The Archives
Listed in order by date, from top down, the most recent date being on top.
- Cabin Beams
- Shop Guests
- Bending Wood
- Cockpit Floors
- Final Stripping
- No Label
- Tools
- Abbeygirle
- Blizzard of 2007
- Cheap Snow For Sale
- Fuel Cell
- Glue Goo and Gunk
- Grinding off the Cabins Roof
- Hat's off to Dave
- In the Kitchen
- Other work around the house
- Shop Safety
- The Bulkhead
Welcome to the Abbeygirle blog.
Shop Notes:
Feb. 18, 2007
Good Morning to all...
Not a whole lot going on in the shop yesterday. Bought a few pieces of Mahogany to start replacing the cabin beams. The original beams are 15/16" thick. The replacement beams will only be 3/4" thick but, they will be a bit wider to maintain their structural integrity.
Removed one beam. Cleaned it up a bit, removing the crusties and what not, so as to use it as a pattern to duplicate it's arch on the new piece of wood. The original beams were fastened with only one screw on each side. Why, I don't know, since this did allow them to "spin" if it were not for the roof itself preventing them from doing so. Seems to me that 2 screws on each side is the smarter choice, as well as proper drilling and placement of the holes. So, that is what I did.
I made the one beam, positioned it, marked and drilled for 4 holes... 2 on each side and installed the first beam. Performed the ever so complicated technique of "eyeballing" it's position, relative to the top of the cabin, and grabbed the rasp.
A little shaving across the fore side of the beam, to give it some slope towards the bow, and all looks good.
Today, I plan to remove the second beam and repeat the above procedures. When this is done, I'll have to remove both beams to give them a good sanding and treat them with CPES before they are reinstalled permanently. After the first two beams are completed, I'll be able to remove the third and final beam. I haven't decided how I want to do this one though. I'm considering fabricating and installing a full bulkhead from hull to hull and floor to roof with a thru-way into the cabin. The reasoning for this is to fully inclose the fuel cell's box (which will be in the cabin under the bed). Also, this would allow me to design a larger, stronger dash to accommodate the new teleflex steering system and gauges previously purchased as well as a switch panel & fuse box for the electrical system... To be continued...
Shop Notes:
Feb. 19, 2007
Well, the break in the snow has allowed me to get in to the shop two days in a row... oh boy!
I removed the second cabin beam. I used the first beam as a template for the second one. Ordinarily this shouldn't work because each beam is a different length therefore, the arch will become greater as the beam gets longer or visa versa (which ever).
Anyway, the original beams are so warped and misshaped that as I eyeballed across the top it was obvious to me that it would work out fine. And it did too. I traced out the beam, cut it, shaped the underside on the workbench and then installed it. Eyeballing across the top again I could see that there was plenty of wood that needed to be shaved off across each beam to get the overall arch of the roof to blend as it passes over each beam.
I did run into a small problem. While standing inside the boat using a surform to shave the topsides of the beams, I was looking down the cabin's side across the window (top down) and noticed that the top of each window was protruding out, somewhat twisted. I got out of the boat and looked down the sides of the cabin from the bow, and indeed, the tops of the windows were being pushed out by the beams I had just installed. The beams were too long and the angle on the ends was slightly off (maybe 1 degree), just enough that the windows were really messed up. So, I surveyed each side and calculated in my head just how much wood needed to be removed from the ends of each beam and how much to correct the angles so that the windows would fall back into shape, made my marks on the wood and removed the beams. A couple more marks here and there... a few careful brushes across the disc sander at a 4 1/2 degree angle and wallaa... Reinstall the beams and recheck the windows and... hey ! they don't look half bad...
I spent the rest of the evening carefully shaping each beams topside edge and started to make a template for the new bulkhead that I mentioned in my previous post. To be continued...
Shop Notes:
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Today was a productive day. Despite it's beginnings, I actually accomplished more than I set out to do. We'll start with last night....
Last night I was tired. I transfered some measurements from the boat to my workpiece, with the intent of cutting that piece today. Even after measuring several times, I just couldn't get the numbers to add up right. I finally realized my mistake, corrected it, remeasured and was satisfied. Time to give up and close shop.
Today, I went to the shop with the intention of just grabbing that piece and starting to cut. I recently read on another fella's blog http://davesboat.blogspot.com (he's building his boat from scratch) that one should measure four or five times... then cut. This prompted a memory from high school where the shop teacher told our class to "Measure twice and cut once". Makes good sense. So I grabbed the tape measure and measured the distance across the cabin where the last beam would be installed and then checked that measurement against the workpiece and I'll be... It was wrong ! Not a great start but, at least I didn't cut it out wrong. As it turned out, after remeasuring and making the needed corrections, that particular beam turned out to be the best of the three. The angles were right. The length was right. The arch was good... all in all I was very impressed with my work. Someday, I just might advance from a Wood Butcher to an actual Woodworker, if I'm lucky.
Anyway, I completed that beam, gloated a bit, and grabbed the bulkhead for another dry fit. Looks like it's going to need a bit of trimming in a couple of places. So, I haul that out of the boat and on to the bench for some marking and trimming. Another dry fit and all seems good. Wow, two for two...
I then removed the bulkhead and set it aside. Now I have to mark the center of the last beam and the center of the front of the cabin for the installation of a cross beam (a beam that runs fore and aft across the top of the cabin beams).
After marking the centers I clamped a piece of 1" x 3" Mahogony stock across the beams and lined it up with my marks on each end. I then marked each beam where the cross beam intersected, to cut notches for the cross beam to sit in.
Time to give some credit to the man (or woman) who built my boat. This person has a lot of my respect because he was able to build a boat... probably several, and I am only learning to repair one as yet. But... I wish that I had a whole bunch of what ever he was drinking when he did some of his work on this thing... Only a bit of pun there, I am in no way insinuating that George Kauffman himself built this boat, nor am I insinuating that he was a drinker. I am aware that he had hired help, and that some of his hired hands were probably just learning... maybe they were even just kids helping out. It was a family business.
I found screws drilled in within 1/16th" (or less) from the edge of the wood. The beams were all crooked (spaced 15" on one side and 17" on the other ?). The cross beam... again, crooked... not even close ! An inch and a half off center on one end (this is what prompted me to remove the roof in the first place... so I wouldn't find myself laying in the cabin some peaceful night on the lake, staring up and thinking to myself "why didn't I fix that").
Ok, enough complaining... :)
I removed all three beams, one at a time, and cut the notches as needed. I had to attach a piece of stock on the cabin's forward wall at the top (above the hatch) to have something to secure the cross beam to... this is where the original one was installed an inch and a half off center and the screws were set in literally on the edge of the board. There was no other way to secure the cross beam here using the same holes and not enough space to redrill new ones. I'll have to fill those holes, as well as all of the other 10,000 holes in this boat, some of which I have already filled. That's something that I have failed to mention anywhere else in this blog. Many of the holes that I've encountered I have filled by inserting a piece of dowel peg rolled in epoxy. I've filled a lot of holes this way, fills the hole and seals it from moisture too.
It has occured to me today, during contimplation, that the average boat builder starts with a pile of wood and a set of plans and begins to build his boat... from that pile of wood up (frames, hull, cabin....). As for me... I had a boat to begin with. Then, slowly but surely that boat keeps getting dismantled, right down to a bare hull and frames almost. And then I get to build it back up. But, I haven't got any plans. I always have been difficult :)
Ok... after cutting the notches and reinstalling the beams, I went to install the cross beam and realized that this thing is going to have to be bent, steamed and bent. If I just attach it on one end and force it down, attaching it to each beam as I go, it's going to force the first two beams down, out of shape, possibly even causing them to fracture. Sooooo, off to the house we go to fetch a book that I know will give me the information I'll need for this proceedure called Frame-Stem-Keel-Repair. I have resourced this book many times and find it to be very informative.
I finished off the evening with setting up a jig to be used for bending my 1" x 3" for the roof and locating a suitable container to use as a cooker for my steam. Tomorrow I'll learn how to bend wood... with steam. See ya.............................