Bowsprit, Boom and Boom Gallows work!

The weather was nice yesterday, so I had a chance to do some work outside. With the boat in the garage, I need to work outside with the table saw and some other big tools. I pulled things out in the morning and started to finish up some of the spars.

Bowsprit
I had already cut the rough tapers, but the cuts needed to be cleaned up. I am still learning how to use a hand plane, but honestly not very good at using it. I decided to use my belt sander which did the job! I had 80 grit sand paper on it, so it cleaned up the saw markings from cutting the tapers on the table saw.

 After using the belt sander, I needed to do the chamfer's on the edges. I marked lines from the plans to use my router. The chamfer bit I had is too large for my small router, so I had to take the larger router I have mounted in a table out of the table to use by hand. That took a little while, since I keep in the shed.

Below are few pictures of the chamfer cuts. 

I still need to finish sand the bowsprit, but moved on to other things I needed to do outside. I can finish sand in the garage one day.

Boom
Next up was the boom to cleanup. I bought a new electric hand planer and used a piece of scrap wood practice on a little. On the lowest depth cut, I decided to move ahead with cleaning up the boom. Specifically where I had to glue the pieces together.  Not a good feeling using a power planer on a piece of expensive wood, but everything turned out ok. I ran it on each side for 1 or 2 runs and cleaned up things quickly.
The plan calls for a small taper 15 inches from the end. I used the electric planer to do that quickly. Turned out pretty good.

Below is a picture of that end of the boom.

Boom Gallows
I am planning on putting a boom gallow on my boat and recently purchased some Ash and Mahogony wood to make it and the tiller. Since I had the table saw outside and I decided to cut all the strips.
This was all my table saw good do to cut the wood! I will need to buy another blade.

Below are the strips ready to be glued up.

I had created a jig a few weeks ago to use to glue things together. Below is a picture of the jig with the strips doing a dry test run. 

I will need to wait for some warmer temperatures to glue things together. I can tell the gallow will look good! I like the mix of light and dark wood. It is a nice 22 degrees for the high today!

Working on Spars

I have been working on the spars over the last couple of weeks/weekends.  I don't have enough room in the garage to use the table saw, so I had to wait for good weather. Last weekend, I setup things outside and cut the bowsprit and gaff.

The manual states that it would be safer to do it on a bandsaw, but I decided to do it on my table saw.
I need to get a new blade, because it was all the saw could do to make the cuts. I took it slow and managed to get things cut. Except for the motor having a hard time, I didn’t think it was that difficult.

Next up was the gaff. I used the template and marked it out and used a circular saw to cut things out.
The manual then calls for a 1/2 round over on the all edges. I used my router and made the round-over. After I was finished and put away everything, I realized I used a 3/8. oops. Will need to redo, but it won't take long.

Next up is the boom. Below are a few pictures of the different pieces I needed to glue together to get the required length.  They are presently curing.

I have some cleanup I need to do on all of the spars I have done so far. I need to get my electric hand planer out, but the weather was not cooperating with snow this weekend. Will need to wait for better weather. I also need to try my planer on some scrap wood before I work on my expensive spare pieces. I have yet to use the Dewalt planer I bought for this job. 

I also managed to get some wood from a local supplier for the boom gallows and my rudder. I will be cutting them into strips and epoxying them together. With the 2" thick pieces, I want to get a new blade on my table saw before I cut the pieces. 

Boot Stripe, Centerboard and Starting on Spars

Well. work is trying to work me to death. Lots of late nights till 2:00 am. troubleshooting things.
I should be used to it working in IT all these years, but the older I get, the more it effects me. But in between all this work, I try to fit an hour or so in. Helps me keep my sanity!  Happy New Year to everyone!


Boot Stripe

One session, I finished up the 2nd coat of the boot stripe. I think it turned out pretty well. My painting skills are still so so, but for my first time rolling and tipping paint job, it looks ok. I still have some areas on the hull I want to put another coat on, but I will wait until I flip it back over to put on another touch up coat on the dark blue. I am sure I will have some nicks with flipping it.

I am using the Interlux Brightside paint. Most of my painting has been in the upper 50's low 60's. The This is within specs, but it does take about 4 hours plus to dry to the touch. Below are a few pictures.

Center Board 

One thing I am glad I did was to drill fill and then drill out the final hole prior to doing any painting. I can't imagine trying to find the center without being able to see the hole. I have enough problems with doing it in the first place. I have had to refill a couple times, because I missed the center. Not sure there is a good trick to this. My solution was to start with a smaller drill bit and gradually work my way out to the final diameter. Once I get close I use a round file to get it as close as possible to still have epoxy and not any wood showing. Below is the center board hole with the stainless steel rod doing a dry fit.

Below is a picture of the rope installed to raise the center board. You can see the filled/drilled out hole.

I also drilled/filled/drilled the hole that comes in from the top. Below is a picture of the epoxy curing. I found a good use of using my camera tripod to get any height I needed.

Installing the centerboard was easier than I thought. I first taped the piece of line to the permanent line to pull it through. I then wrapped a piece of cloth to a hand clamp and clamped it to the centerboard trunk. This would allow me to rest the centerboard on it to installed the rod. The rod slipped right in with a tap and I then applied thickened epoxy to both sides. Below is a picture of the epoxy curing. 

Spars - Bowsprit

Next up I decided to epoxy the two pieces of wood together to make a 2" X 3" piece for the bowsprit. Below is it all clamped up and using work lights to help it cure. 

Work lights helping the epoxy cure. The garage is still in the 50 + degree, so additional heat is still needed. 

Still moving along. I plan on working on the spars over the coming weeks and still need to build my tiller and gallows pole. I need to purchase some lumber and will probably do after work one day next week.

Work, Snow and Odds and Ends

The Holidays, Work and the weather have been putting me a little behind with building. We had a major snow storm for Virginia last week and the temperatures have dropped, so hard to do any work of any size.

 Below is a picture of what we got last weekend.  Since my garage is unheated, didn't get much done. Actually had to work on shoveling snow! A nice 12" plus!

I have been doing some small jobs. I managed to drill out the hole for the center board. I missed the center slightly, so I had to refill with epoxy and re-drill. Instead of using an electric drill, I used this old hand drill I had. Seemed to do the trick. 

I went by West Marine and bought a 3/8 inch stainless steel bolt and worked on cutting that today. Below is the 1 3/4" rod I ended up with. 

I also worked on the hole in the center board and managed to drill that wrong or at least not to my satisfaction. I  refilled with epoxy and will try again to get it straighter.

Some other side jobs I have been working on is getting my table saw ready to start working on the spars. I purchased a mobile base for the saw. This will allow me to move around. Most likely outside, since I am tight on space in the garage. I will starting this soon as one of my winter projects.

After I painted the dark-blue, I started to work on the boot stripe. I used my laser level to mark out and took advantage of a day of warm weather a couple weeks back to put the first coat of paint on. 

I sanded today with 320 grit and will look at the weather for another opportunity to paint the second coat. 

3rd Coat Brightside

This past weekend got up to the low 60’s on Sunday, so I put the 3rd coat of Brightside on. Before that I hand sanded with 320 grit and vacuumed and wiped down to get all the dust off.

Some other helpful hints and lessons I learned.
1) Never try to touch up anything once you have tipped things out. You will just make a big mess.
2) I used aluminum foil to line the paint tray! This makes it very easy to cleanup.

3) With the cooler temps (50-60s) it takes a good 4-5 hrs to dry to the touch, so be sure not to put your finger prints on your finish! I learned this on the 1st coat! Lol! Just sanded it out.


Below are pictures of the 3rd coat. I plan on touching up a couple places as soon as I can get some warmer temperatures, but for the most part I am done.

Next Steps:
Now that the temperatures are getting colder, I am going to start working on the spars, gallows pole and tiller.

Need to finish up my center board.  I have 1 more coat of epoxy I need to apply and then I will need to sand. I just got a stainless steel bolt to us to install it, but will need to get a friend to cut it for me.

As temperatures permit, I will work on the boot stripe. I also need to do the inside painting.

I have plenty of tasks to do to keep me busy over the winter.

Sanding and 2nd Coat of Brightside

Not a lot accomplished these past two weeks. Working a lot including weekends and went out of town last weekend. I did have a chance to sand the 1st coat of brightside and put the 2nd coat on.
I have set 60 degrees as my minimum outside temperature. With this, I can keep the inside of my garage warm enough. I also am allowing the paint to dry for many days, so I won't have any issues.

Below is where I scuff sanded the 1st coat with 320. I did this by hand just with the sand paper and no block. I found with using a block, I would remove too much paint.

Here are a couple pictures of the 2nd coat.

I plan on putting on a 3rd coat. Overall, I think the paint looks fine at a distance. Up close, I can see a lot of imperfections. From what I can see, most of it is where I had to patch the fiberglass. I did spend a lot of time sanding.  I would say it is a 5 ft. paint job. Looks good at 5 ft.!!  Maybe another coat of two will help to cover some things. 

Primer and Brightside

With limited time between work and going out of town again,  I have been able to make some progress on painting the hull. I have also had to work around the weather. It has mainly been too rainy which has meant high humidity. Not a good environment to paint.

Primer 1st
I put 2 coats of primer on and sanded after each coat per the manual. I used Interlux PreKote, which I have read some negative comments about, but I had good luck on the interior using it. Interlux also recommends using it and applying 1-2 coats before Brightside. After each coat, I sanded using 220.

While sanding, I noticed a place on the bow, so I used some fairing compound to fill the area. This was applied between the 2 coats of primer. The area was where the dynel clothe was. It was very difficult to get that smooth.

After this cured, I sanded down and coated again with the Interlux PreKote Primer 

I used 1 quart of the gray Primer. 

To help monitor humidity and temperature I bought a monitor at the big box store. Minimum temp for both the Interlux Primer and Brightside is 50 degrees. Humidity should be below 85%.

1st Coat Brightside
I painted one of the primer coats earlier in the week on Wednesday. I had it sanded and ready for the 2nd coat yesterday morning. This morning I sanded the whole boat after the 2nd coat of primer had cured and wiped down and made it ready for the 1st coat of Brightside. I waited a little while to let it warm up before starting. I used the roll and tip method and think it turned out pretty good. I need to read up on what to do between coats as far as sanding and plan on applying at least another 2 coats.

Couple pictures of the Brightside 1st coat finish below.