Virginia Beach Project - Update

After letting the last coat of epoxy on the hull dry for several days I did minimal touch up sanding of high spots. As I look back I should have done a lot more from an appearance standpoint but it certainly has a passable appearance. I again wiped the hull down well after having vacuumed the garage so that I was in as dust free as possible. I then used masking tape around the gunwale line feeling that the glue would probably adhere better to the epoxy directly than to a coat of paint. I used Rustoleum Marine primer, one coat applying it with a foam roller. It was difficult paint to stir and get well mixed but it went on very well and the roller gave it a good smooth even appearance. I again let it dry well for a couple of days and then used Rusteolem Marine Topsides paint for a finish coat. It too was rolled on and was easy to use. It will take a second coat to achieve a really nice look. It should be noted that this is Topsides paint not designed as “bottom” paint so if you plan on leaving a boat in the water for any long periods of time this is not the paint to use.

One final comment on the paint. Compared to the usual marine paints Rustoleum is much cheaper but also offers a more limited choice of colors and it would appear that it is not designed to be used as a mixing base to make your own color.

I let her get good and dry and then flipped her over onto a nice soft cloth pad to protect the paint. The frames were still attached and were the way I supported the boat while painting. Now for the first time I got a good look at the inside of the boat. WOW! I had a lot of finishing to do. This included filling screw holes but mainly if was filling in and making filets were the chines, keelson etc. did not seal as tightly as I would have liked. From a functional standpoint the boat was sealed. From and esthetic one I had a lot of work ahead of me. Since the epoxy is pricey I mixed up just enough so I knew that there would be no waste. This was your peanut butter consistency and applied with a tongue depressor went on easily and gave a nice effect. I would give a piece of advice when doing this. Wipe off the excess with a vinegar soaked cloth as soon as you are finished with an area. It is a heck of a lot easier than sanding this rock hard stuff once it dries. 

Adding Hull Panels to the Optimist Pram

Adding the hull side panels was pretty straight forward. We hand-planed the chine logs so that they would be level along the bottom of the boat. We used 3/4" stainless steel woods crews from Jamestown Distributors. I set the width for the screw holes by spreading my index and pinky fingers wide apart and making that distance on the chine and stringer attachment points. We used about 50 wood screws per side panel. Liberal amounts of PL Construction Adhesive were applied along the chine and stringers and things went well.

A video of the experience:

Optimist Pram Project - Starting Back

After an exciting summer of sailing and sailboat racing, we are returning to the Optimist project. In the effort to make these boats as inexpensive as possible we have purchased luan plywood to sheath the hull of our boats.

Our decision to use luan was based on information given to us by John Bridges who has been building Optimists since the 1960s. He has built Optimists of luan and they have been in service for over 5 years. That is longer than we will probably need the boats.

We will also be stacking these hulls after sailing them - leaving no water in them to cause problems. Additionally, we will be priming our hulls with CPES (clear penetrating epoxy sealer) as a way to be sure that the absorption of water is slow.

Today, we worked on the hull sides.

1. Working on three boats requires 5 sheets of plywood to complete all the hull skins. 
2. We ripped two full sheets on 16 inches the long way. This gave us 6 strips to use as hull sides.
3. Temporarily attaching one side to trace the contour, we removed the piece and cut a bit proud of the pencil line. 
4. We checked to see if the template piece fit all three hulls - it did.
5. Using Locktite PL Construction adhesive, we laid a bead of glue along the chine and bow/transom about half way down the hull.
6. Starting at the transom we worked forward placing screws about 5 inches apart.
7. We worked in a zig-zag pattern of top then bottom as we worked forward to be sure not to pucker or buckle the plywood.

Starting aft and working the plank forward.

One side of the hull secured and curing.

Three hulls with starboard sides attached.

Optimist Building in Virginia Beach

Al from Virginia Beach writes in and shares pictures of his project boat...

NOTE: AL'S UPDATES CAN BE FOUND AT THE TOP UNDER PAGE TITLED "Virginia Beach Optimist Project"

I'm building the boat for 3 and soon to be 4 grandkids. I sail and my 2 sons sail, so getting the little ones into it makes sense. The oldest is 8 but lives about 300 miles away, so when next summer comes and we get to our lake house hopefully the craft will be ready to use.

I'm using West System to coat and put this together but am not glassing the boat - extra weight that I don't want or need. My boat is Maranti plywood, 12mm for the transom etc and 6mm for bottom and sides. I'll make my own foils from 12mm also.  For the "solid" wood I have found some very nice and cheap spruce. I plan to use some mahogany for the rub rails - I have some nice pieces. Almost at the point of fastening things together since today I got the chine bent and straightened - that was fun and am glad I had as many clamps as I have, but one never has enough clamps!

Steps:

I fished a piece of spruce out of my pond and tried again with bending a chine.  I figure that 24 hrs underwater with all the enzymes and slop in my lily pond should make it pretty bendable.

I clamped the stern and mid ship positions and placed the above type clamps to make it parallel.  Then I gently bent the end of the chine toward the forward bulkhead and did two things. First I used a long clamp around the chine and the nearer stringer. Then I hung my tool bag with saws, drills and assorted heavy items on the end of the chine. I never changed the weight but I applied the straightening clamps and gradually tightened the long clamp.

The whole process took no more than 45 minutes and I never heard a creak from the wood.  When the chine was finally in position I removed the long clamp and tool bag and attached the chine to the forward bulkhead with a clamp. Not a screw in it yet. I will let it dry for a few days before removing clamps and attaching with screws. Then I'll see how the skin fits.

Project on Hold for Summer

We received an email from David Palmer wondering what happened with our projects. Well, summer came along really fast after April 1st. The boats are sitting and waiting for us to pick up our tools again in September when sailboat racing, swimming, golfing, beekeeping, child-rearing, gardening, and goofing-off have slowed somewhat. Although, that child-rearing thing never lets up...

Until then we will continue to sail optis in our dreams.

Optimist News:

From the series Here Come the Optis, by Curt Crain as shown
in Nicholas Hayes' web page "Saving Sailing"

 

 

 Nicholas Hayes' book Saving Sailing was a very good read. He also has a web page devoted to the subject. In one of his articles titled, "Opti Haters" he mentions the merits of the Optimists, and he drew some comments, both positive and negative that are interesting to read.

"I am admittedly hard-pressed to say that there are flaws with prams. In fact, I have a hard time criticizing anything that uses foils to make motion from wind. And they’re classically cute" - Nick Hayes

"Why do we have kids learning on a 50 year old platform? Just imagine if you decided to have your kids learn downhill skiing on a pair of 1960 vintage skis." - Reply from Capt'n Ron

Excerpt from "Opti Haters"
Nicholas Hayes, July 12, 2012
In: http://savingsailing.com/

Optimist Pram - taking real shape

For quite some time we've just imagined the Optimist sitting on the strongback, but now the outline of the dinghies has been reveled. Ric Altfather, president of the Cleveland Amateur Boatbuilders and Boating Society, offered us some good advice when assembling our Optimists. The bend we had to make to instal the chine is a bit too severe for most 3/4 x 1 1/2 inch kiln dried lumber. Ric recommended we soak them prior to trying to bend them in place. We let them float on the pool cover for a few hours - this seemed to work well. They would have snapped like a twig if they had not been soaked.

We are now contemplating the next step. We need to fare all the edges with a hand plane and sander to prepare for the eventual plywood skin that will make these real boats.

Part 4:



The three frames looking really nice in the garage.

To take the twist out of the chine at the center bulkhead we clamped a board to the stringer and then screwed the bottom of the board to the frame leg. We let the wood dry and take the shape for a couple days before putting the screws through the chine. I'm not sure it is necessary to wait that long, but we had the time to let it dry and didn't rush it.

To mark the spot in the bow to let-in the chine, we used the paper pattern that was supplied with the CABBS' plans. With the chine stringer well soaked I was able to spring it into position to check my pencil line. I made some slight changes to the template line to adjust for a better fit after cutting the notch.

 

I found that it was pretty easy to put a pilot hole in the frame leg to make the final cut for the gunwale stringer. I drilled the hole to match the angle that the stringer would be let-in. I cut from the front and then moved to the back to check that the line was being followed on both sides. I would cut a little bit and then check about three or four times to be sure I wasn't straying from the lines on both sides.

Here I am checking to see if the bow is perfectly parallel to the center frame by laying a board on the bow and sighting across. There was a very slight twist that I was able to remove by weighing down the corner of the strongback with some stones (see bottom left) and shimming one of the back legs.

Optimist Pram - finishing the frames

With this third video we put the frames on the strongback and get ready for the keelson and stringers. The frames go together quickly after making sure the height is correct off the strongback. Following the CABBS' strongback plans to the letter would have made things a bit easier, but we were trying to save on wood and ended up reconfiguring just a bit. As you can tell from the video, we are using old, recycled wood whenever we can because most of the pieces will be painted and hidden from view.