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