Gluing - Mix mix mix

Last Friday I ordered epoxy, fiberglass tape, fiberglass cloth and wood flour online. The package finally arrived today, so I began work this evening and glued the boat.

Step one was to apply epoxy thickened with wood flour to create a curved "fillet" in all the seems. After making a nice smooth fillet, two layers of 3" fiberglass tape are placed over the fillets and saturate with epoxy. Finally a coat of epoxy is rolled over the entire interior.

My wife was a huge help with this step. She mixed the epoxy why I applied it to the boat.  Essentially she made and mixed epoxy for over 2 hours straight. Half way through the process my son Ryan came out to help. They were both terrific and this saved me hours of time. 

Stitching

Today the boat goes 3D. 

The building process is called "Stitch and Glue".  First the panels are stitched together to get the desired shape of the boat. Then you glue the panels together for a permanent, water-tight bond. Then remove the stitches.

First I drilled 1/8" holes every six inches. I used 4"long thin cable ties to stitch the boat. I then needed to jostle all the pieces so everything would fit. Finally I tightened the cable ties.

 

Wow starting to look like a boat! There was much relief when everything fit. Phew!

 

Cutting panels

First thing I did today was to build a temporary table. This was a good idea and saved my back. Working off the floor was hell. I then measured and cut the transom, bulkheads and seats. Most of the cuts were done with a circular saw. For tighter curves I used a jig saw.

I then moved everything outside for sanding and trimming. First I used an orbital sander to smooth the scarf joints. Then I trimmed all the edges using a block plane. I am definitely not an expert with the block plane so I sanded the edges with my sander as a final step.

Layout and Lessons Learned

The epoxied scarf joints turned out just fine. Today I started the process of laying out the design onto the panels. I used a chalk line to create a centerline.  Then I made a series of marks at specific locations defined by the plans. At these marks I drove 1 3/4" finishing nails to mark the locations. I then used a 15' length of quarter round and clamped it to the nails. This created a smooth curve which was then traced with a pencil.

Ryan helped on the hull.

After much measuring and remeasuring I cut the panels with a mini circular saw.

Lessons Learned.

I quickly learned that your work environment is critical for the success of your project.  My "workshop" was the floor of my garage. Very big mistake. I plan to build a temporary table. This will make things much easier. I should have built a temporary 4x16 table from the beginning. It would have been worth it. I will reorganize the garage over the next few days to have a place for all the "stuff" I need.

Tools bought so far:

• Rockwell 4" circular saw. This thing is awesome.
• Block plane (I'm not so good with this yet)
• Hand held Power planar.  (probably redundant if  I was good with the block plane)
• Orbital sander.
• Chalk line
• Awe
• Clamps (lots)

Gluing the Scarf Joint

Today I glued the scarf joints. I used MAS epoxy with Cab-O-Sil thickener as a glue. After 24 hours of curing I will know if these scarf joints are a success.

I have to admit I'm a little nervous. I'm hoping that the properties of thickened epoxy will compensate for my novice wood working skills. I really have no idea how perfect the scarf cuts need to be. Many worries. Is the epoxy mixed enough? Too little or too much Cab-O-Sil? Did the panels slide accidentally while weighting them? Did I glue everything to the floor? I'll find out tomorrow.

The first cut: a scarf.

I want to build a sailboat. I have almost no woodworking experience, no workshop, and no expert knowledge of sailing. This will be a challenge. After weeks of self debate and research, I settled on a design from CLC boats. Lets see how this goes...

The goal: The Jimmy Skiff

First step:

The plans call for two sheets each of 9mm and 6mm Okoume marine plywood. I could not find these locally so I ordered them online and it arrived today.  I need to join two 4'x8'  sheets to create one 4'x16' sheet. This is done by a scarf joint. Seemed easy enough. I was wrong. Creating my first scarf took me almost 4 hours because I had no idea how to make this cut. I tried everything. In the end I used a cheap power planer from HD to get the basic shape, then I used a low angle block plane to get closer,  finally an orbital sander to get it smooth. Home depot is going to make a lot of money off me.  At least now I have some tools. The second scarf cut took me only about 1/2 hour.