Out here before the sun today, trying to beat the heat. I now have a solid, snug, flush fit.
I believe that is the most solid port installation I’ve ever seen on a plywood boat.
Laszlo
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Laszlo you have just made my whole day buddy! Thank you. I finished all the other glassed fillets on the flotation chambers this morning and cut two more plywood doublers for the port side Beckson port. Temps are climbing, time to head in and clean up.
Up before the sun again today. Happy Independence Day all. I find early rising beats the heat but not the humidity. Having learned hard lessons on the starboard Beckson port I made a few changes on the port side. I made both doublers round and located the exact center of each. Both were shaped at the bottom with a bastard file in order to fit closely with the glassed fillets. This time I put them both in at once using a 7/64 drill bit in the center as a guide. The mounting surfaces were sanded and cleaned with a damp towel. All mating surfaces are slathered heavily with epoxy thickened with cell-o-fill. Little #8 1/2 inch lath screws are providing clamping force on both sides ensuring to stay in the inner ring that will be sawed out with a 4 1/2” hole saw once the epoxy cures. This was way easier than the first one. Also I cut the port side limber hole.
That’s boatbuilding in a nutshell. The corollary is just as you get good at something, you’re done with it and have to learn something new. That’s why we build a second (third, fourth,…) boat.
Laszlo
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I built a Stevenson Weekender decades ago. The SW Dory has been WAY easier to build than that boat was.
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Drilled oversized holes for Beckson mounting and stabbed a little un-thickened epoxy in them then plugged the holes with thickened epoxy. Tomorrow i can drill the smaller holes in the epoxy and bed the plate in 3M-4200. Port side Beckson hole cut and sealed with Epoxy. Much simpler this time. Put a coat of PreCoat primer in one flotation chamber. Not very pretty but it will keep whatever stray UV that finds its way into the chamber from wrecking the epoxy.
Inching along here. Starboard side flotation upgrades complete. Once the 3M 4200 and the primer dries I’m going to put the foam back in. I’ll trim the foam so I can inspect into the space a little and also so that it doesn’t block the limber hole. Port side mounting holes are drilled and filled.
Portside flotation chamber upgrade complete. Did a lot of sanding in the aft locker and played with micro-balloons for the first time in my life. This space will be painted. I just want a compartment that is easy to clean and doesn’t chafe any gear in there.
I’ve tried two locations. The first one was all the way aft in the deck between the motor well and the footwell bulkhead. It’s not the low point when the boat is level, but I reasoned that I could tip the bow up the water would drain out. It kinda works, but water would invariably pool on the other side of the well, so defeated any convenience factor. I settled on a central location just in front of the motor well. It’s still not the lowest point, but I didn’t want it in the center of the foot well (probably lowest point) where I’m going to be kicking it all the time.
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Thanks Gene, funny I decided if I didn’t hear from you that’s just where I was going to put the drain. Great minds and all that.
Micro Balloons in the forward compartment. This one had a lot of epoxy and glass issues to remediate before I could fair it. Loose glass at the fringe mostly but also a big gob of fillet had come through the mortise and tenon joint. Half an hour of chiseling, rasping, sanding, and swearing and it became something like passable.
@Howard_Spira It was your post that helped me for the last two weeks, thank you!
This second from the top strake really furred up for some reason, maybe a slight defect in the okoume or something. I’ve done a combo of sanding and filling. Hopefully I can get it to where it doesn’t abrade everything that touches it, including my knuckles. I learned a new trick. I used a little old terry cloth washcloth to do my mineral spirits wipe down after vacuuming. The cloth grabs every little imperfection and rough area like Velcro.
I cut each flotation board so that it left a lot of room around the inspection port and the limber hole. I removed any small pieces that might find their way down to blocking the limber hole. Edit: Stupid auto-spell keeps making Limber Hole - Lumber Hole.
