JEM Watercraft

Everythings become a blur - have managed a fair amount of progress over Christmas but can't remember what was done on what day.
Could be something to do with trying out the new glasses I got for Christmas - they are beer glasses . Filling them with Cooper's Vintage doesn't help!

Used the temporary frame I carried the ply on as a base for cutting. Couldn't wait to get some idea of how it will look. Some of the grain looks quite reasonable so maybe the final appearance will come up OK. (Sure hope so!)


Full set of panels (coaming only rough cut - not sure if I will use them yet)


Went to my local salvage yard this morning and picked up 2 old doors for $10 to make a bench top. Screwed them together and they sit on top of my normal bench. Set up for butt joining bottom and side panels this afternoon.


Located 1 panel with a corner block and edge block so its position is fully controlled, then set up the other with 2 edge blocks. The second can then be slid up to the first and all is located positively. The QA2 measurements were very close .




Was very tired by the time I finished (been taking a lot of time to set things up) so hope I haven't messed it up. Next time will only do one layer at a time - it was difficult holding things in place while doing the second joint on top of the first.

When I do a hatch the deck is glassed and finished. The hatch is the last step for me when building a boat.

Make a cardboard template and using that mark out the hatch , drill 5 small holes (together) with the smallest drill bit you have , a 1/8th or 1/16th works good. Then I use a very thin bladed hand saw ( it is called a bonsai saw , used to trim the little bonsai trees). Very carefully follow the line with it till the hatch is cut out.

Any mistakes would not be noticed since the hatch fits right back in where it was cut from. Then seal the cut ends with some epoxy , sand it lightly and put on the 2nd coat.

Those are the steps I do for a hatch.

Bob,

Nice move getting the doors. When working with a full sized (4'X8') piece of ply, you can fasten the 2 doors side be side instead of end to end.

Last few days have been slow going. Today I worked out how I should have gone about splicing the panels 2 days ago .

Finally got glass on both sides - but will have to do another layer as it is less than 3 oz cloth.

Filler joint. The slat with duct tape on it was placed tape side down on the joint and weighted while the epoxy set. When slat was removed the filled joint was smooth enought to use without need to sand.:


Joint glassed:


Did the outside glassing on the splices tonight.


Found another use for leftover epoxy - this glass figure had lost it's head and one ear - all in one piece again now.


Had trouble with mixing small batches of epoxy. Balance is 1g resolution and for a 5G batch this is not really accurate enough so I made up a device that will double the accuracy. Will put a post in "Tips and tricks".

Sparkey - thanks for the hatch procedure.
Jack there's not much width in my shed but will keep that door idea in mind.

Bob,

Keep up the good work. the pic "Joints glassed" showing the two pnaels as assembled in curves, portrays the point where measuring that curvature is critical.

Firstly, all the best to everyone for 2009 .

It's been a good year so far. At 1:45 A.M. I reached the "ready to stitch" milestone.


Was back down in the shed at 7:30 A.M. - does this make me an official Jem junkie?
Spent the morning arranging a few things for the next stage. Deck panels were going to get in the way so were hung from the rafters next to the old Canadian.


Then did some prep work on sheer clamps and built a pair of Hairy style slings to hold the boat while stitching. Thanks for that idea Mick. During this I also produced/collected some sawdust and made a seive to filter the splinters out.

After lunch it was time to put in a few cable ties and see what it looked like. To reach this milestone has taken nearly 35 hours but that also includes making various gadgets, cutting out templates (in case of a second build), rolling and storing the glass cloth, moving things around in a cluttered work area etc.


Still have ten days of holidays so very so far.

Bob, I'd say that you are a "firmly hooked boat builder". There's no hope for you now, pal; you're lost in the dens of iniquity.


"WHEEEEEEeeeeeeee!"

Nice progress there, Bob. She's looking a treat. 35 hours to this point seems pretty good to me.......and well worth it.

Had another 2 hour session tonight and thought the stitching was going well until getting to the stern. Am a bit unsure just how close the curves need to be pulled together at the ends. This pic shows where its at now - the gap between side panels at the end of the bottom is about 8mm - is this acceptable?



Also reading back over Hairy's Laker build I see that his stitches looked to be about every 6 - 8 " whereas the laker plans say to use 12". I have used 12 and there seems to be less control over the side panel curves than one would expect. Should I go back and put one every 6"?



Won't do any more tonight (only 4 hours sleep last night and it's after 11 now).

You could probably pinch that gap a little more after it sits over night. But 8mm is fine.

As for the stitch spacing, you could add additional if it looks like the panels could use a little more influence.