"Sailor's Brother" builds a Shellback

[Sailor's Brother]

That's a nice blank but how did you change it to spruce? Can you perform the same trick turning lead into gold? It sure doesn't look like spruce......

omg... I just got that... man I'm working too hard...

[Sailor's Brother]

The hull shape may well be out of fiberglass but it is nevertheless a boat shaped hull and if you are putting in a nice wooden ceiling, why heck, alot of folks may like to see how ya done it,regardless what the hull is made out of.........just don't show us too many glorious photos of the whole boat nor go on ranting about how nice fiberglass and polyester resin smells when being sanded and you'll be fine right here!

I double dares ya too!!


Cheers!


Peter

a double dare... hmmmmm NOPE... one thing I learned from my 3 brothers... a double dare NEVER ends well!!!


but maybe once I get enough of the ceiling in to hide the plastic!!! until then... you'll just have to imagine it!!!

[sailoar]

Howdy - what did you glue the transom spline with? I'm building a Shellback too, but I went with a ply transom, just to use up that leftover 1/2" sheet stock from the bottom, with some 1/4" laminated to it.

[Sailor's Brother]

Howdy - what did you glue the transom spline with? I'm building a Shellback too, but I went with a ply transom, just to use up that leftover 1/2" sheet stock from the bottom, with some 1/4" laminated to it.

after thinking long and hard about what glue to use... I went with carpenter's glue... I figure if it's good enough to glue together my canoe... it's good enough for the transom... true the canoe is glassed in and out... but the inner face will probably have some epoxy in it (to protect it from dings etc) and I may put a very thin layer of glass on the outside as well... I want the outside face left bright... but I do want to protect it from the hard use of a 3-4 year old sailing/playing in it... and it being ussed as a ferry/dink for Chanteclair...

[Sailor's Brother]

OK, so it's not strictly speaking boatbuilding, BUT, after running the transom mahogany through the planer, I decided it was time to change the blades... I have a Dewalt 734 that SWMBO bought for me for a real steal...

well while removing the hex head machine screws, I was presented with a little problem.. they are in TIGHT... a little penetrating oil, nothing... a better hex key... nothing... vice-grips on the heads of them... nothing... tap with a centre punch and hammer... nothing... so I used a screw extractor to get them out... and this is what happened.....



what you see here is the hardened head of the screw extractor.. broken IN the screw head... yikes

I have about 1/2 of them out... so hopefully no more break off...

any suggestions?

[Sailor]

Yeah, I got one. Get back to boatbuilding and post some pics!

[Sailor's Brother]

Vos Primoris Daniel.

[BBSebens]

have you tried a little heat? You can use an electric soldering gun to heat just the screws if need be. But a simple propane torch would probably work.

How about a little anti-sieze when you put them back in?

[Sailor's Brother]

have you tried a little heat? You can use an electric soldering gun to heat just the screws if need be. But a simple propane torch would probably work.

How about a little anti-sieze when you put them back in?

They are all out now...

Heat sort of did the trick... I applied it using a cutting wheel and removing the heads of the machine screws!!!!! (ok so heat had nothing to do with it!!!)
then drilling out the old screws...

While I have ordered new hex head screws... I am contemplating using something else to replace it... perhaps a bolt... better grip when using a spanner (wrench to some...) and you can apply more torque without head "slip"... anti-seize will go on whatever solution I use though!!!

[JayInOz]

Spanner is the right word What's P.O.C. (port orford cedar) like to work with? I've only seen it/ used it for hunting shafts- back before I started making mine from doug fir. It smells good and repels bugs up to a point. I read somwhere that it was getting hard to obtain. Apologies for sneaking off topic. JayInOz

[Sailor's Brother]

I've enjoyed working with the POC... the smell was like nutmeg almost... it also makes the house smell nicely as well (and I assume it will keep at it until the stuff get's sealed up...). milling was pretty easy on the tools... I ended up using a thin kerf blade to minimize wastage and after running quite a bit through the saw, the blade's still as sharp as when I started... , and it was really gentle on the planner. although I knew the blades were dulling from previous jobs... for the work, there were no issues with it.

As for availability, I found a guy who had a dozen or so pallets of it in Oregon. A long drive from here in Victoria BC, but for the price... he also ships... but not for anywhere near the price I got..... He had some really clear stuff... but I didn't bother with that... what I am using it for is totally non-structural, so knot free was not necessary... led to a little wastage, but I got much more than required...

[Sailor]

Any progress?

[Sailor's Brother]

minor progress today...



due to snow... yes SNOW in Victoria... 8 inches of it. That's about 6 inches more than I've ever seen in 10 years in this city... reminded me of back home.....
we closed down the office a little early. so I got to come home and make a little progress

after a quick sanding of the transom blank, I started lofting the transom shape onto it

First I put down a centerline, that was perfectly perpendicular to the glue-jointline



next I used a "tackstick" and took the heights down of all pertinent points. Basically in this case, since the transom is a series of perfectly straight edges, the heights of the corners.



then I transferred those heights to the transom blank's centerline

[Sailor's Brother]

The tackstick also allowed me to verify that the horizon lines I drew were perfectly parallel to each other and also perfectly perpendicular to the centerline.
(oh the tackstick isn't lined up in the photo I just dropped it roughly in place for the photo)



Then I measured out horizontally to the "corners" of the transom. I measured the total distance, and divided it by two, then separately measured each side, compared all three and took an aggregate average of the three to soften any inaccuracies with the drawings. Overly complex, you bet!!! will it matter in the end, not a chance! but it suits my engineering nature... accurate to 14 decimal points and all...




then transfer these measurements to the transom blank, connect all the dots, and you have the shape you need



compare that to both the paper copy you made, and the plans themselves, measure a dozen more times... check it from every angle... and you're almost ready to start cutting

[Sailor's Brother]

I needed to put a nice curve on the top of the transom... so a batten, a couple nails, and I have a fair line traced... then I flip the batten over and retrace the line, just to "average out" any inconsistencies in the batten... (it had a slight hard spot, and I didn't have a better batten at this time...)



The next thing I had to do was start cutting it out...

earlier in the thread Sailor posted some pics of me making the moulds and stations... there I used a skillsaw and a cutting guide to quickly and accurately make the cuts... this time the guide was not going to work for 2 reasons.

First, I am cutting on an angle, so the guide I already have is not the right dimension.

the second reason the guide is not going to work is that due to the way the skillsaw tilts, I have to use the "narrow" side of the base as my guide... This is less than ideal. Less footprint to guide me.

but first... I need to set the angle.... 23 degrees...



there done.. lock that in place, now a "new" guide

I take a piece of scrap wood with a straight edge, and attach it to a thin piece of plywood... then cut the plywood using the guide. Now when I line the plywood up with my guide, the skillsaw will follow the fence and cut perfectly along the line.



BUT you may ask... why not use the wide part of the footing, more guiding AND the saw will be less prone to bind...

well the answer is simple, I wasn't totally confident in the cutting and wanted the fence to stop me from cutting off too much material... so instead, I leave a little too much material, and plane it off...



and a quick plane job later... it's right where I need it... at the angle I need it... love my low angle block plane... so small, fits right int he palm... and when I'm not using it... in a back pocket to my jeans... ready for it's next calling...



Just what I wanted it to look like. The Spline looks pretty good too!!!

[Sailor's Brother]

A couple more cuts and the transom will be done, BUT that's for another time....

[Sailor]

More progress. Good stuff. Can't wait for the next bunch of progress pics.

[Sailor's Brother]

Well a long a busy week at work. Got a lot work done on the big 300+ footer... but that's not interesting (she's steel has no sails and belongs to the government... )

BUT the good news is that after celebrating SWMBO's big birthday.... I found myself with a little time on my hands and finished the transom...

Here it is... sanded lightly, almost to the lines... the only part left to do is the upper edge of the transom, that while traced out, is not cut out it will be shaped at a later time, once I have most of the frame set up and I can better eyeball it to ensure it's right.



the angles are a little funky in the photo, but you get the picture...


I will now add it to the pile of growing boat parts... you can actually see parts from 3 different boats there... and a little bit of PO cedar... mast, yard, boom, moulds, and of course parts from the interior cabin of my sailboat.... hmmm maybe one day I'll get the family room back.... naw...



can you see it? hidden back there? hopefully it will only be there for a few months at most.

[Sailor]

Hopefully.

[NYCKiwi]

Hey Sailor's Brother,
Any progress on your Shellback?

[Sailor's Brother]

sidetracked by life, ship sailed a lot, new baby and now forced to move across the county... good news is that I'm looking at setting up a decent shop on the other side and getting started soon. But first, I have to pack up a 30 footer to make sure she makes it across the country on the back of a truck without any problem.... not sure if Sailor (my actual brother) warned at the beginning of this thread, but my canoe build took some 14 years...

[Don S]

Just curious, Sailor's Brother, was your move across country, presumably Canada, in connection with the important shipbuilding contract that was awarded to Nova Scotia, and is that where you landed? I'm a Yank, but a now retired seasonal resided in NS.

I've also just ordered the Pooduck Skiff plans + the Shellback Dinghy book, so I'm interested in the thread (and it's progress ;-) ) , since I believe the Pooduck construction and the Shellback construction have a lot of important similarities.

I'm crawling toward my first build, including rather constrained space, and appreciate the wisdom of all who've gone before.

[Sailor]

Andrew was posted to Ottawa. Not sure he'll see this soon since he just flew back to BC to start his drive across country. I'm posted in Nova Scotia though and if you're ever in the Shubenacadie (Truro, Elmsdale) area, let me know. I'd be happy to show you around my shop. The canoe is out of the shop now and it's awaiting a good cleaning before the next boat is started but it's always nice to see another shop. I'd love to see another Shellback build and if it's near here so much the better.
Cheers,
Daniel

[Don S]

Thanks for the reply, Sailor. And for the offer to see your shop, which seems enviable. I'm on the Eastern shore so Shubenacadie is not all that far. And thanks for the encouragement on building. I've made a start, sort of, including cleats, chocks, battens for fairing, oars, and must recently sawhorses for setting up the strongback. Tools are in place. One frustration has been no easy access to materials, epoxy, fasteners, etc., though I guess I will be mail ordering. Seems like Eastcoast Specialty Hardwoods, Dartmouth, is the main possibility for plywood, Okoume. All on my wee car. I'd even thought about going the kit route, but that seems almost as hard, what with customs, shipping, as sourcing materials.

Cheers to you both,
Don

[Sailor]

IMP in burnside has epoxy and there's another FB store in burnside but I can't remember where it is or what it's called. They provide epoxy etc for IMP marine and I found them great to deal with. I got my cedar from east coast specialty. Not sure what ply they have though. Online may be the next option. You'd think there's better access to boatbuilding wood in the province that gave us Bluenose, Bluenose II, HMS Bounty and literally thousands of other ships.

[Don S]

Thanks for the lead on sourcing epoxy. What does "FB" stand for?

Exactly my question, too, on access to wood, at least at the retail level.

[Sailor's Brother]

Just curious, Sailor's Brother, was your move across country, presumably Canada, in connection with the important shipbuilding contract that was awarded to Nova Scotia, and is that where you landed? I'm a Yank, but a now retired seasonal resided in NS.

I've also just ordered the Pooduck Skiff plans + the Shellback Dinghy book, so I'm interested in the thread (and it's progress ;-) ) , since I believe the Pooduck construction and the Shellback construction have a lot of important similarities.

I'm crawling toward my first build, including rather constrained space, and appreciate the wisdom of all who've gone before.

As Sailor replied, my move was to Ottawa... from Victoria... totally unrelated to the contract, The navy just decided I had spent enough time in beautiful Victoria, My turn to hit the grindstone of Ottawa..

HOWEVER, my move is actually a double move, as I'm also moving my Washington State residence to Washington DC... so now that I have driven from Victoria to Ottawa, I am now driving from Washington State to Washington DC (via Orlando Florida, I'm an engineer, not a navigator I guess!) by the end of the summer I'll have basically boxed in Canada and the USA...

[Sailor]

Sorry, typo.FG for fiberglass, not FB.

[Sailor's Brother]

More progress eventually I promise... all the parts are now in my original boatshop in Cornwall On... once I manage to get there, I'm assembling the ladder frame

[Don S]

Best of luck with the moves. We have a residence in Virginia and a cottage in NS for the last 5 years, and contemplating another move to somehow rationalize things, but towards what we don't know. It is daunting no doubt to move both residences at once. Also, I've lived in DC for about 10 years so I am a bit familiar with what you are getting there. It's surely not Victoria ;-( Get the R & R when you can.