Hull UV Protection

Fiberglass over plywood is ridiculously tough.  There are wood and fiberglass boats still around after 50 years.  However, fiberglass has an Achillis Heel -- sunshine.  Fiberglass rapidly degrades with exposure to UV rays.

Thus, it is recommended to paint or varnish fiberglass with something offering UV protection.

We wanted the boat to show off its lovely woodiness, so we chose varnish.  There are fancy marine varnishes that are made for marine applications.  Spar Varnish is one example.  They are relatively expensive (though not compared to epoxy which is ridiculously expensive).  However, there are exterior varnishes that are equally good that you can pick up at the hardware store/lumberyard which are just as good.

  

In a moment of insecurity, I called and checked in with Gayle at Glen-L just to make sure. She gave me a thumbs up on my selection of exterior UV varnish.

After varnishing, it looked pretty much the same as after the last finish coat of epoxy.  But in my mind, I knew Id protected the fiberglass from its Nemesis the big ball of fire in the sky.

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Hull Paint

The best way to finish a boat is to apply as many coats of paint as you can afford.  So far I have applied close to a half gallon of paint to the hull (5 coats).  Im going to keep applying paint until I run out. That should be about 12 coats at this rate. That should suffice.

Religion, politics, and boat paint are the top three most controversial subjects in the known universe.  I spent months reading what everyone had to say on the subject. There are a dizzying array of paints available, all with their own sets of pros and cons.  Every type of paint has its proponents and critics. In the end, I decided to go with Porch and Floor enamel. Porch and Floor enamel is the one paint that most people seem to agree, (more or less),  is a perfectly fine paint to use on a boat.

On my last build I used Interlux Brightside.  Brightside is terrific paint.  I was very pleased with the results. It goes on smooth, levels very nicely, covers well, dries hard, but its somewhat expensive.

I read numerous times that Porch and Floor enamel is essentially the same thing as Brightside at a fraction of the cost.  John Welsford also recommends alkyd (oil-based) enamel paints.  So I decided to give it a go. Remember, the best way to finish a boat is to apply as many coats of paint as you can afford.

Interlux Brightside paint is a polyurethane alkyd enamel that costs about $110/gal at the local West Marine.

Ace Porch & Floor paint is a polyurethane alkyd enamel that costs $27/gal at the local Ace Hardware.

After using both, I honestly cant tell the difference.

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Sheeting the Hull

It looks easy, right?  What could go wrong?  Four rectangular sheets of plywood lined up together on a horizontal surface made to fit them, screwed down on all the edges.

But as soon as we started sheeting the bottom of the boat, we realized this seemingly simple task would be more complicated.  How do we jockey all these sheets of plywood into perfect alignment, secure them together, turn them over to apply epoxy and then put them back into perfect alignment before screwing them down.  And somewhere in there, we had to apply butt blocks to where the sheets came together.

We tried laying out the plywood correct side down and applying one of our patented temporary butt blocks to hold the ends of each sheet to its corresponding partner.   But when we awkwardly tried to turn this paired 16 foot long überblatt over, the warblinesss of it pulled those temporary butt blocks out, causing us later grief.  So we tried another tack.

The plans called for butt blocks at the place where each plywood sheet met another at its short end.  Got that?  Read it a couple more times.  (No butt blocks were needed on the center line because the sheets met in a butt along the keel stringer.)  So we realized we could install the permanent butt blocks and the strength of these would allow us to manipulate each pair of plywood sheets.

These butt blocks were a little trickier than the single butt block on each side stringer because they needed to be installed in the spaces between each of the stringers.  So installing the butt blocks looked like this:

1. Put all four sheets precisely where they needed to go, correct side up.  
2. Crawl underneath the boat and draw lines where the stringers met the sheeting.  
3. Turn all sheets of plywood upside down in place.  
4. Measure (and carefully label) each space where a butt block needed to fit.
5. Cut the butt blocks 6 inches wide.
6. Coat the butt blocks, the spaces where they fit, and the plywood ends with a first coat of thin epoxy.
7. Coat the butt blocks and the ends of the plywood with a second coat of thickened epoxy.
8. Fit the plywood together carefully.
9. Put the butt blocks in place (noting the careful labeling)
10. Screw the shit out of them with screws every two inches

Whew.  And this is only a preliminary step (but really one of the most complicated).

After this cured, we had two pairs of plywood joined end-to-end that were pretty bombproof and could be manipulated awkwardly, but safely.

Somewhere in all this, I found time and space to give all the top surfaces of the boat a first thin coat of epoxy.  Now we gave the hull sheeting a first coat where it would join to the stringers.

We gave that time to become tack-free so manipulating these long joined pieces would be easier.  We took the plywood off the top, and gave the top surface of every stringer a second coat of thickened epoxy.  We also epoxied the edge of the plywood where the two long pieces would meet each other along the keel stringer.  Then we awkwardly person-handled the sheeting into place.

We put in a few screws to hold the sheets in place, and then went around and put screws every three inches.  Kai gave each screw a little tap with the hammer to get them started.  This made my finishing the screw with my power drill that much easier and faster. 

So with screws 3 inches apart on all of edges and 6 inches in the center, it was by far our most screwy day at 448 screws. With all these screws, we got afraid that by the time we got around to the final side the epoxy would have cured, so we put in every third screw on all edges and then went back and filled in.

After this, it was kind of exciting to get up on the boat and be able to stand there.  Of course its upside down, but still.  It felt a lot more boaty than the piles of lumber and sawdust and sticky epoxy goo wed been playing with previously.

After the bottom sheeting cured, I was able to release the come-along which has squared the boat during this procedure.  I was relieved that slowly de-tensioning the come-long was a non-event with no creaky or poppy complaints from the boat.  Sweet.

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Hull Ends

Oh god, at the end of every work day when we are high-fiving each other, we are always marveling at just how much more boatlike the boat looks. But today, for reals, at the end of the work day, the boat doesnt just look boatlike -- technically if you dropped it in the water, it would actually float for several minutes. Today, we attach the hull ends. 

We start by beveling the edge of the bottom sheeting. 

And since we are cutting up two perfectly good pieces of plywood with complicated angles, we draw a picture to help us.

We cut our first cut along the edge and our second cut after we snap a chalk line.  After that, we check for fit and, magic!  It fits. 

We had already put on a first coat of thin epoxy.  Now I needed to thick coat and screw the ends.  I think I did this epoxy work alone, which might have been a first.  So I was a little busy and didnt take a hundred intermediate photos.

However, when done, I took celebratory photos from almost every angle.

Again, screws every 3 inches on the edges and 6 inches in the field.  Thats a couple hundred screws. 

So at the end of this day, if the boat were flipped over and plopped in a pond, it would float for several minutes before slowly settling to the bottom.  Exciting.

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How to Make a Displacement Hull Plane

The Bartender line of fishing boats has a reputation as a superlative surf boat. The Coast Guard has used them as rescue vessels. As doryman everywhere know, a good surf boat is double-ended and is thus less likely than a square transomed boat to broach on a following wave.

Unfortunately the double-ended hull will not plane under normal, non-surfing conditions, no matter how much power they produce. So, George Calkins designed a spray skirt for his power dories to provide more lift at the stern.

The nineteen foot Bartender in the lean-to out in the boatyard has never been outfitted with a spray skirt, as far as I can tell, but it has one now. Frank, the current owner has been frustrated that this boat tops out at 10 miles-per-hour.

 
Now, that would be just fine with me. Mentioning this to Frank made him laugh.

If this were my boat, Id have no more than a ten horsepower motor on her and be happy just puttering around. The hull drives easily and this could be a very economical package.

The boat has a 40 horsepower motor however, and a rated speed of 25 - 30 mph, which is what we are trying to achieve. The bottom had a keel hog from sitting on a poorly designed, dilapidated trailer which probably contributed to its reduced performance. Ive stressed as much of the hog out as I could, reinforced some old, tired keelson framing and re-welded the offending trailer. All in a days work for a shipwright. The spray skirt was a challenge - the hull shape aft has such a radical camber that the face of the skirt is a helix. I laminated Oregon white oak using polyurethane glue and stainless screws. Didnt have to steam bend anything, but very near.

Frank will be camping aboard this boat at the upcoming Sucia Rendezvous so Ill be able to see first hand how all this works out.

Hope you all had a better solstice than I did. You can see what I was doing on the longest day of the year.

The spray skirt meets the chine at the stern, sweeps up past the waterline about half-way, then on to touch the bow in a fair curve.

Need to clean and polish that bronze half-round for a finishing touch.....








I also prepared some salmon for the Rendezvous. John St Clair is known locally as the Salmonator. He is a prolific fish killer. (many people find it confusing that I spend so much time on the water but dont fish. With friends like the Salmonator, why should I?). Recently he gave me a 20 pound salmon that had been in the freezer for awhile. The best thing to do with a fish thats a bit past its prime is smoke it. I dont have a smoker, so I slow cooked my fish. After marinating it in a brine and sugar mixture for 24 hours, it was spiced with garlic, onion, tariyaki and sesame seeds. It was then cooked at 170 degrees F, for six hours. Dessicated fish is not photogenic, so I will forgo any pictures. Take my word for it. Its delicious!

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