Bulkheads Finished

Bulkheads are now ready for setting up. There are a couple of  places where portions of framing will have to wait until the alignment has been done as the locating holes end up covered by framing. This is the case for the stern and stem bulkheads.

Here is the complete set for the Port hull. The Starboard set has been put away for who knows how long as I only have room to build one hull at a time.

Handy Tools

In making the bulkheads I need to sand around the edge of the panels to give the glue a strong bond. Using a rotary Dremel type tool I was able to set an accurate distance from the edge by setting the sanding attachment a measured distance from the collar, which makes it very easy to get a straight edge which will line up with the framing.

Another handy tool which you probably did not realise was a boat building tool is.... a chilly bin (or Esky). Great for supporting bulkheads while glue sets.

Bulkheads Part 3

I have cut out all ten of the plywood bulkhead shapes. The next step is to strengthen these with framing timber. I am using the same douglas fir as for the stringers.

I have used a router to put a radiused edge on the inner corner of the framing. It gives a nice look and should also help the epoxy to protect the wood better as a sharp edge is likely to chip.

These clamps are really handy, I have a mixture of spring and ratchet type, but though I thought I had plenty, it seems you can't have too many as I need about 20 clamps for the more complicated bulkheads to do the framing in one glue session.

Bulkheads Part 2

It is cool to finally get a real sense of the lines and scale of the boat at this stage. Lots of measuring and drawing.

Before I started drawing, I used a spreadsheet to graph the lines from the table of offsets, just to confirm that there were no problems with the values. I also took a few measurements from the CAD drawings to be sure.

Then it was out with the jigsaw. Here you can see I have screwed two panels together to create identical sets of bulkheads for both hulls. 8 bulkheads made so far. 4 to go.

Bulkheads part 1

Four sheets of Okume are hopefully enough to make the 12 bulkheads for the boat. First I need to coat both sides of each sheet with epoxy, then sand and apply another coat.

Here are the sheets with the first epoxy coat applied.

I ran out of the fast hardener so bought some slow hardener which seems to give a better result, or it could just be the warmer conditions now.

I also had to buy a new sander. I do a fair bit of DIY at home and sanders don't seem to last very long for me. So I have spent a little more on what is hopefully a higher quality model this time.

Stringers Finished

The stringers are all done. The finished stringers don't actually take up much room compared to the stack of wood I started with. It shows how much of the wood ended up as dust and chips. I got bags of it which I put to use as mulch for the garden.

Making Stringers

I have a bit of a production line going for stringers. Three stages of production here are, cutting, gluing and "Thicknessing".

Once the scarf joints are glued I then plane the lengths down to size with a thicknesser, the planing really transforms the wood into a much nicer finish and looks great. Here is a close view of some finished  stringers with a scarf joint visible on one of them.

I am about half way through making all the lengths required for the boat.