Rub Rails Day 3

In what's a familiar effort by now, I spent a bit of the afternoon working on the rub rails.  Again.  Every time I revisit these, I find something else wrong with them.  And every time I find something wrong, I commit about an hour to fixing it.  Today was no different.

Today's session started by wiping down the entire boat with denatured alcohol.  The idea here was to kill any germs that might've grown in the grain and to also give a good wipe down from the last couple days of sanding.  Some parts really popped here like the rub rail laminations, giving a quick glimpse to what should be the finished product some weeks from now.

Most of the extra squeeze out from the original glue up remained, though. I'd only sloughed off the big stuff over the last couple midnights in the garage.  Fully awake and armed with a new, positive attitude today, I sanded away the remaining drips.  Looks pretty good! -- but also exposed serious voids between the laminations.

 

Careful readers will note I want not just a functional boat, but a comfortable, seaworthy boat fitted for overnight transits on the Great Lakes and the Caribbean.  And not just comfortable and seaworthy, but pretty, too.  The issue here is firmly cosmetic but as important to me as sail ratios and displacement.  I can't be bobbing around on something I didn't at least try to look good.  These voids are troubling, partly because the port side has not nearly as many issues, as this photo shows.

By the time I put these down,, I'd done the rub rails 3 times (I did the port side twice because it was uneven the first time), so I was over the learning curve.  I'd also discovered by then a way to pull the rub rails tight by screwing them from inside the boat.  Alas, starboard got short shrift.

This is a dilemma that has a couple solutions, none ideal.  Short of ripping them all off and slapping on some strips of pine (which I considered, believe it or not) I'm going to abandon my recent decision to pour clear epoxy in here and go with white filler.  I'd love to be able to do brown but there's already too much white and I think it'll look really bad with streaks of white then brown then white.  I'll nleed to be really careful here with the squeeze out as a mistake here could be awful.  The cure can't be worse than the disease!

The small fillet between the rub rail will also be white.  With white topsides I don't think it'll be too bad, but it will have a definite "bathroom grout" vibe which is not something naval architects ever want to remembered for.

All of this sped through my mind during the 90 minutes taking care of business here.  When I got to the stern, I then decided to trim rub rail flush with the transom.

 

I started with a small hand saw to cut away the bulkier parts, then sanded the rest down with 60 grit on the random orbital, shaping as time went on.  This wood is hard!  What I thought would be maybe ten minutes of work turned into 30 minutes of finesse.  I finally got the rake to where it needs to be but not without a lot of effort.  You can see the trapezoidal form the rail takes in a cross section.  I was done about 15 minutes later, thus completing a small task towards the finished product.

 

Halfway through the Rail - Rub Rail Redux

Back from St. Croix, I don't think I can ever tire of boat pictures.

The marina at Christiansted.  This was the view from our hotel room.

View from Rum Runners, a famous bar/restaurant on the boardwalk.

No boats in sight still very nice.  Rainbow Beach on the west side of the island.

After allowing myself some time for reminiscing, I started work on the rub rail.  Another builder noted that it took him about a week to get all of the laminations down.  I agree with that.  One side has to go on after some bending, then the other, then the laminations.  Add curing time, sanding, prep, cursing, rearranging, and final prep, it's easily been four days for me as of today.

I first pulled all of the old screws out and redrilled a couple new ones into the lower breasthook where I embedded three stainless steel screws.  This is to give a little extra holding power near the bow in addition to the glue (thanks, Chris, for the suggestion).  I'll add similar embedded screws on each of the other laminations.  Unfortunately, all this screwing around I'm sure has affected the integrity of the rail, so it's a good thing the rub rails aren't exactly structural.  Nevertheless, I filled in each of these holes with epoxy and prepared for the second layer.  The second layer is ash, which will of course be followed by padauk.

Here a hole, there a hole, everywhere a hole, hole...

Unlike the first layer, the second layer screwed and glued pretty easily with only my body weight forcing the curve instead of my body weight plus hot water plus voodoo magick.  I didn't have to wet this area down nor form it in any way.  Like the first layer, I drilled and screwed in the first three screws without glue then added glue to the rest of the length of the strip.  I then went down the line drilling and screwing the layer in permanently until I reached the stern.

At that point, I unscrewed the first three screws at the bow, plus one other, and added glue to this section.  Once the glue was applied, I leaned in and rescrewed all of them back into the first layer.  Whew!  Since my ash strip is about 20 feet long (I started with a 10 foot board and scarfed them together, not bothering to cut to spec just yet) there was plenty of leverage available to use, which I cut away once done. 

Aft part done.  Unscrewed forward to secure this permanently.  You can see the three countersunk screws in the first layer here.

Lamination done.  I'm thinking the epoxy clean up here is going to be awful.  All those folks who volunteered to help -- yes.

View from above.  I think it looks pretty good.

I think the padauk-ash-padauk lamination will look good, but I worry about carrying a theme too far.  I remind myself that part of the reason for this is because I couldn't bring myself to buy another board of padauk.  Still, there's something to be said for committing to a design.

Test fit of the last layer.

Another view of the test fit.  I was testing the curve here.  It'll be OK.

I'm hoping this cures well enough to do the final layer on the port side tomorrow morning.  I decided to do it this way as I can more easily fit the bow area with the three layers down instead of trying to meet them up one layer at a time.  In the meantime, I'm on the hunt for tires I can use for the flip.  Yes, it's a neverending thing.

Counting Chickens - The Other Rub Rail

I spent the better part of my free time today working on the port rub rail, but that wasn't what I'd planned to do when I first opened the garage door today.  I thought I'd add the second laminate to the first on the starboard side to see what the ash looked like and therefore determine if I wanted to keep it or go all padauk.

Prepped the ash strip but wound up putting it back whence it came.

After curing almost 20 hours, I began pulling the screws out, making my way aft.  I got a few off when I heard a sickening "shlurpy" sound, something akin to a slug scratching along sandpaper.  Sure enough, the rail that up until that point was held in place by the big brass screw pulled away from the hull.  I rushed to mix up some thickened epoxy and screwed the rail back against the bow.  Alas, somewhere in Lake Superior some fine summer day from now someone will find a set of padauk-ash-padauk rub rails, expertly carved, inexpertly glued, floating amidst the dreck of the sea.  That would be my rub rail.

It got cool here over the last couple days, and the outside temperature dipped into the high 30's overnight.  I didn't have my garage heater on so I'm sure it didn't get above 50 in there.  Cold weather of course means longer cure times, something I forgot given how warm it's been (for us) over the last couple days.  Still, there was work to be done, and I wasn't going to let a little thing like glorified glue hold up today's progress.

Like the other day, I converted my Ottoman and living room into a hot water wood bending station.  It went much faster and better this time, and in fact almost too good as I put a sharper curve into the rail than I intended.  It wasn't until later that I understood what this meant and the ramifications for today's build.

Boiling water and padauk is a great way to dye clothes pink.

With a bit of a learning curve behind me, I found that the best way to apply the glue was to pre-drill and pre-screw the first couple at the bow.  These would go all the way into the hull and then back out again.  It took a little bit of fussing as the curve I put into this piece was more severe than I wanted so that it actually bowed quite a bit away from the boat; it wouldn't lie flush.  The only way it would work without going back into the living room to reduce the bend would be to extend the rail out until it fit.  Luckily, I scarfed up the rail longer than needed just for such an occasion.  This is something I recommend for all builders -- don't build a 15' scarf for a 15' boat.  Add a few feet for any number of good reasons, chief among them is leverage in pushing this to fit.

First screw goes on. You can see this was my third attempt.

I then removed the rail from the hull and with these three or so screws still in, I applied thickened epoxy to the entire length, taking care not to hit the hull with the rail as I maneuvered it into place.  In doing so, some of the mid-section areas weren't quite gripping the plywood as well as the starboard side did.  It was then that I realized there's a length of about 4 feet from the forward cabin locker to the aft cabin wall that I have access to the rail from inside the cabin.  Meaning, I could screw into the rail, using the wall as leverage.  It also happens that this is pretty much where the most severe arc of the railing is.  That worked well and wish I realized that when I was doing the starboard side.

Scrap pieces hold the screws in place from inside the cabin through the rail.  This successfully pulled the rail flush to the hull.

When I got to the transom, I spent a long time looking at the boat from the front.  I couldn't tell if it was an optical illusion due to a little bit of a listing or the uneven 'glassing at the bow, but it seemed like the rail was slightly lower on the "right" side.  When I pulled out the ruler, sure enough, it was 1/4" inch lower all around.  So, out came the screws!

This photo bugged me so much I wound up pulling 2/3 of the screws out and moving the rail up 1/4".

It was dark outside by the time I finished re-screwing the rails and cleaning up the handiwork, but the first two layers are done.  I'm not sure if it 's better to do both port and starboard first then work outward, but I guess I won't know.  In the end, I'm satisfied with the effort.  The two rails meet nicely at the bow and taper back.  They both end just where the topside meets the hull, at that little corner.  I think the port side is still a little bit (by like 1/8 inch) lower than starboard but there's not a lot I can do about it now.  At a glance, it looks more than fine, and with spit and polish, it won't be noticeable to anyone but me.  And if someone points it out, it won't be just my rails floating in Lake Superior.

Meeting at the bow.

When I put the ash rail back into the garage, I grabbed a sheet of foam I plan to use for my cushions.  It's quite nice how well this fits with just a bit of trim.  The left side, if flush against the curve of the seatback, comes right to the edge of the footwell.  In other words, perfect.  I'll need three here, as expected, and it will be a fun and interesting project.  There just so happens to be a lot between now and then.

Test fit of the cushion foam.  This is a long way off!

I'm off to St. Croix for a few days for a friend's wedding.  Hopefully that's enough time for this to cure.  High on the list is to finish the rub rail lamination; the anchor well (all areas forward), including the bowspirt cut out; and the portlight cut outs.  I probably won't cut the laz hatches or the hawse pipe holes until the re-flip.  But it's real close.

Rounding the Curve - Rub Rail Installation

When I first read the manual and the blogs, long before I ordered my kit, I noted how everyone had difficulty with the bow area and the rub rails.  In the end, I didn't think the bow area was that bad as I used some fancy physics with a number of clamps.  But the rub rails have earned every bit of aggravation.

I'm using padauk for my rub rails, a very nice hardwood.  Trouble is, like most hardwoods, it isn't very pliable.  It doesn't bend much and when it does bend, it likes to snap back into place.  So when I tried dry fitting the rub rails on the other night, it would literally tear the screws out from the plywood and spring back into nice, sturdy, straight lumber.  That's what a tree does, so I can't get that mad at it.  Frustration set in; onto the forums I went, and off to Oktoberfest, too.  What better way to get your mind off boatbuilding issues than fresh pints of haus brau.

Cask Schwandtoberfest!

Alas, my Oktoberfest stupor could only keep me diverted for so long.  Back to the forums I went, and coincidentally, it turns out there are a few builders working on these same pages from the manual right now, and all of us were struggling in one way or another.  Most were having issues with their wood splitting.  Indeed, this was the most common problem.  This wasn't happening to me, and in fact splitting would be preferable as it would basically be like kerfing and I could easily and happily sand over the splits.  Alas, my splits were happening to the plywood of my hull where I've spent the better part of 18 months systematically assembling.

I wanted to try to do this without heating the wood as space is at a premium and there's nowhere I could easily leave 18 feet of lumber for a few hours in a safe place.  Nowhere, that is, except my living room floor.  Once again, I converted my Ottoman into a workbench and broke out the cookie sheets.  I first  heated the wood with a heat gun, keeping a knee on the lumber.  This worked well and I got about 6 inches or so of a permanent bend out of it after 20 minutes.  There are many websites that discuss this process, some in great detail, and I was diverted for awhile reading about it.  I wanted to see how far I could get without water, but figured, to really make it work, I'd have to take the plunge (ahem).

I dumped out the spaghetti pot, refilled it with water, and brought it to a boil.  I then brought the boiling pot of water over to the living room, soaked a rag in it, and wrapped the padauk in the rag.  When it cooled after a few minutes, I hit it for about 10 minutes with a heat gun then wrapped it once again in boiling water.  All the while, I weighed down the lumber with a 10 lb weight hanging from a screw I put in, as well as my bucket of lead weights that I'm melting for ballast some time in the next few weeks.  I let this sit for a few hours, came back, and had about 12" of permanent bend.  I'd hoped this was enough as without reconfiguring my entire living room, I wouldn't be able to bend it anymore.

Tiger inspecting the workshop.

Yes, that's a bend you see.

Lots of errands later (including hauling out my MacGregor as the mooring balls will be removed next week -- sigh) I figured it was time to try to assemble the rub rails once again.   With the advice of craig from the forums, I got myself a set of 1/4 x 3" deck screws with nice, thick teeth.  I drilled a pilot hole into the lower breasthook and then screwed the rub rail in.  To my relief and amazement, it held!  I was able to take the rub rail all the way to the transom, applying ample force simulating the actual construction.
 

Holding firm - a big screw holds this in place, drilled through the lower breasthook.

The magical screws.

I was only going to epoxy down the first 1/3 but I was worried I wouldn't be able to move it if I made a mistake, so down to the basement I went to mix up enough thickened epoxy to finish the job.  With the big screw holding, I moved aft, applying epoxy all along the length.  I then drilled pilot holes every foot or so and screwed 1 1/2" deck screws to hold the rail in place.  Soon I was at the transom.  Here, the top of the rub rail sits right at the corner of the topsides and the hull.  It looks super sharp.  I then took out the big screw at the bow slowly and epoxy'd up that area, then rescrewed it in.  I then stood back to admire my work.  Only thing was, it was too high at the bow and would've interfered with the bowsprit.  Wow, that would've been bad.

View at the bow, from the top.  This will be one of the first things anyone will see as I pull into dock.

First layer.  It really adds an elegance to the boat.

Quickly, I pulled out the big screw and the two screws aft of it, pushed the rub rail down below the lower breast hook, drilled three more holes, and stood back and prayed it would hold.  It did.  First row: done!  I spent awhile cleaning up the squeeze out and applying more epoxy where needed, but overall, I'm pleased with how it came out.  Later tonight, I'll cut off most of the forward excess so I can get the garage door closed.  I am told the other layers go on easier, if anything because the screws will actually have something to grip.  And of course I still have to do the port side, which I haven't bent yet.  But it's nice to know it's possible.

Final placement, just at the lower breasthook so as to avoid any bowsprit issues.

Incidentally, the 'gold cap' of the screw looks pretty cool, like the rub rail's bedazzled.  I'm thinking about it, because the boat doesn't have enough bling as it is.

Rubbing the Wrong Way - Fiberglass Prep and Rubrails

We are in the midst of what can only be described as super awesome weather. With highs in the mid-70's and full sunshine, it's more like the turning point of June than it is early spring. We all know the bottom's going to drop as it always does, but at least we'll get some good outdoor epoxy work in!

First, a moment of silence for the release of my workpants. I picked these up for about $3 at Arc's, the thrift store nearby. At about 1.5 cents per day, I certainly got good use out of them. After a moment of bonding, I opened the door and they simply walked away on their own. I wish them well!

Walked off and probably somewhere in West Virginal by now.

Quick update on the portlights. I filled in the scoring as noted in a prior post and filled it in with epoxy. Sanded smooth, this will serve as a good spot to attach the portlight screws.

Scored holes before filling and sanding.

Filled with epoxy.

One down, 3 to go.Also faired the topside-hull connection here.

I continued prepping the hull over a day or so filling and fairing any area with lows, highs, and holes. Like most other fairing work, it's more than just aesthetics. If the 'glass doesn't lie flat, there's a structural compromise. So it's important to take the time to do this right. Doing it right often means multiple coats of thickened epoxy. The first application fills the major issues, then another layer finishes the project. The cockpit and hull are complicated to 'glass and I was taking no chances on how it'll look in the end state. There aren't any pictures of this as it doesn't really look like much.

One of the major tasks yet to do was building out the rubrails. This required a trip to Hardwood Supply (now relocated to a fancier location) for 2 boards of padauk. I took advantage of the nice weather and set up shop outside. I've always wanted red grass, so the padauk sawdust was perfect.

My two boards looking very regal before loading into the car.

The dimensions of each layer are in the plans, so when I carefully measured it out and bought the boards, then cut everything, I was naturally short the last rubrail. What to do? Go back to Hardwood Supply and drop more coin on wood I probably wouldn't need? That wasn't much of an option as I'm currently between jobs and doing so would put me in the red on my very strict budget for the week. So, naturally, I'm going to laminate padauk and ash.

The first rails get milled.

I had a board of ash leftover from the gallows and tiller (man, that seems like a long time ago) so pulled that out of hibernation, cleaned it off, and suddenly I didn't have a wood problem anymore. I am, however, perilously close to overdoing the design but at least when I commit, I commit.

Finished milling, including the ash.

The boards were scarfed using a jig purchased from a woodworking store. It was on sale and saved me the hassle of building one. Here, again, I learned another scarfing lesson (which I should've realized as I was corrected and have corrected people on this mistake in the past). Each board is 8 feet long. A 10:1 scarf is 7.5 inches long (10 times 3/4 inches). Scarfing both sides of a board loses the length of the scarf, so two boards 8 feet long scarfed together is actually 16' less 7.5" in this case*. Add the length required for the curve, and it's too short for PocketShip. Even if the boards are scarfed with a smaller ratio, there's no way two 8 footers come to 16 feet.  What to do? Add another scarf, of course.

The extra tail scarf gets done.

I had some extra padauk laying around about 3 feet long which will be just enough to take care of the missing length. I'm not that concerned about how this will look on the boat as people will have to look really close to see these joints at all once polished up, but I'm still annoyed at the error. So, for those thinking of doing this, be sure to add at least a foot to the board, or prepare for a second scarf at one of the ends. The scarfing itself came out OK.

Test fit of the scarfs.

I then had some trouble on where to do the glueup. My garage is, of course, not available, and doing 18' planks in the workshop wasn't going to be an option (and anyway, I can barely walk down there after clearing the cockpit out. Guess where that stuff went.) What did I have that was stable, secure, and highly mobile? TV trays, of course. Alas, it got pretty windy and that wasn't going to work. So, out came the plywood from the original delivery and I moved everything to the ground.

Three TV trays support the rails. Or not.

Moved to the ground.

 After that, it wasn't too bad to get these to clamp together.

Clamps do their thing.

In reality, it's just the tops and bottoms of each one, plus the outside face of the last one, that need to look good. This allowed me to slather on the epoxy for the internal ones which I'll sand back down when cured. I'm hoping to get to the cockpit glass tonight and have these attached by early next week if all goes well.

* Thanks to craig, a fellow builder, for pointing this out.