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Page 11
Saturday 3/15/08
Next, we glued and screwed the bottom to the stems and the three ribs, and used rubber bands, string and hooks (made by Zac of clothes hanger wire) to hold the bottom panel to the edges of the side panels. See the photo.
We also used clamps to hold the side panels to the faired lines.
After moving the boat inside again, Larry pumped out some of his epoxy and wet the interior of the chine. Zac and Grant used the epoxy/microballon mixture Larry had mixed to put a fillet inside chine joints and the gussets.
After Zac and Larry left, Grant put the propane heater in the studio and ran it on "low" for about 30 minutes, just to make sure the air temperature was at least 70 F. By 10:00 pm, the epoxy/microbaloon fillet was getting hard. Here are a couple of photos showing the rubber bands, etc and the fillet before it cured:
The rubber bands and string and clips worked nicely. Today the boat, clamps, etc. weighed about 33 pounds. We think the weight to be added in the form of paint and epoxy will be offset by the wood to be removed trimming the gunwales. Grant found the trolling motor he had purchased about 45 years ago for use in an earlier homemade boat. We hooked it up to a battery charger -- and it worked! So we'll use it to power this one. Might see this some day:
Monday morning Grant phoned Zaca Inc. and spoke to John, to order the 'glas cloth offered on their website as a "Special". "I don't think we have that stuff anymore." sez John. "We recommend our 3.2 oz. x 60 for that boat." "How much per yard?" "$5.50" sez John. "Send me five yards -- how much is the shipping?" "I can't tell you 'til I weigh it." sez John. "O.K., send it." John said it would go out today via UPS Ground. Should be here this week.
For personal reasons, Larry and Zac wont get here today, nor Tuesday, probably. Grant did a little planing on the chine and gunwales today, but not much.
Some consideration had been give to making two short "keels," but it seems one long center keel will give more directional stability -- because of the length of the "lever" around the vertical axis.
Below is the trolling motor we'll be using. The control head was cut off 45 yeras ago. We'll install a vertical tube through the hull, maybe 10 inches from a stem end, and mount that vertical shaft in the tube.
How to steer? We don't know yet.
Excess to our needs:
Asked Howard today if I can borrow his power plane. He said, "yes, if I can find it." That would save us a lot of time. Here's a photo I took in 1992 of Howard carving a Piet prop:
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Tuesday morning Grant scarphed three pieces 12 ft. long that will be laminated in place along the centerline of the boat, making a keel. In this photo, two of the strips are tacked, with their joints clamped, to a 2 x 4, keeping them straight. We'll taper the widths of the strips.
On the right is a close-up of a scarph joint clamped to a 2 x 4. Titebond glue is used here.
