Auld Lang Syne, aka Gluing Up Toe and Rub Rails

December 31, 2017

It was prep work that needed some attention...creating a list of fasteners (stainless/bronze, size, length, head type) so that the new brightwork could be securely fitted, as well as Joule's hardware.  Covering all of the brightwork and hardware, taking measurements off of Joule, and factoring in backing plates and washers/nuts, literally took me through most of the morning! But hey, I now have a shopping list to fill.

With the fasteners addressed, I turned my attention to the toe and rub rails.

I set up a couple pair of horses to help support the rails.  Next, I sanded the scarfed joint surfaces, cleaned and wiped down the dust and oils emitted from the teak wood with acetone.  With the surfaces clean and prepped, I taped off the sides of the rails to prevent any squeeze out from adhering and causing me atheistic headaches.  

With a final wipe down with acetone, I mated the pairs together and clamped them securely.  Last item of the day was to put the bubbly on ice.  Happy New Year everyone!

Total Time Today: .75 hrs

Finishing Cockpit Sole Fairing & Continued Brightwork Fabrication

December 30, 2017

With other items on the to-do list for the day, I was late at getting back on Joule.  I was able to address the cockpit sole and poop deck epoxy work, as well as continuing with the brightwork.  To start, I sanded the previous day's fairing compound to take down the high spots and to accentuate the low spots for additional work.  I worked through a few 80-grit discs on the RO sander, achieving a fair surface between the areas of the cockpit sole untouched and the area of the core replacement.  Using my hand, I continually felt for low and high spots as I worked the field of the core replacement, and eventually arrived at a point where only the low spots remained to be filled.

I moved up to the poop deck and briefly hit the areas where I had over drilled for the future fasteners and to isolate any water ingress from the fresh balsa core.  

Having finished the sanding work, I vacuumed the sanding debris and then wiped all surfaces down with solvent to prep for a final skim coat of fairing compound.  With the surface prep out of the way, I mixed a small batch of epoxy thickened with  406 colloidal silica and 407 low-density.  I used a firm 6" drywall knife to apply just a skim coat of fairing compound to fill in the few remaining low spots on the cockpit sole.

I quickly transitioned up to the poop deck and hit a few pinholes and low spots on the over drilled areas for the fasteners.

I finished on Joule for the day and headed back to the wood shop for some additional brightwork tooling.  I had just created the trim piece for the underside of the companionway slide hatch and had fine tuned the fit, but had left the bottom the trim piece rough - the area that fingers would come into contact with.  I flipped the piece and placed it in the bench top vice, and using some rough grit sandpaper, I took the concave surface into a fair curve from side to side.

Happy with the balance of the piece, I ran it through the router to achieve the 1/4" round over on the forward and aft side of the bottom of the trim piece.  There will be some last minute hand-sanding on all of the brightwork, but for the most part this piece was finished.

Turning my attention to the longitudinal companionway trim pieces, I took the starboard trim components onto Joule and set them in their places - both the longitudinal and the vertical trim pieces.  I used both pieces, in their proper orientation, to understand what material needed to be removed to allow the drop boards (or washboards) to fit in slot to secure the boat back on the dock.  I noted the areas needing work and returned to the shop to dial the piece in.  I nipped a small amount of material with the jig saw, and then finished the dimension by hand-sanding.  The picture below shows the top most drop board able to pass through the slot on the companionway's starboard longitudinal trim piece.

While I was working these longitudinal trim pieces for the companionway, I set the top piece of the companionway slide hatch trim BACK INTO THE STEAM BOX!  The spring back I was getting on the piece both times after taking it out was back to near straight.  I retooled the form for a greater arc and set the piece back in the box to heat through.  I repeated the process for the port trim as I had done for the starboard trim - as detailed above.  Picture below shows the top most drop board fitting the port trim.

With the longitudinal companionway hatch trim near completion, I set them aside to grab the hatch top trim piece from the steam box and placed it in the retooled form, clamping securely in place.

Total Time Today: 1 hr

A Brightwork Day

December 29, 2017

Given the cold weather that came in, I was hesitant about attempting to sand the previous day's fairing work on the cockpit sole.  I wanted to give the epoxy more time to fully sure, or at least be sure that the epoxy had enough time before proceeding.  So because of the weather impeding certain tasks, I decided to make it a brightwork day.   My first intention was to start on the vertical companionway hatch trim.  I took the pieces over to Joule and began to review for further shaping and installation options.  I soon came to the conclusion that I needed the slide hatch itself in place, as well as the longitudinal hatch trim, in order to get the angles and measures required for the vertical pieces.  Having the hatch in place would require reattaching the hatch trim, but while I was at it, I decided to go ahead and fabricate the push piece attached to the underside of the hatch.  

Using the old piece as a template, I transferred the rough shape onto a new piece of teak stock, and then began to shape the curve to match that of the old piece as well as the concave underside of the slide hatch.  I achieve the required fair curve, at least for the top portion of the trim where it attaches to the underside of the slide hatch, and then clamped the piece in place to transfer the existing fastener holes.

Since I was still working the top piece of the slide hatch trim, I went ahead and reinstalled the old top piece to the new bottom piece in order to get the final and proper curve and orientation of the slide hatch.  

With the slide hatch in place, I again laid out the longitudinal and vertical pieces to note areas needing material removed, to cut the proper angle on the vertical trim where it mates with the longitudinal trim, and to identify where fasteners were needed on the vertical trim. 

I addressed the port side first, and then turned my attention to the starboard piece.

With notes made, I returned to the shop with the trim pieces and cut the new angles, ran the outer edges through the router for the 1/4" round overs, and then marked and drilled the fasteners holes - which will be bunged once the trim is installed.

I will install the vertical trim to get final shaping done on the longitudinal trim pieces.

Reaching the point on the vertical trim where I needed to move on, I decided to pop the slide hatch top trim board back into the steam box in order to place it back onto the form.  I was getting a lot of spring back on this very small piece of trim, so to avoid stress on the piece itself during installation, I decided to adjust the form and over bend it.  Putting more curve in the piece would allow it to stay within tolerance and still have the likely spring back I anticipate.

While the trim was enjoying its steam bath, I moved onto the coaming boards. I wanted to create the 1/4" round overs on all of the exposed edges.  These boards will be constantly used to gain and regain balance, to lean into and grab, and so will need to be friendly to the touch with no harsh edges. 

I ran the pieces over the router table to get that smooth edge transition.

I finished off the coaming boards by sanding the newly formed edges with 150-grit paper; just prior to installation, I will come back with 220-grit to take care of the reaming rough areas and then apply the teak sealer.  My final item for the day was to remove the hatch trim from the steam box and to place it in its adjusted form.  I clamped the piece in place, and most likely will complete it in the next work session.

Total Time Today: 3 hrs

Continuing Brightwork Fabrication + Cockpit Sole Core Work

December 28, 2017

Well it was just one of those days - not a Florida rain (hard pour and then the sun pops back out), but a bitterly cold drizzle reminiscent of something one would experience on an early winter day in Bremen, Germany.  Just saying.  It took me a late rousing from bed and then a lingering hot soak in the tub before I emerged and took to the cold, damp outdoors.  With the shop opened up however, I got straight to work. 

I picked up where I left off yesterday evening, and began shaping the port coaming block.  I marked curves and angles taken from the original block, transferring onto the new teak.  As much as I can, I am intending to leave the new blocks as thick as possible.  I think the overall new dimensions of the teak coaming blocks improve their appearance in proportion with that of the new coaming boards.

With the port coaming beginning to take shape, I grabbed both blocks (and their original counterparts) and headed over to Joule for some fitting work.  I began with the port coaming.  I worked the inboard side that ultimately gets fastened to the cabin sides, as well as the radius curve that sits in the transition from deck to cabin sides.

After several test fits and time working the new teak coaming block, it began to hug the cabin sides in good form.  For now, I decided to leave the block's height alone.  I plan to dry-fit the port coaming board with fasteners and then address final shaping of the coaming block for a good fit with the coaming board - ditto for the starboard side.

Satisfied with the port coaming block, I turned my attention to the starboard block.  

As I had done with the port side, I made numerous small adjustments to fine tune the placement of the starboard coaming block.

With the blocks taken as far as I dared to, I switched gears back to the coaming boards for additional adjustments on the starboard side and for fitting of the port side.

I placed the rough cut port coaming board in place and took some notes on where I needed to remove larger portions of material.  With mental notes made, I headed back over to the shop to remove the excess material.  As I did with the coaming blocks, I placed the board in position, noted high spots and problem areas, took the board down to the bench at the base of Joule, worked those areas requiring work, and then placed the board back in position...and repeated this process several times.

I arrived at a good fit for the port coaming, with only minor adjustments to be made on the aft portion of the coaming, as well as to plane the bottom edge to a pleasing and fair curve.

Having secured a good fit on the starboard board yesterday evening, I now placed both boards to satisfy my own curiosities :)

She's taking shape!

I wrapped up the brightwork for the day, and got straight at the fiberglass work on Joule's poop deck and cockpit sole.  Earlier in the day, I water-washed the amine blush from the touch up fill work on the poop deck hardware fastener holes, and at the same time washed the previous day's work on the cockpit sole.  Photo below showing sanded fill and fairing work done to the future fastener holes for the poop deck hardware.

With the RO sander and a combination of 40-grit and 80-grit discs, I knocked down the uneven surfaces of the previous day's core replacement.  The new top skin consists of two layers of 1708 biaxial, and had a few proud areas that required some attention prior to applying a coat of fairing compound.  After sanding the surface to prep for the fairing compound, I vacuumed the dust not captured by the RO sander and thoroughly cleaned the surface with solvent.  I had rolled the wet glass out with a fin roller, but for some reason still ended up with an air bubble (center of pic).  I removed the errant glass and would fill the void.

I applied a fairly liberal amount of epoxy thickened with a combination of 407 low-density and 406 colloidal silica.  I will make a pass tomorrow with the RO sander and likely have to apply another skim coat to complete the cockpit sole core replacement.

Total Time Today: 4.5 hrs

Cockpit Sole Core Replacement and Continued Brightwork Fabrication

December 27, 2017

From a previous session, I had addressed the delimitation in the cockpit sole...or at least I thought I had.  Recent work had required a fair bit of time working in and around the cockpit, and as a result I began to notice some flex in the sole.  Upon further inspection, I did get some flex in the aft-third of the sole.  Being a rather straightforward and simple procedure, I decided to open up the top skin and remove what I imagined was saturated core material.  My intent today was to sand the poop deck over-drilled sections for the hardware fasteners and then top off those areas with a second skim coat of fairing filler, but getting the cockpit structure right took priority.  

I drew my cut lines in the area that was presenting the flex, and accompanied noise.  

Using the oscillating tool, I cut through the top skin with care not to penetrate the bottom skin.  At this point, I was surprised by the determination with which the top skin wanted to remain in situ.  While there were clearly two fairly good sized areas that were saturated, for the most part the core material was intact and dry.  I continued removal of the top skin and core material, and then further inspected the area for the source of the flex.  With gentle pressure, I pressed down on the cockpit sole outboard of the cut line and to the port side.  Moving up and down the longitudinal cut line, I repeated this careful examination of the cockpit sole.  

I was getting the same flex and noise response as I had been getting while shifting my weight on the uncut cockpit sole.  Ducking my head into the port side seat locker, I could clearly see the longitudinal stringer used to support the cockpit sole - there is one to starboard as well.  I also could see that the sole was bedded onto the stringer with what I can only imagine to be some polyester-based compound - now rock-hard.  I deduced what was happening to the sole, given the fact that the core material was not so far gone as to be causing the flex and noise, and that I was still getting the flex and noise after removing the core material.  The issue was the port side of the cockpit sole was not being fully supported by the stringer, and that the gap-filling polyester bedding compound was either scarce or deteriorating in this area.  Since the repair area was in the aft section of the space between the bottom skin of the cockpit sole and the molded interior liner, there was no way possible to get a visual on the cockpit sole-to-stringer relationship.  I decided to drill a few inspection holes directly over the stringer.  With this done and my course to correct the issue decided, I drilled subsequent pilot holes into the inspection holes, and then drove silicon bronze fasteners through the bottom skin and into the stringer below.  The flexing of the cockpit sole and associated noise was resolved.  ...on with recoring the sole.  Before leaving the boat for additional tools and material, I ground a taper into the perimeter of the cockpit sole work surfaces.

Using a sheet of thick-mil plastic, I made templates for two layers of 1708 biaxial cloth.

For the core template, I used the same piece of plastic and created the balsa core template.

Working from the outer most layer of cloth and through to the smaller layer and finally the balsa core material, I removed the new materials for the core replacement process.

With the new materials sized and cut, I started by wetting the surfaces with epoxy.

I then came back with a small batch of epoxy thickened with 407 low-density and 406 colloidal silica, and both troweled the epoxy onto the bottom skin with a squeegee that I had cut notches into, as well as having pushed it into the voids around the perimeter between the top and bottom skins.

I returned to the shop for the 1708 cloth, carried them to the boat and wet them out in place.  I rolled the fiberglass out with a fin roller to remove any residual air bubbles.

Finally, onto the brightwork.  I will come back tomorrow for a light sanding of the core replacement and application of fairing compound, but most of the balance of the week will be dedicated to brightwork.   I placed the 'rough' cut starboard coaming in place, reviewed areas that needed fine-tuning and then began to slowly remove material.  The fitting process is one of placing the piece in position, noting the highland proud spots, taking the piece off, and then removing those spots.  And repeating this process a good number of times.   

I achieved a good fit on the starboard coaming, and with darkness setting in returned to the shop for some additional tuning on the coaming board.

I set the starboard coaming into the bench vice, and with a small block plane removed the wavy lines of the jig saw's rough cut.  There will be some additional material removal on both the forward and aft ends of the coaming board where it comes into contact with the deck.  For now, I need to move on to other pieces.

I removed the original (or old) coaming blocks from the original boards, and labeled them for identification and orientation for further patterning use.  I grabbed a 10/4 piece of teak I had in inventory and removed from it a couple pieces that would eventually become the new coaming blocks.  I began to layout the starboard block, but did not get too far before closing the shop for the day. 

Total Time Today: 6 hrs

Aft Deck Hardware Layout & Drill-n-Fill / Foredeck Cleat / Continued Brightwork Fabrication

December 26, 2017

Well into the holiday break and back from a visit with family, I returned to working on Joule with full intention of a focused project wrap up by the end of January.  With the primer coats in place, I was ready to begin layout of the deck hardware.  To that end, the owner was able to swing by for a consultation on preferred layout, etc.  While waiting for this meeting, I went ahead and pulled the companionway hatch trim from the form.  I did get a bit of spring back, but the piece was easier to bend over the convex form of the hatch and will mate well with the stop trim that is mounted to the underside of the hatch.

Having discussed the hardware layout and usage with the owner, I resumed working the shop on the taff rail.  At this point, most of the new brightwork was in "rough" form.  My focus over the next few days will be to get the brightwork to a point of near completion so that I can dry-fit the various pieces of trim and joinery onto Joule prior to finish paint.  For the taff rail, I made a jig with a carpenter's rule to allow me to achieve a unified width from one side to the other.  I ran the jig on the aft portion of the rail and placed a pencil at the leading edge, tight against the jig, and ran that line along the rail. The shorter outboard ends would not allow the jig to transfer the line to the forward outboard ends of the rail, so to complete the curve I applied a batten along the penciled line to then extend it.  I removed this "excess" material, and hand-tuned it with a block plane and sanding work.  Due to the unevenness of the trailing edge of the poopdeck, I will need to remove some additional material on the taff rail, providing a consistent taff rail-to-deck appearance for installation.

With the taff rail in place, I laid out the location for the deck plate portion of the motor mount.

I continued to layout the aft deck hardware: starboard cleat, mainsheet cam cleat and standup block.  Upon close inspection, the original cam cleat was suffering severe cracking along one of the cams, and with a bit of pressure on it succumbed, and eventually broke.  I procured a new mainsheet cam cleat for Joule and continued with the layout process.

With the aft deck hardware marked, I went forward to drill and tap for the foredeck cleat fasteners.  Because I used G-10 fiberglass board for the replacement core material, I did not have to overdrive and fill in order to isolate balsa core from future water ingress; the G-10 board was also stronger solution for this important cleat.  I applied tape to the area and set the cleat in its final position.  I then marked the fastener locations onto the tape, removed the cleat and then drilled for 5/16" - 18 machine screws using a 17/64" drill bit.

With the holes drilled, I used the 5/16" - 18 tap to create the threads through the the fiberglass top and bottom skins, as well as the G-10 board.

The foredeck cleat is ready for installations - post finish deck paint.

I moved aft once again, and began to overdrive the marked fasteners holes for the poopdeck hardware.  I used a 1/2" forstner bit to open up the top skin and the core material.  I was careful to drill out the balsa core and not plunge through the bottom skin.   The overdrive process is used to isolate the future through-deck fastener from direct contact with core material that could be compromised with the presence of water.  Since the aft deck was cored with balsa, I chose to overdrive to protect the integrity of the deck.

The overdrive process is complete, time to move on to filling the holes.

I vacuumed the debris and detritus thoroughly, followed by a solvent wipe down, mixed a small batch of epoxy thickened mostly with 406 colloidal silica and applied to fill the holes.  The next step here will be to water-wash the amine blush, and then sand to fair with the surrounding deck surfaces.  Finally, I will drill and tap for machine screws, which will be bolted with backing plates from the underside of the deck.

With work on Joule complete for the day, I returned to the shop to continue fine-tuning the brightwork pieces.  I inserted the aft cockpit trim into the vice and dialed in its fair curve with a small block plane.

Satisfied with the fairness of the curve, both top and bottom, I ran the edges which would be exposed to eyes and hands through the router to cut 1/4" round overs.  I will not fully complete this piece of trim until the coaming boards are in place, or at least dry-fitted.

Reaching the end of what I could do with the aft cockpit trim, I turned to the companionway slide trim.  As I had done with the aft cockpit trim, I snuck up on final dimensions with a block plane, and then ran the upper edges through the router to give the trim piece 1/4" round overs.

The port slide hatch trim ~85% complete.

I repeated the process with the starboard trim - both port and starboard pieces shown below, ~85% complete.

Total Time Today: 6.5 hrs