Dry fitting third strake no.2

August 25, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

All I managed to do tonight was trimming already glued strakes and preparing third strake for gluing.

Edges trimmed from panel tabs and sanded smooth - for easier epoxy impregnation.

As always with the twin strake - the biggest thing is to align it perfectly with its “brother” which is already mounted. Human eye is very sensitive to symmetry - even small diversion is clearly visible.

My hull will be painted black so strakes will not be that clearly visible as with light finish but still…

With both planks it is on the verge of being too short to accommodate my thickened transom. But it worked this time, too.

Third strake no.1

August 24, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

All went surprisingly smooth, no rush, no dripping goo.

Temperature in the evening is dropping already to 10 degrees, good that the shed has isolation - it stays warm during the night.

Third strake no.1 + rudder blade axis + inspection hatches

August 24, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

No more vacations, back to the workforce with some spare time only during evenings.

Build progress has dropped but I try accomplishing something each evening.

I fabricated rudder blade axis from dense plastic, probably PVDF. According to plans it is enough with plywood circles but since I had a piece of thick plastic I decided to turn it into something useful.

It is a very dense material so I plan to drill and tap mounting holes so I can use bolts instead of screws. This piece will hold rudder blade between cheeks and will act as axis of rotation.

Dry fitting the third strake. This one falls into it’s designed position quite easily.

Tonight I beveled and cut gains on this new plank. Taped joint vicinity but did not manage to glue it - I was too tired and it became late.

As I’m approaching to cover midships flotation tanks I need to decide how to solve the issue of inspection hatches. This chamber will be hermetic so there is a need to have access to it during life of the boat.

I also plan to use this space for keeping tools or other stuff.

I don’t like plastic fittings offered on the market for dinghies. I found that Toplicht has a wide range of brass, quite inexpensive portlights which could fit the bill.

Sketching approximate positions where I would install these openings.

I want a classy look on this boat, no cheap plastic fittings. But these brass portlights, even though cheapest in their offer, become substantial cost if I want to install four or even six of them.

I realized that I have oval frames, salvaged from old Pettersen boat. They can do the trick but will require screwdriver to open them.

I will strip them to bare brass, cut some thick acrylic plate and fabricate rubber seals.

Second strake no.2

August 21, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

I’ve established my routine around hanging strakes.

First I clamp the new board so that it hangs according to slots in molds & bulkheads and lands as near as possible to planned position on the stem.

Then I mark witness marks on a few molds amidships - this is where I stand when I offer the plank with spread epoxy.

After marking overlap area on the previous plank and underside the new plank at stem and transom area I cut bevels and gains. Going back & forth, trying the new plank several times until all sits nice & tight.

Having arrived at the final position I can now mask vicinity of the joint with masking tape. I leave 1-2 mm gap so I can form a small fillet from squeezed out glue.

If needed I pre-drill countersunk holes for bronze screws. This was the case for both 2nd strakes as flotation tank bulkhead are in the way of any clamps.
I drill only the new plank, smaller pilot holes are drilled at the phase when the plank is being glued, so I have exactly the position on the previous plank. Cordless drill and screwdriver are wrapped with plastic so I don’t smear them with epoxy.

While dry-fitting I determine where and which clamp is needed. Wooden blocks spread the load and prevent from uneven hull shape.

I then tape these blocks so I don’t have to look for them when the clock is ticking.

Blocks stay in place when the new plank is upside-down - when I prime chamfers and gains with thin epoxy prior gluing. Clamps dedicated for each position lye directly under on the jig, within hand reach.

Last step before mixing epoxy is cleaning the workshop from wood dust. I need to crawl under the boat when cleaning excess glue, having clean floor makes this work less miserable.

And then the clock starts ticking and the plank is being glued.

With both of these 2nd strakes I had problems with clamping the stem area. With epoxy acting as a soap all was floating and clamps slipped a few times leaving me with open joints and squeezed out glue.

A bit of loud cursing always helps in re-applying epoxy and setting clamps.

Both second strakes are now in place.

Second strake no.1

August 20, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

Rainy but warm and steamy. We are sweating like pigs. I worked during the day to adjust bevels and cut gains for the second strake, with aim to glue the second strake before night.

Starboard garboard beveled.

As stated in plans - strake edges shall disappear at stem and transom. As the garboard is heavily twisted at stem I cut a deep and aggressive gain for the second strake.

Several back&forth dry fitting during the day, to trim and fine tune bevels.

Nicely enough - the plank lands on the spot, according to plans.

Early evening the temperature drops a bit so I move onto gluing. Priming with thin epoxy on all plywood end-grain comes first. Then quick spreading of thickened epoxy and the plank is hanged with help of all my clamps.

In the fore area, where flotation tanks will be, there is no access to clamp the new plank so I screw it to the garboard with bronze screws. They will be left in situ, bedded in epoxy to seal them properly from water.

I leave the setup to cure overnight.

Earlier in the build I was wondering if the strakes will be long enough to accommodate for my thicker transom. Mahogany which I glued as a external face of the transom is 9mm thick. I took the risk.

They do. But on the margin of just a few millimeters.

The skeg. Small fixes & Clifton bullnose plane

August 20, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

With both garboards now glued in place I tuned the skeg tenons to have it ready for assembly.

The skeg drops in place with a nice, tight fit.

Dry fitting only as I have not yet trimmed garboard meeting edges to a flat plane which shall accept the false keel - and the skeg.

Since I made the transom a bit thicker - by lining it with mahogany - I would need to adjust the skeg, to match the thickness.

I glue mahogany strip of the same thickness. The benefit is that plywood edge will be hidden and well protected by the hardwood.

I also take opportunity to fix a problem I made for myself.

There are these midships flotation chambers. While assembling them I noticed that there are no limb holes for water to escape. They are supposed to be hermetic. I thought that this is a design fault and added triangular openings. My idea was that I will fill this tanks with a foam - just like it is supposed to be done for all other flotation tanks on this boat.

However - after reading F. Vivier’s blog, where he describes this change, I found that indeed I should keep these tanks hermetic and just add inspection hatches so I can wipe tanks from time to time and see if nothing grows there. With foam encapsulated forever there - like in my plan - I would never be able to open and inspect these tanks.

So there we have it: if you think that you are smarter than a naval architect who spend his entire career designing ships and took his experience to design small boats then you gotta think again or you run into problems.

Like I did.

To repair it I made carboard templates for each opening, to finally cut them from plywood.

Glued with thickened epoxy, to be trimmed after it cures.

Having a bit of thickened epoxy left I filled mounting mortises so that they don’t gather water.

I left the boatshed for epoxy to cure and turned to my workshop to prepare newly acquired bullnose plane.

This is Clifton plane and, unlike Lee Nielsen or Veritas, the iron is not ready to use. It is nicely beveled to 25 degrees but not sharp enough to do any job.

Japanese stones got some usage. One hour later I have a glossy bevel with sharp edge.

This bullnose plane was bought specifically for this boat build - to cut gains on planks.

It shall see some action tomorrow when I will start fitting next planks.

Both garboards mounted

August 19, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

It finally got a bit colder tonight so I rushed to the boatshed to glue the second garboard.

Masking the vicinity of glued joints takes a bit of time. While doing it I noticed that lights flicker - there was a thunderstorm above the area. That often leads to no electricity on our island. It would be a catastrophe: with already spread epoxy and half-clamped plank in pitch-dark workshop.

I lighted two storm lights, just to be on the safe side.

Luckily they were not needed.

As always cleaning the squeeze out afterwards took 90% of the time - clamping was easy as I already “trained” that while dry-fitting.

I left the forest of clamps late at night.

Next step, after the glue is cured, will be to cut second halves of mortises and centerboard opening. I’ll probably dry-fit the skeg before continuing with planking.

Garboard no.2

August 17, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

It’s so hot during the day that the only thing I do, after coming back from The Mine, is to take a nap and wait for the evening. Too warm to attempt any serious epoxy work (pot life drastically shortens).

I was tinkering with stem bevel, to match already mounted garboard no.1.

Garboard no.2 needed some beveling on the meeting edge, to close the joint between edges of both planks. Cabinet-maker style joinery with rolling bevels. Totally unnecessary here as all this will be trimmed and covered with false keel but I just had fun doing it.

As garboards cover the entire keelson I needed to re-establish centerboard case opening and skeg’s mortises. Done with a small router.

Final fit of the second garboard. Learning where clamps need to go to close all gaps.

I’m leaving the plank clamped for the night, so that it “gets used to” to twist & bend in stem section