When Tomorrow Never Comes - Footwell Fillets

Last week, I'd drilled the footwells in place and thought that by 'tomorrow' I'd have the cockpit sole down. Well, tomorrow came and went and there's still no cockpit sole. Time is really tough to come by these days. I started an MBA program at the State University here. I have a class that's on the main campus, 90 minutes each way, meaning I work all day, go to class for 3 hours, then drive home. Two other days I have class at their satellite campus just 15 minutes away, but they're still 3 hour classes. With the homework, my day job, and whatever socializing I can muster, there's not a ton of room for boatie stuff. I did spend 10 minutes pulling the drywall screws out the other night, but that was the extent of it.  The worst part is I'm exhausted and asleep by 11 most nights. Sacrilege!

Alas, it's Friday evening. Rather than go to wallyball with friends and family, I was determined to make progress tonight. I started by drilling out the pendant hole. As others have noted, the manual isn't quite right here, as the diameter of the drilled hole is the same as the bushing that goes in it. What has to really happen is the hole must be about 1" across, filled with epoxy, and then redrilled at 5/8" to fit the bushing. Instead, the manual calls for 5/8" then something smaller, which doesn't fit the bushing.

I didn't feel like drilling out a 1" hole then refilling it with the risk of mucking up the centerboard trunk. So I drilled all the way through with a small diameter bore, yet large enough for the pendant itself, then redrilled with the 5/8" bit only about an inch deep to fit the bushing. I'll lather on a bit of epoxy when I install the bushing. None of the wood will be exposed, the pendant can still fit through, and I'll have a nice finish to the bushing. Problem solved.

The next step in the build was to fillet the footwell fast.

Down the length. Spoons make great fillet tools.

Full length of epoxy. Took about .. 20 pumps?

Transom area. Little mucky here but it'll look better once shaped.

These photos may not look like much but it's about 3 hours of work here. Between prepping the transom, sanding the nubs down on the footwell, evening stuff out, and mixing/applying fillets, time flies. I'm waiting for this to set a little bit and I'll go over it with a fine toothed alcohol finger to smooth out the rough spots. I'd like to cut some more flotation foam for either side of the laz floors, but maybe I'll do that tomorrow. Or not.

Cleats, Boxes, and Box Springs

Hard to believe it's been a month since posting, and even harder to believe there's actually been progress on the boat. The last few weeks in and out of the garage have been a bit of a whirlwind. Keen readers will remember that my bosses were all fired a couple months back. I've been assigned some new stuff because of that which takes up a boatload (!) of time. I've had a couple interviews with the special investigator for the State Department with all the paperwork that follows. My wife and I also got our ASA 101 for kicks with the ultimate goal to charter a boat in the Caribbean for our friend's wedding next year. I've been lucky enough to go sailing in the interim (including Chucky B!) and then spent a weekend at a friend's cabin. When I got back, I spent an inordinate amount of time setting up, breaking down, and setting up bedroom furniture, too. And then have been dealing with some family health issues. So while I haven't made a ton of progress, as someone said elsewhere, any progress is moving forward.

Sunset in Wisconsin.

This guy put up a hell of a fight.

Tom does a flip into Lake Pepin.

Bought & built a new bed for the upstairs bedroom. Yes, it's an IKEA special.

Moved the upstairs bed to the downstairs guest room.

With the big bed gone, the panels had to move downstairs.

In terms of boatbuilding, most of the last few weeks have been working on the cleats that support the cockpit deck. As noted in the manual, this is a piece of cake. As noted on every blog, it's actually not. There's a lot of dry fitting, wet fitting, damp fitting, and just plain fits to get this just right. I figured if I glued up the footwell sides, that would give me a good start as to where and how to fit everything else.

I think that worked well, as I didn't have to deal with straight edges and guesstimates since I had the footwell basically installed and I put the cleats all around it. That part wasn't so bad. The bad part was the few times I had to remake said cleats because they kept splitting. Yes, I pre-drilled. But Menard's Finest Select Pine (MFSP) can barely support its own weight, nevermind a temporary dry wall screw.

Using the footwell sides as guides worked pretty well.

This is actually towards the end, as you can see pretty much all cleats in place.

Rather than a single cleat across Bulkhead 7, I just measured and used two so I didn't have to cut it.

The forward cleats off Bulkhead 8 through 7. These extend 24" past bulkhead 7, or about even with the centerboard trunk. The hull cleats are slightly behind on purpose. I wanted a little bit of a "curve" when viewing this from inside the cabin. I figured an inch or two here wouldn't be a disaster. All parts are rounded over and smoothed.

The manual also isn't clear as to where the notches in Bulkhead 8 go for the cleats that run forward and aft. They're in the drawings, but the dimensions aren't given. They might be in the full blown plans, but kit builders don't get the full plans. As usual, I was stuck until I wrote Chris, who said he had the same trouble at the same spot and John C. Harris himself wrote back with the specs. While he no longer had the drawings, he had the specs, and shared them with me. Fellow readers, here they are! Drum roll! 14" outboard and parallel to the footwell sides. The cleat that runs forward is 11" outboard, leaving 3" between notches. The forward cleats should end at the centerboard trunk as the side ones do (or should).

Cutting the notches in Bulkhead 8. This is where some woodworking experience came in handy. Ever had to make a boxtail joint by hand? Congrats, you can make a pretty good notch. As noted, the notches are 11" and 14", respectively, outboard from the edge of the footwell side. Also note I installed the cleats on BH8 facing the watertight compartment vs. into the cabin, the reverse of the plans.

The cleats that run aft provide the rough framing for the lazarette hatches. In reality, there is no real structural issue with 14" vs. 12" vs. 11" but moreso the risk of cutting through the cleat than not. In other words, better to err on the side of larger (more outboard) than shorter. The only thing affected might be the size of the hatch actually used, so as long as the width is less than 14" -- and nearly all of them will be -- you'll be fine.

Another handy number to remember is 15 degrees. This is the angle of the transom off vertical (therefore, the angle of the rear part of any cleat glued to the transom) and also the angle off the hull sides. So when the long cleat that runs from the transom into the cabin is cut, you should set your table saw to 15 degrees. Since there's a complex corner at the hull side to the transom, cutting both at 15 degrees will yield a really nice connection in the corners. Of course, I miscut the angle on the starboard cleat, so don't do what I did. I'll be making a small patch to fix this.

Some blogs recommend precutting the transom cleats from behind before gluing to make it easier, then notching it out later. I didn't do that. Instead, I used two separate pieces to mate with the cleat coming aft from Bulkhead 8.

I cut the angle wrong on the starboard hull cleat and lost 3/4" of an inch. Rather than recut, I lined up the forward spot with its fancy rounded edges and will add a small block here to compensate. Of course, this will be in the watertight area (not visible) so whatever. You can see the aft-facing cleat from bulkhead 8 here glued to the transom cleat, which was two parts.

Port side transom/hull cleat connection fit much better. when in doubt, cut everything at 15 degrees.

With the cleats in and me moving the large panels around, I couldn't help but drop the cockpit deck into the hull. That felt awesome! Can't wait until it drops down for good. It fits surprisingly well. There will need to be some fillet fun as some angles here and there are larger than others (maybe 1/8" - 1/4" off) but nothing that a little planing won't cure. While the size is a bit of an illusion since the outboard 1/5th or so will be taken up by the seat backs, it does give a sense of the hugeness of the cockpit and how roomy it is. I've said it earlier and I'll say again: the cockpit, proportionally, is the biggest in nature, much like the barnacle. I've been on 36' and 30' boats and they don't feel as roomy.

Cockpit deck dropped onto the framing. That was one sweet moment.

I also finally finished up the fillets of the bow compartment.  I was going to let this one sit until the floors were done, but I want to start using materials and boat parts and the lower breasthook is just begging to be installed. I used a lot of epoxy in there: 4 layers of fillets on the bottom part of the bow, 3 on the sides, and 3 running up the middle, not counting filler fillets to smooth out the bumps. (I sand less than I used to and just smooth with thickened epoxy - much faster that way.) I think in total there are 90 pumps of epoxy plus wood flour in here. Why so many? Because I'm going to be ramming into docks, logs, and jet skiers and need the added protection.

About 2 months in the making. I'd been putting this off for so long. The turned out well, finally, after a lot of epoxy, denatured alcohol, and cursing.

The bow hook will also be installed here and I need a really good grip for that, too. There will easily be 4-6 layers of 'glass in there, but that's another day. I then threw in the bilge pump box. I wasn't sure why, but since it belongs in the boat and I had to clear out the bedroom, figure I'd put it here for now.

Adding a small bilge pump between Bulkhead 7 and 6. It will dump into the footwell.

I knew I'd need to mix up a lot of epoxy and didn't want the workout I normally get. I fashioned epoxy stirrers out of cut plastic coat hangers. Sure, all of my clothes sit in a heap in the closet, but hey - they worked great. The only trick with using these is to be sure the mixing is done at slow to medium speed or else bubbles wind up in the mix, like making a meringue, but far less tasty. Care must also be taken not to muck up the drill. I'll make these longer next time.

Finely crafted epoxy stirrers from plastic coat hangers.

With the final (for now) bow fillets drying, I officially started on the sole. I liked the idea of an accent plank from Jon's boat and decided to put one here, too. It will give a nice symmetry when standing in the cockpit (tiller -> accent plank -> bowsprit) and break up the dark orange/rustic of the padauk floor. Another reason is this allows the planks to be fit straight along the centerboard trunk on either side vs. having to cut a notch 3' long. The centerboard trunk is 1 3/4" thick. Lots of small cuts to determine the pattern yielded a simple 3/8" ash x 1" padauk x 3/8" ash lamination.

Accent plank under construction. Pretty simple but took awhile to get it Just Right since this will be so highly visible.

Test fit of the accent board before glue up. I left it a little long so I could cut it back. This was a lesson learned from the boom gallows / tiller build. Gonna look nice once it's cleaned up and varnished.

After cutting the accent plank, I sized and built the battery box holder. I'm not sure what angles are needed to secure the battery box holder to the hull; probably pretty steep, so a test fit was required.

Sideways or no? This is pre-sanding of the locker. It's now sanded!

Cut strap opening with bandsaw and sanded down. This whole contraption will be epoxy'd over the next few days. Eventually, it will be painted white.

Test fit of the box. Fits great. There's hope for the companionway hatch after all.

The accent plank and battery platform got a fair share of glue and will be cleaned up tomorrow. Before dedicating a couple days to the sole, I'd also like to make the main speaker boxes, shelving units for the cabin locker, and cleats for the lazarette shelving to provide spacing between the flotation at the transom. I tested the blue LEDs I plan to use in the cockpit lockers. They look pretty sweet. I'm thinking about putting another set in the lazarette, too.

Long way to go but the pages keep turning.

The Opposite of Congress

Old joke, I know, but relevant. I'm making slow progress on the build and can actually see a very small, very dim light at the end of the 'glassing tunnel. Slowly, I'm pulling out the wires as I go, the very wires that I took so much care installing not that long ago. I'm working aft-forward, one bay at a time, and each bay is taking about a day. Even though the upcoming bays are smaller, they're not necessarily easier, as they have tricky corners and need a full fatty fillet before they can be 'glassed.

To make things easier, I cut away part of the craziness that is bulkhead 7 to apply the fillet, then cut the rest of it away once that fillet cured. This fillet, by the way, is highly visible in the cabin, and is the one I'll literally be resting my head against, so I wanted it to be as perfect as I could make it. Once that fillet cured, I cut the rest of bulkhead 7 away. Otherwise, there wasn't going to be an easy way to 'glass between bulkheads 7 and 8. I then measured out and cut the 'glass for this area. It turns out to be about 40x36.

Cutting away part of bulkhead 7 to make room for the side / bilge panel fillet.

Bulkhead 7 fully cut away and port 'glass gets sized up. Note the overlap on the keel and between floors 7 and 6 (forward).

Starboard side goes down after a couple hours break. It was still tacky to touch so went on nicely. Once again, overlapped the keelson and a few inches forward. I also threw down a strip of extra 'glass on the keelson for good measure for 3 layers on the keelson.

While the 'glass here went on without much of a problem, I found two problems at this stage of the build. The first is the cleats that were installed on the workbench a couple months ago are now completely in the way of a proper 'glassing job. Fiberglass needs to come up off the bilge panel (the lowest panel of the hull) and up a couple inches along the face of the floor board for strength. But with the cleat in the way, this isn't really possible. Chris mentioned this to me way back when but I didn't really fully appreciate the problem until my arms and legs were dangling in the hull trying to get that last half inch of 'glass to stick to the floor board side under the cleat.
 

'glass riding up the aft face of floor 7.

After epoxy at bulkhead 7. There's actually almost two full layers of 'glass here so while there's some bubbles, it should be pretty strong.

The second issue is that the floor boards themselves block easy access to the keelson/centerboard trunk joint. The manual doesn't call for the keelson to be epoxy'd, but this is in fact the base of the bilge. Meaning, it's going to be one of the wettest spots on the boat as water will collect down there. Another wet scenario is me spilling a can of coke or glass of wine. Or a beer, or maybe some scotch. I prefer McCallan 12; that's a good draw. Not a lot of peat and just the right amount of smoke... where was I... oh yeah, PocketShip doesn't have a bilge drain so water gets out of there either through evaporation, a bilge pump, or,  in the case of scotch, a straw. I'm not sure why the manual doesn't call for epoxy here but it sure could've used it.

Un-epoxied, un-filletted area between centerboard trunk and keelson. This could be bad news!

So, instead of applying and sanding epoxy to the keelson on a nice flat surface like a garage floor, I need to apply epoxy with my fingertips just to be sure water gremlins don't sneak between the keelson and the centerboard trunk. I haven't seen this problem mentioned in other blogs so I'm guessing I did something wrong.

Epoxy'd the area above. Will add a second layer after this cures a bit, then a small fillet on top.

For new builders out there, here's what I'd recommend: First, apply two coats of epoxy to the keelson before screwing it down onto the centerboard trunk. Sand this smooth like always. After screwing the keelson down, apply thin tack welds at the centerboard trunk/keelson joint. What you've done here is waterproof the keelson and the joint ahead of time vs. trying to do it once everything's already installed. Once that's cured, go ahead and wire as normal. I have to admit I'm a little concerned about the water down there so I plan to epoxy the whole keelson before continuing with the 'glass in the bays.

If one is feeling particularly industrious, apply the cleats after the floors get installed and 'glassed. It will take some measuring and beveling but it will save a lot of fiberglass headache later. More importantly, it will make a stronger joint. An easy way to make it, well, easier, would be to craft cardboard patterns from the actual floors so you can build the cleats to spec on the workbench for later installation. The larger bulkheads don't need full patterns, just the bottom 1/3 or so to make the cleat. Top side cleats like those found on bulkheads 1 and 2 can go on as instructed in the manual. It's really the cleats that serve as the support for the cabin sole that are trouble.

Once my grumbling was over, the 'glass here turned out OK. I'm a little worried about the way it's interacting with bulkhead 7 but not much I can do. Some of the issue is due to the limber holes that need to be drilled back out, so that will be fixed. Otherwise, I'm hoping that since the 'glass basically rides up the entire face twice, it'll retain some strength, but I'm aware of the bubbles at the base of it. The keelson itself and aft to bulkhead 8 are good, as is the rise up the side panels. It'll be plenty strong, just not perfect, and that's what I'm aiming for. It is cool, though, to see the keelson puzzle joint shine through here. I glued the keelson together at my front door and then it sat in the sun room for a couple weeks waiting for the right moment. It's now a permanent part of the boat.

Finished bay #2 (between bulkheads 7 and 8). Needs second coat, though.

So, two bays down and what feels like a million to go.

PocketShip for Sale

Now that my travels are done, at least until next week, I got back on the horse (helm?) and worked on the boat. In between bouts of sanding, I began thinking about Dave, the Father of the PocketShip blog. Dave built the first private PocketShip, So True, in a few months in 2009 and launched in the fall of that year. He had John C. Harris, CEO of CLC, as a reader and was an inspiration to dozens of builders and thousands of dreamers.

Skipper Dave and So True

Many of us who have built or are building PocketShip have read his blog end to end and over and around again. He's directly responsible for at least a dozen kit orders, I'm sure, though I doubt if CLC ever tossed him any royalties. His influential statement that, paraphrasing, you can't say you built a boat if you didn't cut the wood yourself sent the stock of plywood stock up and up. (Devil's Advocate: Where does such a corollary stop? If a kit doesn't count, do plans? Power tools? A slippery slope, that is.)

I recently learned that Dave is selling his PocketShip and that disturbs me on many levels. I've only just begun but I can appreciate the work that goes into building such a boat. My knuckles hurt from sanding epoxy and my spare bedroom is nearly full with standby materials. But it's the emotional journey that has affected me most. It's a thing in the garage that I tend to, care for, nurture, nuance, and coddle. So the idea of finishing a year or so from now and selling it made me all sorts of sad.

He's got good reasons: Winnipeg sucks for weather; he will live with his son in Australia; he prefers cooking to Captaining. Fair enough. But you have to wonder why go through all the trouble and expense and writing if you were just gonna go and sell it? As I said in the thread above, all things shall pass, though I never thought so soon. Clear skies and fair winds, Captain Dave.

With that, my emotional journey took a turn for the worse over the last few days. I've been dreading sanding down my fillets and tack welds. It just isn't fun and it's pushed the build out until 2015 at least. I finally sucked it up and got into it since getting back from DC. I figured I'd finish the transom, so I laid down the best fillets I could, then 'glassed the area. Although bulkheads 1-6 still have tack welds in them, and 7-8 have fillets, I'll have a 'glassed and finished transom. Mentally, for me, that works better than staring at a big project. It took about 2 hours to sand down the fillets so the 'glass could lay flat. I can't wait for the bow....

I took pictures throughout the process but didn't realize I didn't have a memory card in the camera, so everything I took went into the electronic ether. They were awesome shots of my frogtape, me peeling the frog tape, a dowel + 80 grit sandpaper, and some new stuff that arrived in the mail. Alas, before I realized what the world would be missing, I was ready to sand and lay out the 'glass.

Measured transom area for 'glass. Homemade fillet tools lie about.

Corner cured after some denatured alcohol applied.

Keelson fillets before sanding down.

Keelson fillets post-sanding.

The 'glass itself was cut 36x36, leaving extra for a full overlap of the keelson and then up all sides between 3-5 inches. I wasn't picky about how high this went, as long as it was up at least 3 inches.

All transom fillets sanded and waiting for 'glass.

It took about 25 pumps to fully wet out the area. Though that seems like a lot, it's a full 9 square feet of area that needs a little extra to ride up along the sides. Still, it took a lot of care and fingerwork to get every last bubble out and for the 'glass to lie flat against the fillets themselves. I understand that this can go a little easier if the 'glass is applied when the fillets are still wet. That makes sense, but unfortunately I don't have the luxury of being able to do that right now.

The second side (in this case, starboard) went down easier than the first, as always. I cut darts in each corner but also a couple about a foot apart along the transom and bulkhead 8. I found with the port 'glass that it wanted to wrinkle a bit. Cutting a couple extra darts helped ease out the wrinkles. This took about 20 pumps to wet out mostly because the middle area overlapping the keelson was still damp so I could use that to wet that area.

Port 'glass down; starboard laid out.

With my vertical wet work improving, I laid down a strip of 'glass at the side panel-transom joints. This was mostly because I mixed too much epoxy and it was either watch a few pumps harden in my Dixie cup or maybe I could actually use it for something. Whether or not it's needed, who knows, but the scenario of an engine pulling the boat in reverse and separating at this joint just got a little less likely. With that curing, I opened up some of the goodies I got while I was away this weekend.

Strip of 'glass at the transom-side panel joint. Can't hurt.

I opened this post with lamenting about Dave. Another astounding thing about his build is, because he was the first, he did not have the luxury of other people's learning curves. He pretty much built it as presented, whereas I completely stole (and will continue to steal) ideas from other builders. That's just the way these things work. To that end, I ordered the same bilge pump, solar panels, and controller that Sean did (Hi, Sean). I got the battery box idea from Jimmy V. I'm looking at bas relief art for the bow courtesy of the newest PocketShip in the fleet, in Wisconsin. Chris' propane motor is the likely winner. I'm not sure there's anything I can borrow from Pete's Tattoo because I'm just not that smart.

PowerUp-BSP-1012LSS. Two of them from Ecodirect.

Battery cables, solar controller, battery switch. Getting closer to putting this stuff in.

I hope I can present some ideas here that other people might want to try. I have some thoughts on a footrest grate that could double as a table while underway. There are some cabin thoughts that could work well for cruising. But those things are a long way off. For now, I have my transom curing and I'll continue to sand tomorrow. Small steps forward.

One Tack at a Time

Since back from Okoumefest, I was able to get the bow nice and pointy and the panels aligned. At the suggestion of Chris, I drilled a 2 inch screw through a small wood block and used that as a clamping surface to draw the panels together. Lots of creaking and groaning - the larger Irwin says it has 600 pounds of torque - to get those panels to play nice together.

First clamp goes on. You can see the gap in the panel.

Second clamp goes on and closes the gap for stitching.

Other side. Ideally you'd want some blocks here, too, but it worked without them.

One extra thing I did which worked well was to be sure that the blocks were relatively long. This was so I could spin them in the direction that needed alignment. If the top panel was too far inside the hull, for example, I could spin the top block until it met up with the bottom panel and straightened out. Then I clamped them together and stitched.

The bow was a little more tricky. At first, I had blocks on both sides but the Irwin just wouldn't grip very well and I still had a gap of maybe 1/4" at the bottom where the side panel meets. So I removed the port block and squeezed and behold! 600 pounds of torque brought the the bow together to a point where I could stitch at my leisure. The separation at the bottom part of the side panel is less than 1/8" for about an inch. I say good enough.

First attempt at the clamp. Didn't work well. It worked better when I removed the port side block.

Bow clamp. No block on the port side, just the starboard side. This worked better than expected and drew the bow panel together.

Inside view of the bow stitched together. This looked much worse before the clamps.

I then went about the boat and checked all the stitches, perfectly ready to drill more holes into the hull for the clamp assembly, but alas that wasn't needed. Just good, old fashioned knees, elbows, and foreheads to draw the panels together. I also (finally) added the sanded bulkhead 8 to the hull assembly, officially installing all the components of this part of the build.

The next day, I started the tack welds. I figured I'd start with an area that no one would really see if I really mucked it up, which is the watertight compartment in the bow. I laid down the tape and resolved to do the best job I could. Sure enough, I kinda mucked it up, but as most things, got better with practice. Eventually, I got pretty good at laying these down to the point I felt confident not to use the tape anymore, though I'll put tape down when I do the full fillets.

Few things to note. I was doing maybe 20 pumps of epoxy at a time (fyi: by pumps, I mean 20 pumps each of the resin and the hardener for 40 total). Mixing in some wood flour to just under peanut butter, then adding a bit of cell o fil to round it out. I wasn't concerned with precision here. With practice, it's easy to tell when it's ready because it won't run off the mixing stick yet is still smooth to apply.

This concoction got poured into a zip loc bag as the "pastry bag" which was then squeezed carefully into the area needing the tack weld. The first few came gushing out as I was squeezing too hard. The second few were too light. And some of them were really good but I had to lean into the bow and so was afraid to fall in so weren't as good as they should've been. By the time I was done with the bow compartment, I was exhausted, so I finished out the zip loc bag and meant to call it a day.

I left the typical "beads" that are in the manual and in other blogs. However, as I stepped back a bit, it didn't make a ton of sense to leave the tacks like that because only the area in contact with the weld and the wood would actually be useful. The rest of it would be sanded away as waste at best and in the way at worst. I figured it'd be much easier to apply the fillet when the tack weld itself somewhat conformed to the final shape. So that's exactly what I did. I broke out the trusty teaspoon and flattened out the beads into smooth mini-fillets between the stitches.

There was a lot of "leftover" epoxy after flattening them out. With the extra, I laid down a thin fillet at the transom. This was pretty good work without a net (also known as tape) though the other side didn't come out as well. I was going to do the outside seams but didn't have enough and didn't feel like mixing more epoxy. One tack at a time is my mantra. At this point, I'm about 2/3 done with the tack welds and should be in full fillet mode over the weekend.

Transom fillet among others.

On other news, the new battery box arrived today. This thing is pretty cool. For only a few bucks more than the "blank" one from the Marine store, it has a voltage light (red, green, yellow), two 12v cigarette adaptors, and a space for external battery connector. The 12v adapters alone are worth the upgrade.

I feel momentum coming on and I can easily see working on the electronics and cabin sole in about a month. Early fitting out will also come into play soon with things such as speaker boxes, battery box holders, internal shelves, and running wires. The customization of the boat is what I'm really looking forward to doing. So, again, just taking my time with it and trying to squeeze the build in between everything else.

Battery box and 2 crazy puppies.