Guy, I've been thinking about building a hollow mast for awhile -- can you post some pictures? I would really be interested in how you decided to do it! Did you go the birdsmouth method, or some other way??
I'd like to see pics also Guy, if available. Our Texas partner built his mast 'hollow' out of Douglas Fir I recall. (I've added a couple pics here from those he'd sent me.)
Simply routered out hollows in the planks he then glued together, leaving solid where need be for fasteners eventually. I don't recall asking him what the result weighed, DF being heavier than the Sitka Spruce I used. Forgotten what mine weighs by now but if you wish I'll weigh it when I take my kit down out of winter storage.
Chuck if you're confident in modifying your sail your efforts should be less than what I went through to add weight to your daggerboard as I did. Last year's lack of motivation leaves me still wondering whether the 9 lbs / 4kg hung down beneath my hull will affect healing moment much; physics being in charge, 9# @ -24" ought to be worth maybe ~ 5# half way up my mast? Cutting total weight's a better choice IMHO than adding of course, but we do what we do to 'see what happens' before attempting something else, yes?
(Need to re-up for notice of new posts... I've been missing out on what's been posted again despite the 'Stay subscribed' box being checked off.)
]]>I will try a mock up, then ring/mail.
]]>- Skerry
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Sorry if the boat you want to see isn't on the list, but unfortunately we can't take everything. We've chosen these boats to be representative of our range and they are some of our most popular boats. They are worth seeing in person if you're thinking of building one of these or something similar.
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]]>Have spent a bit of time on the filling and sanding. The U Pol car body filler has worked pretty well. I have only gone for filling the really big bumps. I think seeking perfection would be pretty pointless and probably drive me insane.
Have just put the first coat of grey on and there is a little more filling I want to do, but shaping up nicely I think
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I used the skeg design from Nick Schade which was fairly straightforward to make from playwood for the body and some 4mm okume offcuts I had. Here I'm making sure it is square to the hull.
and after filleting and glassing and a final fill coat on the hull interior. I also varnished the inside of the hull and deck for added long term protection.
The hull and deck were finally united and here is a picture of the whole thing encased in wrapping tape ready for the internal taping session.
Getting the hull to deck joint tight was a real struggle and even now there are some obvious places where light can be seen at the join from inside, but of course no one is going to see that except me, and as other builders have reported the areas near the ends were hard, especially as it had been a month or so since the hull and deck were glassed and I neglected to put the forms back in the hull when I was storing it in slings in the roof. I ended up sanding a mm or so of the deck edge away at the ends to get a smooth join, but with the outer glass on is completely invisible.
I used some more of the 2mm ash edging for the outer stems and loads of packing tape to hold it while it set.
and finally after shaping which I think looks OK.
This is the rear bulkhead made from closed cell foam.
I've applied an outer layer of glass over the hull to deck join and am in the process of applying fill coats, sanding and cleaning up the hull and deck now. This is after what I hope is the final fill coat on the hull but before final sanding.
Its getting cold and damp and I've switched to West fast setting epoxy which sets in colder weather but does have a real amine problem which needs a good washing to get a sandable finish.
Other little jobs have been making fittings for a bungee deck hatch hold down which I hope is going to work as well as others say it does. I used some mahogony from some old furniture for the hooks on the hatch and the bungee cleats in the hull. Oh and a minature maroske fitting for a small loop to open the hatch.
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It all went smoothly, the hardest part was fitting the outer gunwales….the first attempt snapped the wood! We tapered the bow end down to half thickness and tapered back by about a meter, on both strips of wale. This made it much easier and gave a nice taper to the bow which Kurt had suggested would look good…it did! The lengthiest process was fitting the inner broken wale, getting the blocks just the right size and spacing to match up with frames and the oarlock blocks.
The hull build and outer wales were completed in the first week, fitting the inner broken wale, the seat supports, daggerboard casing etc took up much of the second week, with routing, sanding, final epoxy coat, the third week.
I did make a couple of modifications to the boat. I fitted an inner false bow stem in sapele, partly to look traditional but also to take a bolt through bronze eye bolt for a mooring/tow rope. I fitted a knee and vertical piece to the transom, again to look traditional and the vertical piece of sapele to take bronze bolts for the rudder gudgeons which are bronze rather than the stainless ones provided in the kit. The seat stiffeners are glued and screwed to the underside of the seats, countersunk with sapele plugs hiding them. I could see no reason why I’d need to unscrew them as per the plans and I didn’t want unsightly screws in the seat tops.
The floor fasteners will be bronze rather than stainless and if I can find suitable machine screws to fit the seats down, I’ll replace those with bronze too. This is all the fault of the kit providing bronze oarlocks….carrying the theme through is a costly exercise!
Since you are going to paint both sides of the panel the job is considerably easier although it will involve more work for you and hold up the build for a few days. With luck your other joints are much better.
The panels look to be standing proud by about half of the thickness of the wood: this will have to be sanded down and feathered in. Please note that if the epoxy has not been on very long it will be difficult to sand and clog the sandpaper in which case a scraper will be an easier way to get down to the plywood before sanding.
On the other side you should give the epoxy a light sand to make it matte and then fill the dips with thickened epoxy. Use both of the fillers supplied in the kit to make the epoxy so thick it stands up on the mixing stick and slides only very slowly. Fill to the level of the other panel. Later you will have to sand this back so don’t make it stand too proud.
It is easier to do the sanding when the panel is flat but a fairer line is obtained if it is done in situ. I would scrape back the epoxy on the proud side before stitching but do the filling and sanding of the wood in situ. To ensure that the joint has as much strength as possible I would consider applying off-cuts of glass fabric, after filling and sanding, over the joint on both sides: this can be done at the same time as the fabric is applied to the rest of the boat using the same technique as described in the manual. This may not be necessary.
Handling the panel with this weak joint will be difficult. You must find some way of protecting the joint and stopping it flexing too much until it is stitched to the rest of the boat. If you sandwich the joint between two pieces of ply or any other scrap wood using clamps the strain will be taken off the joint but, unless you pick the panel up by the joint the weight may cause the panel to break elsewhere. The best way to deal with it is not to move it and never do so without help. Do not worry I think that is is unlikely to break – I have seen worse joints which have held.
Since you will be sanding epoxy before you get to that stage in the build please look at the safety precautions that you should take. There is some information in the manual but if you click this link you will go to the Safety Precautions page on our website where it can be found quickly:
Using Epoxy
It sounds like you are almost there. The end forms as seen in photo 6 will help take some of the strain out of the ends. At the bows there is quite a lot os stress going through the 6mm plywood and sometimes letting the wood rest almost in the right place allows it to relax a little before the final tightening and getting the wood into place.
You can try wetting the plywood on both sides with clean water and a clean sponge as this will help it slightly. If you do however, please ensure it is fully dried before putting epoxy on!
I would urge you to keep in touch with CLC as they have built more of these than anyone.
I hope this helps.
Phil
]]>We expect to finalise our new price list next week and the prices will go up on 1st February. That gives you till the end of the month to place an order at the current prices.
We know that choosing the right boat is a big decision, so please get in touch with us if you need help to decide before the deadline. If you need longer to pay the full amount, we may also agree to take a deposit and keep the old pricing for your order.
]]>So the hull is glassed, I thought I'd add a bit more detail of the process so far. I wanted a light build so bought 50% Paulownia which is actually very nice to work with if a little bit softer than cedar. this allowed me to do a nice pattern on the deck but I did have to add a few bits on the hull as I was running out. As you can see the hull is very...... confused in colour but actually its grown on me and makes it look even more hand built (from lots of different trees)
I bought 50% of the Cedar with no bead and cove and actually much preferred using this on the bottom of the hull to the bead and cove so for the deck I cut all the strips back. I think this made the job on the deck much easier, 15mm wide strips with 6mm wide accents in cedar. I am very happy with the deck, better than I could have hoped. Lets see how it looks when its glassed.
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