Alright, this is the first post of many (I hope). Order is in on my first CLC kit and we’ll see how long it goes from order to splash. I am setting a 6 month goal to have it in the water by Spring break (March 27’).
I already have tons of questions but I’ll wait till I see the kit/manual (I am told most will be answered by there). So if anyone who has built a Chester recently and wants to provide tips I am all ears. New to boat building but not to woodwork/making things. As a matter of fact I need to go clear a few projects out to the shop to make space for the build.
Ok waited a whole day (hard to contain excitement)… so let the questions commence!
Workbench: once you get the a the puzzle pieces glued is there a need for a 15ft work bench? I see the classes mostly on sawhorses. I have a 20+ft miter station that I can easily do the glue ups on. Also a 8 ft x 5ft outfeed table for my table saw. Thinking just some sheets of ply on sawhorses till the initial stitching is done then to sawhorses.
Clamps: I have a ton and I am probably good but what size spring clamps are best? I have 30-40 2 inch opening kind, 60+ f-clamps, and 20 or so parallel clamps (don’t seem useful for boats).
Epoxy station: I think the MAS kit comes with the 1:2 pumps so each pump measures right. Is it worth it to get a professional station? Seems like a lot of epoxy work. Something like this:
Fiberglass Scissors: what kind? Just a pair of nice high quality? I have some high end quilting shears would those work or are the little electric shears I see YouTubers using better?
Niche Tools: any other nice to have niche boat building tools I should get to make my life easier? I have most normal tools like rasps, pull saws, block planes, jointer, planner, saws for furniture making and such.
Six months is realistic for a Chester Yawl if you stay consistent, especially with your woodworking background. The part that catches most first timers off guard isn’t the stitch and glue hull, it’s the finishing stage at the end, coats of epoxy and varnish each needing full cure time before the next. Build in more calendar days for that stretch than you think you’ll need and the rest of the timeline will feel comfortable.
Thanks, that is the part I am worried about. Most of my finishes I use are UV cured or just rub on oil/paste (mostly use walnut love that stuff). So epoxy/paint will be newish. I had an old Corsair F24 that I did a lot of touch up epoxy but that was function over looks and I hid most of my crimes with antifoul ;).
For this I plan to do off white with teal accents on the outside with the traditional varnish inside. Thinking about mixing black wood flour for the fillets to make them more of a feature than hiding them…
Also I am in Texas so cure times tend to be fast that’s why I will do it in the winter when it’s like 80 here.
I don’t care for the pumps that come with the kit, though I think that what most builders use. They ‘rebound’ slowly, especially in colder weather. I like weighing. It’s fast and accurate. If you go that route it’s not exactly 2-1, MAS has info. The commercial pump setup is nice, but I imagine it’s pricey.
If you are set up for UV cured finishes, then take a look at Bluwater Armor 627. I used it on my last kayak and I am happy with how it came out. I made a post about it , search for Clean Armor.
A bunch of cheap spring clamps from Lowe’s- about 6” long and open almost 2”.
Standard MAS epoxy for the fiberglass and fill coat. I’ve only had the kayak out a few times so it’s too early to tell. I suspect it will hold up much better than varnish as it’s a hard finish. It doesn’t have any tint to it so you don’t get that varnish ‘glow’, but I’m happy with it.
Your note about the thought of using black wood flour as a way of making the filets a “feature” caught my eye. You might go ahead and test your idea before committing. While not impossible, I’d say it is nearly impossible to make “perfect” filets (or even good enough filets) that I’d want to draw attention to them. Even if you manage to get straight edges (check the forum for thoughts on how to use blue tape on each side of filets for a neat look), I think you’ll find that the varying thickness of the filets will result in a color variation. Unless significantly thickened and using a very dark wood flour, I have little doubt that the filet mix will be semi-transparent (as it is when prepared per CLC guidance). Although quite opaque, you’ll probably see a variation all the way from grayish (at the thin edges) to a deep black (in the thick middle) in your filets if you try what I envision. You’ll also end up having to be sure to sand away all remnant drips, etc. (there ALWAYS are some, no matter how careful you think you can be). Unless completely cleaned away by scraping and sanding these drips might start to look like leopard spots.
I think you’ll find an easier and better way to achieve the effect you want would be to mask off and paint the filet stripes (black, or your choice of color) when you reach the final finishing stages for the boat. The effect you achieve might not be for everyone, but it that is what you want, have at it.
And as a final note, if you are thinking about making the filets a “feature” because you don’t like the look of the darker brown filet material contrasted with the lighter surrounding okume, another option is to make the filet “disappear.” You can creat a mixture of wood flour and cellofill that nearly matches the okume color. Once finished, if well matched, you have to look hard to see the filet. The most noticeable thing making an “invisible” filet even partly visible is the lack of wood grain features in the fillet itself. Some hints for making invisible filets:
about 40% wood flour/60% cellofill is a good place to start with attmpting a color match for the shade of “typical” okume
run a test if necessary - but take note that the filet material doesn’t change color during or after the application, meanwhile, the surrounding okume will darken by a shade or two when it gets coated with epoxy or varnish. Thus, your filet mix should look just slightly darker than the okume when you are laying it in
practice filet-smoothing (of your finished/shaped filet) with a gloved finger when the filet is in the “plastic” stage (usually between 15 and 60 minutes, highly temperature dependent). Some use alcohol, some use unthickened epoxy as the “lubricant” in which to dip your finger. This technique is discussed elsewhere on the forum.
If you get the color match correct, lay in filets carefully, shape them and clean up the sides nicely immediately after laying them in, then go back and smooth them when plastic, you can lay in filets that require no (or virtually no) sanding and that are invisible from just a few feet away.
Lets us know what you choose, then send pics of how things turn out!
Note the “invisible” filet on the right hand side of the dash on my Rhode Runner. The filet was never shaped or sanded after it cured - just scuffed as necessary for adherence of the subsequent coats of epoxy and varnish.
Thanks for the details I will play with both dark and light filets when I get to that stage. I guess in my head I was thinking it would turn out like the deck of your RR (black lines) but maybe not.
Just got a shipping update looks like it should ship 6 Oct so maybe work will start Columbus Day weekend? I have some leave saved and plan to take a week when I start it.
The dark lines on the deck are inlets of a dark wood (walnut, I believe), laid in prior to glassing over the deck.
They are a per-plan feature of the kit, except I added one stripe on the centerline. And leaving your ideas regarding filets aside to discuss the deck stripes, if one were to attempt the same effect by the deck by filling grooves with colored filet material it would be difficult to achieve the same degree of straight-line edge sharpness, and difficult to keep the sanded/scraped surface flat, the surrounding wood being so much softer than the epoxy stripes.
I believe the deck stripes were John’s attempt to simulate what you’d see on teak decks, which were traditionally filled between seams and bedded in a black polysulfide caulk. They do look nice, I think. There are more modern caulking options now. I believe polysulfide is still being used, but some of the modern stuff might now be achieving better longevity - not that polysulfide wasn’t pretty long-lived anyway. Based on my experience with my old 42’ yawl with teak decks, I do know that if you kept up with gouging out and recaulking seams when/if they separated from the planks, the process wasn’t too bad. If you didn’t, you’d soon be looking at rot in the underdeck plywood. I fixed some of that once, and thereafter got better at paying attention to my decks…
Getting closer! Received the epoxy box. The rest of the kit arrives later this week! Need to clear this project out to make way for the boat. Anyone have good ideas on time lapses for boat building? Trying to work out how to record the process.
It’s here!!! Only one issue the tip of the skeg was broke. I think it was the shippers because right where the skeg was in the box there was a nice foot print…. Shouldn’t be too much to fix we’ll see when we get there.
