Floorboards

Starting to install floorboards.  Here you can see the first four floorboards are in place on the port side and on the starboard side of the Centerboard (CB) trunk.  As you can see a cutout has been made in the two center floorboards for the CB trunk.  

Putting in Floorboards

As discussed in a previous post, I have deviated from the plans.  The floorboards do not go all the way to Bulkhead 8 (BH8) as planned.  Instead they stop approximately 6" forward of BH8 to allow access to the drain plug I am planning to add later.  

New Floor Joist

So that the ends of the floorboards will not be free-floating, I have built a new floor joist for them to rest on.  The joist is also beveled approximately 4.5 degrees longitudinally on the bottom to better fit the hull at that point.  I have made the joist from a piece of 3/4" x 3" lumber so that it does not quite reach the bottom of the hull at the middle.  This creates a limber hole for any bilge water to flow through, and also means I do not have to try to fit the joist to the fillet on the bottom inside of the hull.  You cannot see a small cleat I added at the back of the joist to support a lift-out door I will install between the new joist and BH8.

Curve Spline (Batten)

Where the floorboards meet the curved portion of the hull, they are first cut slightly too large and a spline (boatbuilders call it a batten) is being held in place by lead weights.  The spline is used to draw the proper curve, then the floorboards are removed and cut, then sanded to meet the line.  There is also a 15-degree bevel on the outside of the curve.  You can't see the pencil lines, but sections will be cut out of the second and third boards on each side of the CB trunk to provide lift-out covers over compartments for another 200 pounds or so of lead ballast.

Update: You may have noticed the comment from fellow builder, Craig, asking me to explain my method of fitting the floorboards.  As he said others have resorted to the "trial-and-error" method, which would involve climbing in and out of the boat about 100 times more often than I could possibly stand.  Before cutting the boards I thought about this for quite a while and was worried that I would not be able to do it very well without ruining a few boards.  I finally decided to use cardboard templates, which worked very well--much better than I had hoped.  I used two sheets of heavy cardboard, 4-feet long, end to end (with a gap of about 5/8 inch).  The templates were cut about 1/2-inch "proud" and it was easy to check the templates against the floor joists and make new cuts if necessary.  The templates were butted against floorboard 4 on each side, i.e., the last full-length floorboard with almost no curve cut in it.  As each floorboard was added, I marked where it intersected with the templates on each end, remembering to add the 1/8-inch gaps.  After cutting the boards just outside the lines with a band-saw, I then sanded them down to the line. I used a belt sander for this, with the platform tilted down to 15 degrees to give the boards a little inward bevel where they meet the angled hull.  A greater bevel of about 30 degrees or more might have made for a snugger fit, but I was afraid it would make the edges too sharp and weak.  After mounting all the boards temporarily, I used the batten (spline) to create a fair curve near the hull, then re-cut the boards "proud" and sanded them down to the line.  The batten I used was only 1/8-inch thick, which made it much easier to curve and hold in place with lead weights than the thicker battens recommended in the manual.  This required me to always hold the batten in place near where I was using a pencil, but other than that I found it to work very well.  As a test of my accuracy, I laid the two shortest boards (the ones with the curve all the way along one side) together, top to top, for comparison.  I am happy to report that they were a near-exact match.

Floorboards in Place

And here you can see the nearly finished floorboards temporarily screwed to the joists (too bad the screw alignment is not perfectly straight--I noticed too late that some of them were getting too close to the edges of the cleats).  Next they will be removed and have their edges rounded over with a router.  There is a little rasping to do at some of the edges to make them fit the hull better, then the boards will be sanded and have Danish oil applied. That should give the cheap pine boards a warm, inviting hue.   After that, they will be permanently mounted back in the boat, but while they are out of the boat the inside of the hull will be painted.  In the picture I also see the large metal curve that was very useful in drawing the cut-lines.

Before I remove the floorboards though, I will probably build the lift-out door at the aft end of the floor, that as I said is to provide access to the drain plug.  That way I can finish the whole floor together.  At the centerboard and aft of it, there will never be much weight on the floor because it will be below the cockpit, i.e., you can't stand up on it.  The most I will ever do back there is lie on the floor to check the drain plug, and maybe store a few things, including a small "potty."  (Since writing the above I have decided to build the rear lift-out section later, after installing the rest of the cockpit floor.)

Cleats, Floors, Modifications

I left the cleats in the rear section of the boat to cure while I added cleats to the front compartment.  This compartment will be filled with foam flotation panels and sealed.  There will be an inspection plate installed (you can see part of the hole for it at the bottom of the picture) and a drain plug at the bottom.  There will be a deck installed on top of the bow compartment and the storage compartment, and this deck will be the floor of the anchor well.

Cleats at Top of Bow Compartment

The cleats on the sides are cut very thin so that bending them will not distort the hull shape.  I also pre-bent them with a heat gun as shown here:

Heat-Bending Bow Cleat

This worked very well, though it was not called for in the plans.  Even though I made the cleat thin as was required so it would bend more easily, they still distorted the hull shape when I tested them, so I heat-bent them.
  

There will be no side cleats at the top of the storage compartment even though the anchor-well deck extends back over it--this is probably because the side walls are much longer here and the cleat, no matter how thin, would still distort the hull shape.  That area is accessible from below so the instructions call for epoxy fillets.  The fillets will be very difficult to put in place, so I am tempted to make cleats and heat-bend them also.  Will need to give this some more thought.

I have also added cleats on the sides of the centerboard trunk to help support the cockpit seat and provide a surface to attach to:

CB Trunk Cleats

 

Transom Compartment Cleats

Here are the cleats in the transom compartment.  You can begin to see how the cockpit will go together.  There will be seats on each side, and you can see cleats for the seat sides and floor at the middle.  It appears here that the seats will be extremely wide, but there are small storage and floatation compartments and seat backs to be installed on top of the seats at the gunwales, leaving the seats a more natural width.  Floatation foam will be added below the floor.  The cockpit floor will be above the waterline, so that allows drain holes to be drilled in the transom at the rear end of the floor, making the cockpit self-draining.

Transom Compartment Covered and Heated

I have moved the plastic sheeting that was covering the entire boat to cover only the transom compartment while the transom cleats cure.  There is a small electric heater inside the transom compartment.  When the plastic sheet was covering the entire boat, the heater was sitting in front of the CB trunk.  This kept everything at 70 - 75 degrees while the cleat epoxy cured.

Starting Floorboard Project

It is already time to start fitting the floorboards.  That is because later on they will be much harder to get at.  Here you can see the first two boards sitting by the CB trunk.  I will have to cut a notch in each of them for the trunk.  The three-inch-wide boards will be placed 1/8" apart.

Below the floorboards you can see some of the flexible conduit which will be run on both sides of the boat from the storage (and battery) compartment to the upper-rear corners of the transom.  These will both be long enough to reach near the top of the boat and will be bent downwards at the ends to keep any casual water out.

I have placed the conduits in temporarily so I can see how to deal with the flooring at bulkhead 8:

Conduit Entering Transom Compartment Through BH 8

This is where I have made several modifications to the original plans.

First, there was to be no conduit, just loose wiring, and there were wiring holes on the starboard side only.  I added conduit holes to the port side and decided to use conduit to facilitate running the wiring.

Second, there were no conduit holes in bulkhead 8.  The wiring was only supposed to go through BH 7 then up BH 8 and somehow fed to the transom, where at the very least there is the need to power a running light.  I drilled the holes and will run flexible conduit that will go back to the rear corners of the transom, up through the cockpit seats, and into the side storage compartments.  The holes in BH 8 and the cockpit seat will be sealed around the conduit with marine sealant foam.

Third, there was to be no drain hole at the bottom of BH 8 (you can barely see that I have drilled one).  There were two drain plugs included with the Hull Hardware Kit, and it seems to me that a drain hole was originally intended for BH 8.  There will be two large lazarette doors in the cockpit seats, and water has been known to get into the transom compartment through them.  The transom compartment is sealed as part of the boat safety, so the only way to get the water out was to reach down through lazarette doors, then pump and sponge it out--not that easy with floatation foam under the floor.  So I have placed a drain plug that will allow me to periodically drain out all but a teaspoon or two of water.  (And I could add a few drops of Clorox or some other chemical to it to prevent mildew--will have to find out what is best to use with fiberglass.)

And fourth, the floorboards would normally go all the way back to BH 8.  What I have in there now are standard 8-foot boards (the lengths don't match--haven't trimmed them yet).  So I would have had to buy 10-foot boards and cut them down to about 8' 6".  But with my other modifications I don't want them to go all the way to BH 8.  I will instead build a small lift-out section that will reach from the ends of the floorboards to BH 8 so that I can get to the drain plug.  That means building another floorboard joist or cleat at the ends of the 8' floorboards.  I will probably make it out of 1 x 3 lumber (not a lot of weight on the floor back there where one can only lie down).  You can also see the lines for the floorboard cleat on BH 8.  I haven't installed it yet because I have to figure how it is going to work with the drain plug and conduit.  It will have to be made in either two or four pieces, and a cutout made in one or two of the floorboards to accommodate the conduits.  The cutouts will most likely be in the lift-out section, which will actually make that part a lot easier.

MAS Epoxy Cure Schedules (Revised by Me)

MAS Epoxies Cure Schedules

Resin Hardener Mix
	Resin/Slow	Resin/Medium	Resin/Fast
Temp. ⁰F	Pot Life / Thin Film Set / Full Cure
86⁰	17.25m/3:45h/3.75d*	9.75m/2:25h/63h*	5m/1:30h/1.5d*
77⁰	23m/5h/5d	13m/3h/3.5d	7m/2h/2d
68⁰	34.5m/7.5h/7.5d	19.5m/4.5h/5.25d	10.5m/3h/3d
60⁰	44.5m/10h/10d	26m/6h/7d	14m/4h/4d
50⁰	69m/15h/15d*	39m/9h/10.5d*	21m/6h/6d*
s = seconds;  m = minutes;  d = days

* Not recommended

Note:  For clear coating and bonding resin must remain 60⁰ F to 80⁰ F.  

Above is my modified version of the cure schedule.  I decided upon it after much thought and study of posts by John Harris, CEO of Chesapeake Light Craft.

Moving Right Along

Sanding Transom Compartment Fillets

Here I am just finishing up the sanding of the fillets in the transom compartment, next the entire inside of the compartment is sanded down so the epoxy will stick.

Sanding Transom Compartment

 

Transom Compartment 'Glassed

The fiberglass cloth has been added to the transom compartment and the first wetting-out coat of epoxy added.  I waited about 4 hours and added the fill coat, than another 4 hours or so and the gloss coat.  The pictures of the second and third coats would not have looked much different so didn't take any.  By waiting until the epoxy is tacky but not starting to cure, you can add subsequent coats without sanding and get a good chemical bond.  You have to do this for the fill coat because sanding would damage the exposed fibers.  I also follow this procedure for the gloss coat when I can to save on sanding and to get a better bond.

Cockpit Cleats Glued in Place

The cleats that will help support the footwell floor and cockpit seats have been added to bulkhead 8 and most of bulkhead 7.

Bulkhead 7--Two Cleats Missing

I cut the cleats for bulkheads 7 and 8 a couple months ago and forgot I had not cut all of them for BH 7 yet.  In this closer shot from aft you can see that two cleats are missing--the vertical cleat for the port (left) side and one that goes along the bottom.  I'll cut and add those in the next day or so.  

Some Real Progress At Last!

The next step is fiberglassing the hull floor.  The rear (transom) compartment and the storage compartment are not quite ready yet, I have to sand the fillets some more, so I am making paper templates for all the floor sections.

Rear Cabin Template

 Here is the first template in place.  I have made all the cabin floor templates and the next step is to use them to make two fiberglass panels each, one for the port side and one for the starboard side of the cabin.

Cabin Floor Templates

Here's a shot of all the cabin floor templates in place.

Port Side 'Glassed

I have laid in all the fiberglass panels for the port side of the cabin floor and added the wetting-out epoxy coat.

The first starboard side fiberglass panel is in place but not epoxied as yet.  As you can see, the panels overlap about four inches over the keelson and from front to back.  They also go up three or four inches on all the bulkheads and floors and the side panels.

First Wetting-Out Coat Applied to Both Sides

 I have glassed and wetted-out the fiberglass panels on both the port and starboard sides of the cabin floor.  In an hour or so I'll go out and add the second (fill) coat of epoxy.

More Fillet Work & Getting Ready to 'Glass Inside of Hull

About all I have been able to get done since building the rudder is sanding, sanding, and sanding the fillets.  They are starting to look pretty good--I don't have any pictures, but the newer fillets don't look much different than the earlier ones.  The fillets in the rear compartment were acceptable, but I felt they needed some smoothing.  There were quite a few low spots, but they were so shallow I'm not sure they would have caused any problems.  However, once that compartment is sealed up I will never be able to see in there again and if a delamination or something else catastrophic were to occur I would not even know about it.  So after much sanding I added another layer of fillet material and got it smoothed out pretty well as you can see here:

Rear Compartment Fillets

Rear Compartment Fillets

Hull 'Glass Template

After finishing that job I decided to begin making templates for the fiberglass that will cover the bottom-inside of the hull.  Only one template is done so far.  As you can see, the fiberglass will lap up onto the sides and the bulkheads.  There will be an overlap of about 6" over the keelson at the bottom-center.  This will add a lot of strength--that section will have a double layer.  The fiberglass will also be overlapped above the floorboard joists.

The manual doesn't mention anything about making the templates, but I can't think of any better way to get the fiberglass cut to fit.  Laying it in there and cutting it would be much harder and would probably damage the cloth here and there.  The two sides of the hull are mirror images, so I will only have to make templates for one side, and then use them for both.

More Work on the Rudder

Last week I glued the rudder "cheeks" in place.  The cheeks reinforce the rudder at the point where the tiller will be applying side forces.  You can see the slot for the tiller--wish I could add an arrow pointing to it, but I think it's obvious.

Rudder and Tiller

Here's a shot of the rudder with the tiller in its slot.  I have done most of the sanding on the rudder--a little more and the fiberglassing can begin.  Fiberglass will be applied below the cheeks and down the rudder sides, and then curve out onto the bottom plate.

Bottom Plate Fillet

In this closer shot of the fillet you can see a few lighter areas where I added fairing compound to any low spots.  This joint will be under a lot of pressure under sail and I want to make sure the fiberglass has an even, smoothly-curved surface to adhere to.  It is suggested in the manual that the bottom plate can be used as a step for boarding the boat, but I'm a little leery of that idea.

Wetting-out Coat, Side One

This morning I added fiberglass cloth to one side of the rudder and applied the "wetting-out" epoxy coat.  The wetting-out coat is to make sure that all the cloth is evenly "wetted" and that there are no spots that are starved for epoxy or that have too much epoxy.  I stood the rudder up temporarily to apply epoxy to the bottom plate.

I absolutely have to apply the next coat (fill coat) before the wetting-out coat has a chance to harden.  It can no longer be sticky, but must still be "rubbery."  This will happen in about eight hours or so.  The fill coat must be applied at that time to ensure a good chemical bond.  Chemical bonding is best, but a mechanical bond can also be achieved by sanding first.  In this case, though, sanding would damage the fiberglass cloth, which is barely below the surface of the epoxy. So it is imperative that I apply the fill coat at the proper time.   The third (gloss) coat can be applied after the fill coat cures (with sanding) but to get the best possible adhesion I will also try to apply it when I can still get a chemical bond.

It's hard to tell from this shot, but on what is at the moment the upper left corner of the bottom plate, the fiberglass cloth does not quite reach the corner, so I added a little patch.  I'll correct the template before I cut the 'glass for the other side.  Also you can see some black streaks where I got Magic Marker ink on the cloth that was applied to rudder.  I'll have to be more careful about that in future, but it does not matter here because I do not plan on a "bright finish," i.e., it will be painted instead of varnished.