Layout epiphany!

After all the work to lay out the transom I was excited to get working on the same process for the other frames. After about an hour struggling with making frame 1 line up right I finally stepped back and asked myself how to make this go more smoothly. Then it hit me that most of the frames have at least one flat side, and I can use the miter saw (power!) to cut the angles I need. So after checking the angle five times with my rafter square, I put both frame pieces together and cut. The angle was perfect and matched exactly, no bevel to try and straighten out! I still need the plywood to make sure everything will stay aligned, but the angles are perfect now. This also saves a HUGE amount of time over shaping each piece by hand. I still have one frame left to cut out, but now that my layout time is down considerably, I think I can have all the frames made up this week. That's probably a little ambitious, but so is building a boat by hand.

Transom pieces together at last

After about 3 hours of layout time I finally epoxied the transom frame to the transom. After cutting all the pieces out with a band saw I needed to plane the mating surfaces to the correct angles. This took much longer than I thought it would. Every time I took a couple of planer strokes the wood would end up with a small bevel. So I would take a few more strokes and the bevel would be on the other side! All the while my mahogany is laying in thin shavings on the floor! The transom is 3/4 inch plywood so the exact mating was not as critical as some other parts will be. After drawing out an outline of where each piece would go on the transom I measured and marked the notched for the battens, chines and sheer. These are the pieces that will run the length of the boat. Finally I glued and screwed it all into place. Eventually I have to cut the bottom and sides of the transom to a 20 degree angle, but I am still thinking of the best way to do that. One piece done, many more to go. I learned a lot about layout from this. The building literature recommends that you use a piece of plywood to trace out the patterns on to so everything will line up correctly when it gets epoxied. I think I will have to get some before I put the other frames together.

First Glued Parts!

I have been working at a leisurely pace on the boat this week. I got all of my mahogany planed down to size and the first pieces cut out. The wood shop at work came through for me and I can use it every day until about 3:30. I also received the epoxy and screws that I ordered so it was time to put some pieces together! I pre-drilled all the screw holes, and drilled a few all the way into both pieces. The through holes are for alignment once the pieces have epoxy on them. I mixed up my first batch of epoxy and added the silica filler. I spread it on the pieces and them set the extra aside to start the assembly. The next thing I know the mix is snap, crackle, popping like Rice Krispies and wisps of smoke are coming out of the container! Epoxy resin and hardener produce an exo-thermal chemical reaction which speeds up the hardening process. Since I mixed mine in a small container the heat was contained and made the epoxy heat up very rapidly. From reading about other people who have had this experience I learned that the process is called "going off," as it "That epoxy just went off!" Now technically, I think that all epoxy that you mix up "goes off," but when you concentrate it in a small area it seems to be more spectacular. The epoxy I spread on the wood and the stuff on the edge of the mixing container was still easily workable 10 minutes later due to being spread out over a larger area. I mixed about 5 oz. this time which was probably twice what I needed. Next time I will do a smaller batch or spread it out more to slow down the reaction. Hopefully the pieces will stick well enough.

Time to cut

I picked up 40 board feet of mahogany today. That is just a way of saying I brought home GOLD in WOOD form. This stuff is expensive! I also glued all the tracings down to a thin sheet of plywood and started cutting them out. When I am done I will use the plywood shapes to trace the real pieces on the mahogany. I found some 3/4" marine plywood locally but I think I will have to have the rest delivered from somewhere else. I thought Charleston was a boat buiding kind of place.

Plans

The first part of this adventure is to decode a set of plans into pieces that made a boat. I studied these things for about two days before I really set off. There is also an awesome online community of Glen-L builders who are more than willing to share their experience and wisdom, so I read about a thousand posts on their forum too. Here my two year old is giving me advice on how to build a boat. She is at least as excited as I am any time something comes in the mail! After the kids went to be I spent two nights tracing the patterns out on tracing paper.

Lets build a boat!

About three weeks ago I got the idea that I should build a boat. I think I needed a little more adventure in my life. Not that three kids and a job aren't enough, but thats not the right kind of adventure. So I researched plans for about a week and decide to build a Glen-L 15. It's a 15' sailboat made with wood frames and plywood planking. I have also decide that I need to sail it to Georgia. I live in Charleston, SC so it, won't be that far. So I had to up the ante a bit by specifing the southern end of Georgia. Anyway, we'll see how long it takes to build this thing before we can really get anywhere. So lets begin.

UPDATE: Wife says people need to be able to visualize what it will look like when it is done, so, here you are.