Next stop Transom

The side planking is all on now. So, the next step is to cover the transom with Meranti so that it will match the deck.

First, I made a posterboard template of the transom. Then I positioned the template over an attractive grain pattern on the Meranti plywood. I traced the template, then drew a secondary line extended 3/4” outward from the tracing. I cut to this secondary line so that my transom cover would be oversized sufficiently for me to fit and position it as needed.

Posterboard template & oversized transom cover.

The next step will be to attach it.

To help with this, I have ordered a Raptor stapler and some 9/16” Raptor staples. The Raptor staples are plastic. So, you can simply sand off the extraneous end of the staple once the stapled piece of wood is bonded to the sub-layer. This should leave little or no evidence of fasteners, as would be the case with screw heads, etc.

That’s the idea, anyway. The stapler should be here early this week. I’m looking forward to trying it out.

 Side planking trimmed at the bow.

Side planking trimmed at the bow.

 

Fairing progress on the side planking.

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More fairing on the Utility This time the transom

Warm greetings from Barnacle Mike’s crowded little boat shop. You know, one of the great things about the boatbuilding community is the fact that you meet some really cool people, both online and in person. The level of support and insight that you get from more experienced builders who kindly share their knowledge and give advice can truly help a newbie keep pushing his or her project forward. I’m very thankful for that.

An online boatbuilding friend, who has also been kind enough to follow my blog, sent me an e-mail the other day asking about the status of the Utility. It does seem like I’ve been paying a bit much attention to the Zip project lately. Truth is, I have still been slowly, slowly... s-l-o-w-l-y... fairing away at the Utility all the while. Still, his inquiry about its status gave me a little more motivation to get off my “transom” and put more elbow grease into getting the little boat past the fairing stage. (Thank you, Paul!)

So, that’s just what I did Saturday, fairing away at the transom sides until they were finished. The starboard side had a bit more excess material than the port side. So, I roughed it in with the belt sander, then worked it the rest of the way down with the mouse sander. Unfortunately, I did not follow the “best practice” of checking my work frequently with my test piece of plywood. (I thought the transom sides would be a no-brainer. I was wrong.) When I tested my “finished” work with the plywood, expecting to feel a broad smile cross my face as I witnessed my handiwork, I was disappointed to see several gaps appear. The culprit was an overly sharp bevel in a couple of spots. More gaps to fill with thickened epoxy. I’m getting pretty good at that, if I do say so myself.

Needless to say,  I was more cautious with the port side. I also went about it a little differently. This time, I started by carrying the line of the sheer and chine through the transom material first. Then, I “connected” the two spots by fairing the area in-between. This time I alternated between the mouse sander and a small block plane. I worked slowly and purposefully.

The results were much, much better.

I do still have a good bit more fairing to do, primarily in the mid-section of the boat. I also have to make a decision about the chines in that area, (more on that later). I could’ve worked on all this Sunday. However, yours truly decided he needed some time on the water. So, I spent the day canoeing. I’m sure you understand.

By the way, I met another boatbuilder out on the river. He was piloting a very nice-looking red drift boat upriver. It looked about 16’ long. The handsome-looking boat glided smoothly through the water, pushed by a silent electric trolling motor. He proudly said “yes” when I asked if he’d built it himself. He had some very nice things to say about Don Hill’s drift boat plans before we each went our separate ways. 

Yep. You’ve gotta love the boatbuilding community.

Starboard transom-chine joint after fairing.

Starboard transom-chine joint after fairing.

Starboard transom-chine joint after fairing

Starboard transom-sheer joint after fairing. As you can see, Ive got a heck of a gap in that "Marine-Grade" plywood that Im going to have to fill.

Port transom-chine joint before fairing.

Port transom-chine joint before fairing.

Port transom-chine joint after fairing.

Port transom-sheer joint before fairing. Notice all that epoxy thickened with #2 silica?

Port transom-sheer joint after fairing. I still have some thickened epoxy to file away.

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Raptor stapler meets transom

The Raptor stapler I ordered came in yesterday. I took it home and put it right to work.

Raptor CT-6000P compression stapler

The model I’d ordered is the CT-6000P. It is a manual compression stapler, not one of the fancy air-powered tools. However, I didnt have to handle this stapler long before I got the impression that it is better made than similar tools Ive seen at big-box stores. That’s reassuring, given that the CT-6000P isn’t exactly cheap.

It is made specifically to use the proprietary Raptor composite staples. Those aren’t exactly cheap, either. The tool, a box of 9/16” staples, and shipping totaled a little over $125.00. Question is... is it worth it?

So far, I think so.

The first thing I did, of course, was to try the stapler out on the closest object available. I tried to drive a staple through a sheet of 1/4” eucaboard on a work table into the 3/4” plywood table top. That didn’t go so well. Not only did it not penetrate the eucaboard well, it sent shattered pieces of plastic staple flying everywhere. The second shot didn’t fare much better. I crossed my fingers and hoped that 1/4” Meranti plywood would be a different story.

It was.

I tried the stapler out on several pieces of scrap plywood, adjusting the tool’s set screw a little as I went along. It worked very well, easily tacking Meranti scraps together, as well as into a piece of 3/4” pine plywood. The 9/16” staples did not seat fully, but sufficiently enough to hold two layers of plywood together long enough for the epoxy between them to cure. That’s all it needs to do. In fact, a little bit of extraneous staple remaining above the wood surface should make it easier to break off & sand away. That’s the whole point of using composite staples in this project: to leave little or no visual evidence of fasteners.

So, confident in the knowledge that it was going to work, I decided to go ahead start mixing epoxy. In the end, I had to mix 3 batches. It took far more epoxy to cover the surface area of the transom, as well as the mating surface area of the transom cover, than I’d estimated. Once again, the kitchen scale was indispensable in this process. I took the advice of another builder, and enclosed the scale in a large freezer bag to protect it from epoxy drippings.

With both mating surfaces covered, it was a relatively simple matter to clamp the transom cover into position. The Raptor stapler did its job nicely, tacking the 1/4” Meranti plywood onto the 3/4” Douglas Fir plywood beneath it. For safe measure, I added clamps all the way around. 

The transom cover... glued, stapled and clamped.

The next step will be to shear off and sand away the composite staples.

19 gauge, 9/16" Raptor composite staple.

Top of the staple snipped off...

...and sanded away.

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Crisp Transom Edge

Ken Hankinsons excellent book, "How to Fiberglass Boats," suggests radiusing the hard edges of the hull in order to properly apply fiberglass cloth, without air bubbles forming underneath. The air bubbles would become a potential source of water entrapment, and inevitably... rot. Good motivation.

The book states that fiberglass cloth does not easily, or readily, adhere to sharp edges, but rather forms a curve.

Now, I wont begin to compare myself to the brilliant and accomplished Mr. Hankinson. He is the established expert, (that book and DVD are worth every penny... and then some). I myself, on the other hand, am stumbling toward completion of my first boat. However... I will mention this from my limited personal experience:

I used rather light fiberglass cloth (6 oz) on my little boat. And yes, I did radius the edges beforehand. From what I saw, light fiberglass cloth like that was very pliable when wetted out with epoxy. Enough so that I think it would conform to edges such as a chine junction or the base of a transom.... edges less than a 90° angle, that is. Id be less inclined to feel that way about heavier cloth, but light cloth like 6 oz, I THINK might conform to a sharp edge reasonably well. THIS IS A THEORY. I HAVE NOT TRIED THIS MYSELF. However, I think it is at least worth an initial attempt, and I will probably do so later on, on the Zip.

Why does all this matter?

As the book states, "The well-radiused corner required for proper application of fiberglass cloth is not desirable on some areas of certain types of boats. For example, the bottom edge along the transom of high performance boats or the inside edges along sponsons of hydroplanes should have a hard crisp corner for ultimate speed and performance..."

The book then goes on to describe how to create a "crisp" edge with additional layers of fiberglass cloth. I wont get into that method here, because I didnt use it. However, again... I do certainly recommend buying the book (and DVD!).

Now, my little boat with its 8hp motor is anything but a high performance speed boat. However, I still wanted to create a crisp transom edge. I simply did it with thickened epoxy... System Three Gel Magic in a cartridge with a mixer nozzle to be specific. Will it be durable enough to last? Time will tell.

Radiused edge along the chine and base of the transom.

Here, Ive taped poster board along the edge to create a form for the epoxy to fill in.

After clearing away the tape, poster board, and a lot of sanding, (it was an unholy mess!)... the base of the hull looks like this.

Heres the crisp epoxy edge at the base of the transom & along the chine.

I will have to clean up these scuff marks on the transom.

A mishap with the tape allowed epoxy to leak out & flow down the transom in one spot. I was able to scrape most of it away while it was still liquid, but Im still left with more "mess" to sand off of the transom.

If you try this method, keep a close eye on the progress in case of mishaps like this one. It couldve been a MAJOR problem if that runoff epoxy had cured.

This is the view along the port chine, where the radiused edge transitions to the filled-in, sharper epoxy edge.

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