Bargain.

Hi folks,

What can I say it’s a small world? I have been looking for a band saw for a while can’t really afford a new one want to spend most of my money on what goes into the boat. Anyway I have been checking the classifieds in the Cornish Guardian which are really good by the way, you can pick up some good bargains I picked up three Stanley wood planes last year No4, No5 and No6 all in their original packaging for £50. This time I saw a Dewalt band saw for £30 it turned out the guy selling it called Duncan lived in the next street was a member of the CVDRA and had been following my boat build on the net. The saw only needs a new blade and a couple of guide bearing which cost about £5 each, also a bit of rewiring the earth bonding had pulled out in the contactor box sorted now.

Still sanding the boat almost fair on the side I’m doing have broke through all three voids now but most of the coarse areas of grain are sanded down now. The areas I don’t think I can sand down without taking too much timber off I will fill using west system micro balloons as a stopper.

All this sanding is at lease doing me some good my shoulders are toning up quite nicely just like doing press-ups for a couple of hours.

Anyway that’s all I think, onward.

Voids.

Hi folks,

Well I have run into problems. I have found three areas which have voids where the epoxy has not bonded the two layers of veneer. To be honest I knew I was going to have a problem here they are on the midships area right on the turn of the bilge. The veneer is being asked to bend in three directions at once around some very tight curves and basically what happened was that once I had stapled down the veneer and had gone home the tension on it popped the staple out and it lifted up a 1/16" of an inch just in and area of 2 inches of the joint.

I had used more epoxy than I had needed so I thought that it had filled the void I was wrong. For the most part they are only and inch in diameter and the Gougeons brothers book said I shouldn't need to sand more that a 1/16" off to get the hull fair and apart from these three areas I haven't. Anyway I almost have this side of the hull fair but I have broke through one of these voids and I still have some sanding to do to get it fair.

I still want to clear finish the hull so this leaves me with a problem. Do I rout out the affected areas and fit a scarf jointed patch or fit a batten and rout out a 2" rebate along the full lenght of the veneer and bond in a 2" spline. Either way it'll show, this needs a bit of thought.

Still sanding.

Hi folks

well what can I say I'm still sanding and it still doesn't look any different but that's probably me because I'm here working on it all the time and don't see the the small changes I'm making. Sorry no photo's today they don't really show the changes in finish anyway. I'll take some when I've got some good to show off.

If I'm still sanding by the end of May I might have to fit the stem and keel capping's anyway because I want the boat to be in a state where I can move it if I have to. I'm a bit concerned about how long I can keep my workshop for.

Well that's all for now, onward.

Just sanding, more sanding and lots of it.

Hi guy's

No photo's today well one photo of a partly sanded boat is the same as another really. I made a 3' sanding block out of 1/2" plywood it works really well on the aft sections of the boat but doesn't bend well enough round the curved sections at the bow so I may need to made a 3/8" block. I've run out of sand paper and for some reason I can't find anywhere that sells the stuff I'm using locally. I bought the stuff at totem timber in Plymouth while I was up there so it would be reasonable to expect Totem timber in St.Austell to stock it as well, wrong. I ordered some on line with a three day delivery thinking it'll be here on Monday just as I run out, wrong. It's not in stock take five day's to get it. So I'm resigned to loosing a couple more days of work this month.

Why the hurry you might ask, well normally this wouldn't bother me and I would enjoy pottering on as circumstances dictate but I know I'm due to move with my work sometime at the end of this year. I don't know when and it could be earlier so I am anxious to get the boat to a stage where I can take it off the mold so if I do move earlier I can trailer it. To do this I need to finish final fairing, cap the keel and stem. Possibly fit the outer gunnel's well I call em gunnel's.

This may not be a problem and I'm just worrying about nothing but I like to look ahead so there are no surprises down the line.

Well we'll see.

Slow but sure.

Hi Chaps

Slow but sure progress on the boat hand sanding with the long board. I'm gradually flatting out he high spots mainly concentrating on one side of the boat for now so I can see more progress.

The orbital sander left a smooth surface with scratches in all directions. The 70 grit glass paper is leaving a smoother finish with scratches going inline with the grain so it's quite easy to see the low and high spots now. I'm moving randomly about the hull so as not to take off to much material in any one place.

Anyway thats all for now, Onward.

More and more sanding

Hello Folks

Bit of a depressing week. I made up a chalk stick and it revealed that the boat is not fair. Well I should of known really, the up side is that it doesn't have any big hollows or high spots just lots of little ones which can be sanded out. This will have to be done by hand with a long board so I made one up from a 2' length of 3/8" ply wood and made a start using 70 grit glass paper. I think I'll make up a 3' board as well for the long flat areas of the hull. The long board shows up the low spots quit well and they don't look too bad so far. I am a bit worried about the areas of coarse grain, I may have to fill here which would mean I couldn't clear finish the boat.

Well we'll see It could still sand out.

Both Sides Rough Sanded.

Hi Guy's

well got both sides rough sanded. I can see some areas of coarse grain and some low spots but I don't want to sand any further until I've used a chalk stick to check for fair. I have noticed that at the sheer between the clamps that the hull is springing out this could effect the final fairing. I am going to trim the excess veneer back flush with the bottom riband of the mold and use scrap battens to clamp the hull to the bottom riband. This should provide an even clamping pressure which should get rid of this ripple effect. The bottom riband is set two inches below the sheer riband to give a good overlap for final fairing.

Apart from this the hull is starting to look quite good now.