S/V Ripple

All the plank are hung and filleted.  The fairing compound totaled five pumps of epoxy, and enough filleting microballoons to result in a consistency of peanut butter.  A lot.  I used a putty knife to apply the epoxy, dragged putty along the joint with a gloved fingertip, scraped excess off with the putty knife, both sides of the fillet, smoothed a second time with a fingertip, scraped again on both sides, smoothed a third time, scraped again if necessary, smoothed, until I was happy with it, always ending with a smoothing operation.  When all 14 joints were done, i cleaned up the planking with a rag wetted with denatured alcohol, and dipped a gloved fingertip in alcohol for a final smoothing of all the fillets.  The next day, I created a small bullnose for 120 grit sandpaper, and sanded the fillets till all the gloss was gone, and no rough surfaces remained, to the point that one can run fingertips rapidly along all joints without risk of splinters or catc...

I thought I knew how to run this blog site, but I am unable to respond to comments.  This has happened to me on more than one occasion.  Duh

Plank 7 is curing as I write this.  I had hoped to finish it yesterday, and be fitting the sheer strake today, but I made an error that cost me some time yesterday, and thus finished up #7 today.  If all goes well tomorrow, the last plank will go up, marking the midpoint of the building process.  My suspicion is that it is closer to thirdsies. Hanging planks is becoming old hat, and as I prepare to move on to the 'outbone' -- the outer stem, the rails, the keel and the skeg, I am reading the relevant parts of the two boat building books I am relying upon.  A good time to say a few words about these references. Auklet is an Iain Oughtred design.  Oughtred is perhaps the best known designer of glued-lapstrake wooden boats, and to undertake one of his designs without his book on the subject would be nearly unthinkable.  For all that, I like the design far more than the book ( Clinker Plywood Boatbuilding Manual ).  It is intended as a manual for cl...

 Plank 6 went up today. At this point, it is pretty routine.  I've sorted the spiling process, my planks are hitting their station lines, and cutting out the planks is a snap.  Cutting them by hand with the dozuki razor saw is far more accurate than guiding a jig saw, and results in an edge that requires little or no cleanup. The spiling process works much better now that I have the sequence (bevel first) squared away.  Though, the shape of this last plank surprised me, and even caused me to put the pattern back on the molds to confirm that I'd done it right. Cutting the gains is (finally) routine and done with confidence.  The glue-up process (straight epoxy for wetting out the surfaces, followed by thickened epoxy for gap-filling adhesion) is straightforward, if a bit messy. Laying out the clamps ahead of time, with everything needed close at hand, makes the glue-up uneventful. At December temperatures, there is no urgency concerning 'pot t...

  I spiled and glued-up plank 5 today,  and came to a realization that I should have figured out earlier.  For previous planks, I have beveled the landing for the next plank just before hanging it.  I realize now, I should have beveled the landing prior to spiling.  So doing brings the top  batten plane (the plane of the last plank landing) into closer alignment with the plane of the bottom batten of the pattern (the plane of the next landing).  This results in a spiling pattern that is significantly less twisted, which seems to result in a plank that is less distorted. It may be that I have overestimated the impact of this change, as this plank (the 5th of 8 pairs) would have been easier anyway, but it is nonetheless clear that this is the right way to do it.   The plank went on more easily than any previous.  About 4 hours to spile, fit, cut gains, and glue up the pair.

Today was the first day that I've spiled, cut, fit, beveled, and glued up a pair of planks all in one day.  Four and a half hours.  The gains were much easier to cut for this plank, and they fit nicely.  The bow section was less tortured than previous planks.  The last 4 should be easier still.

Plank 3 went on today.  It felt a bit tortured, especially at the bow.  The glue-up at the bow was messy and required a fair amount of force to bring the horns of the plank to meet with the gains cut in plank 2.  I used every clamp, and slammed a couple of temporary retaining screws into the stem as well. Cutting the gains continued to be a struggle, though, the new shoulder plane (and my own growing experience) improved that substantially.  For the first time I cut the external gain on the bench (or at least two thirds of it, so as not to make the end too fragile).  We'll see how that works.  It certainly is far easier than managing the winding bevel on the stem. I was careful this time to align the tips of the clamps so as to have clear access to the entire length of the seam on the outside, and I cleaned up the squeeze-out and stripped the tape before I left. The shoulder plane is superb. About 3 hours today.