Brass Rubbing Strips Fitted, Ready To Roll Over

In the last few days I have fitted the brass rubbing strips to the keel and bilge runners. The strips are 20 mm wide by 5 mm thick, flat on one side, circular arc on the other. Fitting them was straightforward: cut to length and shape ends, drill and countersink holes approx 100 mm apart along the strip, position strip on the boat and fix with temporary screws, drill pilot holes for all screws, remove strip and fill all pilot holes with epoxy, coat strip with Sikaflex 391, put in place and fix with silicon bronze screws, clean off excess Sikaflex with mineral turps. There are 120 screws in the four brass strips.

 

The strip stops part way up the stem because a bow eye (ring with a long threaded shank) will be fitted through the stem. Once this is in place, and the top of the stem is finished, a short piece of brass strip will be fitted to the top part of the stem.

 

Today's job was to build the frame that the boat will be rolled over in. There are still 4 building moulds inside the boat fixed to the frames lower cross members. the upper cross members have packing pieces bearing down onto the keel. As the boat is turned over it will only be able to move a few mm inside the frame and the paintwork will be protected from bumps and scratches. At least that is my hope!

 

Having built the frame I can set off on my trip south with a clear conscience! When I return, sometime towards the end of February, I will round up half a dozen volunteers, carry the boat and frame out of the shed, turn it over, and carry it back into the shed.

Painting Done

The painting is finished for the time being. The outside of the hull has 3 coats of International Toplac over 2 coats of International Pre-Kote over 2 coats of epoxy. The finish is not perfect but it will pass the ten foot test! Here are some photos.

The sheer plank and gunwale only have their 2 coats of epoxy. They will be finished when the inside of the boat is complete. The sheer plank in a darker blue and the gunwale with varnish. The rubbing strip (immediately below the blue) already has 5 coats of varnish.

Next steps are to fit the brass rubbing strips along the keel and bilge runners then build a frame around the boat so it can be turned over. Here's a photo showing how this frame will work; this is Cameron's Able being turned over last December, see link to right of this page.

 

Before I build the frame and turn my boat over I am going away for 3 or 4 weeks to visit friends in Sydney and Canberra and to go to the Wooden Boat Festival in Hobart.

White Bottom Paint Complete

The bottom of the boat now has 3 coats of white International Toplac paint. This was thinned with Penetrol and thinners. The Penetrol seems to do what it says on the tin: helps keep the wet edge a bit longer and helps the paint level out. The weather is hot here at the moment (even early in the morning) and I needed to add a splash more thinners when the brush started to drag. The 3 coats went on well with no sags or runs and I am happy with the result. Here is a photo of the result.

I am pleasantly surprised that the camera managed to show the different whites, one glossy the undercoat more of a satin finish.

The Water Line

The second coat of undercoat is on and, today, after a bit of sanding, I marked the water line because I am going to paint the bottom of the boat white and the topsides blue. There are too many white boats in the world and I like blue, see my other boat blogs (links on the right of this page). The plans give the approximate position of the water line but it is a tricky thing to mark on the side of the boat. This is how I did it (certainly not my original idea).

The photo shows a camera tripod with a piece of plywood fixed to the top. This was moved around the boat to four different positions and the ply wood levelled by eye by moving the tripods legs around. On top of the plywood is an aluminium disk from the scrap box that has been drilled and tapped for 3 jacking screws. On top of the aluminium plate is a Bosch "pen" laser level (these are relatively inexpensive, $55 from Bunings). The laser level projects a flat red laser line that can be seen just above the blue tape (click the photo for an enlargedment). In use the laser level is moved around on the plate and the line marked in pencil on the hull ever 100 mm or so. Obviously the plate has to be level and at the right height; this was achieved by adjustment of the jacking screws and the tripod's rise and fall mechanism. Several iterations are needed before the adjustment is complete.

Due to space constraints in my shed I had to mark the water line in four sections working around the hull. Each time the tripod was moved the whole adjustment process had to be redone. I was amazed, when I returned to the starting point, to see that the line I had carried all round the hull fell exactly on the point I had started from.

Having marked the line the tape was placed to create a "fair" curve through the points. The apparent breaks in the tape line are where it zig-zags across the plank laps.

Once the bottom of the boat has its white paint I will remove the tape in the photo and retape over the finish coat and apply the blue paint to the topsides. That's the plan anyway!