Boat Repair, Restoration, Building
One of the most critical steps in building a boat is to develop a fair sheer line and trim the hull to that line. The sheer line is the line where the hull joins the deck. It’s probably the most scrutinized line on the boat. It’s what everyone notices. Continue reading “Developing the Sheer Line”
We applied 3 coats of clear urethane to the inside of the topsides of the Palm Beach 22 with the roll and tip method. After sanding it flat, I decided it was finally worth it to upgrade my shop with a spray booth. Once you think about the difficulty of all those different surfaces, it’s easy to convince yourself of the efficiency of spraying finishes. Continue reading “Spraying the PB22”
I finally answered all the questions I generated in my previous post. So it was time to get all that stuff out of the boat and prep it for varnishing and painting the inside. As you can imagine, it’s much easier to do all this coating before enclosing the hull with the deck. Continue reading “Building a Temporary Spray Booth”
I’m trying to get ready to coat the inside of the boat before I begin construction of the deck. It’ll be much easier this way with an open boat to work in. But before I can do the coating (clear coating on the sides and white paint in the bilge), I need to make sure all the pieces that make the boat go will fit. In the process, I’ll drill some more holes, glue in backing blocks, fabricate platforms, etc. As usual, what seems like a straightforward process requires many steps. Continue reading “Fitting the Mechanicals on the PB22”
When you’re building an inboard boat, getting the engine and propeller shaft in perfect alignment is an interesting process. It’s a logical process that involves aligning the engine and transmission, shaft, shaft log, and strut. It starts with the strut (the piece that holds the shaft in place just forward of the propeller). There is a tube the shaft passes through that gets glued into a hole bored through the keel. Getting that tube, called the shaft log, glued in line with the shaft and engine is the aim of this process. Continue reading “The Strut, Shaft, and Shaft Log”
It’s been a long time since I posted anything about the Palm Beach. I haven’t forgotten it, and I haven’t stopped working on it. But there have been some intervening projects like the Riva, shoulder surgery, a trip or two… Continue reading “Back to the Palm Beach 22”
Remember long ago (by now it seems long ago to me) when I talked about the painstaking process of making patterns out of cheap 1/8″ luan? My process was to use the 1/8″ luan to make my original patterns because it’s so pliable and easy to carve to shape.
But by now, you realize how much time and energy is invested in laying up the mahogany and holly blanks and laminating them to the backing board. It’s too risky to use such a thin pattern to cut out those blanks. One slip of the router, and you’re starting over on those layups. So I used the original patterns to first cut out new patterns of 1/2″ thick birch plywood. The 1/2″ thick plywood, with no voids is much more secure for cutting the blanks. Continue reading “Riva Iseo – Trimming to Patterns”
Having settled on the option of hand laying the deck, it was time to start milling wood. Take a look back at the first post in this series, Working on the Riva Foredeck. Look closely at the picture of the overall deck. See how the pinstripe holly lines are symmetrical about the centerline, and how they line up fore and aft from the outboard panels to the center panels? That’s what is going to make this a beautiful deck. Continue reading “Layup of the Riva Foredeck”
I’ve done all I can to the hull from the outside. So it’s time to flip the boat upright so I can start working from the inside. To prepare for this, I’ve made 3 cradles to hold the boat in position once its upright. I used the patterns for some of the frames with one placed directly under where the engine will be mounted. Using the waterlines on the patterns, I was able to set up the cradles so the boat will sit level and plumb. Continue reading “Flipping the Boat”
I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. — Thomas Edison
Adding a layer of fiberglass cloth to any wooden boat will add an enormous amount of toughness to it. And if you do it right, the fiberglass is invisible. That’s right — invisible. The problem is in the “doing it right” part.
Okay, let’s step back a bit. Continue reading “Fiberglass Setback”