Still working on my SCAMP project in fits and bursts, in between Hurricanes, Hurricane scares and yard clean up chores. Through diligent effort and arduous work, I've nearly gotten the yard back to its' customary appearance of: Benign Neglect.
I intend to have a stainless steel rub strip on the nose, because I've SEEN how I handle boats, both on the beach and at the ramp. :P
My boats always need all the protection they can GET!! :o
I drilled out oversized holes with a Forstner bit and filled the holes with thickened epoxy, for the eventual mounting screw holes.
Tape was used both for holding the epoxy in place and to prevent any drips; you'd be surprised at how fastidious you can become, once you grow weary of grinding off drips all the time.
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The third coat of epoxy on the hull will be graphite infused, so I had to jump ahead a little in this area, to prepare to install a centerboard slot strip.
It is supposed to minimize the amount of gunk and debris that can get up in the centerboard trunk and jam the centerboard; useful for a vessel that is designed to be (and will be!) used in gunkhole geography and on strange beaches.
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It is a hideously expensive >:( strip of Mylar attached to Dacron cloth and epoxy glued to the hull, over the centerboard slot.
You cut the slot before attaching it to the hull, but then have to immediately re-tape the slot back together again with masking tape, to hold the proper shape.
Ya know, sometimes I think these builder's manuals just like to mess with us! :'(
Why not just cut it after it's glued down?!? ???
Required an astounding amount of clamping and weights, to keep ALL of the strip against the hull.
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Came out reasonably well, though. 8)
The skeg fillet covers part of the slot strip, which is roughed up along that edge, for good adhesion and is why this had to be done before filleting the skegs.
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And NOW, it's time to start filleting! :D
That splotch on the side of the skeg is not sloppiness.
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It's to repair this mistake: :-[
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I filleted the port skeg while waiting for the slot strip to cure.
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I was glad that my first time ever, for performing fillets was on a part of the boat, most people will never see! :-[
When I get inside the boat and start filleting decks and seats, etc. I hope to be considerably more accomplished.
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The key here, is to simply keep after it until it approaches something resembling the pics in the build manuals.
You know; the ones done by guys who know what they're doing! ;D
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While waiting for the fillets to cure, I turned my attention to fiberglassing the centerboard . . . .
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And the rudder. They will both get two layers of fiberglass.
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Side 1, Layer 1
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Check the beige squeegee at top of pic. The idea is that after you apply the resin, you scrape off any excess resin to keep the fiberglass from "floating" off the wood and getting a weaker bond.
Side 2, Layer 1
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Side 1 Layer 2
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Side 2, Layer 2
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This was ALMOST another mistake. :-[
The accumulated edges were a little rough from trimming and I decided to smooth them out a little and in the process, I TOTALLY FORGOT!! DOHHH!!! :o
Forgot which was the side with 2 layers of glass and which was the side with 1 layer of glass.
Some judicious probing with an Xacto blade straightened that out, but I think in the future I'm going to affix post-it notes where necessary, to prevent these kinds of problems.
I was going to start working on the rudder stock as well, which includes some copper pipes to route the rudder up haul and down haul lines through the body of the rudder stock.
All marked off and ready to saw the intermediate layers, first thing in the morning.
Fortunately, my subconscious (that never sleeps and is wayyy smarter than me!) awakened me in the night, with the question: ???
What if the pintle bracket mounting holes intersect the pipe location embedded in the rudder stock?
I bet I'd know that, if I had the pintles laying around, somewhere.
So, now I'm waiting for pintles to arrive (ahead of when I originally thought I was going to need them; this is the original JIT project, due to low funds!) before I commit to cutting up wood and running pipes that might end up in the way.
And so it goes,
Charles Brennan
I love the smell of resin in the morning!
A good read on your progress.
With regard to the state of your lawn, benign neglect is the target I strive to achieve. My neighbor across the street is very wealthy as result of late in life inheritance. In as much he has a full time yard man who has been known to chase ten leaves across the yard for hours with a backpack blower. The part of his property that is directly across the street from me has no structure, so I often say the best feature of my house is Nichols park across the street. Next door to me is a divorced school teacher who has two sons approaching college age who live away as a result of them attending the Mississippi School of Math and Science. Fortunately for her, those boys will scholarship out but she still has very limited resources to apply to yard maintenance. I appreciate her greatly as she keeps me from being worst lawn on the street. All judgement is based on relativity.
I wish I could do fillets with ease. I think yours look good. I followed John Toolz who was building a Spira 24' Pocomoke Chesapeake dead rise who described a method for perfect fillets. Unfortunately I've forgotten what he said.
I had trouble with graphite infused epoxy as it kinda orange peeled on me. Ended up sanding it smooth (misery) to reduce drag and putting on a coat of black catalyzed polyurethane, mostly just for looks. It has held up very well even with some sand beach landings.
Looking great CB.
Have you considered wrapping the foil edges with cloth at a bias?
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There were some seams and edges on my PDR that would have done better with a bias wrap.
Riley, Yer givin' away yer age, with pop culture references to "Apocalypse Now"! :D
I don't mind the smell of resin in the morning ("It smells like: Progress!") but my wife complains every time she comes through the garage to the house.
Frank B., As I have stated before: We're SAILORS; we don't HAVE lawns, we have occasionally leveled-off weeds.
Personally, I STILL blame it all on all the landscaping home improvement shows.
DAM'N THAT HGTV!! >:(
Spot, I do indeed intend to use bias-cut edge strips on the foils, since I can't think of any other way to get the cloth to lay properly around those curves.
More proof that: Great Minds Think Alike, but Fools Seldom Differ! ;D
For the most part I try to adhere to everyone's advice when I understand the rationale behind it.
3 coats of epoxy on the wood, sure. One coat to seal it, a second coat to fill in any "painter's holidays" that may have been missed and a third coat for fairing and sanding without getting back to bare wood.
Same way with three coats of paint, although for me, historically it's always been one coat to cover, one coat to fill in holidays and one coat to hide all the mistakes I made while building! :-[
Thank you all for your comments, it's more helpful than you know whenever I receive affirmation that I'm on the right track!
Charles Brennan
It is great to watch your steps and to teach methodical and thoughtful progress.
You must admit Icarus created a magnificent well-designed structure. But didn't think through the operational needs.
Just catching up. Nice work!
Not to state the obvious, but craft sticks or tongue depressors work great for fillets. Use a sandwich bag with the corner cut out, fill with thickened epoxy, squeeze it down the joint, then take the craft stick and run it down the joint. Make sure there is enough epoxy in the joint for "squeeze out" along the edges of the fillet. Take a putty knife and scrap up the "squeeze out". Once the epoxy starts to cure, dip your finger in alcohol and run it down the fillet. Will be smooth and even! Got to be a video out there somewhere.