Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Final stages of the hull construction

Ready for the decking.

The flooring and seats installed with cutouts for storage.

Installing doublers under the seat edge.

Installing doublers under the transom front. I have made cutouts for small round access hatches in all of the seats.

I installed a compression post under the mast step.

The beginnings of the tiller made out of Huon Pine.
I have reached the stage where I must finish the interior painting and then I can install the coamings. Then the hull will be complete.

The deflector on the fore deck was guite tricky to build and I would like to have made it angled forward but that was more than I could manage, or perhaps I was just too lazy. I still have to buy timber for the rubbing strakes and then install them.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Inside paint and floor install

I added two small 20mm boards on either side of the spine to allow the fixing of fittings on the floor. Also, I added additional transverse floor bearers to spread the weight more evenly.

The King plank has been fitted with extra length which will be cut after the deck is installed. A hardwood riser will be installed to support the load of the mast above the deck. Note! also, I installed two additional deck supports to ensure no warping of the deck due to enthusiastic crew movements. The floor has been fixed down with silicone and screws and then sealed with silicone around the edges.

Note the false frame just in front of the transom to support the rear deck. I have painted all underfloor areas with primer and two coats of good quality outdoor house paint. The wet areas with have two coats of epoxy and then two coats of two pack tank coating, the same as the outside hull.


I have made allowance to install tow 30kg lead bars for extra ballast and you can seethe mounting blocks ready for the bars.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Chinook moves again

After a two month break due to Prostate Surgery I am back on the job. Three coats of two pack white paint later and the bottom is looking good.

Before turning over I fixed a polythene strip down the full length of the keel strip. Not shown.
The rollover team after lifting from the jig. September 1, 2011

Getting closer to replacing the hull back on the jig.

There at last with Trevors fingers still under the boat.

The team. Trevor , Paul , John , Peter  and me. Thank you all for the help.

Coffee break after the lift.

Ready for the next stage, fitting out the internals.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Boat building tips I have learnt.

These comments are in no particular order and will be put down as I think of them. I hope they will be useful to some others who follow as I have found Blogs such as Perry Burton and Rick Corless.
* Epoxy mixing: To mix small quanities (which is most of the time) I use the lids of soft drink bottles or lids of old resin containers. They are cheap and available.
*  To clean your hands after a messy epoxy job I scrub them with clean sand and dishwashing detergent. Very effective.
* Making gains: Measure back 400mm from the stem and taper both the upper and lower plank with an angle grinder. Tidy up with a rabbet plane.
* As you may have noticed I have installed the planking on the frames by turning the boat upside down after the stringers were installed, this has been a real plus and I would strongly recommend it. As long as you strenghten the frames with some internal timber to prevent any distortion there should be no problems.
* I used Construction grade plywood for all of my build. In Australia see if you can get the Chilean Construction Plywood, from Bunnings, as it is a better grade than the local product. If there are some knots that have fallen out just fill them with epoxy, good as new.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

The turn over.

With the aid of my neighbor and his mates I have turned the boat over with no apparent ill effects. This will make it much easier to cut and install the planking.

Another milestone passed.
Plotting the first plank using the method from Rick Corless' blog.

First plank fixed on both sides.

There was no way that I could leave the screws in the plank while chamfering to take the next plank, contrary to the designers instruction.

Detail of the plotting on the template for the next plank.
April 22, 2011 and I have completed the planking, a good point to reach and worth celebrating. I have leant quite a lot in the process and will put together a page, "Tips of the day", not all my own ideas but a collection from various sources which may be helpful for any future Pathfinder builders.


The gains have made the bow quite streamlined and were very easy to do. The angle grinder is definately the boat builders best friend.

The plank overlaps at the transom look neat.


The bottom plank requires more hole filling then I will glass it and make the skeg.

I decided to install the skeg prior to glassing the bottom, it seemed to make more sense to me. I used Tasmanian Myrtle and blackwood laminated from 50mm wide by 35mm deep strips.

I am please with results. Next step is to glass the bottom and then paint before turning over.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

I have had my mate Peter over to help me install the stringers over the last couple of days and today we finished the last stringer. Very satisfying.

I installed a 19mm * 19mm Pine backing piece on the inside of the frames to support the ply to be installed later. Looks pretty neat.

As I soaked each stringer in water for an hour before fitting they went on like a dream, no cracking or stressing. Here I have installed a temporary wooden brace to hold the Port side bottom stringer while the glue sets.

With Frames 4 and 6 I found that it was necessary to install a small 9mm doubler to boost the strength of the 9mm frames. Without this the frames were just too thin to get the screws to hold.

Friday, February 25, 2011

The first stringer

Today I attempted, successfully, to install the first stringer on the port side. I used a small Electrolux Steamer (thanks to Mark Attard) to apply a little steam to the stringer which I had placed in the 75mm PVC tube you can see on the floor. The steam certainly made the pine stringer more pliable.

In place of clamps in some cases I used electrical cable to pull the stringer into the frame.

I have primed and painted the underfloor area as it is much easier now than after the stringers are in place. I will apply the final coat before the floor goes down.

I used the steamer by hand to apply a little more moister before srewing and glueing.

I have inserted two 25mm electrical conduits between the front floor area and cockpit to drain any splash water to the rear.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Looking like a boat

At last I have the frames mounted and fixed. I am pleased with the results.

Rather than install the seat fronts in two single pieces I split them with frame 6A. This was much easier than trying to cut and install them as a single unit and has not sacrificed any strength.

I decided to omit the access holes in the seat fronts so that the outboard area would serve as additional boyancy. 
Number one frame needed a little encouragement to keep it in line.

I will paint all of the under floor areas before proceeding with the installation of the stingers as access is much easier now.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Rudder and stock. Slow progress today.

The laminated rudder blank.

The centre case is giving me a headache. First I had trouble getting the second coat of epoxy to cure. Apparently because I didn't wash down the previous coat. Lesson learned. Then I primed the epoxy with Acrylic Undercoat/Primer after a thourough sand and wash before painting with two coats of Yellow enamel. I hope that I have a chieved a good bond.

The rudder cheeks I fabricated from two layers of 9mm ply. I coated the ply with a good thick layer of thickened epoxy then screwed them together.

The rudder is made from 8 layers of softwood with one strip of Myrtle on the leading edge.