Pushing toward paint...

Build... Fill...Sand... Repeat (over and over)...

Frog tape doubled up to provide some thickness to the fill.

Did I ever mention that if you want to build a wooden boat, you need to love sanding?  Or, If you can't learn to love sanding, at the least you must give yourself over to the process and accept that it is a huge part of the time spent.  I used to dread it when I started woodworking, I still don't enjoy it as much as other phases of a project, but there is something zen-like in the process of working through finer and finer grades as the final shape emerges.
With that said, we prepare to paint the outside of this boat before it gets too cold and to accomplish this we need to finish the bits and pieces that I have decided to epoxy permanently in place for the sake of water tightness.  These include outside window frames, drip edge trim along the pilothouse roof and all of the small filet joints where vertical surfaces tie together.  Lets start with the pilot house roof trim.

Notice the center seam where cloth halves joined

The decks will retain their canvas look of the Xynole but corners and seams need to be smooth.  To accomplish this, we taped off those panels in a grid pattern that defined smooth from rough and covered the front and back mid-line seam where the two panels of cloth came together. Also vertical seams and joints like the pilothouse and deck or motorwell and deck were taped off to provide a crisp break between the two surfaces.  The same could be accomplished using a granular additive to the final paint but why waste that cool painted canvas look.

I applied the epoxy, microballon and silica mix with cheap, Harbor Freight body filler spreaders cut down in width.  The tape was immediately removed after spreading.  Take great care in spreading this as smooth as possible to save on hand sanding.
After this had cured we bagged up the same mix in the Wilton cake bags and laid a small bead along edges.

Front mid-line seam filled

Mahogany will be masked off with paint extending about a
quarter of an inch on the vertical surface to cover the fillet.

Here is a little technique for this "caulking" vs. structure fillet application.  Get yourself a nice rag with some nap.  Stock up in denatured alcohol (I buy by the gallon) and soak a rag.  Using a gloved hand wipe your finger in the wet rag and immediately drag this in the joint, coming back to the rag after each swipe to re-wet the finger before the next pass.  You will see very little on your finger and the joint will be as smooth as glass.  Don't soak the epoxy but it will not harm it.  I have actually used my bare finger many times with little to no residue on the finger.








Pilot House Roof Trim...

Corner block rough cut to match corner radius.  Note contour gauge above.

At the cost of future maintenance headaches, there is going to be a small percentage of  bright-work that will hopefully be tasteful and compliment the vintage look we're going after.  The trim line should visually define what is roof and what is wall, so I chose the bottom edge of the pilothouse overhang in the cockpit as that delineation.  The profile of the trim is half round and luckily the stock I had on hand was long enough to make it the full length.
I ran these through the router table after ripping approximately 1"wide x 3/4" thick with a 3/4" round over bit.

Contoured to fit

With that done there is only one way to do this right and that is to make corner blocks for the 4 corners and butt the half round stock into them at a 45 degree angle. The corner blocks  must be shaped to fit the sloping corners and match the curve of the edges.  There is no way to just run a router bit around a piece of wood and make this work.  It will require  carving the corners to make them look they grew there.  Mine turned out okay, but I can pick out and point out the flaws, but hey, its hand made and none of this is off the shelf.  The counter of the rounded corner was taken with a counter gauge.  This is simply pushed into the corner then transferred to the corner block stock.

Rough corner blocks with half round stock beveled in.

I used every tool I had in this process.  I rouged it out with a jigsaw, contoured with a stationary belt sander, half round rasps, horseshoeing rasps, chisels, gouges and sanding blocks were all on the deck as I worked these blocks in place. Once they fit tightly, I epoxied and screwed them in place following lines I had struck on all four sides with a Japanese chalk line for the sides and a compass for the front and back curved edges.  They were also "45'ed" with a back bevel to receive the half round.
The half round was next.  Nothing special for the sides.  We just cut them a little long and "snuck-up" on a tight fit as we say here in Georgia.  The front and back were tougher and we had to clamp and mark in-place, cutting these angles with a hand saw a little at a time.  Once they were in place we screwed and clamped along trying to keep the arc continuous into the end blocks which wasn't easy and still met at a slight break that I had to carve into the corner blocks to create some curve.

Rough belt sanding

The corner blocks were belt sanded as close as possible to the half round, then planes, rasped and sanded round to match the half round profile in an effort to make them look like they grew there.

Building shape into the corner

The over all effect was pleasing, not perfect but pleasing.  The last step was to bung the holes with epoxy dipped plugs, then trim and sand them flat.  All Mahogany will get a coat of epoxy resin, then sand and mask for final clearing later during the final paint.

Getting closer

Starboard Aft Corner

Rub Rail...

Trumpy Yacht dock at the Hyatt in Savannah

I came very close to opting for a vinyl rub rail.  I looked at profiles, it looked easy and clean.  Then November 2nd, while in Savannah looking over a job along River Street I spied this beauty.  She was the Lady Catherine.  One of the famous Trumpy Yachts and the right blend of what I like in a classic cruiser.  One element that I took note of was her rubrail under the row of portholes.  It got me to thinking... a lot of what I liked in design elements of the down east lobster boat look in in this build.  So I decided on a simple trapezoidal shape with a metal cap.  Not much different than what I saw on Lady Catherine.

Another shot of this beauty... In the right place at the right time.  Serendipity

To start, I needed to scarphe together about 24' of 1" x 2-1/2" of pine and since the stock was small enough, I was able to use the sliding miter saw with a backing block.  This made a very accurate scarf and they were glued up and left to dry for final planing and sawing into the trapezoidal shape.

Long piece using support of tractor roll over bar.  It was all my wife and I
could do to support this for the sawing.

Installing was just a matter of  screwing a gluing in place.

Installed and waiting on final sanding and caulking.

Porthole Window Trim...

Now, this was the chance to try out a new tool on my router.  I've cut circles with a router plenty but always in a home-made jig with fiddling to get the plate screws lined up and lots of measuring to get the hole sizes right.  I thought it was worth the effort this time to buy something designed for the task. I settled on the Jasper Jig and it didn't disappoint. The concept is that we will mount the plate to the router base (it is designed to fit a wide variety) and using a supplied 1/8" pin that marks the center of the circle, we will drill a 1/8" hole in the stock and insert it in the appropriate hole marked on the base.  The router base is calibrated using a 1/4" spiral bit.  I used an up cut spiral to help clear chips.  The bit was a high speed steel and is DOA after cutting these in the abrasive Mahogany.  I would recommend solid carbide.

The process was to find the center of the hole and drill the 1/8" pin hole.  I then countersunk and drilled two screw holes near this pin and screwed the stock down.  Use a piece of sacrificial stock down under your mahogany to cut into.  I used a scrap piece of 1/2" ply.  Set the plunge depth and plunge the outer cut first.

Then change pin holes in the base and spin the second, inner circle to cut the ring out.

Sanded and awaiting the roundover bit.

To finish it was a matter of sanding using the stationary sander with the belt for the outer and drum for the inner.  The round over was done on the router table for control.

Installation started with  marking the porthole overlap on the boat at about three to four locations.  In this case it was about 3/4".  I laid a heavy bead around the outer perimeter of the rim and clamped in place using a pneumatic finish nailer.

The nail holes were filled.  Same wet finger technique with additional filler caulked in where necessary and the portholes were done.









Window Frames...

Segments cut, ready for glue up.

The window frames include the side windows which will have an interior opening portion that hinges at the top, casement style; and fixed front windshield frames which will have wipers and seemed to problematic to hinge.  Two Dorade vents on the cabin roof top should provide for our ventilation needs and there is always the AC if things get too warm.
The two types are very different.  The side windows get a 1-1/2" thick frame that overlaps the wall thickness to form a ledge.  An interior scupper frame will sandwich to the inside to serve as a coaming.  The hinged portion of the window will house the glass and fill the ledge with a perimeter gasket. the front windshield will sandwich the glass as the portholes do.

The pieces were cut and epoxied from segments of Mahogany.

Windshield paper pattern glued down and ready to be cut.

Once out of the clamps, full size patterns were temporarily glued down and the shapes were cut with a jig saw.  At this time the frames were sanded to shape and then the side windows attended to.  they required a 3/4" wide x 7/8" deep rabbet.

Almost completed rabbet

The rabbet was made in several passes of increasing depth.  Since the stock lacked any real bearing width for the router base, a section of stock the same height was set up and the frame was jockied around.  It's a pain in the neck but the only way you done get router dipsy-doodle and possibly start this all over again.

Finished Pieces

The installation was the same as the portholes.  Fingers crossed, the side windows slid in place.

Epoxy caulked

Scuppers...

There is not much to say here.  The transom has 1" glass tube inserts epoxied in at the engine well and one dead center of the transom to drain any errant water that finds its way into the fuel tank compartment.

We hole sawed 2-1/2" holes at the aft end of the cockpit with a slight angle toward the waterline for positive drainage from the  self draining cockpit.  Once drilled the outer hole was chamfered and sealed with epoxy.

The tube cut to match hull angle and a bag of
epoxy  waiting for installation.

2" ID Fiberglass pipe was inserted, marked and cut and glued in.