I have ordered a Northeaster Dory (lug rig, spacered inwales) and I will want to hit the ground running when it arrives, so I have some questions that about preparing for the build.
What can/should I do now, while waiting for the kit to arrive, so that I can get productive fast?
Should I build a couple saw horses or a work surface? What is an ideal height for a work surface.
Tools . . . the good, the bad, what tools will make the build go faster (esp if it diverges for CLC’s tool suggestions).
Clamps; I selected the option for the spacered inwales. How many will I need? Of what type? Is there a good source to buy them in bulk, does anyone want to sell some?
I don’t have experience with fiberglass; can someone suggest a good practice project or even an item to make for the boat that I could practice on.
What are things that you wish you would have done before and during the build; the classic if you only knew then what you know now, what would have done differently?
My experience consists of 1 stitch and glue kit, an Annapolis Wherry Tandem.
Cleaning and preparing your workspace and building saw horses now is probably the most effective thing you can do while waiting for your kit to arrive. After that, it would help to start watching CLC and Nick Schade boat building videos on YouTube.
Yes. Build 3 or 4 sawhorses.The ideal height for a work surface is the height of your sawhorses. If you know how to make mortise and tenon joints, CLC has some sawhorse plans that work well. If not, any sawhorse plans will do. I think the CLC horses are about 34” high. I built the CLC horses, and left the top crossbar free. I used a 4’ crossbar when my hull was inverted, I used a 2’ crossbar when the hull was right side up. There is also a provision for a web sling instead of a crossbar if your hull doesn’t have a flat bottom. Your hull will ride these horses from day 1 until the day you declare the project complete.
You should definitely assemble your work surface before the kit arrives. Mine was 2 sheets of 4x8’ plywood, edge bordered with 2x4’s, placed atop my newly constructed sawhorses. I cut up half of another sheet to make 8”x12” plywoood rectangles for puzzle joint clamping, and as a doubler to enable butting the 2 work surface halves together. That wasn’t particularly efficient. I could just as easily have ripped 8” off of the long edge of the first two sheets, saved the expense of a third sheet, and made a slightly smaller work surface.
The Shinto rasp was a great addition to my toolbox. Also a small block plane, a set of chisels, and the random orbital sander. Buy a diamond sharpening steel to maintain those cutting edges. I found a heat gun and scraper to be essential, both for cleanup and for disassembling epoxy joints. You’ll want a plastic zigzag spreader for epoxying your rails, and about a half dozen regular plastic spreaders. A pack or two of the plastic epoxy mixing sticks with one round tip and one chisel tip is great for cleaning up epoxy squeeze out and drips. A big old analog clock with a second hand is nice for mixing epoxy. Start collecting yogurt cups and Mardi Gras cups for mixing small batches of epoxy. The CLC cups are great, and you should get some, but they seem too big for small batches.
You could cut up some plywood and make tote boxes to hold your epoxy and tools. Drill holes in the edges and stitch up the joints, then fillet them. You could make plywood bookends using different sized fillets, then try to destructively test their strength. When you do these tests, keep records for how long it took the unused epoxy in your mixing cup to gel, to stiffen, and to harden. These times will vary according to heat, and larger volumes of epoxy lose heat more slowly than smaller volumes. Learn the denatured alcohol trick and the second coating of unthickened epoxy trick for prettier fillets.
You absolutely should practice taking apart an epoxy joint using your heat gun.
Your CLC kit has too much epoxy for an experienced builder, and possibly too little for a novice. You could find yourself short of epoxy if you expend it on too many sample projects.
I wish I had known how easy it was to undo mistakes with a heat gun.
I wish I had used a zigzag spreader on surfaces to minimize epoxy waste. I suspect I had 4 times more squeeze out waste from my rails than I had epoxy between the rails.
I wish I had opened both tubs of wood flour before using them, my two tubs of wood flour were two different colors.
I wish I had cut some of my wire loops into fourths instead of the recommended thirds.
I wish I had tightened my initial loose stitches more slowly, using three iterations. Put them in loose, give your hull a massage, then slightly tighten, then tighten again. Check under the hull to make sure your planks are in contact with the frames.
I wish I had used more of the available pot life of my epoxy in the beginning of the project. When I assembled my puzzle joints I usually worked too fast, had small misalignments and excess epoxy, then had to sand it clean after it cured. Someone recommended assembling the port side plank over the starboard side plank to assure symmetry. This is a great suggestion, make a polyethylene sheet sandwich, but just a few excess drops of epoxy between them means both puzzle joints will not lie flat, and will require sanding. Which I did. It would have been better and faster to take the imperfect puzzle joints apart with a heat gun and align them perfectly. Or assemble them very carefully and squeegee off every excess drip of epoxy.
The same thing happened on my rails. If I had aligned the top surface perfectly flush before the epoxy set, or at least aligned them closer than 1/32”, I could have saved myself a great deal of sanding.
Generally, use as much of your epoxy’s pot life as it takes to make clean, well aligned joints. Then grab a plastic chisel and scrape excess epoxy into a waste cup. You don’t have to scrape every bit of waste, just the waste you don’t want to sand off later!
I wish I had used less epoxy on my first fiberglass effort. I got much better as I went along, but I should have let time do the wetting out, instead of adding excess epoxy.
Take your time, and have fun. I’m jealous of you, I really enjoyed building my boat.
I can’t add much to the excellent advice already given. I did find that, for the Southwester Dory at least, standard sawhorses were too high. I stitched the boat up on a standard pair, but later I made a pair that are 20" high and wide enough to rest the boat upside down across the bulkheads. I may have been able to rest the boat updside down across the seats with standard saw horses, but preferred to make the custom sized pair. For a 6’ tall builder they put the bottom of the boat at a comfortable level for sanding and glassing. At that level the cockpit floor is reachable when the boat is right-side up as well.
For really working on the interior I lowered the boat onto furniture dollies and positioned them so I could climb aboard for work on the floor and cockpit well sides. You may not need to do so on the Northeaster. The dollies also allowed me to roll the boat out of the way when I needed the space for other assemblies, but perhaps you have a larger workspace.
As for other assemblies and additional work surfaces, I have several 24" X 48" folding banquet tables that I arrange in various configurations based on the stage of the build. At one point I did have the stitched up hull on banquet tables. If I had more space, I’d like to build something better but they work.
For flipping the boat, you probably only need a few friends. I rigged eye-bolts to the rafters (actually the upstairs floor joists as my workshop is under the house) and used some retired climbing gear to sling the boat. I could also do with helpers, but I wanted to be able to do it singlehanded just in case. Now fully assembled minus the rig, the bare hull weighs ~200lbs but feels heavier. Your boat may be easier to turn by hand.
My biggest regrets are the sloppy epoxy work I did early on that I am still paying for. Both in terms of time, and money spent on epoxy that I have applied only to sand off, or that I mixed and wasn’t able to use. I have a much better handle on that now though.
Make sure your boat is straight, untwisted, and doesn’t have any unfairness to her when you get to the wire tightening stage before proceeding.
Most of all, enjoy the build. I have to remind myself of that when competing demands make the project occasionally feel like more work.
“My biggest regrets are the sloppy epoxy work I did early on”
Was this during the gluing or the fiberglassing? I assume when you were gluing the hull together? I just watched a video where a guy seems to be applying the epoxy out of a bag.
Would these syringes work better for that part of the process?
My current hassle is with the epoxy work I did when filling the plank laps. That is the phase after the hull is stitched together and “tack welded” (not welding at all, just a term) when the laps between the planks need to be filled with thickened epoxy. It is similar to filleting. I could have been much more consistently smooth. Were I doing it now, I wouldn’t settle for less than as close to perfection as I could possibly get it. In the end it will look nice, but I’ve spent 3-4 hours sanding that I probably didn’t need to spend. Another item for the “on the next boat” list.
I have never tried the syringes. I like that they are re-usable though. For many linear feet of filleting they might be a challenge to use.
Random Orbital Sander . . . I’m thinking the higher end Bosch 5"; excellent dust collection and I will use it on other projects.
Do I need a router?
Regarding the syringes, the gentleman at Nomad Boatbuilding recommended TotalBoat Thixo. I know the kit comes with epoxy but I want to test this strategy out as well; thick, long cure time, no mixing, and the prospect that it might deliver a cleaner glue up. My thinking here is that if I can buy my way out of some frustration and mistakes, some extra cost is probably worth it. Does anyone have experience with the Thixo?
Bosch is nice no doubt, just make sure to use the vacuum attachment and ideally a dust separator and a hepa filter.
No reason not to use the kit supplied epoxy. I think you’d spend a fortune on Thixo to do the whole boat, and still not be able to complete all of the jobs that require epoxy. Follow the kit instructions and use the materials it comes with. They are tried and true by professionals and very experienced builders (I don’t count myself in either of those cohorts, but they haven’t steered me wrong yet).
forgot to mention… the manual will have a list of recommended and must-have tools. I think most or all of the hand tools have been mentioned in this thread. For my boat, a router was optional but highly recommended and I have used mine several times. In fact, I have used both my trim router and table router with a variety of bits, and will continue using them as the build proceeds. I have also used my mitre, table, and jig saws as well as my cordless drill and impact drivers. If you need an excuse to buy more tools, now is your chance! You can live without most of the power and stationary tools though.