Bow Loop, Transom and Frames

The Bow Loop

Bow loop on the Nemah

When I built the Lady C, I installed a traditional steel bow eye. On her maiden voyage, I was pulling away from the Whittier dock on a windy day. I pulled the stern out and swung the bow over the dock. That is when I heard a loud snap and felt the boat shake. As I continued to swing, the reason for the snap and shake became visible. I could not do this again if I tried but the steel bow eye had hooked on a dock cleat. The wimpy steel bow eye sheared off and was left hanging on the cleat.

First Chesapeake with bow loop

Second Chesapeake with bow loop

After a few trips with no bow eye, I was hanging around the Jackolof Bay dock and spied the Blue Heron, a stitch an glue boat much like the Lady C. Instead of a steel bow eye, the Blue Heron had a loop of rope through the stem.



Third Chesapeake bow loop

I retrofitted the Lady C with a loop of rope through the stem. Every boat I have built since has a loop of rope through the stem instead of a steel bow eye.

But you can't just drill hole and string a rope through the stem because the plywood alone is not robust enough to hold the rope when cartopping, trailering, retrieving or anchoring.

To re-inforce the stem at the bow loop, I create a spot where each therapy session's excess epoxy is dumped. After a while, a huge glob of epoxy builds up and can be re-inforcement for the bow loop.




Epoxy glob in stem of Chesapeake

I build a dam and pack excess epoxy in there instead of throwing the epoxy away. I mix all kinds of junk in with the epoxy to increase its volume. I add whatever I find laying around. I usually add wood flour and saw dust from the table saw.



Occasionally I'll toss in a beer bottle cap or a used condom.


Epoxy glob in the stem of the Nemah

Start of the Sea Scull's epoxy glob



Letting the last of today's epoxy
drip into the glob



There's a healthy epoxy glob for the Sea Scull

I'll drill the hole for the loop of rope near the end of the boat building, after the fiberglass has been layed up on the exterior of the stem.

 

The Transom

Fiberglass lay up on exterior of transom

Much like the stem at the bow loop, the transom needs to be robust where the transom rope loop ties in. I decided to build the Sea Scull transom out of 3/4 select pine. In order to get the same grain as the rest of the outside of the boat, I laminated a layer of 5mm RevolutionPly to the outside of the transom and layed up epoxy-saturated fiberglass.

I used screws to secure the transom in place for gluing. Since the side panels turned out to be little too long, the screws are in the excess side panel that will be cut off later.

Transom in place for gluing



Transom exterior

Quarter Knees and Breast Hook

Rough-in of quarter knees

Quarter knees re-inforce the top of the side panels at the transom.

Final quarter knee installation

The final quarter knee looks like a toilet.


Now I can claim that the Sea Scull has a head.












The breast hook re-inforces the top of the side panels at the stem.

There is no need to finish sand and coat the breast hook and quarter kness at this time since they will be sanded flush to the wubwails after the wubwails are installed.

Frames

Rough-in of frame

After its initial pitfalls, the 5mm RevolutionPly is turning out to be pretty darn good. It is extremely flexible yet resilient. And it is very light weight. But, its flimsiness means that it needs a few internal frames.

Frame pieces prepared for gluing

I fabricated 3 frames out of 3/4 select pine. The middle frame will serve as the foot bracket that secures my feet for the sliding seat.

Gluing and screwing the frames

Initial coat of epoxy on the frames and
final coat of epoxy on the skeg

Middle frame with foot bracket

Gluing the frames into the hull



Frames glued in and ready for final epoxy coating



Coated frames ready to go

Next step - install inwhales and wubwails

And Glue

Here is the answer to the second half of the question "Why is it called stitch and glue boat building?"

Gluing is applying epoxy and fiberglass to the inside joints after the boat panels are stitched together.

After stitching the boat panels together with wire, boat plans typically call for temporary spreaders to spread the side panels and achieve the boat's final shape.



Spreaders in Sea Scull hull

I have two spreaders in this boat. One is midship, to produce the widest beam possible without creating rocker in the bottom panel. It turns out that the widest beam possible is 40 inches. The other spreader is to simulate the transom since I am ready to glue but have not installed the transom.







Epoxy thickened for gluing 

The glue is epoxy thickened with silica and wood flour. I add enough silica and wood flour for the mixture to have the same consistency and flavor as peanut butter.










Kitchen spatula for rounding thickened
epoxy

I start by applying the thickened epoxy on the inside of the joints. I gob the epoxy into the joint then smooth it with the round edge of a kitchen spatula, creating a fillet. Anything rounded will work. I have used pieces of scrap wood with round ends when I could not find a spatula or stir stick with the desired radius.

Filleted epoxy



Epoxy-saturated fiberglass tape over fillets

Then I apply epoxy-saturated fiberglass tape over the epoxy fillets. The tape extends out onto the bottom panel and up the side panel, beyond the fillet.

Smaller boats use 9-ounce fiberglass tape. Such lightweight tape can be installed using the dry method (stop drinking, apply dry tape to the joint, saturate the tape with unthickened epoxy, start drinking).

3-foot segments of saturated biaxial tape

I used 17-ounce biaxial tape on this boat. Such heavy tape is difficult to saturate once it is applied to the surface. So, with the heavy tape, I installed it using the wet method (start drinking, saturate the tape with unthickened epoxy, apply wet tape to the joint, stop drinking).

One of the challenges with the wet method is handling the fiberglass after it is saturated with epoxy. When I built the Nemah, I saturated 15-foot lengths of 17-ounce biaxial tape. In order to fit the 15-foot length of tape on the work bench for saturating, I would saturate a few feet of tape, roll the saturated portion, saturate a few more feet of tape, roll some more, so on and so forth. It took so long that the epoxy began to kick-off (cure) before the tape was applied to the boat. I could feel the heat from the curing.

For the Sea Scull, I decided to install the tape in 3-foot segments. I filleted 3½ feet of the joint, saturated and installed 3 feet of biaxial tape, filleted 3½ more feet of the joint, saturated and installed 3 feet of biaxial tape, so on and so forth.

Always using small batches of epoxy.

I use my fingers to smoosh the tape to the surface and sqeeze out all air bubbles.

I stopped short of the transom and will finish gluing the stern when the transom is installed.

Gluing is easier said than done. If you use a blushing epoxy, it is best to complete the entire boat in one session with no epoxy curing between the fillet and the tape applications. This can make for a long day but it avoids sanding of the fillet.

If blushing epoxy is used for the fillet and the fillet is allowed to cure before applying the tape, a wax will form on the surface of the fillet. The tape will not stick to the wax so the wax must be sanded off before applying the tape.

Sanding cured epoxy in a convex surface is more painful than hitting your thumb with a hammer.

So, either glue the entire boat in one session or use non-blushing epoxy.

That's it. Gluing a stitch and glue boat.




In Stitches

Why is it called "stitch and glue" boat building? I can answer half of that now.

Stitching is using wires to attach the boat panels together, holding the panels together only as long as needed to complete the gluing.

Yesterday was stitch day for the Sea Scull. Stitch day is the first time that the builder gets to see the shape of the boat.



Cutting the Sea Scull panels

After cutting the bottom and side panels to the shape described in the boat plans,















Drilling stitch holes in the Sea Scull side panels

you drill the stitch holes along the bottom edge of the side panels while they are still clamped together for cutting. Might as well drill them both at once.

I prefer to use brad point bits for accurate location and clean holes.

I placed the holes about ¼ inches in from the edge. I used my scraper as a high-tech measuring device to layout a hole every 4 inches along the panel.



Don't drill the bottom panel yet !!!




Stitching the Sea Scull stem

While the side panels are still clamped together, loosely stitch the boat's stem.

Wire twisting pliers on 18 ga. copper wire

When working with thin supple wires like 18 gauge copper, you can use wire twisting pliers. These cool pliers clamp both ends of the wire like vise grips. With a pull on the knob, they both tension and twist the two ends together.












16 gauge steel wires in the Nemah stem

On bigger boats with stiff plywood, you have to use thicker, stiffer steel wires. The wire twisting pliers won't work and you have to tough it out with vise grips.













16 gauge steel wires in the Nemah transom



 



 It is best to complete the stitching with the boat upside down on saw horses.

Start by placing the side panels upside down on the saw horses and spreading the panels so they stand by themselves. Since the Sea Scull has no transom yet, I installed clamps to simulate the transom.













Spreading the side panels.

Use clamps and scrap boards to spread the side panels and support the bottom panel.











Now drill the bottom panel !!!

Flop the bottom panel up on the side panels and forget to take a picture.

Start stitching at the bow. I drill 5 holes on each side of the bottom panel and install 5 wires on each side of the bottom panel. But, I tighten only the first 3 of the 5 wires, leaving the last 2 wires loose to make it easy to install the next 5 wires.










I work my way down the boat, 5 a side, moving/removing the scrap spreaders/supports as needed.


























Eventually I reach the transom and, like every stitch and glue boat that I have built with a transom, the bottom panel and side panels have different lengths. No biggy, the side panels will be trimmed after the inside transom joints are glued.






 





Stitched stem of CLC Chesapeake kayak

When building a boat with no transom, like a kayak, the stem and stern always meet.

No shit!

That is because,


well,


Stitched stern of CLC Chesapeake kayak

they had no choice since I stitched them before stitching the bottom panel to the side panels.











Swingset, ladder, ropes, pulleys. etc.
to roll the Lady C over.

Now the fun starts - rolling the flimsy boat over. This can be a bit nerve-racking since you are worried that the whole thing might collapse into a heap of scrap, and waste a lot of way-too-expensive epoxy. But, ya gotta do it.

Rolling a big boat like the Lady C required some mechanical assistance.








First, I clamped lots of temporary support on the Sea Scull hull, such as re-inforcement at the top of the side panel where it will roll and spreaders to maintain some stiffness

Then I set up a second set of saw horses with rails where the Sea Scull will rest when righted.

I covered the saw horses and rails with scrap carpet to protect the Sea Scull finish.

OK, so they aren't really scrap carpets. They are area rugs from in the house. But, my wife is out shopping. A man's gotta do...

I'll beg for forgiveness later.

OK. Here goes !!!

Roll 'er onto the saw horses.










And roll 'er up onto the rails.


Huh.


That was easy.









Remove most of the temporary bracing.



Yikes!!

This boat is kinda big.

Almost too big to get a stem-to-stern picture in the shop.

Here is a pic of the inside of the chine. The stitches will be hidden during the glue portion of stitch and glue.