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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The build up. 01/02/2011

At last I am working on the building jig. As you will notice I just used scrap material for the profiles. To date the only timber I have purchased is the plywood and Radiata Pine stringers.

To install the first chine stringer I made 30mm cuts into the stringer at 150mm intervals for the full length of the stringer. This made the bend very easy.

To locate the stringer position acurately I screwed blocks at the point where the frames would lie when installed. The blocks were removed as soon as the stringer was clamped and screwed.

The bow end showing the cut to make room for the beam.

I also laminated the timber for the rudder today. I used Douglas Fir from an old crate plus one length of Tasmanian Mytle hardwood for the leading edge. I would like to thank Michael Polson for the use of his thicknesser to shape the Tasmanian timbers I am using in the boat, including a piece of Huron Pine. All of the Tasmanian timber came from my mate Eric Alcock who is currently dying of Cancer. I hope the boat will be a tribute to Eric who I have know for 50 years.

Pathfinder/Chinook Progress report # 2

January 21, 2011
I have now completed all frames, transom, centreboard and centrecase. I found that rather than rely on a multitude of clamps to hold the doublers together I used cheap steel screws which I removed and threw away when the resin was set.

To assist with the speedy orientation of frame parts, when glueing, I used 12.5mm dowels through the frame and doubler.

The centreboard was made from all Tasmanian Hardwoods, mainly Myrtle (Beech) and some Blackwood.

To form the profile of the centreboard I used a design I found on another Blog, sorry I have forgotten who's. This proved very successful. The picture says it all.

I calculated that I poured 26kg of lead directly into centreboard cavity. The only problem I had was keeping the melting pot hot enough to ensure that the lead was still molten when I poured it. The singed areas around the lead are where I directly flamed the lead after the pour to better distribute the lead after the final pour.

To hang the centreboard in the case I used 16mm SS tube inserted directly into the centreboard and centrecase with a shallow rebate to hold a small amont of thickend glue. This not only holds the bush in place but seals the timber from water ingress.

To hold the 12.5mm pin in the bush I made up blank plates from 9mm ply with a gasket of inner tube underneath.