piratepetester builds a Bateau SK14

LAST ENTRY 28 April 2018 An unfortunate series of events

Well, all the planets were aligned for a serious days fly fishing on Wellington Harbour. It was warm, overcast, there was no wind and the kahawai are running. So, what was a poor boy to do, but load up the Bateau SK14 with my serious saltwater fly rod and 'team abu dhabi' - my abu garcia bass fishing rig (just in case my fly fishing skills were having an off day) ... and a marlin teaser for good measure.

Unfortunate event number 1

Rig up the boat at the boat ramp .... and half way down the boat ramp, the beach trolley got snagged on some flotsam and jetsam ... and the wheels fell of my cunning plan.

Not to be daunted by a minor hiccup like the wooden base that the wheels are attached to snapping off from rot. On reflection the beach trolley has had a hard life and been out in the open for a lot of that time - so it shouldn't have been a surprise that it wouldn't last for ever.

Using rat cunning and basic Viking boat launching skills 202 and the very bits of of flotsam and jetsam that found the weak point in my trolley in the first place ... I managed to get my boat in the water and fired up the motor.

Unfortunate event number 2

The motor hummed away, got me 10 feet offshore and then 'conked out' and refused to start.

So that was that for the day ... I have 3 motors dependable British seagull outboard motors that I could have swopped out my reluctant outboard, but launching and retrieving wasn't going to be that easy and the weather forecast was not to be toyed with.

In the end I got my little motor running and humming like a top, but it refused to accept the fuel line. I suspect the little carb float is punctured and not floating, so when the fuel line is connected ... it floods the motor. So the motor will get an appointment with my motor repair man on Monday.

Since saltwater fly fishing was off the menu, I set to and tidied up a few projects that I had been wanting to sort out for a while. I bought a piece of 3" x 2" lumber (4.2 m long) and made a ridge pole to bridge the transom to the bow to drape my boat cover and stop water ponding in the boat.

And I drilled two holes in the transom quarters to enable water to drain. When the boat is on the trailer, it is never dead level and water ponds in one or other of the corners. On reflection, a cunningly dished cockpit floor at the transom would do the trick. But in my case, retro fitting a couple of drilled holes should do the trick.

So not the best day ever fishing. But ridge pole and extra drains sorted. It won't take much to fix the beach trolley and I do want my motor running 100% and reliable ... so not the end of the world.

Water ponding on my port quarter - because the trailer is inclined that way

Retrofitted drain hole on the port quarter = problem sorted

(Yeah, there is one on the starboard quarter too)

My transom as of 28 April 2018 showing the extra quarter drain holes

LAST ENTRY 18 April 2018 Fishing on a sparkly Wellington Harbour

Naturally ... there is a movie!

Not so very long ago, we were sweltering in a New Zealand hot summer. Now it is getting cold fast and winter is nipping on our heels. Rather than fritter away any good fishing time finishing off my boat I am using any chance I get to hit the water fishing. I am using the excuse that I still need time to get a handle on my new boat and figure out any 'fine tuning' that needs to be done:

I think positioning the 'Zimmer frame' as far forward as I can is likely to be the best option.

I had thought about lying my fly rod on the deck in some sort of cradle, but it can get pretty wet underfoot in sloppy conditions, so now I am thinking of a cunning home-made vertical fly rod holder attached to the Zimmer frame - that will be a work in progress.

With a bit of cold rain about, and my boat stored outside, water tends to pool on either side of the transom (unless the boat and trailer are perfectly level). So a couple of cunningly placed drill holes are on the menu.

Not one to hesitate about drilling holes in my new boat: Because my deck was still bulging in the late summer heat (when I was getting ready to go down the Waikato River earlier this month) I used the mysterious awl device on my swiss army knife to drill a little breather hole through the bulkhead underneath the 'quarter deck'. At the time a surprising amount of air was slowly released over a long time. Now my hull breathes, but I should tidy that up with a vented screw system I got from Tucker surfboards.

I also need to get a piece of lumber, runningthe length of the boat from transom to quarter deck - to make the tarpaulin I have, more like a tent ... to allow the boat to breathe and for water to drain off the cover.

Launching with the beach trolley is pretty hard at the end of a fishing day, so the trailer needs some rollers and a winch.

LAST ENTRY 6 April 2018 46 Nautical miles down the Waikato River

Well, the blog will go on. I have yet to trial my Bateau SK14 as a dive boat ... I am sure that it will be perfect for getting to those "grass is greener" hard to get to places.

Plus there is the small details of painting the hull, fitting the zimmer frame and fish finder, sorting out the deck and after driving 1000 kms up and down the North Island with the Bateau SK14 on my trailer ... the trailer needs a bit of fine tuning with a fit out of rollers, small winch and a better tie-down system.

Back to 46 Nautical Miles down the Waikato River. One of my hobbies is racing vintage outboard motor boats down the Waikato River almost every easter. Part of the reason for building my Bateau SK14 was to end up with a 'practical' multi-use racer that I could comfortably complete the river race and go fishing and diving for the rest of the year.

With an on-going punishing work/life balance, this years race preparations were absolutely nil. I just threw the trailer on the back of the car and the motor in the boot and drove 520 kms up the country to the race start. On the day, I filled the outboard full of fuel and started it up for the first time in 2 years. That was a make or break moment - if it started: I would do the race. If it didn't start: I wouldn't.

The motor started ... and with minimal drama (the tiller handle unscrewing itself and threatening to fall off ... repeatedly) the Bateau SK14 and my British seagull outboard motor hummed along at a respectable pace for the first 46 nautical mile leg of the race. I didn't start the second leg - too tired and too lazy.

But I will be better prepared for next year.

This is a quick movie that I put together of the experience:

LAST ENTRY 12 March 2018 'Putting the fish curse behind me'

Fish curse? Two forays out in my Bateau SK14 with not a single fish - was starting to look like a bad omen.

I foolishly thought that I would just troll up at least a couple of Kahawai without even trying at this time of year.

Launch day and a foray last weekend had turned up fish-free.

But then, Wellington harbour water is murky from a good stir up after two ex-cyclones and a couple of days of strong Southerlies and sight fishing was never going to be that great. The plan was to anchor up, use burley (chum) and 'stinky' baits (fresh squid).

Mission a success, 'fish curse' well and truly broken ... and I got to try out my Bateau SK14 as a saltwater fly fishing platform.

There is a movie. Pretty am-cam and it highlights bad camera angles, different camera performances, random voice overs and consistently curious music choices ... but it does show fish being caught!!! - happy with that.

The fishing rods at the transom are great 'travellers' (for storage), but require a bit of a stretch each time to use.

Having the "zimmer frame" with rod holders mid-ships will be much more workable (and I can carry more rods)

Sand on the decks from launching in the surf - bigger scuppers at the base of the motor braces might have helped clear it away easier

LAST ENTRY 24 February 2018 "We have a launch Houston"

piratepetesters Bateau SK14 Launched ... first tests passed with flying colours

it floats, it works well as a SUP, it is stable and can carry a load well

"There is a video" - A momentous occasion, warts and all documentation of proceedings

piratepetesters Bateau SK14 out of the closet in full ready for sea trials readiness

[painting, zimmer frame and deck padding: yet to come]

Sea trials an outrageous success. No fish and perhaps not the best conditions

with a building wind and chop .... "but happy with that"

REGRETS: Put in limber holes and a vent ... my deck swelled up in the sun. Being an instinctive boat builder

Stern fittings ... a couple of rod holders, some cleats for tuna lures and marlin teasers

(I think big when it comes to trolling)

And a mount for a railblazer fitting [all round white light ... and a movie pole]

Bow fittings - Inspection hatch for stored things (keys in a dry bag?), another railblazer fitting for my nav

lights ... and movie pole ... and a little cleat to stop my painter flapping around ... and that is about it.

The Bateau SK14 transom specs were pretty much an exact replica of my minimax transom = as expected

motor trim is about perfect .....

Testing the test motor ... running sweetly and the green light is pretty much glowing 'GO'

(perhaps an incongruous test motor for a flat skiff ... a long shaft 4 hp. It is cleaner than

my oily old British Seagull outboards which will be important because I haven't

finished yet ... there is some paint to be sploshed about. And if the boat planes with a

4 hp motor, well: there is a lot of potential)

LAST ENTRY 11 February 2018

Deck glassed and complete (well ready for a sea trial) - A solid week of sanding in the mornings and,

sloshing epoxy in the afternoons sees me on the home stretch.

Only the transom and the quarter deck to sort out.

I figure the deck will be ice slippery until I get some deck pads made for it

.... so as a token gesture to save me falling on my ass - a $50 piece of matting

Speaking of which, Transom glassed in and pretty much complete

And the quarter deck ... is well on the way to being sorted. Optimistically I think I could be up for a launching next week.

Good thing I went for a short quarter deck ... this is the third version. 1st version was a bit miserly, 2nd version

had the bad side of the ply up and the inspection hatch hole off centre

..... 3rd time lucky and ready for glassing.

LAST ENTRY 4 February 2018

Big push to finish the 'never ending [building] story' - Gunwales on, deck half sheathed in fiberglass (for strength

and, wear and tear). I drilled a couple of holes for tie-down points (to the trailer, for the motor safety rope and

fishing rod lanyards). It kind of gives my transom a face. Since I learned about 'flaming war pigs' just the

other day [yep - they are a thing] ... maybe that can be the name for my new boat??

And a bonus - my smoke and mirrors gunwale treatment around the bow.

A bit of sanding and I might just get away with it.

LAST ENTRY 28 JANUARY 2018

The end is nigh ... filleted the deck, gluing on the gunwales. It is a race for a warts and all sea trial launch, first thing in February

Those old re-cycled rimu 4 x 2"s planks have been whittled and 'thicknessed' down to some mighty fine

20mm x 20mm gunwales (with history and character)

LAST ENTRY 9 JANUARY 2018

The summer is passing, but progress is being made:

Hull sheathed, one side first (so I could feather the edge) then the other soon after.

I have just completed a couple of "weave filling" coats of epoxy - mostly using my largest plastic spreader

= effectively "skim coats".

Plan: let it cure for a while, then flip the hull back over and finish the transom, gunwales, deck, foredeck and motor supports

Maybe a sea trial at the end of the month???

LAST ENTRY 28 DECEMBER 2017

Deck glued on. Out of the garage for an imaginary fishing mission.

Foamed out, my SK14 weighs a friggin tonne

Hull flipped, sealed with epoxy ready for filling the seams in preparation of glass cloth sheathing

It is going to be a pity to Cammo paint this.

LAST ENTRY 10 DECEMBER 2017

Deck prepared for back plate joining - the screws will come out after the glue has set

Why build a Flats skiff

Boat building disaster aversion

Building day 1: 30 July 2017

Identifying resources. Lofting hull, sides, stringer, transom and knees onto pieces of cheap ply.

After constant cold southerly weather, Sunday 30 July 2017 dawned fine and calm. First task was to scan my stock pile of hoarded wood and assess what resources were fortuitously lying around the back yard.

Pleasing things were found:

• Heaps of recycled native rimu hardwood for gunwales

• A plank of light weight paulownia for reinforcing the cockpit sole

• my old building table that I used for my standup paddle board: A wood strip SUP (Standup paddle board)

Being a natural born hoarder has its plus side: The old SUP building table and a stack of recycled native rimu will be an asset for this build.

Yeah I promise to throw the table out after this build

Task 1 was to trim off a 30 mm wide strip from the bottom of each of the two cheap ply sheets to make a nice long fairing batten. I scarfed and glued the two pieces into a long 16 foot batten using some old epoxy glue that made a funny colour when mixed ... but looked like it might work.

Task 2 was to mark up and loft the patterns for one side of the hull, the sides, the long stringer, the transom and the knees that strengthen the transom to withstand the torque of the outboard motor ... that will be fitted. Not too many lofting points and a pretty simple task helped no end by my Son's 2 m long straight edge.

All just excited displacement activity. But the template forms using the cheap ply will help conserve symmetry and make laying out the panels onto the good sheets of plywood really easy and fast. Plus I get practice at cutting (will I attack it with a jig saw or a panel saw) and trying out the fiberglass reinforced butt joins system. Plus, like I said it will give me something to do while I make preparations for the build proper. The weather seems to be set to be fractious for the next fortnight and work is booked up = not much time to work on the SK14 project or progress can be expected.

The transom lofted up. Radius schmadius - a handy rubbish bin lid looks like it will do the job about right

13 August 2017: 2 weeks later and nothing much did happened. Lots of long hours at work doing a Biosecurity Port surveillance around Wellington Harbour. The rest of my spare time was taken up feeling crook with a snotty head-cold flu and feeling miserable. What little spare time I had was devoted to re-engineering a home made movie of my Diving under the ice experiences in Antarctica (shot on a cell phone) to fit within the time restrictions for a talk that I gave last Thursday.

Building distractions, they come in all sorts of interesting and wonderful forms

Cheap ply, old glue and, the revenge of the wonky fairing batten

Cold damp conditions at the time and, moving the fairing batten half way through the glue set ... resulted in a failed join. I think the 4 m long fairing batten was always doomed to failure because the batten halves made from the cheap ply where pretty curly and whirly (had wicked pre-bends) and I doubt that they would have mated well anyhow.

So the moral of the story is your fairing batten should be from the best possible ply.

Cranky battens aside, there was fair weather yesterday and I managed to cunningly use one 2 m long wonky batten (with the wicked pre-bend), beaten into shape with strategically placed dive weights to get a set of plausibly shaped panels for half the boat.

Beating the 'wonky' fairing batten into shape with my collection of "precious" [Gollum - Lord of the Rings] dive weights placed at strategic places

If it looks right ... it probably is

Working on the mantra "if it looks right ... it probably is" - I put nails at all the lofting points that I marked out and applied the 'wonky' fairing batten and tweaked it where I thought it needed to (working through about 3 fairing points at a time). Then I penciled in the curves of the sheets for half a boat. All my lofting points looked plausible and, apart from the 179 mm measurement at the bow end of the bottom panel which seemed a bit short, the panels all faired in pretty nicely.

The mystery of 179 - much sleuthing discovered that there is a 20 mm from the base line and then the 179 should be from that point and not the baseline.

All other measurements are from the base line so to 'nail' this one it probably should be about 199 mm from the base line.

Good thing I used the power of the wonky pre-curved batten to override the difference.

BOAT BUILDING WARNING: IF YOU ARE DOING THIS ON THE FLOOR - REMOVE THE LOFTING POINT NAILS AS SOON AS YOU HAVE DONE WITH THEM. I ended up standing on quite a few nails before I figured that hazard out. No harm done because of thick shoes, but it is something your really want to get on top of.

The next thing was to cut out my nicely lofted panels. My ancient name brand 'skill saw' fired up promisingly enough and then slowed right down. I sort of knew it was on it's 'last legs' and although it was cutting the panels, things were proceeding at a torturously slow pace. This was sure signs of old age and electrical bits failing somewhere inside the veteran skill saw. I had to ask myself: if there was a catastrophic failure ... "is there a chance that I could get electrocuted?" Not really knowing the answer, I decided the best part of valor was to eliminate the possibility by going out and buying a brand new Makita brand skill saw. So $150 bucks later my new Makita skill saw was slicing through the panels like butter and before long I had a set of panels for half a boat. All they need is a bit of trimming and they can be glued together to make tracing panels.

Not quite computer cut exact, but tracing panels for half a boat close to done and dusted

Lofting vs a Kit

It will be pretty obvious that if I got a kit, I would be able to immediately start building. It is looking like it will take me about a month before I can get to that point. But that time is being used to get my act together = getting the bits and pieces that I need: new skill saw, 3 x new saw horses, 6 sheets of good ply, sort out my building table etc etc. So I am in no hurry and being in New Zealand - getting a full kit here would have been ... problematic if not expensive 'as'.

Being mid-winter in New Zealand it is cold and generally uninspiring. So by taking most of August to set the scene, conditions should improve dramatically in favour for building by the time I start in earnest in early September: By then, the days will be longer, the weather should be settled and more importantly it should be warmer. If the build goes well and with few interruptions, the epoxy on the completed boat should be well cured and ready for finishing ... So all going well, I should be looking forward to a summer of fishing and diving.

Using the "tracing panels" to mock up half a boat - using just a little imagination I am starting to like what I am seeing

Last weekend was sunny and the weather was 'not too bad'. Tasks: re-assemble the building table and buy two new saw horses.

During the week I spliced the tracing panels with a fibreglass strip.

Joining the tracing panels was a good dress rehearsal for when I do it for real. The instructions say to do it on just the one side, but doing both sides makes the panels much more robust.

Panel joining Fibreglassing equipment:

rubber gloves

Disposable overalls (epoxy destroys clothes)

Respirator

Weights

Preparation

Layer of plastic under where the join will be to stop the panels glueing to your work bench

Sand the area that you are going to fibreglass

Brush epoxy onto the edges to be joined

Line up the panels so they are true

Nail the two panels in place to stop them moving

Spread epoxy over the area that you are about to glass

Lay the glass down

Pour and spread the epoxy using a spatula

Weigh the join down with handy dive weights

The author 'Pirate Pete' (right) doing port survey diving in Picton with workmate Megan Carter

I checked in with City Timber earlier in the week and they only had 5 sheets of Gaboon 6mm ply

Earlier in the week I rang up City Timber to check up on their stocks of 6mm ply. Their best stuff is gaboon ply and unfortunately they only had 5 sheets. A quick scan of the nesting plan indicated that with 5 sheets I could get most of my skiff out ... the only bit missing from the 6th sheet would be the aft deck ... which can wait till later in the project = green light GO!!!!.

The Wellington forecast for the next 10 days was grim with plenty of cold, wet and wind. It was looking like I might miss my 1 September build start date. But on the day, the storm force southerly forecast was only gale force and it wasn't raining. So I went to City Timber and bought the 5 sheets of ply wood and kicked off the official start to my project. To cut a long story short the sheets of ply made it home even though they flapped alarmingly at times during the upwind drive home.

Tracing the panel shapes into the nesting pattern was quick and easy.

Since it still wasn't raining, I cut all my panels out.

TIP: if you are cutting up your ply sheets in a gale southerly, you have to cut into the wind - The off cut starts to flap in a disturbing fashion as the wind grabs hold of it and threatens to snap off if you try to cut down wind.

Almost all the parts traced and ready for cutting

All the components cut in a gale and ready for trimming and the start of joining in earnest

How the pirate wired his SK14 together - Tortured Ply, tortured pirate, No. 8 wire kiwi ingenuity and clamps [errata note #3 should be #2 and vice versa]

Wired together, eyeballed for symetry and tweaked = ready to set the shape with blobs of epoxy fillet

NOTE: CHECK THAT YOUR DECK BULK HEAD [IN MY CASE A, BUT MAYBE B] IS SQUARE AT THIS STAGE

I was too excited at the time and discovered later in the build (below) that my bulkhead A was a bit out. Not a biggie, but a bit of an unforced error

The curious bulkhead B - The design dimensions didn't fit and I made a new one ... maybe go 170mm rather than 136?

Building distraction - Port Survey diving in Auckland Harbour - at least Wellington isn't the only place in New Zealand experiencing a tempestuous spring

Flying back from Auckland and over a spectacularly tempestuous Wellington coast yesterday, it was hard not to notice that the seas were being whipped into a froth. Judging from the willi-waws gusting off the south coast on finals (I reckon the wind was blowing well over 45 knots). In all the turbulence the wings of the AIRBUS A320 were flapping up and down like a "fluttering shearwater" - it was at about that point that it occurred to me that maybe building a flat boat in my part of the world might not be the smartest idea. However, us 'Wellington folk' live with a "seize the day" moto. It isn't howling windy all the time and when the weather does come right, you want to be ready to make the most of it.

For example I am never likely to want to go fishing when the weather is snotty. So when the weather does come right, having a rapidly deploy-able, no mucking around SK14 will be just the ticket.

I went for the short foredeck version - old fly rod fits snugly = Tick

I hummed and harred about whether to go for the long foredeck or the short foredeck version. The long deck version looks pretty sexy. But I kind of like the idea of being able to run the bow on shore, then sprint along the deck and leap ashore over the bow like a pirate on a mission. Also, one of my primary reasons for building the SK14 was as a vehicle for pursuing my saltwater fly fishing interests. A quick measure up with the old fly rod indicates that my short foredeck version will have enough space to comfortably store the rod on the side and out of the way. All I think I will need will be a small wooden hook to hold the rod in place. = tick

Shape set with blobs of fillet and strategically placed bands of 6oz epoxy tape

The bow area is well tortured and probably needs more than just a bit of epoxy fillet!

17 September 2017

About half way through the month. The build has come together so quickly that I haven't had time to update the blog. I am certainly liking what I am seeing. The shape is set with lots of blobs of epoxy fillet strategically placed around the frames, the transom is glued in. Yesterday I got some extra glass cloth and tape for the seams and ordered some buoyancy foam. This mornings mission is to start filleting and glassing the seams, starting from the back. I expect this is going to take a few days.

24 September 2017

Well, the weekly report is pretty lame. The overall cunning project management plan was to take heaps of leave off and build the boat in September, let it cure a bit during October and have it painted and ready for serious fishing late October/November.

THE REALITY CHECK is that instead, I was dragged away on field trip missions for 3 of the September weeks and I will have to readjust my time line. The only consolation is that it is a short time building, long time boating ... so I just have to suck it in and soldier on.

The week wasn't entirely unproductive - I picked up a state of the art seat mount from good friend Lindsay Hawke

A trip to Christchurch wasn't entirely unproductive. My good friend: Lindsay Hawke was clearing out his garage "treasure Trove" and donated a spare seat system that he didn't want. A great donation to the project which will give me the option of luxury seating while I am doing marathon seagull outboard motor boat races ... and maybe keeping my butt dry while I am waiting for fish to bite. I had figured on just sitting on a chilly bin if I had to, but this will take things to the next level.

I am just a little nervous that the seat and the frame (which I have already called the "zimmer frame") combo might make my boat look like some sort of on-the-water mobility scooter.

Note to self - make sure your flat boat doesn't look like some sort of aquatic mobility scooter

The Mixer, The Spreader and The Scritcher

The Mixer, The Spreader and the Scritcher - Fibreglassing 101

Just a little spiel on fibreglassing. The "rider" is that there is more than one way to skin a cat and this is what I am doing - it works for me. Epoxy can go badly wrong, but I get pretty good consistent results, so here are my tips.

Mixing - I use pumps. They are handy and seem to give pretty consistent results. Multiples of 1 pump epoxy and 1 pump of hardener gives me a measure of epoxy for what ever fibreglassing mission I am on at the time. 1 pump of each for small fine tuning detail work - all the way up to a batch of 5 pumps each for a glass cloth pour. I have a cunning 'epoxy sandwich' system that 'keeps it simple' and avoids any distracted counting catastrophes: 1 pump epoxy followed by 1 pump hardener then 1 pump epoxy followed by 1 pump hardener Etc until I have enough resin to mix and use.

Take your time mixing - Epoxy does go off, but it takes a while (not like polyester resin that goes off in about 10 minutes). So sure, don't muck around, but do take time to mix it properly. This is where The Mixer comes in. The mixer is just a 2" plastic spatula that I got in a pack of 3. It cost peanuts. It is broad and I can slowly turn the epoxy and hardner together. My technique is to slowly push the mix around (if you go too fast, the thinner hardener gets sploshed out of my mixing cup and onto the floor - making a mess and ruining my mixing ratio). I change direction, let it stand for a short period and the mix it some more. The mixer sometimes get used to wet out cloth in tight places.

If you were to use a thinner stirrer, like say a popsicle stick, you aerate your epoxy and run the risk of not mixing your hardener in properly.

The Spreader - The spreader is the mixers middle sized 4" brother of the set. I use this to wet out epoxy cloth. The system is to pour a good goop of mixed epoxy from my mixing cup into the center of the cloth being wet out, then move the epoxy progressively towards the ends of your work with the spreader. Generally in a slow and steady sweep. Then repeat until I have wet out the area of cloth that I am working on. A good wet out has the cloth eventually going transparent and almost looking dry.

The alternative to using the pour and spread system is to use a brush. That can be way slower and strands of cloth can gum up the system. On a big wet out project, brushing can end up with bubbles and the epoxy can go milky after a while.

The Scritcher - The scritcher is a great tool for tidying up, the day after 'wetting out'. The plan is to revisit the wet out from the day before while the epoxy is still Green (soft) and feather the edges and any stray strand blobs with the scritcher. This does a very tidy and quick job. Just be steady and use a light-ish hand when scritching. If you get too carried away, you can pull off your glass cloth and gouge your work. It is much quicker and easier than letting the epoxy dry 'hard' so that it doesn't clog up your sandpaper (sometimes can take a week).

In the picture above, I haven't scritched the edge and the work looks a bit rough. In my defence, this is the inside of my hull and I am not too fussed about the finish. It is going to eventually be covered in foam and then the floor glued on top ... so nobody will ever see it again.

23 September 2017 Slow but steady progress

Battleship Strong - Making things hard for myself, I have ignored the advice of the plan fibreglassing schedule ... even for the "heavy duty version". I want my SK14 battleship strong. One reason is that racing seagull outboard powered boats down the Waikato River runs a high risk of running aground or scraping over a snag at some time or another. I know that glass cloth on both sides of ply wood makes it very stiff and strong. So I am putty-ing and taping the seams AND putting a layer of glass on the inside too. This is taking time. I managed to tape the seams and glass the bottom of the transom and 3 central sections by the end of last weekend. I managed to tape the seams and put a layer of glass on the the side sections over a period of Two x 2 hour sessions. It took a bucket of epoxy and time, but when I am eventually out on the high seas catching large fish ... I won't need to feel quite so nervous.

The next order of business is to finish off the seam taping and the bow section, then glue on the cleats for the floor to rest on.

FrankenBoat Begone!!! The wires look like my boat has been stitched together by a mad scientist (not terribly far from the truth).

Shape set and the last of the scritchy wires removed today = watermark moment

I didn't quite have enough 6oz cloth to complete the taping and glassing of the bow sections

- so off on a desperate mission to Burnsco to get enough cloth to finish todays task.

I Might have bought a gps/fish sounder that was on sale at the time?

Another Watershed moment. Inside seams and hull glassed. Pretty agriculture epoxy work ... but inside where

not many people will ever see.

8 October update

Building disruptions, Filleting, cunning plans, the Cleats

Building dirsruptions: Reviewing: the cunning plan was to burn up some leave and take most of September off to build my flat boat and have it ready for October. Harsh reality saw me away in the field for 3 of the 4 September weeks. The latest distraction was an oyster survey down in Stewart Island. It is a hard life having to spend time away from your boat building project diving in paradise looking for marine organisms. But I coped and, despite the locals thoroughly (and constantly) recommending a 'trauma kit' to deal with a potential great white shark attack ... we didn't even see a single carpet shark. So: "nobody was hurt in the making of the movie".

Clearly, it was a bit traumatic having to go diving around Stewart Island and not build my Bateau SK14 project

Having survived the field trip, it was back into my SK14 build. I have managed to complete most of the internal filleting.

On reflection ... and I did sort of figure it out: it is a good idea not to fillet the vertical sections of the internal framing until you have fitted the 'Cleats'. Otherwise you have to spend time shaping the cleat ends to fit the fillets = extra work.

Filleting 101

Mixing up a great bag of thickened epoxy and distributing it 'icing cake style' would be a quick and efficient way of doing it. But being 'ornery' and old school. I mix up a batch of epoxy, add some glue powder (to make it strong) then thicken it (so it is stiff and doesn't run) with various microballoons. Then I use a spatula to scoop up a blob and smear it along the joins. Once a fillet line is complete, I go along with a paint scraper and clean up the 'shoulder ridges' that inevitably result from spreading the thickened epoxy with my wooden home made spatula.

The stirrer, the stripper and the Spatula

Cutting up the cleats

I used a bench saw with feather boards to whittle my spare plank of ultra light paulownia to make 20mm x 20mm cleats. I didn't cut enough and because I was making great progress - I resorted to using a guide attached to my skill saw and cut up the rest of the plank without too much trouble and only a little bit of bad practice and danger. I would recommend a bench saw though. My paulownia cleats are ultra light and will partly make up for the extra weight of all the glass I have been putting in to the project to make it extra strong.

Cutting and fitting the cleats was a welcome respite from all the sloshing of epoxy that I have been doing since wiring the hull together - it somehow feels more like boat building. There is (relatively) quite a lot of work and effort going into the underfloor of the SK14 and in someways it seems a pity to have to cover it up. Especially with all the toil that has been going on and hidden underneath. But at least I will have pictures of what was done.

Pirate Pete's plank of paulownia whittled into about 2/3 rds of the cleats needed to reinforce the cockpit sole

The doubler - A cunning idea (or two) and the revenge of the 'rooter'

Being a real Kiwi guy [= not prone to reading the instructions], I had a series of cunning ideas to resolve the mating of the doubler to the cockpit floor. The first idea was to hot melt glue the doubler temporarily in place, put the cockpit floor over the doubler and located them to the cockpit floor with screws - pulling the daubs of hot melt glue might have been a little problematic. The next cunning idea was to use my router to inset the cleats between frames C and D so that the doubler could sit on them. That idea seemed plausible. So first order of the day was to set up the guide, the bit and depth on my router and proceed with confidence.

Unfortunately plan B turned out horribly wrong. For some reason the bit continually became loose in the Router chuck and progressively dropped down. The result was that I whittled one of my precious long paulownia cleats into a whole pile of dust and a series of sloping steps to oblivion.

A router is a thing of wonder ... when it works properly. It also has the potential to atomize

a good paulownia cleat into a pile of dust in an instant

Cunning plan 3: which is actually written in the instructions [Even real Kiwi guys eventually resort to looking at the 'manual' sometimes ... although they will never admit it] was to drop the 'cleats for the section between frames c and d by the depth of the doubler (which was conveniently measured by using one of the transom struts that was handy).

Cunning plan #3 - drop the cleats between frames c and d for the doubler to rest on.

Note: I put a spacer to pack frame c to 'fill the gap'. This may be a consequence

of me "making the boat fit for purpose" by lifting the bow

to tweak a bit of rocker into the build (gotta help with surfing???) or a personal lofting mistake

8 October: Progress to date - most of the fillets done, gluing on some of the 'cleats'

Tasks - complete fitting and gluing the cleats, tidy up the fillets, maybe glass tape them for good measure and start playing with the foam buoyancy - I haven't used that stuff before and it is bound to be exciting fun.

15 October. Not a great deal of progress. Work keeps getting in the way of a good build and it was a nice day today, so I blew any building opportunity by going for a paddle on my SUP paddle board. It was sunny and good to be out of the boat shed. Most of the progress last week was to order raw materials (a u-bolt for the bow painter and more polyurethane foam). The big plan for this weekend was to buy the outstanding sheet of plywood for the deck, but that was thwarted by near gale NW winds which would have been prohibitive for driving around with sheets of plywood on roof racks.

Buying more Polyurethane expanding foam - a lesson in not paying attention

This is pretty exciting for me. There is a lot of Unknowns with using and exactly what happens and how much polyurethane flotation foam expands when you mix it) and I am looking forward to having a play. I think I will do a 1+1 mixing cup mix poor it into one of the central floor compartments and see what happens. Then from there I can adjust things to suit.

In my infinite wisdom I read and immediately ignored the recommendations from the plans: "It takes about 1 gallon total but since the foam is sold in 2 gallon kits, buy 2 gallons. You will waste some anyway. And two small 2 quarts kits will not do the job."

... and decided that 2 x 1+1 liter small cans of Polyurethane expanding foam would be close to 1 US gallon. I ordered it on line and immediately regretted it because the price for 2 x 1+1 liter cans was about the same as 1 4 +4 liter can which was recommended and I should have got in the first place. So I spent twice as much money on expanding polyurethane flotation foam as I should have ... and against sound advice. The only positive thing from the lesson was that I should have more than enough expanding Polyurethane flotation foam come the time I get to use it.

Double doubler - a short foredeck and some freelance 'nesting' means "I think I can" have a full length doubler

between bulkheads C and D. Well, anyhow, now I have got one and it is strong 'as'

The double doubler

On reflection, not being able to buy that missing sheet of ply and marking out the deck could come back to bite me. But the winds were howling near gale NW on Saturday morning and it would have been 'pretty dodgy' trying to drive around with a sheet of plywood flapping on the roof racks. With my short deck option and a reasonable amount of off cuts ply left over from my freestyle-rat cunning nesting (that I was able to do using my tracing panels) meant that I reckon I could get a full sized doubler for the space between bulkheads C and D. And, still have enough left over for the front section of the deck.

Only time will tell

Note that by looking at the nesting plan and doing some "eyeball math" the doubler isn't the full length of Frames C to D. So don't do as 'I do' folks. The image below, that I shamelessly stole from Puppydrumn off the Bateau forum (But what do you expect - I am a pirate!) illustrates what should have been done.

Photo shamelessly stolen from Puppydrumn from the Bateau forum shows how the doubler should be done

Nice work guys and your posts are an inspiration.

Things to do: buy some more micro-balloons because I have run out. Hope I can do a run and get that last piece of ply safely back home and mark and cut out that deck. Finish off the tricky cleats on the sides and tidy up the outstanding fillets and epoxy seal the underfloor ready for the foaming polyurethane flotation goop.

Busy few weeks ahead with work, so the next update might be a while in coming.

15 October: Progress to date - slow progress - Running out of raw materials and a having to do a bit of shopping

Doubler cut and test fitted.

Looking at the cleats on the stern - my el cheapo made in China ozito electric planer came in handy

to bevel the cleats. There will be a lot of that for the cleats yet to be fitted to the sides.

25 October update

The last ply sheet

Remembering back a bit, there were only 5 of the 6 sheets available at the time I was ready start of this build. And, I had figured out that the missing 6th sheet would only be the aft deck ... so, I wouldn't be needing it straight away. That was enough to go get the 5 sheets of ply in the middle of a storm and launched into the build.

At this stage, having made pretty good progress, getting that last sheet became a priority. The cruel "Roaring Forties" winds of this Wellington spring [Wellington is in at 41 S latitude which puts us fair and square in the Southern Ocean "Roaring Forties" ... yeah, yeah I know some people are tearing their hair out at my over building .. but it is all a matter of an intrinsic survival instinct ... if you are going to be swanning around in the Southern Ocean, you will be wanting a strong boat] meant that there were very few opportunities to attempt to buy that one last sheet of ply. But the moment eventually came and during a rare calm afternoon - I secured it.

Having got the sheet of ply safely home, it was a quick and easy mission to loft up the deck. And the uncertainty of whether I had made a bad choice with the extravagant 'double' doubler was resolved when I was easily able to loft in the bow section of the deck with the alternative left over scrap sheet.

Sigh of relief all around.

For a moment, I did deliberate about getting another cheap sheet of ply and lofting a template for the large aft part of the deck just to check the deck fit - there is a lot riding on this last sheet of ply. Time and cost wise it would only cost me an extra $35 for a cheap sheet of ply to make a template and only take a few extra minutes [apart from finding another calm day to do it]. That would be cheap insurance because if my lofting was not right or somehow the hull was misshapen ... the deck could be a poor fit that I would otherwise find out after cutting up a $110 sheet of ply.

However, that last sheet of ply that I got from City Timber was a bit ratty ... I could have/should have hand picked something better. But I wasn't too concerned because I am going to glass the deck and cover it with deck tread, so cosmetics wasn't a priority.

Taking a deep break and saying a bit of a prayer, I launched in and cut the back deck with the mighty Makita skill saw, trimmed it to the lines with a few passes with my little hand plane and took the liberty to put a bit of a bevel on the edges.

Then tentatively fitted the panel ....

Kudos to Bateau boat plans!!!

The deck fits like a glove: This reflects the accuracy of the plans and that my build must be pretty faithful to design. The only hiccup was that at this late point, I discovered that my bow bulkhead A ... isn't quite square. That was a bit of an oversight, but I should be able to get away with it.

NOTE: CHECK THAT YOUR DECK BULK HEAD [IN MY CASE A, BUT MAYBE B] IS SQUARE

The last sheet of ply secured. The deck lofted and the remaining scrap of ply was easily enough

to complete the forward section

The lofted aft deck section ... fitted like a glove!

And the bow section fitted just as snuggly - but I did discover my bulkhead A isn't exactly square

.... that was an oops moment

29 October progress

Laundered boat building pic vs the reality of the hard grind and lots of good timber reduced to sawdust.

Progress though, side cleats cut, shaped and fitted.

The month is running out fast and the Wellington weather conditions are getting better and better. If I wasn't still building my Bateau sk14 ... I could have been out on the water fishing in it all weekend ... Sigh ... But I keep on beavering away whittling pieces of wood knowing that I am making progress and am not too far away from actually being on the water in my custom hand-made Bateau SK14. At least I can spend some of my time thinking about finishing details ... like a deck with a custom made set of deck pads ... but still showing off the wooden heritage of the boat. A 'fish-cammo' paint job. And where I might fit my rod holders and movie camera mounts .....

I did manage to cut and fit the cleats to the sides. The light at the end of the tunnel is starting to get pretty bright: there isn't terribly much more work to do. Just a bit more tidying up. Check the deck fit, sort out the outstanding fillets and seal the remaining inside bits and then I can get onto the buoyancy foam. Then it will be a sprint finish to fit the deck, fair and glass the hull and pretty much a done deal apart from painting and fishing [oops that was a typo, it was supposed to be finishing].

A cunning bow painter u-bolt plan. Clamped inplace, remove, glass the outside, fit,

do a solid end pour into the cavity and finally put the foredeck on.

Another angle of the bow fitting ... should do the trick

I fitted the bow painter fitting. The plan is to glue the mini-fitted bulkhead 'A+' pictured above. I am hoping that my epoxy sticky fingers don't glue the stainless fittings in place permanently, then I can remove the fitting. Once the outside of the hull is glassed, I can fit the bow painter and bolt it in place. Then I can fill the gap with an "end pour". An end pour is a concoction of epoxy, glass strands and saw dust poured into the bow section to make a solid plug of epoxy. That will hold the painter fitting in place. Make it water tight. And make the bow (where all the panels focus) that much stronger ... did I mention battleship strong at some stage?

5 November 2017

Not a lot of progress. Too much work and a settled spell of Wellington weather [when I should have been out and about in my very own completed Bateau SK14 - but I wasn't because I haven't finished building it yet] provided plenty of distractions and excuses for not boat building. I have managed to re-fit the deck: the side cleats pulled the sides a little and I had to trim a few shavings here and there to get the deck to fit perfectly.

The rest of the time has been spent sanding and tidying up the inside of the hull in preparation for the foam and permanently gluing the deck on. That is looking like it should happen next weekend.

The rest of the time has been spent thinking about how I am going to fit out the boat. I had hoped to pre-fit the "zimmer frame" to the deck so that there would be no chance of a leak. But truthfully, I would be guessing wildly where it should be placed. I really won't know where it should be positioned, until after sea trials. Also, there is some merit in keeping it simple and a big clean deck is something to admire and has merit (maybe I won't need the zimmer frame and can get away with sitting on a box?).

14 November 2017

Work is getting in the way of a good build. I was away down in Dunedin for port survey with some good weather ... and some bad weather. I am very much the weekend warrior when it comes to boat building, but I am making progress. Finally, the underfloor of my SK14 is completely sealed, all the fillets done and ready for the buoyancy foam. I could spend a little time tidying up the final round of filleting, but all going well, it will all be hidden by buoyancy ... and then a deck. So: "she'll be right mate".

Not much more of the build to go really. I can almost hear the screams of the southern ocean Mollymawks ..... and Jacques:

DON'T DO THIS AT HOME FOLKS.

I taped some seams because I had some glass tape, more specifically: Dynal cloth glass tape that I had bought ... and felt compelled to use it. The dynal cloth stands out and is rather blatant. I taped both sides of the longitudinal stringers and frame D ... for no particular reason. I guess I figured that frame D might get a little more punishment because that is where the planing pressure will be. But the build is already very longitudinally stiff (I can still get a bit of twist between the bow end and the stern, but expect that to stiffen up completely with the foam buoyancy and the deck when it goes on).

However Jacques i s absolutely right, taping the fillets is not necessary and I doubt that I have achieved any significantly more strength.

I could kid myself that I am building the worlds strongest Bateau SK14 ... but I would only be kidding myself.

The screaming of Mollymawks ... and Jacques. Don't try this at home: totally unnecessary taping of the longitudinal stringers

1 cup part A, 1 cup part B = this much. 2 x each would have been fairly impressive, but I reckon I might need about 3 x each for the

big central compartments.

19 November 2017

Best laid plans of mice and men .... I ran out of foam, ordered some more ... and made a movie

small technical issue. Try: https://youtu.be/UJojxb2qaTA

As much foam as I am prepared to put in. Getting it perfect, would be chasing rabbits ... this is close enough

ENOUGH WITH THE FOAMING

Well, that wasn't my best effort. On reflection, mixing up batches of 5 cups or part A and another cup of part B at a time for each of the center sections would have made a much neater job. Most of the sections are pretty much filled to the top and from the picture above, you can see I had to trim a few high spots. To get it perfect would be a mission because the foam seems to have a mind of its own and guessing how much and how many little blobs where to tidy it up would possibly make things even more ugly.

So for this project, it is time to call it quits and move onto the next task.

15 kg of polyurethane foam were mixed in the making of this movie

not surprisingly my SK14 now has a weighty heft

This SK14 has taken on a Heft

It took a fortune of eco expanding polyurethane foam to mostly fill up the underfloor compartments. By my calculation and the number of empty cans lying around, I mixed and poured about 15 kg into the hull.

This is a mixed blessing. I am convinced that I had reinforced the inside of the hull enough to get away without the foam. And without the foam, being 15 kg lighter, the hull would have made a plausible seagull outboard powered race boat. And the mantra of a good boat (boat builder) is light and strong. Anybody can make heavy and strong, but the art is light and strong when it comes to floaty things.

I figure the extra weight will help keep the boat on the water when it is at anchor in these windy parts. Plus ... us boat builders never mention the word 'Titanic', but now that the foam has been poured, my SK14 would likely comply with international shipping regulations to function as a life raft buoyancy apparatus. And should be pretty much 'unsinkable' - you never know when your the hull might be be breached by a marlin bill. My SK14 hull's ability to remain floating would not be compromised by that scenario.

That might be a good thing.

Preparing to join the deck with a back plate - the screws will be removed after the glue sets

Not too much more to go

I just have to glue the deck on, glass the outside of the hull, do a bit of fussing around the transom and motor mount, cut up and fit my gunwales and I could be close to ready before Christmas ... said the hopeful one. Work has been ramping up to hectic pace with the Christmas shut down looming, so I haven't had the time or energy to do much boat building lately.

My plan for the deck is to join the two sections with a backing plate. Partly for strength and partly because the bow section doesn't lie very flat and needs to be 'persuaded' [by a backing plate] to fit nicely. In the photo above, I had to inlay the backing plates into the foam in parts. The screws will be removed after the glue has set.