Over She Goes

Finally, with the help of a couple of friends we lifted, turned and put the boat down during a snatched hour at the weekend. Does this mean we are halfway?! Many thanks to Ben and Ed.


The fillets we put in whilst the boat was upside were more than strong enough to manhandle the boat with confidence. Good and Stiff!

Spot the boat surveyor below; always working!!

We can now tape the inside whilst leaning over the boat as she probably won't be strong enough to take our weight. We will add the longitudinal, rig chain-plates and keel structure before adding the deck. Doing these the "right way up" we should have gravity on our side.

We will need to check that we haven't put a twist in the hull during the move before the final taping. An initial run around with the spirit level would suggest that we are ok but some standing back and staring is recommended, with a cup o tea in hand....

Stuff we used:
Some cradles we made out of the plywood offcuts
Friends to help turn her over (this could have been done with three persons)
Spirit level.

Taping the Hull Chines

Good effort Gerry. We are definitely at one of those stages where a days work doesn't seem to show much progress... chin-up!!

Without wanting to repeat Gerry's good blogging here are the salient pics and words from yesterdays effort (we snuck an afternoon off!).

Here is extruded NACA 0012 section Gerry was reffering to that we are using for the keel fin. This is a quite conservative section but will be adequate for our purposes and puts a great big tick in the "Budget Sportboat" - we could have spent time drawing a perfect section for our needs but at 250 quid.... Also using a NACA section means that everyone (who might build one) has access to the data. Can't wait to stick it in the boat.

What we should have done is left the filling of the outside chines and bogged them as we put the tape down - this would have saved us a sanding (rather green expoxy) job. There's a few hours of my life I won't get back!

A real pain as the taping went on so quickly - all we have to do is wait for this to go off..... is it time to turn her over now???

!Top Tip: We discovered that heating the resin before using made it lovely and thin and easy to use...

Stuff we used today:

80 Grit Sandpaper

Long(ish)board

Pliers & sharp knife (to remove the last of the cable ties)

50mm wide glass ape (160g)

Ampreg Epoxy and Hardener etc

Roll of Peel-ply

A couple of electic heaters

Finishing the hull, part 2.1

Guy and myself spent the afternoon today sanding some of the filler I added covering the cable tie holes some days ago, removing the final load of cable ties (from the last panel set and bonded into place), more tidying-up around the place and adding the 160 gsm glass tape over the external panel joins. As we ended up using S L O W Ampreg 21 hardner with the mix, we both hope that the weather warms up a bit for the resin to set so we can get on with turning the little beauty over.

I guess our next step is to add a larger radius fillet to the inside panels and bulkhead joins and glass the lot together, using the balance of the +/- 45 deg, 450 gsm, 100 mm glass tape we have.

As Guy was the photographer today I hope he'll be adding the photographs he took today to the blog.

We've got so much more to do and trying to think a step ahead of ourselves, and keeping the normal day jobs going, is proving difficult. I'm always on Guys case asking him about the bulb, rudder, rig, chain plates etc etc etc. (I've almost got the 180 kg lead sorted). As a 'quick fix' (and easy option) we've opted for an 'off-the-shelf' fin. Found on the web in Sweden, Krona Boats do a NACA 0012 section of marine grade (?) aluminium @ 12% of a 300mm cord (Guy knows the details here). At £ 250 or so I thought, as a sailmaker, I would stay cleaner for a while longer not trying to build a foil. And for possible future builders, it's very quick!!! and easy!!!

As the service agent for North Sails here on the Isle of Wight I hope to get North Sails to design the sails and build them here at Medina Sailcare, as we could do any remedial and development works ourselves as and when required.

All we now need is a decent rig. Again here we would like to remain as cheap, and easy to obtain, as possible (help required on this one). There are loads of options available with all the companies out there and I'm trying to work on it. Once we have the mast and boom sorted I can get onto NS for the sail design. Mainsail with a reef, Lt/Med jib, Med/Hvy jib and 2 x 38 sqm A sails, or maybe one slightly smaller! MAYBE!

Guy and I discussed furling the jib, but as our bowsprit is 'pretty-damn-long', and we have 30 deg. sweep on the spreaders and extra jib area cannot be wrong, we're going for a 'always up' jib on a TuffLuff. The hope is that the jib and kite can be up together without affecting performance and not having a bowman pissing around in front of the mast is always good, self tacking might even be an option. Might have to add a purchase system on the tack of the jib for halyard tension. Still working on that one though ......

I think, that between us, we haven't done enough sports boat sailing to know how all the systems will work and will work out so we're still looking and trying to combine dinghy and keelboat system that might or might not work out, after all: Is the GT6 a dinghy or keelboat?

Trialing Times

In answer to the question we have been asked many times now "what will she rate?" - and because the answer we give that "she is not really that type of boat" doesn't seem to satisfy curious minds I have put in a trial cert to our local rating office.....

Not that this is an IRC boat in any way... as perhaps the cert reflects. I am sure that the number will come down as we finalise a few items and with the final boat trim.... still it's another point on the graph...

Finishing the Hull

More filleting as we work down the planks.... we could have added the taping at this stage, but more time constraints and home-life beckon.

She's a beauty! All the planks on and filling the chines before adding the glass tapes. People coming through the yard are now stopping to chat and admire now that the shape is coming together (the yard owner has threatened to charge admission due to the amount of footfall we are generating)

Next stage - adding the tape to the outside and then...... turning her over...

Are you excited Gerry?

Day - 4 More Hull

Now the fun part!

With a little scarfing just add the planks - we faffed around trying to clamp down each plank in place but found that when we added the stitching this was not necessary. For stitches we just used cable ties - cheap and easy.....

Starting to look like a boat!

As each plank went down we tabbed in place with a thickened (microfibres) resin mix
As you can see from the photo below this was before we discovered the joy of using the cable ties! We did two planks at a time (each side) and waited for them to go off coming back each day to add the next round - a bit long winded but perfect for fitting around the rest of one's life!

Stuff we used for planking the hull:
Hand plane
Cable Ties
Resin
Microfibres
Hardener
Digital Scales for resin/hardener mix
Plastic tubs
Gloves
tongue depressors for the fillets
Hand drill

Day 3 - The Hull

Cutting out the hull planks was exactly the same process as cutting out the bulkheads; straight from the printed templates.

Of course the plywood sheets are not as long as the planks and needed joining together.

We joined the planks by using +-45 450 e-glass on both sides of the join (we routed 1/2mm and used peel-ply on the outside of the planks for neatness but is not necessary. We didn't scarf reasoning that a good butt joint will be stronger that the plywood; not to mention a good deal easier to achieve!

Stuff used on Day 3:

Resin (Ampreg 21)
Hardener (Ampreg 21 - fast)
Roll of e-glass +-45, 100mm wide
Paint Roller
Peel-ply
Router
Hull Templates
Jigsaw
Knife
Hand Plane
Sandpaper

Day 2 - The Bulkheads

Much more exciting work on day 2 as it meant cutting bits and pieces out for the actual boat (as opposed to the frame).

All we did is plot out the frames full size and transfer to the plywood bulkheads (6mm marine ply). As the hull shape is straight lines at the bulkheads it was very much a join the dots exercise. The lightening holes were done in a similar manner just with handy radii in the corners (e.g. paint pot lids).





After marking out the bulkheads we scored along all the edges with a knife. Although rather a dull process it mean that we got very little splintering when we cut out with the jigsaw.

We marked a 500mm Waterline and the CL and then matched these up to the same marked points on the frame. A quick check with a spirit level and soon we were looking like we had a boaty shaped thing in the yard




Stuff we used on day 2:
Pencil
Plywood
Plots of the bulkheads
Stanley knife
Jigsaw
Sandpaper
Hand Plane
Screws and Screwdriver
Spirit Level

Day 1 - The Frame

A nice and easy introduction to the build:

Because we are using a corner of a yard in a bit of a thoroughfare we decided that it was best to build a good sturdy platform that would resist both our clumsiness and any other knocks that might arise from people passing by.

The frame is also very easy to build and make level and means that the addition of the bulkheads is a quick and painless operation. We reckon that if the frame is true the boat will be true.

We used a good smear of U-pol to affix the frame to the concrete floor and screwed the cross beams and uprights (which take the bulkheads) to the main longitudinals.

Stuff we used on Day 1:
3 off 6m lenghts of 6"x2", uprights 13m of 2"x2"
A packet of good long wood screws
An electric screwdriver/drill
Small Chop Saw
Some U-pol
A spirit level

Note the addition of a plumb line above the boat which we could slide the bob up and down as required e.g. when adding the bulkheads.

Why?

The GT6 started out as an exercise to build the best value, easiest to build and with, of course, as little compromise to the sports-boat concept. I won't pretend that this is a unique proposition but it is a development on sharpie or a 3 - plank boat, and for which for no extra boatbuilding effort or skill is required....

To prove the concept, and to furnish Gerry with his boat(!), we are building hull #1 in a corner of a local yard, employing little more than some basic DIY skills and with limited access to Gerry's very tight wallet! Just just for good measure we will note any issues we come accross or tips/tricks so any persons following or wanting to build from plans can gain from our experience!

Between the two of us and the day jobs we have spent about 5 days of effort to get to the current point; all the bulkheads and hull planks are filleted/tabbed and waiting to be taped in- hopefully this afternoon, but more of that later....

So I admit it; I am bowing to external pressures by starting a blog on the build of the GT6 (working title). The build is well on the way but we (Gerry and I) will add pictures and text explaining what we have done to get us to this point and and then try to keep up to date to take us through to the first sail and beyond.....