Posts

Posted on

Fitting the Mahogany Layer on the Palm Beach 22

Gluing mahogany planking on the Palm Beach 22
You’ll use every clamp in the shop to hold that mahogany in place while the glue sets.

Our final layer of planking will run longitudinally to look like traditional carvel planking in this build.  That’s where the longitudinal mahogany planks are laid edge to edge and screwed to the underlying frames.  When it’s complete, you end up with a very smooth, fair hull with seams so tight you can’t even feel the transition from one plank to the adjacent one.  Well, that’s the ideal, anyway.  These boats worked because the seams tightened up after the boat was in the water a few days–tight enough to keep most of the water out.  And while it’s helpful to remember we’re building a boat and not a Steinway piano, with a little know-how and patience, we can get reasonably close to that ideal.  We’re going deep into the weeds in the next couple of posts so bear with me. Continue reading “Fitting the Mahogany Layer on the Palm Beach 22”

Posted on

Flipping the HiLiner

Boat flipping rig
This is my boat flipping rig. The boat always rotates easily to this sideways position. Getting it to finish turning over takes a little more pulling.

Having re-established the shape of the hull for the 1958 HiLiner, it’s time to flip the boat over so I can get to the outside of the bottom and remove the rotten spots and fix the leaks.   When I was in boat school, we assembled all the students in the school and manhandled the 22 ft. boat we were building to turn it over.  I think we had about 50 people to turn that boat over.  This contraption I have now allowed two men to flip this boat. Continue reading “Flipping the HiLiner”

Posted on

1958 HiLiner – Reshaping the bottom

1958 HiLiner
The HiLiner was built in Massachusetts. It’s a light, fast boat that’s a lot of fun.
1958 HiLiner is a fast, light boat.
This boat is so light, it’s very easy to wheel around the shop. It’s a molded plywood boat–lightweight ant beautiful.

We recently got a new project in the boat shop.  A 1958 HiLiner came in with the complaint that it leaks badly.  I took a look and found the bottom had lost its original shape over the years.  The keel had compressed up into the boat, and some of the frames had separated.  It’s not unusual for this kind of thing to happen to these classic boats over the years.  After all, this boat is 63 years old.  That’s older than I am (not by much, but still). Continue reading “1958 HiLiner – Reshaping the bottom”

Posted on

Fairing the Hull Before the Final Layer

Fairing compound on the hull
Low spots have been filled, and the entire hull has been scrape-filled with fairing compound.

After three layers of 1/8″ planking, it’s time to fair the hull.  In some builds, particularly those with a painted hull, you might wait until after the final layer is on.  But with only 3/16″ thickness in the final layer of mahogany, you can see how it’s advantageous to get the hull nice and fair before it goes on.  Sanding through the mahogany to get a hump out would be disastrous. Continue reading “Fairing the Hull Before the Final Layer”

Posted on

Cold Molding the Next Layer

 

Vacuum bagging 2nd layer of planking on the Palm Beach 22
Vacuum bagging the second layer of planking on the Palm Beach 22

Having completed the 1st layer of planking, and being careful to edge glue each plank, we had to make sure we had an air tight surface for pulling a good vacuum.  So we rolled on a coat of neat epoxy and then followed that with a scrape-fill of epoxy thickened to the consistency of mayonnaise. Continue reading “Cold Molding the Next Layer”

Posted on

Planking – The First Layer

1st layer of planking a cold molded boat
The first layer of topsides planking is complete. We use full sheets of plywood where we can get it to conform to gently curved areas of the hull. Diagonal strips are required where there are more complex compound curves.

Having set up the framework for the boat, with all the structural pieces glued in place, it’s time to put a skin on it.  Traditionally, boats were either Carvel planked (with seams that are ideally invisible to the eye because they’re flush and tight), or Lapstrake planked (where one edge overlaps the edge of the adjacent plank, creating “strakes”).  In both of these traditional methods, solid lumber is used.  Long boards are attached to the framing with calking in the seams to keep them watertight. Continue reading “Planking – The First Layer”

Posted on

Laminating the Intermediate Frames

Intermediate frames
Intermediate frames ready for epoxy coating before permanent installation.
Laminating intermediate frames
The 1/8″ strips are clamped in place using the boat as a form.

Mr. Zimmer called for steam bent intermediate topside frames in his plans to join up with the intermediate floors.  We could steam bend these, but I’m more inclined to laminate them.  So off to the table saw we go to start cutting strips!  I found that I could get the curve I needed at the chine with a 1/8″ thick strip of Douglas Fir.  These frames are 1″ wide and need to be 1/2″ deep with 1/2″ blocking added between battens.  I milled my strips a little oversize so I could clean them up and plane them to final width after gluing. Continue reading “Laminating the Intermediate Frames”

Posted on

Laminating the Sheer Clamp

Sheer clamp of Palm Beach 22
The laminated sheer clamp in place. Notice the packing tape in the frame notch so the piece can be separated from the frames and faired before permanent installation.

First, what is the sheer clamp?  It’s the longitudinal piece to which the deck and topsides are clamped to make the hull-deck joint.  As you might imagine, it’s position is at the sheer line of the boat.  The finished dimension called for in the plan is 5/8 x 2-1/2 inches.  Continue reading “Laminating the Sheer Clamp”

Posted on

Bevelling the frames

Bevelling a batten notch in frame 1
You can see the notch in this frame for the batten is sloped at an angle to match the angle at which the batten crosses the frame.

After my last post, I had a few questions about how to handle the joint where pieces like the chine cross the frames.  The chine, battens and sheer clamp are notched into all the frames.  The notches are pre-cut at 90 degrees to the face of the frames.  But in certain areas, particularly forward of say, frame 4, these pieces cross the frames at an angle that is increasingly far from 90 degrees.  Ultimately, these pieces (chine, battens, sheer clamp) all need to be securely fastened to the frames.  A little old edge like the corner between the face and the thickness of a frame hardly makes for good construction.  So what to do? Continue reading “Bevelling the frames”

Posted on

Using the boat as a form–Laminating the chine

Laminating the chine
Laminating the forward portion of the chine using the frames of the boat as a form.

I’m back at work on the Palm Beach 22 mahogany runabout and glad to be making progress again.   Today I want to talk a little about using the boat itself (or what we have of it at this point) as a form to make more parts for the boat.  We’ve got all the frames in place, so now we can use that to make some of the parts for the boat.

The chine is a continuous piece that runs the length of the boat.  It has curve and twist to it, so it used to be made to fit in a wooden boat by steam bending.  But we’re laminating pieces together to make that curved chine log.  The forward section presents a particular problem in that it has considerable curve and twist. Continue reading “Using the boat as a form–Laminating the chine”