Deck Hardware

How to get at hardware when you've covered it up...

Note the inspection ports adjacent to the cleats.  They cover a
well that basically provides access the cleats studs.

As you may or may not remember, the hull is full of foam.  Now, that is all well and good if she encounters disaster but what to do if one must get to the underside of a foam filled cavity?  Easy, remove some foam... not so easy as I thought but possible.  The reason that we can't just screw our hardware into the deck is that some of these will take tremendous load that even the deepest screw thread will not hold.  These instead require backing plates or washers and nuts so that the shock load is transferred evenly across a much larger structural member or surface.  The cleats are a great example of this.  Built to hold the boat to its mooring or dock, the cleats are literally the lifeline of Miss Addy's existence if things "kick up rough" while docked.  Now to get at these we had to do some planning, create some access points for the install that essentially will only see use again if things need replacement or tightening.

Butyl Rubber under flange of cleat and beveled hole.

Another decision made was to use Butyl Rubber from Compass Marine in Maine for the deck hardware.  This basically stays pliable for years (try 30 by some claims) and Compass Marine's version is extremely pliable and sticky.  They have a great tutorial (actual a great series of them) on the proper application of the sealant.  For a quick two step summary... use a strip rolled into a cone under the flange and be sure to bevel the holes.  It truly is the trick to holding the seal.  Also, I have noted that the nuts may need follow up tightening for a day or two as the sealant spreads.

To access the bow rail nuts under each leg stud on deck and to get at the fore cleats near the cabin we had to hole saw access ports that will get 4" inspection ports.  These were carefully marked off and the foam hollowed out of the cavities using a combination of hole saws, chisels, whatever was handy.




The result is shown here. We'll let the pictures speak for themselves because it really isn't any more complicated than that...

Note the docking light under the cleat.  Pair of 50W halogens.

Anchoring Gear...

Left to right... Lewmar ProSport winch, cleats for tying off, chocks for
holding the rode in place and a Lewmar anchor roller.

Gnashing of teeth became a theme song during the decision of how to handle anchoring.  I knew that I would be doing this shorthanded and balancing on a coffee table sized foredeck with an anchor and 150 or so feet of anchor rode wrapped around my feet.  Now I plan to do this for a while and don't see myself becoming more nimble with age so I needed a solution that may be upgraded in the future but for now could assist in managing the braided line, anchor and assist in pulling all of this up and storing neatly in a anchor locker at the forepeak.

Anchor shown in stored position.  An anchor lock will prevent
its possible premature release while underway. Yes, the anchor is danged close to the stem.
A urethane keel guard strip will protect the stem from damage.  I was forced to find a happy
medium for mounting the bolts and accessing them from the anchor well.

The Lewmar Prosport anchor windlass handles the 200' of braided anchor rode and 15' of chain and is about right for a 23' boat.  It has a rocker switch for use in the pilot house and (not shown) two deck switches to control the winch from the deck.  The bow roller will "cat" or store the anchor, ready to drop.  It is a 14 lb Lewmar Delta anchor which is a good, all around type for a variety of bottom types.  The winch or windlass carries the rope or rode over a toothed wheel called a gypsy and passes it through a hole in the deck where the rode coils itself in the bottom and water can drain itself out the well scuppers.

A quick note on the well...  The well got a pair of drains or scuppers as mentioned, 1", the same as the transom that are lined with fiberglass tubing epoxied in place.  I rolled a generous coat of graphite impregnated epoxy over the entire interior of the well.  The well has multiple coats and the final graphite one was to seal around the tubes mainly.

Another view showing the winches business end, the toothed gypsy and just behind it the edge of an oblong
hole or tube that passes through a 2-1/2" hole cut in the deck.  The anchor should not pull on the windlass.
that is the reason for the cleats and chocks.  Once the anchor is dropped and proper scope let out,
one would reach across the front of the bow roller, grab a handful of  rode and cleat off, port or starboard, your choice!

Badges... we don't need to stinking badges...

But I want them...

Heller's Script 

Now that the paint is done, it's time to wrap up the exterior because the inside of that pilot house is really calling to me.
Let's start with the "Badges".  Oxford says that a badge (as in car badge) is a distinguishing emblem or mark.  My boat name will be a badge of sorts.  It's not a "Miss Addy" brand or make, but in keeping with the retro look hearkening back to the 50's and 60's era styling, I chose to make the boat name shine like chrome, like the Belair or Thunderbird badges of yesteryear.  I looked around at different options and realized I couldn't afford most of them and true auto badges required a minimum order in the hundreds... I needed two.
The only affordable option for me was aluminum and I would do the polishing and protecting.  Our only real problem with aluminum is corrosion and softness. I will have to accept that anything applied will have to be reapplied and the polished look "renewed" on occasion with rebuffing. More on that later, I'm still deciding what protectant to use.

First, the font.

John Studden

A favorite that seems to really work with this era is a Letterhead's Fonts offering by glass artist and master font creator John Studden called Heller's Script. The fonts are affordable for that next step up in quality over what is typically available for free and I have purchased quite a few over the years for special artwork assignments.

A photo of Pat Burrington off of his website

To accomplish this conversion to 1/4" aluminum plate I enlisted the water jet services of Pat Burrington of Rapid Creek Cutters in Stevensville, MT.  Pat was great to deal with and turned the letters over in a week.  I provided Pat with a vector file generated inside of Adobe Illustrator and general dimensions.  In a weeks time the badges arrived shrink wrapped and ready to sand and polish.
I highly recommend Rapid Creek Cutters for their stellar customer service, top notch product and affordable pricing.  Pat actually beat out a local vinyl shop estimate for the same size product in stacked vinyl including shipping... Amazing!

Sanded to 600 grit

The sanding/polishing procedure sort of followed a YouTube video out there showing a truck fuel tank first being sanded then polished with a spiral sewn buffing wheel and brown tripoli, then a loose wheel with white compound.  The sanding grit was 320, then 600.

Polished and taken with lights on.

Pat left a connector piece on the "Miss" so the "i" and its dot  wouldn't part off from the "M" while cutting and end up in the tank under the water jet table. The edges have a nice bead blasted look and was extremely smooth and accurate. I showed these to Brad and mentioned that I would have to cut these apart and sand the nibs.  He thought that it looked pretty sharp as is and after looking at it again, I agreed. They stayed and definitely maintains registration of the text.

Meanwhile the rubrail and trim...

Shop vac hose screwed down  to the fence close to the bit.  The press table
had a pine 1"x10" screwed down for support of the 1" aluminum stock.

Note the spacing marks for the holes, drawn on the fence edge.
This was indexed by eyeball from the previous drilled hole.

While I'm sucking aluminum dust and cotton wheel fiber, I might as well work on the rubrail that is going to cap the trapezoidal piece attached to the upper edge of the hull.  It is also 1/4" x 1" x 12' aluminum flat stock that will be polished.  There are 6 pieces total - two butted end to end for the rub rail cap on each side and 1 for each side right under the pilot house side window and above the portholes in the cabin. The rubrail will be attached every 6" with oval head screws, dipped in marine caulk to seal the threads.  For this we set up the drill press with a fence to center the holes and using a few marks along the fence we "eyeballed" the spacing which was surprisingly accurate. Once drilled out for the #8 screws, we came back and used a standard wood countersink to chamfer each hole. The press depth was set to keep this consistent.
The two trim pieces that are to break the wide expanse of the pilothouse walls, were not drilled out.  All were sanded individually using the same procedure as the boat name.  All six trim pieces were then arranged next to each other with the un-drilled pieces sandwiched in the middle and using a few strategically place screws, I chucked a 10" grinder wheel in the 7" grinder and buffed in the same manner as the boat name.  A thorough cleaning with lacquer thinner and all was conveyed to the boat for installation.

The Install...

A view of the rub rail and bulleted end of the aluminum cap.

The install was straightforward. Using an ellipse template from my previous life as an Illustrator, I used a belt sander to grind the bullet profile.  The first screw hole was set 1-1/2" from the end when we set the press up.








A few notes before I throw up a pictures of the installed rail. The screws just need a little caulk to seal.  I cut the end of a small squeeze tube of polyurethane caulk and pushed the screw into the end nozzle about a half an inch. Predrill the holes and run them in.  Go one at a time slowly bending the rail to match the flat on the rub rail.  Make sure to bring your bit and countersink along.  The butt ends will need  a screw an 1-1/2" from the ends to properly mate them together.

Boat name, trim and the salvaged bow rail...

For the boat name and trim we used 3M Super Strength Trim Tape and a few strategically placed screws to keep the ends from ever getting started and (if truth be told) to hold the trim tight where the pilot house breaks at the cabin wall. There are inconspicuous and look proper on a boat.  The trick was getting it lined up properly but referencing from the edge trim on the pilot house helped.
The ends were bulleted just the same and buffed to blend.
The boat name was centered on the porthole window and adjusted to allow the trim to strike it in the middle. Tape was put on the name and trimmed within the confines of the letter.  The name was held up on penciled layout lines and a few reference points drawn for proper registration once the tape backing is removed.  The names were then tipped on edge to align and carefully pushed into place.  Once stuck, it is stuck.

The bow rail was a stroke of luck.  My brother Joe pulled this off of a boat he owned and it sat around my Dad's house for a year or two, nearly being cut apart and hauled off more than once. On a whim Dad called and asked if I might be interested in it and almost said no.  I'm glad I didn't and he hauled it up where we did not expect it to come close to matching the Redwing's lines.  Total surprise! Not only did it fit, it looked great, or at least we think so.  You be the judge.  Access holes had to be cut inside the cabin to get at the mounting studs for nuts and washers.  We using Compass Marine Butyl Rubber to mount them... great stuff!

Outside Paint...Finally

Mahogany is taped up and spot
spraying with green hull color.

Time to paint... I mean prep.
Well, I thought that I had filled, sanded and smoothed to the point that all I needed was boat paint and a few days of warm temps... as usual I was overly optimistic.  Reality reared its ugly head after my first coat of paint in the form of hundreds of pinholes.
Okay then, let's step back and lead ourselves up to the pinhole reveal.
The taping up (note green Frog Tape covering the Mahogany trim) was straight forward. We had wiped the boat down with alcohol and proceeded to tape up the mahogany that was to stay masked till the final clear coat. The Frog tape is an extended tape formula that left no residue that I could detect when I wiped it down prior to clear coating.  Speaking of procedure, this would be a good time to quickly cover my evolving paint plan or schedule.


So, the general plan was:
1. tape off areas that needed to be touched up green.
2. mask those off areas off and shoot the Whidbey White.
3. Unmask everything and clearcoat.
I read all of System 3's literature concerning the WR-LPU urethane paint I was using and decided to try to forgo the primer if adhesion and compatibility with my RAKA epoxy was good. I did a small test patch on bare epoxy coated fabric.  It was extremely tenacious in its adhesion to the epoxy coating so I mixed up a batch, loaded up my paint pot and started shooting paint... back to the pinholes.

If you look close you can see them. Click to enlarge.

They were tiny, literally the size of a hole left by a pin prick. I wasn't interested in going the epoxy route at this stage. Way too hard to sand for the size of this type of blemish.  I felt that these were largely due to the microballon filler being a little too dry.  Waterproofing wasn't a concern given the amount of epoxy saturation and filling with the Xynole fabric application.  This was purely cosmetic which in its own way is just as important.

The hardener was blue.  You can see the ghost blue blush across the
side of the pilot house.

After a lot of research and a lucky encounter with a former paint guy in Savannah who worked on boat  restorations we settled on a high quality 2K pourable putty under the Smart Brand label from the Finishmasters chain of body shop supply houses.  It was thin, easy to use, could swipe it on thin and sand off in 20 minutes. Grab a cheap set of metal body filler spreaders from Harbor Freight and use a piece of cutting board for the mixing board.  Work fast, you have about 3 to 5 minutes. Pour a 2" bob on the board and squeeze a line across the blob.  Take a stick and mix like crazy till the color is consistent.   I went over the entire pilot house and cabin. I kept finding little blemishes that just doesn't show up until the first coat.   Lots of blocking out by hand and we were finally ready to shoot the primer.

Primed portion of the well and deck.

I decided to prime after all.  The topcoat was rated over bare epoxy but no mention of filler, regardless of how small the fill.  The primer also serves as a filler of sorts.  this I didn't realize and could have cut down on some of the pinhole problem.  Oh well, not the first time I ventured out with an idea that turned out to reinforce the old tried and true methods.  In this case, prime before paint.
In the meantime I scorched my 1 year old Husky 30 gallon oiless compressor.  It wasn't up to the task and would run continuously after about 2 minutes of spraying.  I was using a conversion LVLP gun or an Asturo HVLP pressure pot setup.  Neither are big air consumers.  Still, the Husky tripped a breaker and gave up the ghost.  In its place sits a IR 2 stage 80 gallon with a dedicated #8 to the breaker.  It allows me to spray for about 5 minutes, comes on for about a minute and off again for 5, amazing.

Now it's time to paint...

The process was straight forward and followed our plans We did make a last minute adjustment at the end which was to paint the sheerstrake and rub rail to match the hull color. The first photo shows the painter's film covering the hull.  No pinholes this time.  One good quality about the Smart product was that it could be used between topcoat layers if one or two popped back up.
The rest of the photos that follow are the results of the finish.  On the whole, the System 3 WR-LPU is a little finicky to use but the benefits outweigh the aggravation.  I tend to shoot pretty heavy and sags and runs are easier with this product than solvent based 2K paint.  If I had a decent supplied air respirator system, I would have gone solvent, probably Awlgrip.  I will leave it alone for now and let it cure.  Maybe down the road I'll wet sand a few trouble spots and buff.  Overall, it definately changes the look of the boat and gives a sense of her shape.  Mahogany handrails, cleats, bow rail and trim are up next.  We're giving the paint a few days to harden up so it doesn't get bruised.
After those items are in, we turn a huge corner.  We move to the inside and all the creature comforts that sit in boxes ready to be installed.

Next... On to the trim and something special with the outboard!

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.