| Herkimer
&
Perkins
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Index:
The
Log Pond
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My
Backyard Boats:
ArcAngel
building log, Part Two
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ArcAngel
makes a fine yard ornament, and I'll use it as a
template for the next attempt, too.
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02
March 04: Part
Two of the boatbuilding log for the ArcAngel,
or Church
Mouse,
begins in joy and ends in sorrow, of a sort. In other words,
there will be a Part Three, the building of ArcAngel
Too.
Part
Two follows the finishing of the hull and an initial launching
to see if there were any problems. There were problems,
and big ones. The joints were weeping and the pinholes were
spouting. I enjoyed a hal-hour in the boat before realizing
that the aft space was almost full of water, and I had been
bailing constantly to reduce the water that I could see
in the cockpit.
I
decided to make ArcAngel a yard ornament for now and to
bring her into the basement when I begin again, to use as
a full-sized template and guide.
I also decided to post Part
Two of the building log for its value concerning strip
boatbuilding techniques.
10
March 04: It’s good to be back at the boat. The
fairing of the inside of the hull is physically demanding, what
with bending over and using heavy tools such as the angle grinder
in repetitive motions that need a light touch. And the angel grinder
is heavy, too! The convex hand plane that I got for this job isn’t
aggressive enough, and I haven’t figured out how to set
it up, either.
So far, the six-inch angle grinder at
medium speed, with a metal grinding disk, is the best tool for
this job. To clean up after the rough grinding, a curved cabinet
scraper is working, but something in between these two would be
a good thing, too.
I have the option of leaving the end spaces
under the hatch covers rough, because they will be out of sight.
Time: 2 hours
Fairing
the inside of the hull was easier this way when I was
working on the sides of the inside, if you know what I
mean ... .
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13
March 04: A new sanding disk for the angle grinder is
making a better job of the fairing inside the hull. I also decided
to continue the initial rough grinding inside by using the angle
grinder and metal disk.
I’m about half-done with the sides
of the cockpit. I’ll keep at it until it has a near-final
level of finish. I put the hull on two saw horses, and leaned
it against my work table. I had to swap the ends, too.
I’m going to get a better random
orbit sander. The one that I got last fall is no good because
it uses contact type sanding disks instead of hook-and-pile-backed
sanding disks. The contact type is expensive and useless compared
with hook-and-pile. The latest disks that I got won’t stay
on at all.
Time: 2 hours.
Cost: $10 for a new sanding disk for the
angle grinder.
14 March 04: I’m
sticking with the grinder now, and I’m getting better at
using this heavy tool to fair the inside of the hull. The port
side is in good shape now; I’ll start on the other side
next time. The dust is oppressive. However, I finally have the
right tool.
It would take a long time to make a 15-foot
canoe this way. The Wee Lassie, at 12 feet +/- looks good by comparison.
I don’t necessarily want to use cedar, though. Even if it’s
far softer and lighter and easier to work. David Hazen, the guy
who wrote the classic Stripper’s
Guide to Canoe Building, in the 70s, has a
website where he explains how he repents of encouraging builders
to use clear cedar, since he does not consider it to be a renewable
resource.
Time: 1.5 hours.
New
random-orbit sander has the precious hook-and-pile option.
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15
March 04: I got a Porter-Cable random-orbit sander today.
It is good. Has hook-and-pile. I used it to fair the outside of
the hull on the starboard side between the sheer and the turn
of the bilge. On this side, there are huge gaps between the five
or six strips down from the sheer, though the strips are tight
on the inside. The gaps may look bad, but they will be as strong
or stronger – if I choose to chase the gaps with epoxy.
If I use wood flour/glue paste, it will not be stronger –
but as strong, still.
At the bow on the starboard side there
are a lot of nail scars. I’ll wait until I see what the
other side looks like before deciding what to do. I can take off
1/8-inch of wood and get rid of most of them, but I’ll wait
on that job. There is a hollow just before the bow that looks
odd from the angle the boat is in – upright. The problem
is that I could weaken the hull there, which isn’t a good
idea.
Time: 2.5 hours.
Cost [optional] $75 for random-orbit sander
and 25 disks with hook-and-pile backing.
18 March 04: The sides
are done in and out. I finished today. The port side doesn’t
have many nail scars but does have the gaps between the strips
near the sheer. Next thing is to sand the bottom inside and patch
the place where I’ve broken through. The epoxy will be the
step after I do final sanding on the hull in and out. I’ll
move the project outside for the epoxy application and sanding.
Time: 2 hours.
19 March 04: The sanding
of the bottom of the hull – inside – is going well.
I decided to sand down the 1/4-inch of the keel strip that is
standing proud, rather than add strips to make the two halves
even.
Time: 2.5 hours.
20
March 04: The first round of finish sanding is
done on the inside of the hull. And the outside is done, too,
from work I did before Christmas of last year. I think that I’ll
glue in the strips to seal the places where I broke through, then
I’ll grind them fair and do more finish-sanding on the inside
of the hull. I can put the hull back on the strongback and fair
in the patches and finish sanding the exterior of the hull.
Time: 2 hours.
I
broke through on both sides of the hull at the turn of
the bilge.
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21
March 04: My fantasy about the gaps that appeared while
I was fairing the hull was that I could lay down strips, glue
them on, then fair the patches. In reality, I had to make paper-thin
shims and force them into the gaps side by side and fill the cracks
with glue and sawdust and wood flour. It is a cosmetic thing,
since I could mask off one side and fill the spaces with thickened
epoxy – which would be far stronger than wood but far less
pretty. I may put a length of fiberglass tape along the chines
to strengthen these places.
Time: 2 hours.
24 March 04: I put the
angle grinder to work on the patches. It looks good so far. There
may be a dark glue line when I’m done, in some places.
Time: 2 hours.
27 March 04: I went to
two woodworking specialty stores, one in Buffalo’s eastern
suburbs and one near Rochester, at Henrietta. Got a couple of
hand tools and a contour sanding pad for the random-orbit sander.
When I tried to radius the chine to the 4.5-inch grinder wheel,
I broke through the hull again on one side – the break is
1.5 inches wide and 14 inches long. I made a shim out of 2x4 and
glued it in, with shims on the sides. What a mess. The shim fit
well, though.
Time: 2 hours.
A
piece of 2x4 pine about 14 inches long plugs a huge breakthrough
in the hull.
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30
March 04: I used the grinder to fair in the shim that
I had put into the big gap on the port side just forward of the
aft bulkhead. I broke through again, but only small holes this
time. After sanding, I put a 1/8-inch by 1.5-inch by 3-foot piece
of pine on each side to cover the hole on the one side and to
give balance side to side. There are a lot of gaps between strips,
and I started experimenting with Elmer’s glue and sawdust
as a putty. So far the glue alone works better but dries dark.
Time: 3 hours.
01 April 04: I faired
the 3-foot shims that I glued in the other day. The job went OK,
but on the starboard side, I took it all off, but I did end up
with a bilge turn that looks good, finally.
On the port side, I almost broke through
in the place where I had a rectangular hole ½-inch by 2-inch
in dimension. I may just break through and put in a plug with
the edge grain showing in the hull when I’m finished. Then
I’ll be done with these shims at last.
I used my new scorp tool to good effect
in roughing in and in some of the final passes, too.
Time: 3 hours.
Cost: $20 for the scorp [optional] and
$16 for a contour sanding backer piece [optional].
Note: I did cut and glue in a shim 7/8
by 7 inches. It looks good.
Shims
are an ugly mess on the outside before the fairing.
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02
April 04: I faired in the fir patch that I glued in yesterday.
It’s looking good, except for a crack about four inches
long that I dug out and shimmed. Whatever it takes. The bandsaw
makes short work of shims.
Time: 2.5 hours.
03 April o4: Thinking
that it’s not every day that I get to use my Sawzall for
boatbuilding, I used it to cut down the big shims on the port
side of the hull. Imagine my surprise when a fairly close but
not too close trim opened a huge gap. I tried to chop the strips
at the bulkhead so that I could piece in new strips, but I decided
to remove the strips end to end that were too thin. I removed
two full strips and several tapered pieces. Then I started scarphing
in new strips. This should be a strong patch. I decided to go
at the problem the way that I would repair an old and valued wooden-strip
boat, by replacing strips end to end. I’m going to use an
absolute minimum of nails to hold toe strips for the blue to set.
Time: 4 hours.
04 April 04: I started
getting out the new strips and gluing them in. Each one took a
lot of beveling with the block plane, though in this dimension
it was not more than a few strokes. The bevels were acute angles,
is what I’m saying, because of the turn of the chine. The
third strip is scarphed at each bulkhead. I’m using the
fewest possible nails to draw the strips together. The next job
will be three tapered strips to shutter the hull again. To make
this work, I need to do as little fairing as possible after the
glue dries.
Time; 2.5 hours.
Two
new end-to-end strips, scarphed at the bulkhead, are in
place. After one more strip end to end, the next strips
will be beveled.
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05
April 04: I finished shutting the hull. It looks good.
I will need to take care when I sand, so that I don’t make
the thin places thinner. The final strip was a 1.5-inch-wide piece
to give some extra at that point. I chased all the cracks with
the glue, which is a gel-type that is thickened at the Elmer’s
factory with wood flour. I didn’t use any nails on the strips.
They are wedged in by one another because of the tapered ends.
Time: 2.5 hours.
07 April 04: The patched
hull is looking better and better, with diligent application of
the random-orbit sander with 60-grit paper (which is usually the
only grit that I use, start to finish). Another few hours will
be enough to finish the port half of the bottom and turn of the
bilge/chine.
Time: 4 hours.
08 April 04: The sanding
continues. I’m now on the starboard side, which is in generally
better shape. I have a lot to learn about planing the strips so
there aren’t cracks. My back is killing me today.
I have noticed that the one good thing about all the nails that
I used in constructing the hull is this: If a nail has broken
through I know that the thickness of the hull is getting close
to being too thin, at less than 1/4-inch, probably. The nails
also, I suppose, keep me from taking too much off with the block
plane.
Time: 2 hours.
10 April 04: More sanding.
Time: 2 hours.
14 April 04: I’m
pleased with my sanding effort on the outside of the hull. Using
the block plane some and the random-orbit sander a lot, I am a
few hours away from being done with this task. I’ll flip
the hull again, but maybe bed it in blankets this time, and bring
the interior to the same level of finish.
Time: 4 hours.
This
was not one of the good days of work. Gaps like this led
me to decide to simply re-do several strips at the turn
of the bilge/chine.
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16
April 04: I flipped the hull and began sanding the sides
on the exterior of the hull. Then I chased cracks with the thickened
Elmer’s glue.
There is a lot of work left to do.
Time: 3 hours.
17 April 04: I need to
apply more Elmer’s and sawdust to the remaining low spots,
but the fairing is good. I faired the port side of the cockpit
where I had put a lot of patches – and no gaps or breakthroughs.
Time: 2 hours.
19
April 04: The sanding continues. Yesterday I covered
the glue that I put on the cracks with sawdust. This made a hard
line that is taking a long time to fair with the random-orbit
sander with contour pad. However, I can’t and won’t
use the grinder, because the wood is going to be too thin for
that aggressive of an option. I am well-past the point of diminishing
returns, but I continue to enjoy the work, and that is what matters.
Time: 2.5 hours.
21 April 04: I’m
still sanding on the port side of the cockpit. It is looking better,
and I still haven’t created any new gaps. I still have a
few hours of sanding on the port side of the cockpit. I’m
starting to use old sandpaper, too, because sanding the interior
curve at the chine is rough on sandpaper.
Time: 3 hours.
25 April 04: Finally
switched to the starboard side and am half-done there. The work
is still slow, but I am pleased to continue avoiding breakthroughs.
Time: 2 hours.
Starboard
side at bow shows many scars from nails and many nails
still in place. The port side is much better. Next time,
no nails.
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28
April 04: I finished one side of the cockpit –
starboard – and started on the outside of the starboard
side between sheer and chine. I still need to sand the inside
of the port side from chine to sheer. I haven’t done anything
to the spaces fore and aft that will be decked.
Time 2.5 hours.
30 April 04: More sanding. I dumped the contour
pad after it lost its ability to hold the sanding disks. The hook-and-pile
effect was worn away. I went back to the pad that came with the
unit. It’s much better all the way around. I’m now
ready to do the ends.
Time: 3 hours.
05 May 04: I finished
sanding the starboard ends and can do the port side next time.
I was able to use the angle grinder with both the rough metal
wheel and the sanding wheel, then finish with the random-orbit
sander. No breakthroughs, either!
Fairing
work on the aft floatation space is underway.
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There
were some posts to the Mouse mailing list about this project.
There were reservations about the time spent and the likely weight,
and one post in my defense based on my spending $45 for the amount
of fun that I’m getting. I didn't reply; guess that I'm
a loner at heart. Something about the tone bothered me, too. I'm
having fun here, and that wasn't the tone there.
Time: 2.5 hours.
10 May 04: More sanding.
I’m done with the angle grinder and only need to touch up
with the random-orbit sander on the inside of the hull.
Time: 1.5 hours.
12 May 04: I flipped the hull back onto
the strong back to do final sanding for the epoxy – which
I’m putting on the outside only, perhaps with fiberglass
tape at the chine.
There are a lot of gaps on the outside
of the hull, which will fill nicely with epoxy – making
a stronger bond at no extra work (less, in fact).
The tumblehome makes it hard to see the
sheer strips, so I will pay extra attention to sanding there.
This will be a high-profile part of the finished hull in the water.
On the outside, at least, I may have to prop the hull at a right
angle to do the epoxy without runs, curtains or ripples. My goal
is a minimum of sanding after I apply the epoxy.
Time: 2 hours.
Coast: $10 for sandpaper.
Hull
done and ready for epoxy on the outside.
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13
May 04: More sanding. Got a new box of disks for the
random-orbit sander.
Time: 2 hours.
15 May 04: I’m
declaring the outside of the hull to be ready for epoxy. I finished
with an aggressive fairing of the keel strip. I decided to leave
the plywood at the ends and will cover with a second piece. The
weight difference will be about a pound.
I may leave the boat on the strong back
while I epoxy the outside of the hull – tilting and bracing
to get the sheet more level and visible while epoxying that part.
I want a smooth finish. I’ve put more than 70 hours into
fairing the hull in and out. If I had had another boat project
in view, I might have settled for less, but I don’t. And
it is beautiful.
One
coat of epoxy on the exterior of the hull.
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19
May 04: I put a coat of epoxy on the outside of the hull.
I put the strongback on its side to keep the runs and ripples
down when I coated the port side but left it level when I did
the starboard side. I also scraped the port side but not the star
board, though I put the epoxy on with a lot more brushing. I’m
not sure that the cracks between strips will all fill in, but
I’m content.
Time: 2 hours.
Cost: $15 for epoxy (16 ounces).
13 June 04: To resume
this project after time off for weeding and gardening, I ripped
two pieces of ash to 3/4 by 3//4. Since I didn’t bother
to check the blade angle, I got a slight bevel, so I flipped the
board to get two pieces with the same bevels. I’ll attach
the strips with deck screws and plane to a pleasing final profile.
The benefit of going this route is the ease of clamping parallel
surfaces, and the fun of watching a shape emerge.
Time: 1 hour.
The
thinner ash works well for the sheer clamps.
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21
June 04: I decided to go with 1/4-inch x 3/4-inch +/-
strips on the sheer rather than the fat pieces of 3/4 by 3/4 that
I ripped the other day. This is what I would have ended up with
after shaping, and ash does not appreciate edge shaping like pine
and spruce do. I used Elmer’s glue and boat nails six inches
apart, with clamping. The strips will come off easily for repairs.
I just hope they adhere now, too. They should.
Time: 2 hours.
04 July 04: I cut plywood
for the decks and trimmed them to fit. After a long debate with
myself, I chose plywood over more strips to save weight and add
strength and rot resistance. And I couldn’t face the thought
of fussing with more strips so close to being finished. And because
I need to cover the ends of the hull strips to mask a few gaps
that I’ll fill with thickened epoxy but won’t have
to leave on display. To do strips on the ends would call for a
chevron look because of the vee-bottom. Some other time.
I still need to make some single strips
of ash beveled to seal the outer edges of the deck pieces. There
are some gaps, and the long outer edge is unsupported without
a trim strip to seal and stiffen the plywood. These are floatation
chambers, so a tight seal is essential.
New
sliding bevel gauge is half the size of my older one,
which went missing in the clutter for a while so I got
this one as a backup.
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I
got a new sliding bevel gauge, with a three-inch blade instead
of a six-inch blade. I’ll use that to pick up the angle
for the ash strips right from the plans.
Time: 3 hours.
Cost: $6 for half of a sheet of 5 mm lauan
plywood.
07 July 04: I made and
installed ash trim pieces to seal the outer edges of the four
deck pieces. And I made shims from ply to put on top of each transom
and bulkhead to bring the top flush with the deck pieces so the
combings will fit. Combings are next.
Time: 2.5 hours.
Later: Ash splits easily.
When I put together the 3/4 by 3/4 ash combings for the aft hatch
cover, I split the wood in two places. Glue fixed that problem.
I cut the end pieces 1/8-inch fat, and
made laps on the ends. I lined up with the inside of the 1-inch
top of the stern transom and the aft bulkhead – 3/4-inch-thick
pine plus 1/4-inch ply. There is 1/8 inch or so of extra ply under
the side pieces that I’ll trim to fit. The combings take
a lot to time to do correctly.
Combing
piece in place with glue and boat nails.
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I
like the beauty of ash, but it is a bleep
to work with, like fir. I also ripped some beech that I got the
other day. That will be for the cleats on the underside of the
hatch covers. These cleats go inside the combings.
I made sure that I transferred the centerline
anywhere that I had covered it with combing pieces.
I haven’t trimmed any of the pieces
that I’ve installed, including the sheer clamps, top pieces
to seal the decks, or the decks themselves. I find it best to
trim only when forced to. That way I keep my options open on the
overall fairing of these high-profile elements. And I never use
a router to round or trim anything. The router is too hard to
control – always there is a high likelihood of tear-out
or worse. My router is the only power tool that I have that doesn’t
touch a boat. It’s fine for making bookshelves, but that’s
about it, for me. I enjoy the use of the block plane, belt sander,
and random-orbit sander for fairing those high-profile pieces.
I have a smaller belt sander that is less aggressive and easier
to handle.
I decided to begin the work on the forward
hatch. It went so well that I finished in half the time with no
splits.
Time: 4 hours.
11 July 04: I made the
hatch covers. After one false start, things went well. I had to
make accurate cuts on the locating cleats that go inside the combings.
I drilled clear through the 3/4 by 3/4 cleats but broke the drill
bit halfway through the job. I had to made do with bigger bits,
but both hatches fit beautifully. I used the lighter side of the
lauan and will put the lighter side out when I do the transom
covers. I’m almost done! Just those covers and final fairing
of the trim stuff. That’s it.
Combings
done and hatch covers in place.
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To
make the hatch covers, I cut pieces of plywood oversized, figuring
to trim later with the band saw, using the cleats as guides. I
made a centerline on the ply and the end cleats with laps. Then
I installed one end cleat, with its centerline matched with the
ply centerline, then the other end cleat. The side cleats helped
keep things in line, and then got glued and nailed last. This
is an exacting task, but worth the effort.
Time: 5 hours.
12 July 04: I installed
the end covers on the bow and stern transoms. I wanted to do it
all in one job, but I’ll have to trim the ply and seal the
edges after this part sets up.
Time: 2 hours.
17 July 04: I sanded
the outside of the hull with the random-orbit sander in preparation
for the varnish. I also planed and sanded the sheer clamps. Still
need to do final sanding on both of these jobs before applying
the varnish.
Time: 3 hours.
Cost: $22 for a quart of high-build marine
varnish (and marking the last time that I avail myself of the
walk-in option at Clarkcraft. You can draw your own conclusions
on that).
18 July 04: The fairing
is done and the boat is ready for varnish – tomorrow --
on the top and inside of the hull, which I’ll varnish first.
When I move on to the outside of the bottom and sides, I may do
a little more sanding, or not.
Time: 2 hours.
Varnish
looks good!
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19
July 04: Put on the first coat of varnish inside and
on top. A second coat is needed. Looks good!
Time: 1 hour.
20 July 04: I varnished
the outside of the hull. It will be close on the varnish. Enough
for a second coat outside. Did a second coat on the inside and
top. Still looks good.
Time: 1 hour.
24 July 04: I took the
Reverend and the ArcAngel to Glenwood Reservoir near Medina to
see how it would do.
It
did well, and not so well.
The boat is fun to use, but there were so many spurting pinholes
and weeping seams that I was doing as much bailing and paddling.
I was so pleased with the reaction of others at the lake, and
the beauty of the boat in the water was a joy.
In
spite of all the leaks, it was fun to use this boat. It
handled well and paddled smoothly.
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29
July 04: This was a sad day in my life as a boatbuilder.
I filled the ArcAngel
with water, to see where any leaks were after having applied a
second coat of epoxy inside and out.
The boat was perched on two plastic sawhorses that I got for a
song at a discount store a few years ago.
When the boat was holding 250 to 300 pounds of water – its
displacement – and was brimful, suddenly one sawhorse broke
and the bow of the boat slammed into the concrete, which sent
the stern into the pavement, too, with even more force.
I
was standing close but didn’t get hit by anything. If I
had been hit, it would have been broken bones – followed
by pins and screws to hold the pieces together.
This
is a typical example of the damage that the hull sustained.
Time to start anew.
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The damage was severe on the bow, so I’m scrapping this
version of the ArcAngel
and have already gotten (30 July 04) six beautiful No. 2 spruce
boards of 2x6x8-foot to build ArcAngel
Too (a family joke – my father had a good
old dog named Nibs,
so when he build a lapstrake runabout after returning from service
in England during World War II, he name the boat Nibs
Too). There is a picture of Nibs in my dad's logging
truck at the top of the Home
page.
At
first, I was leaning toward making the busted boat a raised-bed
planter.
Even had a place picked out, but I think that keeping the first
prototype will help in building the second, especially in softening
the turn of the bilge some.
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