Transom Fiberglass Fun

The book states (paraphrasing) that when you're 'glassing the transom, the end is in sight.  Well, behold my end!  This one is a bit darker though not any less shiny. 

I plan to keep this bright except for some trim around the edges.  The trim will be about the width of the rub rails all around.  I wish I could keep the whole thing bright but I had to glob up some filler for some of the corners at the transom skirt back in the day.  The rest of it is really pretty.  I think it's sapele if I remember right, real wood not the marine ply, so its rich hues shine through.  I've been researching marine decal makers so we'll see how that goes.

It does feel pretty good to get this done as I wasn't sure how to pull this off, given the transom has been sitting on a couple tires for about 5 years with nothing supporting it otherwise.  So, a visit to a generic hardware store and $40 later got me two small jacks which I used to lift the end enough to gain access to the transom skirt.  I used a couple small boards of padauk to protect the boat from the jack.  They're also both on furniture dollies so I can move the boat around if needed.

As I write that last sentence, I have glossed over the sheer terror I felt when I was underneath this 1,000lb object with nothing supporting it except the two generic jacks.  An inadvertent kick and I'd be a pancake, or at least trapped in the cockpit.  No kidding -- I checked to be sure I had my phone just in case.  I think I'll visit a big box store tomorrow to get a couple cinderblocks for more permanent and safer support.

But with the boat off the ground I also noticed a potential problem.  Years ago, I fixed a mis-measure at the companionway entrance, and right in the same spot where it's been sitting on a tire for awhile the entrance is bowed a bit, bending in towards the cabin.  I'm not sure how I'd go about fixing this;  I'm hoping that now that it's relieved of pressure it'll reshape itself.  It's not that bad, but it's noticeable, at least to my eye.  Nothing I can do about it now except to continue with the bottoms up part of the build.  When I re-flip it I'll be able to see how bad it is.  In the meantime, the support point is now the anchor locker which is a far better place for it to be.

With no way to fix that, I went ahead and did the transom.  I was able to get some 'glass on the transom skirt at the same time, bringing the 'glass around the bend a few inches up.  This wasn't easy to do and I almost regretted the effort as I could've just stopped at the bend and sanded it clean later.  But I figured I'd give it a try.  I had to cut a small dart right in the  middle but otherwise it wasn't too bad and it'll be a good strong joint when I double this up on the flip.  I was also able to double up on the sides, too, and got those down.  Without breaking my arm too much, I've got the 'glass thing down pretty well by now -- just in time not to ever have to do it again.

With some extra epoxy on the cup, I also dropped a couple strips of 6oz 'glass where the transom meets the bottom of the hull.  I'll add a couple strips on either side of those once they cure.  I was also able to finish most of the reinforcements around the chine, keel, and bow.  Here's a section where two bits of 6oz 'glass meet.  There's another 4 layers of 4oz 'glass underneath this so I feel pretty good about the strength here.  Except for maybe a bulky look when painting I don't think you can go wrong with too many reinforcements.

One challenge I had with all the thin strips of 6oz 'glass was figuring out how to lay the frog tape as I couldn't get the width just right as the keel and everything else changes shape over its length.  I was eyeballing it most of the time and then realized that I could just use a small bit of it and have an actual size template against which to place the tape.  Wow, wish I noticed that earlier as it would've saved a few yards of tape.  So now I can just run this little guy along the tape and see if I sized it right.

I'm aiming to get all the 'glass work done in a couple days so I can start with the epoxy layers, but I'll need more epoxy to do that, so CLC gets my credit card again.  Pouring money into a boat I may not even get to sail is really depressing!

A Return to Normalcy - Cabin Decking

I've been home for a month, slowly settling back into the groove of post-Caribbean life. That is, except for the pesky routine about work. I left my job for good on Independence Day and am now in occupational limbo as I concentrate on my schoolwork and the beast in the garage. Some day, I'll post a bit about St. Martin in far more detail, but if anyone out there wants to know the ins-and-outs of the leeward islands, I'll be a good a source as any.

One of the conditions my wife gave me in order to leave my job and sail around the islands was to finish PocketShip by the time of the frost. Given we live in Minnesota, that could've been late August.  But so far, we've been spared the sudden drop in temperature and I've been working towards getting the boat, if not finished, at least ready for painting.

I spent the first couple weeks with minimal effort, honestly, as I was catching up with friends including Chris' PocketShip (great!), the Yankees (not so great), and world news in general (holy mother of monkeys).  Long-delayed projects such as the interior cabin 'glass fix and the cabin deck were high on the agenda.  With that, I got to work by fitting the timber across the cabin deck span. These actually go in first, according to the manual, but other builders have recommended that they go in last. That was good advice, as I was able to get the other bits and pieces secured before setting this one to stone forever.

The trim on my boat is padauk, so naturally so are these beams. With a white "ceiling," they'll look terrific, if I can keep them looking good through the process. So far, it isn't promising but no harm in trying.

Spans glued and screwed in place.

From below. They were prepped and rounded over before installation, but not yet epoxy'd.

I then turned my attention to the nasty spacing between the cleats and the cabin deck itself. On the port side, I shaved off too much so that there was too much angle. In other words, the cabin deck would only lie on the corner of the cleat instead of flush. In a moment of triumph for keeping any and all scraps, I used a bit of the offcut from making the side panel cleats for the cockpit. They were nearly perfectly angled. So, with that as a lamination, I inserted it between the offending cleat and the cabin and look at that: the gap closed acceptably.

Here is the offending gap, taken through yet another gap. This is the lamination meant to close the gap between the cabin deck and the cleat on the aft cabin wall.

The first lamination gets glued into place.

I also spent some time cleaning up the fiberglassing between the hull and side panels. I applied the 9 oz 'glass on the damp epoxy. Without realizing it, I'd put finger depressions all along the wet out and it dried like that. Nice if going for the cratered look is what you're after, but not so nice when this is the inside of the friggin cabin. I've been avoiding / dreading this for a long time for whatever reason, but finally kneeled in the cabin and took care of it. Like 99% of any fix, I mixed up some epoxy and spread this thinly across starboard and port and let that cure. When sanded down, it had a nice, smooth finish. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought, and doing so inspired me to continue working in here before the cabin deck went on for good.

Just after the cabin deck installation, meant to show the fixed hull-topside 'glass joint but shows so much more!

Since I was in the cabin, I figured it was time to cut out the dorade holes. On a fear factor scale, this ranks pretty high.  I'd already decided that I would paint the entire bulkhead 2 the same color as the cabin instead of leaving it bright, so the stress was lower, but it still took about 30 minutes to measure and score where I wanted these two holes to be.

I used the adjustable hole saw (recall that this is one of the weirdest, most dangerous tools I've ever seen). They came out alright.  The black marks are scorching from the friction; my garage had smoke billowing out of it and I'm sure my neighbors had 911 on one line and their real estate agent on the other.  You know, to move away from the crazy man with the burning garage.

I cut a 3" hole and let the remaining 1.5" burn on their own. Haven't decided if I want to put a deck plate in here or trim of some sort.

View of the holes cut to show the unbelievable symmetry. Something like that. It was this shot that convinced me that I prefer bulkhead 2 whitewashed instead of bright.

Finally, after months of anticipation, it was time to fit the cabin deck. In trying to avoid router issues as others have seen, I aligned the corners of the aft cabin wall and the cabin decking itself.  This was to limit the amount I'd need to cutaway on the aft part of the sheet.  With some clamps in place and sitting gently on the cabin, I drilled holes into the cleats and plywood to set the screws.  I didn't use the tool that is recommended in the manual. I guess it would've made alignment a bit easier but I found I didn't need it.

Cabin deck placement, lined up perfectly (or so I thought).

I mixed up some epoxy and there it went. This is one of the few times a major project went better than expected. I still had gaps here and there between the cabin deck and the cleats, but they were limited in scope and I'd be able to fix them with (what else) epoxy.  I stood back and admired my work and pulled out the manual to see what was next.

Cabin deck screwed down. I used a lot of these things.. somewhere around 75?

Hidden among the usual prose, the manual clearly states that the decking needs to be 20.5" from the companionway opening.  This is to allow for the companionway slide.  I scratched my head on this and thought, well, it didn't look like 20.5". Sure enough, because I aligned the corners, it's not: it's 22.5".  (This is probably what it feels like to be winning a game only to be beaten by a last second shot.)

Crushed, I figured I had three options:

1. Ignore it and build the companionway to the regular spec (in other words, leaving a 2" gap in the ceiling)
2. Build the companionway 2" bigger, thereby having it come out 2" more into the opening.
3. Build a bridge to cover up the area and build everything normal.

I went to the PocketShip forums for advice.  Surprisingly, most people said to ignore it, including well-respected members of the builder community. A couple folks said to build the bridge, and a couple folks wanted more information.  I initially sided with the 'ignore it' group but slept on it and thought better of it, mostly because of the rain that could get into the cabin. So, out came the measuring devices, a scrap of marine plywood, and within moments I had a bridge cut to spec. The hard part would be getting it to look good, with the curve of the decking, so out came the clamps to dry fit the bridge.

Dry fit of the curve. Didn't need to make any adjustments for once.

Clamps showing that yes, this could actually work.

It looked like if I could extend the butt block aft first, which had to be done anyway, I could use that as a pivot point. I could then pull the rest of the bridge in line with the decking. This blocking went down and cured first. Once cured, out came the epoxy for the tack welds.

Glued and clamped the butt block extension, stopping 1/2" short of the edge.

Rest of the bridge gets clamped down with tack welds added.

View from below. Cleaned up all smooth and buttery now.

Once those cured, I sanded them down and finished off the epoxy application.  The last photo is the finished effort.  It looks worse here than it does on the boat.  When this is 'glassed and painted, no one will know!  And every time I step into the companionway, I will remember these hours and remind myself to always read the manual.

Clamps removed just before sanding down.

First set of epoxy curing.

Final fix in place. Very happy with the result overall.

With the "bridge" in place and flush with snatching victory from defeat, I saddled up my router and ran it around the cabin decking.  The flush trim bit carved off the offending overhangs with alacrity.  I then went to do the starboard side and suddenly it didn't work so great anymore as the router took a huge chunk out of the deck.  I looked at the bit closely and saw that the bearing -- the thing that makes it a flush trim bit -- came off somewhere along the way.  The result was a significant gouge, right where I needed it least.  Yes, that meant yet another epoxy clean up was in order.  Stupid boatbuilding!

Yet another router mishap when trimming the cabin decking overhang. I've joined a not-so-exclusive club with this maneuver.

I took a drive to the Big Box store and picked up another bit, then finished the trimming.  Once done with trimming, I sanded it flush with the side panels, mixed up some epoxy, and began what would become three applications to fill the outside gaps and prep for fiberglass.  I still have a gap inside the cabin at these areas, and I'm undecided if I want to take care of that now or at the flip; probably now.

Gap between the topside and the cabin deck filled in, first pass of it. Two more passes after sanding got this flush and nice.

Second pass in place.

With that error, too, curing, there were just a couple minor things to do before I could wholeheartedly prep for 'glass.  One is the transom skirt cap, a task I haven't been looking forward to at all.  Many blogs complain of this: it's tough to cure, it doesn't stay in place, etc.  Some people just get furniture molding and call it a day.  I figured why not try, so I did.  These pieces were done with the table saw set to the right angles.

The first lamination cut OK but as the manual indicates, it was tough to get this to hold in place.  I've realized that when the manual says, "might take some work," it's translation really means, "almost impossible."  Like, "cozy" for real estate is code for hamster-sized and "TLC" means a wrecking ball would be more appropriate.

First lamination of the transom skirt cap.  Bit of an annoying piece of geometry. Starboard wasn't too bad; port was worse. But it'll be covered up with the cap so no problem, right?

I then cut the second lamination out of padauk, but bagged that idea when I saw how tough it would be to clamp.  Basically, I'd get epoxy all over the padauk and it would be much more work to get it to stay -- and keep -- bright than just to paint the darn thing.  This held better than the first but only after coming up with the clamp configuration as shown.  One up, one down. I screwed down each end of the cap to hold it in place and keep the fair curve.  There didn't seem to be any other way to do it.  A little sanding and filling and this will also be seamless when done.

Second cap lamination gets glued down. The alternating clamps worked best.

Screwed the end of the caps down to keep the curve.  Filled the underside with epoxy.  This will take some finesse to make look good.

In the meantime, I'll be filling and fairing the cockpit and hull and the overlapping parts of the boat for the next week or so.  It really is coming together but still have a million little things to do.

Spreadsheets for Jibsheets - Assorted Progress

When last we left my PocketShip build, I had the seatback stringers strewn around the house and the backyard. The table saw remained outside for another week or so before the threat of rain forced me to haul it back in. In the meantime, I finished up my first semester of grad school and threatened to quit my job (more than once). It looks like St. Martin will be the destination of choice.

A cat sitting at anchor in a St. Martin bay.

St. Martin has always been a top Caribbean destination for me. The beaches, dual-languages, and flawless weather combine for an eclectic mix of awesome. The idea that I'd be trading my view of Minneapolis for the bridgedeck of a 42' cruising catamaran is too much anticipation for my own good.

For now, I'll set those dreams aside and catch people up to the build. I'll present these in "area" order, not necessarily chronologically.  Figuring it was time to work on the bow, I spent a weekend prepping this area. Part of what I had to do was finish the bevel at the very tip. This came up a little short so had to plug in some timber, sand it, epoxy, and let it set. Given how visible this is, I wanted to get it right, and was pleased with the final result.

The tip cured in place and faired.

Once that was set, I could turn my attention to the rest of the area. I sanded down what I could and added 6 oz 'glass per the instructions. It didn't go on as scarily as I first thought, but it did take quite a few darts to ensure a proper fold and fit.  With some new found frogtape skills, I wound up with some nice clean lines.

Final prep before 'glass.

'glass gets dry fit. Lots of darts made this OK.

Wetted out (First coat). Cut away the extra a little after this.

View forward. The little dots of course are the screw tops filled with epoxy.

After this cured, I added  9 oz 'glass to the vertical area just behind the tabernacle as well as a strip right where the bow deck meets the forward cabin wall. This is in response to some reports of failure at this spot. It looks and feels pretty secure now.  I added two more epoxy layers to 'fill the weave' then prepped for the dorade boxes and breasthook.

The upper breasthook was a very satisfying piece to install. This took a little work with the lines, roundovers, jigsaw, and sanding.  I also epoxy'd the downward-face because I wasn't sure I'd have good access to it later. Once settled, it settled nicely. Four two inch stainless steel screws hold this in place at the bow whereas the 600lb Irwins hold up the rear. I plan to keep this bright for a splash of sapele at the bow. With care, this will look terrific.

Breasthook installed. Took only a little bit of work, much less than the lower breasthook.

Once that sat to cure, I turned to the seatbacks. Most of the time for this part was spent getting the right measurements so that it was the same height off the deck and from the transom. If I cut a wrong hole here, I'd be in trouble. The idea of looking at cross-eyed locker openings was almost too much to bear. Once or twice, I thought about leaving this solid all the way around just to avoid a mistake. But alas, this is boatbuilding, and as I've said a couple times before, sometimes you just gotta jump.

Ring gets dry fit before epoxy. Note the pencil marks. This wasn't easy.

The trick here (for me) was to ensure the seatback locker ring is perfectly smooth on the inside. This is easier said than done as the kit leaves all these little nubs that need to be sanded off. Once removed, the ring needs to be faired. This is to ensure that the router can use the ring as a pattern. Otherwise, you're looking at a wavy mess with a jigsaw or a lot of wrist wringing with a keyhole saw or whatever. The ring prep was worth it and I came away with a really nice set of locker holes.

Used a router with a flush trim bit to cut this away. Surprisingly good.

In the end, the seatbacks are some of my proudest accomplishments to date. They are dead perfect! Well, perfect enough. A nice little roundover and sanding and they're about ready to be installed. I test fit the locker dashboards (visible with the speaker inside the locker) and I'm able to insert and remove them without too much hassle even with the seatbacks installed, which is the plan.

The cockpit-facing side got a roundover and sanding. The locker-facing side got a sanding. I also test fit the locker dashboard.

Something I've been dreading for awhile finally had to be tackled. These are the cleats that support the cabin deck (the "roof").  These cleats are made of timber that get epoxy'd to the upper edges of the forward and aft cabin walls. They need to match the rake of the cabin where it meets the hull and the size of the notches cut into bulkhead two. They also need to be left a little proud so they can be planed down and accept the cabin roof. In other words, they're a real pain in the saw. Jon, a fellow builder, warned to do the cleats before the two long cleats that span the opening.

Given I ignored some other early advice from him and others, I glommed onto this one and only cut the spanning cleats a couple days ago. I can say the advice was great. It allowed me to get the angles right instead of fighting the spans in the way. I later cut away what I needed to cut from the cleats.

Test fit of the span. The two spanning timbers will be padauk. With the cabin 'roof' white, this will look like rafters. Have to be careful to keep the padauk presentation-worthy during this process.

The first thing to do is to measure out the length of the cleat of the aft cabin wall. The first attempt wasn't wide enough. Because the angle from hull to top is so steep, it takes more wood to reach those heights than I thought. I'm writing this from memory, but for those who want a little advice, be sure to use at least 3" width. There should also be a 5 degree rake to accept the hull angle and a 30 degree rake to accept the aft cabin wall. These are complicated angles, and complicated angles call for complicated men.

First pattern for the aft cabin wall cleat. This wound up going into the scrap pile.

Bulkhead 2 cabin 'roof' cleats cure. Note this does not have the spanning cleats, per advice from other builders.

Once those cured, I prepped the bow area for dorade installation. Keen eyes will note the sanded 9 oz reinforcement 'glass here.  I used a protractor to ensure both angles were good (they were) but the only way I could get the angles to work was to have the forward dorade wall ride a little high against the hull. Meaning, I'll need to install some blocking to accept the cabin deck. Overall, this is the area where I had the most trouble, the timber that runs along the hull. They're too low by maybe 1/2" to 3/4" and I'm going to have to laminate these taller to accept the cabin deck. Before that, I need to do a deep dive in the cabin itself and work out the epoxy issues in there. Not. Looking. Forward.

Dorade box wired up. Tack welds followed.

Dorade box tack welded together.

After a little bit of time, I let the tack welds cure and pulled out the wires. I then installed the dorade cleats, which continues the fun of the cabin decking. I also put the big blocking inside here which will be the place cleats will secure onto, but that photo got corrupted somehow so isn't here. In the meantime, I laid down some structural epoxy on the inside, though not the outside yet. Next steps would be to drill out the dorade hole that enters the cabin (yikes!) and a 3/4" hole to lead the wires into the forward locker. The dorade box is where the nav lights will install and where the solar panels will run down to the controller.

Cabin 'roof' cleats get epoxy'd in.

Satisfied for now, I then spent an hour cutting up the last remnants of my insulation. I wound up taking most of these out as I had to install the spinnaker blocks and epoxy those in place, but it wasn't too bad. I only have the port side insulation done as I ran out and haven't been to the Big Box Store in awhile.

Stuffed with foam. I thought about running some wires forward but ultimately did not.

I installed the stern and spinnaker blocks, too, made out of ash. This wasn't too bad. The worst part was ensuring that the thickened epoxy didn't get everywhere. It was a bit of a tight fit and I realized I'd be better off with a slightly smaller block that I could clamp into place vs. trying to squeeze something in perfectly. And when I mean slightly smaller, I mean like 1/16" of an inch.

Stern block goes in. The manual shows a 1" hole cut into this now instead of later to accept the boom gallows pole, but undecided if I want to do that. Doing it now would mean I'd be able to prep it (epoxy, etc) but runs the risk of not being centered.

I also worked on the transom skirt with the final bit of thickened epoxy there. 

Thick bit of thickened epoxy holding the transom skirt in place. This got cleaned up after the photo.

The other end of it got some thickened epoxy applied into the gaps and then sanded down and faired. This went really well and gives me hope that the hull joints are going to be OK.

Any time I had extra epoxy, I put some into the random joints and screw holes around the hull. This is the transom skirt, which I sanded back down and faired. It looks and feels pretty good.

It was right about here that I opened the door into the garage and found this guy perched on my clamp box. I don't know how long he was in here, but I didn't notice any work done, so I wasn't happy. You'd think if he was going to hang around the boatshop, he'd do a little sanding. But no.. stupid bird.

I took a few photos of him then tired of him so I opened the garage door from where I stood. Instead of flying out like a normal bird, he took off over my head and into my house where I spent the next 20 minutes trying to get him to fly back outside.

He probably spent a few hours in the garage, and not a single friggin thing was done. Stupid bird.

From the garage to the living room floor. Stupid bird.

This is in my fake tree in the sunroom at the back of the house. Stupid bird.

Finally, he found his way out and I could continue the build. I started this session by installing some of the electronics and support things. In the photo below, I've got a drain plug, horn, clam, horn button, and speaker hooked up. This is the starboard 'dashboard' and will also house the RAM3, which will come up through the laz, through the clam shell, and connect at the marked area just above the speaker. I'd originally intended to install a 12v set here but didn't have enough room. It was one of those compromises I had to make. The clam was siliconed and screwed down. It should be fairly watertight, but it will dump into the laz area so will be OK.

Tight fit but it all works.

Prepped for painting.

With the electronics dry fit on both sides, I painted three coats of primer and then the leftover Snowbound paint from the fall. The paint was still good and this came out nice.

When I went to actually install the seatbacks, I noticed that I was off by maybe an inch on both the port and starboard sides. Not sure how that happened. The curves seem OK and this is from a kit. I recall that the cockpit deck, too, was slightly "short" so my boat appears to have a waterline of 13' 11" instead of 13' 10" per the specs. There isn't a cleat back here (one isn't called for in the manual). I didn't want to put in a really thick piece and gum it up with epoxy, so I decided to extend the seatback.

Just a bit short. Thought about this for awhile.

Here is the piece from the kit that matches up with the seatback. It's slightly off but close enough to make a pattern. I wound up cutting four identical pieces on the bandsaw: Two for the extension, and two to form a butt joint to connect it to the seatback.

Found the bit from the kit that matched up. Saved a few moments of measuring.

The view from the top shows that it'll work fine. I'm not too worried about the "lines" getting mucked up; I doubt anyone will be able to tell my seatbacks are an inch longer than they're supposed to be. Once set, cured, sanded, and painted, it'll be a seamless fix.

Seatback 'extension' one for each side. The other side of this has a butt joint getting epoxy'd down.

And if all this month's work wasn't enough, I also started pulling apart the MacGregor. This is the view of the inside after we stripped it of some really gnarly carpet and woodworking, but before I pulled the rest of this crap out and wiped everything clean. The idea is to hit all of this with Kilz and whitewash it. New fabrics, electrical, furniture, and other assorted upgrades will make this cruiser ready in a few weeks.

About 1/4 way through the demo. We don't call this the HGTV boat for nothing.

The outside of the boat, too, is getting an overhaul. This will be Islander no more. There's a new logo  and name forthcoming. Stay tuned for more news, some of it about PocketShip.

A bittersweet picture. The previous owner I'm sure thought long and hard about the logo and the name.