Got my "Luann" yesterday, threw em' on my 3 Sawhorses and was thrilled...finally! Decided ta go with 10 1/2" sides so i measured, chalked my lines, after "C-clamping both ends with the assist of some pieces of scrap...don't want ta mess up the plywood. Made my cuts...stayed right on the line! Perfect. Then i cut my 45's. Then i heard the thundering. Went inside and checked the weather radar and showed that a storm was approaching fast...so much for being "Ready". No garage, carport, storage,...zilch. Sooo...grabbed it all and drug it into the house. Leaned my sides, bottoms, and ribs against the kitchen table. According to the Forecast it's gonna rain till Saturday night! So this morning i got ta thinking, my kitchen floor is as flat and level as it gets, am not married anymore, and my Black Lab doesn't complain bout anything...so i just finished making my "butt joints" with 3" Tape, polyester resin, and some wax paper ON the kitchen floor. Think they turned out really well top and bottom. Finished at 3pm and am gonna let em' cure up till probably around noon tomorrow(Saturday)and am gonna move them and then do the Bottom. Got a piece of 3/4" plywood that's cut 8" x 28" am gonna clamp on to the sides and bottom at the "Joints" before i move them outside Sunday though, dont' want ta break em. Got my Ribs done already. Already ran into a situation though. Eyeballing the UJ Stems the other day looked to me they would accommodate at least 11" sides so i decided to go with 10 1/2. WRONG! Took one of the Stems and put it on one of the sides with the 45 cut and am going to have 1/2" extending ABOVE the Stem. Gonna be using 16' pieces of 3/8 x 1 3/8 for Rub Rails so guess it's no "biggy". Just thankful i finally got this show on the road! Ha Ha Ha Ha...
THOUGHT i was Ready!
- Thread starter fenix1
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Just picked both sides up off the floor after 8 hours and inspected my joints. The sides that were facing downwards on the wax paper look really nice. Good solid bond and ya can't even see the 3" Tape. The ones on top NOT so much. The outside of the edges are rough and ya can't see the Tape but ya can see the "weave"...gotta fill in the weave i guess. QUESTION...was i supposed ta put wax paper on the Top too? Gonna make my joint for my Bottom in the morning...Charlie
Side joints must be good, actually took them outside this morning without any bracing with c-clamps and put em on my saw horses without them breaking. Finished the butt joint on my bottom. Answered my question from my previous post. Took some wax paper and laid on top of my top joint for the bottom this morning. Took a "squeegee" and smoothed it out. Looks good, all the same color, no bubbles. smooooth. Then i got 6 water filled gallon jugs and placed 3 on each side of the seam. Think i just figured out how to make a good butt joint! Lord willing, will fasten the stems and sides tomorrow and glue the ribs in...
What I have done before is to lay wax paper or poly sheeting on the floor, put a strip of fiberglass onto that, saturate the 'glass with resin, carefully put the plywood onto the saturated 'glass, making sure to align the pieces well, then lay a strip of fiberglass onto the joint and saturate it, and finally lay wax paper or poly on top of the whole mess so that I could put a scrap of plywood down and set weights on it.
This gets the entire joint done in one shot. The danger is that if you don't have enough resin involved, you might end up with voids in the joint and have a hard time doing anything about it. The up side is that you don't have to fool with flipping over a sixteen foot long strip of plywood that only has 'glass on one side of the joint.
Bear in mind that what I just described is not the only way to do it.
GB
This gets the entire joint done in one shot. The danger is that if you don't have enough resin involved, you might end up with voids in the joint and have a hard time doing anything about it. The up side is that you don't have to fool with flipping over a sixteen foot long strip of plywood that only has 'glass on one side of the joint.
Bear in mind that what I just described is not the only way to do it.
GB
Picked up my Bottom (16') off the kitchen floor Saturday afternoon to take outside and it went to floppin' around and i thought...Nope, aint gonna work, so i went outside and drank a "brewsky" and thought on it. After staring at my sides and rubrails laying on my sawhorses it finally came to me. Took one of my "rails' and four 3" c-clamps inside and fastened the rail on the edge of my bottom. Spaced 2 clamps 2' from each end and the other 2 a couple of foot on each side of the joint. Picked it up...didn't flop! Took it outside and laid it on some 2x4's on the ground. Now it's Sunday and am getting ready to go out and sand my joints and attach the sides to the stems and glue my ribs in...this is going to get interesting...Ha Ha Ha Ha...
ALAS! Looks like a Pirogue. Managed ta get my sides fastened to the stems. Built a "jig" outta 3/4" plywood same size as the middle rib and nailed it on both ends of my middle sawhorse. Only way i could see doing it by myself. Made it alot easier. Made some really good joints cause when i picked each side up to clamp it to my middle jig the wind was blowing pretty good and they both bent so far i figure they were gonna snap or break or something but they didn't make a sound. Then glued the ribs in. Used c-clamps on the middle one but had to use 3/4" screws on the end ones. Put 2 on each side of the ribs 3" from the top and 3" from the bottom. Sat down in the shade at my picnic table and took a break. Bout 15 minutes later decided ta go do a little inspection Glad i did! Drilled "pilot holes" through the sides into the end ribs. When i glued em up and put the screws in felt like they went into the holes alright BUT on one end one side of the rib wasn't even with the bottom it was bout 1/4" below! Took the 2 screws out and tried to remove the rib from the side...in 15 minutes that "Elmers Wood Glue" was already setting up. Got a 1" putty knife and ran it from the top of the rib downwards and got it loose. Screws missed the holes by 1/4". Man that cypress is some really soft wood. Anyways, re-glued it and put the screws IN the holes this time. A sixteenth or so i could handle but 1/4 is a bit much. Anyways, things are looking good so far. This is definitely a learning experience but one i'm really enjoying! Hopefully tomorrow the "rub rails" and then the bottom...Charlie
Boat dimensions turned out to be: 25 3/8" on bottom, 30 5/8" on top, and exactly 15' 10" length. Cut sides 10 1/2" but they're gonna wind up @ 10 3/8" after "fairing". Didn't cut em' as straight as i thought... and still haven't figured out how i started with a length of 16' 1/4" and only lost 2 1/4" after attaching sides... Ha Ha Ha Ha... :shock:
Boat dimensions turned out to be: 25 3/8" on bottom, 30 5/8" on top, and exactly 15' 10" length. Cut sides 10 1/2" but they're gonna wind up @ 10 3/8" after "fairing". Didn't cut em' as straight as i thought... and still haven't figured out how i started with a length of 16' 1/4" and only lost 2 1/4" after attaching sides... Ha Ha Ha Ha... :shock: