Project Slowdown

Sea Scull panels

These stitch and glue boats tend to start off seemingly fast. When dealing with large sheets of plywood and cutting large boat panels, progress seems to be flying. Then you hit the part of the project where woodworking of several smaller items seems to slow the progress.

Inwhales and Rubrails

That's hard to say: "inwhales and rubrails." I usually say "inwhales and wubwails."

When it is time to stitch the boat panels together, my 4-foot x 16-foot work surface goes away and is replaced by two tall saw horses. It is easier to compete the rest of the boat construction on sawhorses. So, before I get rid of the large flat work surface, I try to do all of the work that will be easier on a flat surface, such as constructing inwhales and wubwails.

Inwhales are the 1x2 strips that run the length of the boat, at the top of, and on the inside of, the side panels. They are a structural reinforcement for the flimsy edge of the side panels and give some structural strength to the boat's final shape.

Wubwails are the 1x2 strips that run the length of the boat, at the top of, and on the outside of, the side panels. They are also a structural reinforcement for the side panels that offer some structural strength to the boat's final shape. They also provide protection from damage when car-topping or pulling alongside docks and other boats - thus the name "rub" rail.

For the inwhales and wubwails, I will need four 1x2's that are each 20 feet long. I bought some 1x10x8-foot select pine boards. Select pine is my preference since it lacks knots that will break when bent into the boats shape. Through good experience, I have learned that pine and epoxy get along great as long as the pine has no pitch (tar, sap, etc.). Through bad experience, I have learned that oak and epoxy don't get along very well, even with lots of marriage counseling.

The 1x10s were very warped and cupped (warped = bending in the 8-foot direction, cupped = bending in the 10-inch direction) and probably fairly useless to most woodworkers. Since I will be ripping them into 1x2 strips, the cupping is not an issue. And, since the boat has a curve in the long direction, with careful planning, the warping can be an advantage.



Securing strips for scarphing

After ripping them into 1x2x8-foot strips, I scarphed the strips together to make 1x2x20-foot strips.














Scarphed strips

I scarphed the strips with my power planer and John Henry scarphing jig.











Gluing and clamping
to form 20-foot strips

Then I glue them together.

I line everything up in the dry using screws and clamps to secure the strips, then I unscrew and unclamp only as needed to apply epoxy. After applying epoxy, I screw and clamp them all back together. Then I proceed to eat Cheetos and surf internet porn until the epoxy cures.

 

 

 

The Seat Box

Gig Harbor Boat Works
forward-facing rowing system

I spent some time determining how high the rowing seat should be. Or, more importantly, how far below the top of the side panel. This took some displacement calculations to estimate the draft of the boat and a mock-up of the forward-facing rowing system.

For the first time, I lined the side panels up with the bottom panel to see how much flare there will be in the side panels when the boat is complete. This determines the side panel height and the beam of the boat, which impacts oar location and seat height.






Side panel lined up with bottom panel

With the side panels lined up to the bottom panel, I noticed that the side panels were too high and the beam (boat width) was too narrow. Typically spreaders are installed to push the top of the side panels out, creating more flare and more beam. But, spreading would also create rocker in the bottom. Rocker is where the fore and aft of the boat bottom are higher than the middle of the boat bottom. When set on a flat hard surface, a boat with rocker will rock fore and aft like a rocking chair. I don't want any rocker in the boat bottom since this will shorten the waterline length and result in a slower boat.



From the plans and photos, it appears that the Oarling, the basis of my boat, has a bit of rocker in the bottom. I decided that the side panels needed to have another inch cut off to achieve the desired side panel flair and beam without creating any rocker.






Re-cutting the side panels

Simply cutting an inch off of the full length of the bottom of the side panels would lower the side panel height but would not create more side panel flair and would not increase the boat's beam. To create more flair and beam, the inch had to be removed from the side panel's bottom at midship, but not at the side panel's fore and aft. A smooth curve, starting at the existing fore of the panel, passing through 1 inch above the existing midship of the panel, and ending at the existing aft of the panel, must be cut. I went back to AutoCad to draw a smooth curve and determine the new offsets for re-cutting the side panels.


Re-drilling the stitch holes



Fabricating seat box pieces 

After all that, it turns out that the seat box needs to be 5 inches tall.

I ripped the straightest 1x10 into 1x5s then fabricated the pieces of the seat box out of 1x5s.



Hand sanding




Completed pieces

Screwing and gluing

I screwed and glued the pieces together...


Completed seat box



First coat of epoxy

I coated the seat box with epoxy. Which did not go well. See my Bad Hair Day post for all of the glorious details.











Completed seat box with sliding seat

Then I mounted the sliding seat and rails.

The Seat Base

I was pondering how to have the foot braces adjustable for different height rowers. The foot braces that I got from George Latanzo came with an adjustable bracket. But, those foot braces are too small for the rubber boots that cold water rowers in Alaska wear. But damn, they are stylin'.





I was also worried about leaving the sliding seat outside since the squirrels love plastic and part of the sliding seat undercarriage is plastic.

At the same time I was pondering re-inforcement for the 5mm RevolutionPly bottom panel under the seat box.

Then it dawned on me. Just like the time I sat up all night wondering where the sun went, then it dawned on me.



Seat base

How about if the re-inforcement made the seat location adjustable? That way the foot braces don't have to be adjustable. And, since people's arm lengths tend to vary with the length of the legs, moving the seat, while leaving the foot braces and oar locks intact, would be more pratical. And, the re-inforcement could allow the seat box and sliding seat to be removed and stored indoors. Genious! Brillant!

So, I built a seat base that is also re-inforcement for the bottom. Building the seat base was easier said then done. I built it during one of my bad shop days and it did not go well. See my Bad Hair Day post for the saga.



Alignment of the seat base on the bottom
panel, prior to gluing.

After completing the seat base, I glued it to the bottom panel. The location of the seat base required some calculations to determine where to locate my fat ass in the boat.




I made sure the seat base did not try to
walk away like when laminating the skeg











Gluing the seat base to the bottom panel















Fairing of the seat base.

After the laminating epoxy cured and the weights were removed, I faired the edge of the seat base with thickened epoxy. Fairing is creating a smooth transition between pieces. First I coat the area with unthickened epoxy. Then I prepare some epoxy thickened with wood flour. I glob the thickened epoxy on with the stir stick and profile it with the curved portion of the spatula.










Seat base installed on bottom panel

Sliding seat and seat box
in fore-most position

Sliding seat and seat box
in aft-most position

Skeg Part II

Fiberglassing of the second try at a skeg

I described in my Bad Hair Day post how the first skeg was too warped to be usable and my challenges with laminating plywood for a new skeg. Once the laminated plywood was ready, I covered both sides with epoxy-saturated fiberglass.








Rounded, precoated leading
edge of skeg part II.

Once the epoxy cured, I cut the skeg's leading edge straight then used a router to make the edge round. In my Epoxy 101 post, I poo-pooed precoating of plywoood panels. However, when fiberglassing end grain, especially the end grain of plywood, I precoat the ends. Without precoating, when the fiberglass is saturated with epoxy, the thirsty end grain will suck up all of the epoxy, starving the fiberglass. To prevent this, I precoat the end grain with unthickend epoxy. The trick here is to resist the urge to apply the fiberglass until the precoat has cured. If the precoat hasn't cured, the end grain will pretty much suck up all the unthickened epoxy you apply. Letting the precoat cure will seal off the end grain, preventing the end grain from sucking up future epoxy.








It is about time to stitch the panels together. Gotta make some shop modifications first. Like remove the 4-foot by 16-foot work surface, bring in the tall saw horses, mount straight rails on the saw horses to keep the bottom flat during the rest of the boat construction and replace the empty keg of Pabst Blue Ribbon.