Design Changes...

Hang on. We have an update...

Pictures are worth a thousand words, so here you go.

We decided on this change for a few reasons but primarily due to the fact that the cockpit was starting to resemble a broom closet. It was going to be encumbered by a continuous roof that would limit fishing and other possible recreational opportunities and may force everyone into the pilothouse.  The motor well just ate up too much room and I don't like a notched transom. Gone is the extensive Mahogany veneer layer on the pilothouse.  I fear a maintenance nightmare.  I'm limiting my use of Mahogany trim on the outside and using glass and paint.

The movement of the outboard aft is one I struggled with due to the outboard's weight being moved behind the boat but decided that it shouldn't be an issue for a few reasons...

1. It is only a 110lb 20hp outboard to start with.
2. I intend to use an Armstrong style bracket with a positive flotation chamber.
3. I intend to move the house batteries forward, beyond the center of gravity.

The benefits are...

1.  Much, much larger cockpit for recreation.
2. Nice swim platform behind the transom (again recreation).
3. Most folks that have them, like them. 
4. I can move or add ballast to trim the boat once we are in the water.

Interior Arrangement has changed a little too...

Changes...

1. Pilot and Co-pilot's chairs
2. Stove/Oven and sink.
3. 12V Refrigerator under seat (see below)
4. Gone is the dinette (extra seating can be had in the cockpit)
5. Propane onboard to run the range/oven and a Yamaha 2400 generator.

Inboard Profile:

Inboard Profile

Transom and Stem

Milestone... outer hull construction is complete!

Except for a very minor bit of construction along the sheer (more nautical boat parts named which, by the way, is the top edge of the hull) marks the last of the "parts" that we installed before the laborious task of sanding... sanding... and more sanding.

The Stem...

Lamination before planing.
Notice the black plastic in the
background for glue up.

Trimmed up you can see
the lamination layers

The stem of which we refer is actually the outer stem.  You could call the inner stem the "Apron" if you wish, and would be technically correct.  Loosely put, the outer stem is the wedge shaped piece that forms the front edge of the hull.  In this version we are laminating this using 4 layers of 1" thick yellow pine (yes, old friend the pine) and a center lamination of AB Marine Ply.



We generously slathered all layers of lamination with the same epoxy glue mix we have used all along as they sat on a piece of black poly sheet, and wrapped this up before clamping.  The piece just falls away from the sheet when cured and is ready to be squared up and thickness planed.

Note the Stem on this pretty little sailboat.
See how it turns square at the top....
very pretty

Now comes the tricky part, and we did take a shortcut or two, but can live with ourselves... unless you have read this blog, you'll never know in the end.  We show the little sailboat "Ashley Grey"so you get an idea of the stem treatment planned.  See how it is angled up to the sheerstrake (a strake is a board and the sheerstrake is the uppermost board along the sheer or upper edge of the hull).  We have "short-cutted" this carving and elected to rip the angle that forms the wedge shaped stem in one pass.  We couldn't figure out how to do it any other way on the tablesaw.

Let me digress a minute and I will speak for myself (no we or us) just "I"...

I appreciate a hand tool.  If I have an (that means one or two) edge to round over, or a very small piece of wood to part, I will use a block plane or Japanese saw to plane or cut and they are a pleasure and faster. However, I do not waste (and yes it seems a waste with so little free time available for this pursuit) a lot of time adhering to a purist notion of always having to hand plane this or hand cut that OR that it is somehow better.  If there is a power tool that will answer, I reach for it.  I have more silly, specialized versions of power tools than hand tools and I do use them, although it can be months or even years between.  I do believe that a deft hand with a power tool takes some skill and can be used with artistry.  I also believe that some of the adherence to doing it all with a hand tool is founded in trying to do it like my Great Granddaddy did, or trying to emulate those fantastic craftsmen of yesteryear.  That's fine, but I am willing to bet "dollars to doughnuts" that if they had access to a decent saw, jointer or power sander back then, they wouldn't have reached for that hand tool to start with.  They were professionals that wanted to do their job to the level expected of them and get home in time enough to see their family or go fishing every once in a while.

Stem shown with the proper angle.
Notice the off-cut on the floor.  It will
be saved for later and glued back and shaped
to form the square top.

Stem fit and rounded over where it
meets the keel... heavy sucker!

Okay. Whew... enough of that.  Now, we (yes back to "we", the "team", and it takes a team) ripped the stem as shown here and checked the fit against the apron or inner stem. Guess what, my apron isn't exactly square to the center-line.  Here is another admission of failure on my part. I (taking full blame) missed square by a quarter inch and if the inner stem was planed off to square it up, it would bee too wide for the outer stem to fit.  Well, I got ahead of myself here and had actually figured this out before beveling so I was able to mark the amount to be removed and ran it through the planer with a wedge matching the angle.

Countersunk hole in stem with
1/2" threaded rod showing.

We attached the stem with three 10" lengths of 316 stainless threaded rod, flat and lock washers that went clear through the inner and outer stem.  Also, while the countersink and 12" drill bit were chucked in, we drilled and attached 5 - 8" lengths of the same rod through the keel and hull bottom as a little extra insurance if we ended up on a lee shore, no power and a reef trying to grind our bottom out (Patrick O'Brian fan). Also used an 8" lag at the keel joint to firmly attach the  stem to keel.
I stated this under the picture description above but I'll say it again. We will glue back the off-cut from the tablesaw and shape the pretty little transition curve after the hull is flipped to resemble the sailboat's stem shown above.

Transom "Veneer"...

Milled Mahogany ready to be glued and installed.

Bar clamps holding the board together while the screws
are driven home.

There is a lot of brightwork (clear finished wood... in this case mahogany) on this version of the Redwing.  the intention is to look reminiscent of those gentlemen's yachts from the Gilded Era.  You know, something that may have ferried Clark Gable or Charles Lindbergh around on their honeymoon.  At the same time we are making some serious "faux pas" in this stylization by adding such comforts and modern propulsion accessories as a rooftop AC unit or even more hideous, a transom bracket and outboard (yes, there have been some shifts since this design was introduced as concessions to practicality and usefulness). We do plan to make these seem more "yachtish", if that is a word, by decking the bracket's swim platform with teak veneer or choosing a low profile version of the AC.  One important piece of brightwork is a mahogany transom which is currently two layers of 1/2" Marine Fir ply. We elected to mill enough lumber to add a 1" layer, epoxy glued and screwed from the inside.  By the way, the transom was already notched for the intended outboard motor well.  That will be filled and glassed from the inside after the "flip" and another layer of ply added to reinforce this area.  You can see from the pictures that we glued these up one at a time, by first laying them into place and marking the shape to be sanded flush later.
1-1/2" stainless screws clamped the boards in place (probably useless once the epoxy cures).

Mahogany sanded and shaped so it looks fairly light.
Note the uneven wood tone. Pretty common and why I like to dye
the wood to get an even tone.

All that's left is to cut the arched top (bottom in the picture), sand and dye to even the wood tones between boards before coating with epoxy and final finishing.
That does it for the construction itself, by that, we mean adding components before the hull is flipped.  Once flipped it gets really busy.  The next post will talk about the preparation of the hull for cloth and that is where we are now in the process.  We hope to have that finished by this weekend ( around the first of October) and begin glassing the hull next week.  After that, another round of sanding and fairing (nautical for smoothing and evening surfaces), then final paint. Thanks for looking!

The Keel

What the %&! is a Keel? (and why do I need one)...

Answer:  the longitudinal structure along the center line at the bottom of a vessel's hull, on which the rest of the hull is built, in some vessels extended downward as a blade or ridge to increase stability.
Okay, that's all for now... Good night everybody...

Seriously, a keel adds stability and in this flat bottomed design it adds even more.  It should improve the tracking of the boat so it isn't as prone to slip sideways in the water and will help the pounding that can occur in choppy water.  The designer proposed a box keel.

Keel shown in yellow... Grey man contemplating why his toes turn up.

That is a hollow "box" attached to the bottom of the boat.  A box keel doesn't add any weight down low (which we think will add to stability) and seems a place that could be subjected to water infiltration that we would not be able to inspect.  Instead we opted to make it a solid timber, glued, screwed and bolted to the bottom. We also liked the idea that if ever grounded it would be our first line of defense, and a seriously substantial one. So, lets build this thing.

Milling and Material...
Again, we turn to our familiar, favorite southern wood, Yellow Pine.  Yep, they are all around us and we love spreading their needles around our holly but did you know its a "heckuva" boat wood?

Establishing a center line

Hard, heavy and rot resistant; perfect for a keel.  The bottom is curved and we didn't feel like finding a timber big enough and long enough to suit and end up at the surgeons office scheduling a "repair".  The same frame material was readily available in 12" widths  and we knew that we could probably horse a 1" thick board down into that rockered bottom's shape.  We only milled the 12' boards enough to even up the thickness and width, leaving as much meat as possible.


Cutting and Laminating...

Taper on Masonite.

First Layer

There is one more step before we attach the keel and that is to shape the fore and aft ends (gonna start using nautical terms now).  The fore end of the keel must butt into the stem at an angle and tapers down to the stem's width.  To accomplish this we measured back 3' from the end of the pattern and sprung a spline that tapered a gentle curve from a 12" width to the stem's 4" width on a piece of Masonite.  We then cut that curve with a circular saw and transferred it on each side of a center-line, then cut the pine boards to match the pattern. To laminate, we used a combination of epoxy glue thickened with milled fiber and silica and 2" 316 stainless screws.  We also staggered the joints just starting from the aft end on one layer and the fore end the next.  Both fore and aft ends get the same taper.  This process repeated itself for 5 layers with a final keel measuring 5" x 11".

5 Layers High

Final shaping...

This shows the stem but note
the keel angle.  Stem is next.
Can't wait huh?

Okay, almost ready to do something else but one last little bit of work.  We need to give this keel some shape. Lets start with the stem end.  Simple enough, just need to transfer the same stem angle up keel.  Cutting was roughed in with a reciprocating saw and final shaped with a planer and belt sander.  Constantly checking with a straight edge.
Now, turn 180 degrees and walk to the back of the boat.  Good, let's shape the stern end of the keel.  This gets a little different shape and when conversing with the boat's designer, Karl Stambaugh, he suggested a rounded, tapered bulb to clean the water as it rolled off and reduce turbulence at the outboard prop.











Here's the steps.

1. Taper at a 45 degree angle and trim with a saw (again for me reciprocating).

Mark the angle

Trim off but for God's sake get closer than I did.

2. Belt sand to the line (get closer than me, too danged much sanding here).

Freehand an arc

3. Round a line and belt sand to that line. This just takes a little time and I finished off with a 6" orbital.

Well that's about it for the keel.  We ran a 3/4" round over router bit around the edge and it still needs a fillet of epoxy around the base to help the polyester cloth to lay smooth and the whole thing needs filling and smoothing but more on that later. Stem to soon follow.

BTW, in real time as I'm posting this we are in the final stages of sanding in preparation of glassing the hull. The stem and transom are done and a lot of shaping is finished. We'll follow up with successive posts to catch us up rapidly so check back every few days.  Thanks for looking!