Give it time!

September 08, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

It passed 12h since I clamped the strake so I rushed into boatshed to remove clamps and prepare the hull for another strake. It was close to 0 C at night, went up to 15 C now so I was quite certain the glue was cured. Epoxy rests left in a mug on my workbench were hard and cured.

I removed all clamps and turned the hull on the other side. Placed a new strake and started dry-fitting it when I noticed that gain at the stem looks a bit too wide. I was very proud of myself yesterday but now it looked like a sloppy job.

To my horror I found that epoxy in the stem area is not yet fully cured so the plank could spring a few millimeters and it would eventually open the joint should I not notice that.

While rolling the hull back into steady position and quickly gathering clamps I was wondering why it happened. I mixed one batch of epoxy for the entire joint so it is not the case of improper ratio.

With a blow of wind outside it came to me instantly - stem part of the boat is close to shed’s gate. Temperature here is lower than deep inside, where the kerosene stove sits. It is as simple as that - with low night temperatures I need to leave broader margins for glue curing time.

So there she is, clamped back to fully cure before I start on the next plank.

Let’s call it process pause and not try to speed up things too much.
It ain’t lead nowhere.

Seventh strake installed on starboard

September 07, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

Quite straightforward installation. This strake closes midships flotation tanks.

Excess glue used to make fillet around these tanks.

Louve is occupying now most space in my shed.

Seventh strake, starboard. Bevels, gains.

September 07, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

I find it extremely useful that I can tilt the boat sideweys, so that new plank can be offered almost horizontally.For these strakes I use maximum tilt as these are actual freeboards.

I’m not sure if this is by design but once in that position the jig supports become almost horizontal, giving a nice base for laying the plank while I clean the edges or cut gains. Very useful.

Quite straightforward strake to clamp.
I use now mostly these quick-release Bahco clamps. They are not exactly cheap but very useful, especially that one installs them with just one hand and they are a bit elastic so they adjust their shape by a few degrees if clamping surfaces are not parallel. Having 200 kg pressure weight is more than enough for gluing a plank.

Scribing overlap line on unbevelled plank with custom-shaped pencil.

With this plank I stop cutting gains at the transom, only bevels. The angle is too abrupt so it does not make sense.

All bevels cut, the only remaining thing before gluing is to cut stem gain. I leave it for the next session.

Sixth strake no.2

September 05, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

Done!

Fitting sixth strake no.2

September 04, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

It might be the last strake I manage to install this year - temperature drops to 3 degrees at night so winter is close. Kerosene stove manages keeping 23 degrees inside but I don’t dare to leave it unattended so at night the shed is cooling down quite quickly.

Having the boat tilted on the other side places her too close to the stove. I made an ad-hoc heat shield. Works like a charm.

It was a sunny Sunday so we were working in the garden for most of the day. I was too tired to attempt gluing the plank so I restrained myself to cut bevels and gains on both ends. Dry fitting on the boat - ready to be glued on the next session.

Here again I am closing flotation tanks so I epoxy coated plank surfaces which will land inside these tanks. By the time of next session this will be cured and dry - much nicer to work with during gluing.

Same story with end-grain on plywood edges. Two coats of epoxy until they shine. During gluing they will receive yet another coat.

Hardly any space left in the shed - the boat is starting to show her lines!

Sixth strake no.1. Winter is close.

September 04, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

I closed all holes in heat isolation I could find. Temperature at night drops to 4 degrees already. Kerosene stove is keeping temperature in the shed around 25 degrees but once it is shut down it drops circa 5 degrees per hour.

Still enough for the glue to partially cure but it prolongs curing period so I cannot start working on the next strake before 12h pass.

To mount the sixth strake I tilted the jig so the plank is not falling from molds. Another ingenious detail of Francois Vivier thoughtful design.

Dry fitting to scribe overlap area and to test where and which clamps shall sit. Stem part was pretty easy on this one - unlike all previous planks - but a bit more challenging was transom part. The plank has a slight twist before it lands on the transom. I forced it with compression clamp on the last mold.

As angles became more abrupt one needs to resolve to some wedge-tricks.

With tilted boat the work becomes much easier - not much laying on the floor or crawling underneath. Very convenient.

I take a snick-peak to the inside - mate, it looks like a boat there, ain’t it!?

Since this plank is also enclosing midships flotation tanks I scribed areas to be covered and painted them with epoxy, three layers. I will have hardly any access to them so the time was now or never. That added a bit of time to the process. While flotation tanks were still accessible I added fillets where applicable. It will be nicer with these when I reach inside to grab a beer or tools, not meeting rough, goo-covered edges.

There was quite aggressive bevel to cut for this plank so lots of exposed end grain on the previous plank. I sealed it with several layers of epoxy until the wood was saturated.

Finally the strake was offered - and accepted - to the boat.

Squeeze-out used to add nice and fat fillet to flotation tank floor against the planking.

Fifth strake no.2. Kerosene stove.

September 03, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

By mounting both strakes no. five I have reached my mini-goal of the build before winter comes. Which means each new strake is a bonus.

Temperature drops to 6 degrees at night, too cold to use my epoxy (WEST system). As my boatshed is isolated I will try to prolong the build season with kerosene stove as far as possible.

As my face is still healing from close encounter with hole saw the other day I was not in the factory. During the day I re-organised the boatshed to get more space as the build progresses.

Kerosene stove had to be moved closer to the wall so I built heat-shield / heat accumulator around it. Works like a charm, didn’t cost anything and hopefully accumulated heat will keep the shed warm a bit longer after I extinguish the stove.

Fitting the strake was rather straightforward but, unlike its twin on the other side, it was springing out of one mould. I did not notice that when dry fitting but now, with epoxy acting as a grease, friction was not holding it in place and after a while the plank glided away from it’s position on one station.

I took a mental note to always stay a bit longer after all clamps are tightened, to hopefully catch such phenomenon and be able to fix it.

Luckily my reserve, massive clamp was long enough to grab frame end and bring back the strake to its proper position.

I try preparing reserve areas where I could use excess, squeezed out glue. This time I created fat fillets on the inside of aft flotation tanks. Nothing got wasted.

Fifth strake no.1

September 01, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

Rather straightforward to install but it became a bit longer operation since this strake covers midships flotation tanks. Areas of this plank which will be above tanks will be hard to access after installation so I epoxy-coat them already now.

I used the opportunity to once again impregnate all end-grain around tanks.

The strake installed.

Slowly it starts to look like a boat!

Blood, epoxy and hole saw

August 31, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

Massive 140mm hole saw - my new toy for cutting openings for installation of inspection hatches. Rickard at SeaSea fixed immediate delivery of remaining two pieces so I was good to drill these holes.

I went under the boat - to start the cut on the visible face, to avoid burrs. Running at low speed.

Tight space and cutting above the head prove to be a bad idea - the saw jumped and I cut my nose in half.

Lots of blood and sweating from a shock. I cleaned and dressed the wound and it finally stopped bleeding in the evening.

Back in the shed I finished drilling. This time from above.

Dry-fitting hatch frames - perfect fit, 1,5mm loose so there is space for epoxy and Sika.

Inside tanks these hatches are almost flush with the surface so it will be easy to clean SIka squeeze-out during installation.

They will be glued with Sika and screwed in place. This will make it watertight installation and give me possibility to replace them if they break or if I found/manufacture something from brass or wood in the future.

Still dizzy due to the wound I decided not to start with next plank yet but instead coat the inside of flotation tanks with epoxy. The next strake will almost completely close them so the time was now.

The temperature dropped below 9 degrees so I started kerosene heater in the boatshed, both for comfort and to provide adequate temperature for epoxy.
Good things these heaters - you hear me Albert?

All surfaces saturated with epoxy. If I remember right this will be the fourth coat so total encapsulation according to WEST system.

Fourth strake no.2 & inspection hatches

August 30, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

There!
Fourth strake no.2 finally glued.

As planking is progressing I reached the stage that I should install water-tight inspection hatches on midships flotation tanks. Next strake will cover them and installation will be more troublesome afterwards.

Initially I wanted to make them from brass - I found nice hatches at Toplicht. However - their cost is prohibitive and they have latching screws which stick out after the hatch is closed. Not good - they will be mounted on floor level so I will probably stand on them quite often.

They need to be flush with the sole boards.

I was checking how others did that and found some nice DIY wooden hatches on Wooden Boat Forum. However - they were either gimmicky to make and operate or had knobs/screws which were sticking out. The only construction which was somehow plausible had surgical tubing as a seal and small tabs on sides which held all pressed down. However - to make this hatch looking nice requires CNC-machining. Not an option for me at this stage of my build. Without CNC precision the solution is likely to be less-than-watertight.
I skipped it.

In the end I changed my mind about plastic hatches. They have advantages: they are proven to not leak, they are very cheap (87 SEK), easy to open and they are flush with decking. What not to like?
Plastic, that is.
It goes kind of not well with wooden boat but let’s face it - my boat is epoxy-plywood construction. As much as I like to pretend it is a classic wooden boat - it is not. Epoxy is plastic. Plywood is… well, plywood. The boat looks and feels like a wooden boat but it is a modern construction.

Besides, these hatches have an important function - they shall keep me afloat should I capsize and need to rely on buoyancy to rescue myself. No room for compromises here. I go with ready-made and proven solution.

Dry-fitting to determine most comfortable position.
Now I need to get 140mm hole saw and make these holes.