Building a Ross Lillistone First Mate

[The Jeff]

Hi all. After lurking on this forum for a decade I've finally gotten around to starting a boat. Over the years I've been researching different designs by many designers, but it just didn't work out to start building. My wife and I recently bought a house after living in an apartment for a year, so now I have a garage again. I grew up canoeing and sailing a Sunfish in the Chesapeake so I wanted something small for the shallow water, but faster to row and drier to sail.


Anyway, I finally settled on Ross Lillistone's First Mate stitch and glue dinghy. I've been living vicariously through WI-Tom and AJZimm's camp cruising threads which is something that really appeals to me and helped me pick this design. I had originally convinced myself on the lug rig, but I think I've changed my mind to the spritsail and jib. I'll probably end up trying both rigs at some point, but I don't see myself making the Bermuda rig.





$650 of Okoume plywood. I have six sheets of 1/4" and one of 1/2".





I originally drew everything in CAD to be cut out on a buddy's CNC router, but it's brand new and he hasn't got the software to read my files set up yet. I'm in a hurry to get this started, so I did it the old fashioned way with pencil and ruler. The quarter is for small radii like the limber holes. I used the base of a Coke can for the larger radii.





Here's one of the bulkheads cut out. High dollar beam compass to mark out the ventilation and hatch plate holes.





Before scarfing the 4x8 sheets together I wanted to get a bit of practice using epoxy. I primed both 1/2" centerboard pieces with neat epoxy, then slathered on a healthy layer of thickened epoxy and weighted it down. Two drywall screws preserve the alignment and were removed after the epoxy started to harden. Saran wrap keeps the whole thing from getting stuck to the bench.





The next day I attacked with an angle grinder and flap disk to give it a bit of a foil shape. I intend to reinforce the edges with thickened epoxy when I get around to fiberglassing the outside.

[The Jeff]

Armed with my epoxy practice I started in on scarfing the plywood sheets. These are 1/4" thick, so I set them back 2" for a 8:1 slope. Each layer is screwed to the one below at the edges.





Then I started planing out the stair steps. Probably not the best plane for this job, but it was the one I keep in my tool bucket and the rest were 30 minutes away at my folk's house.





It's a bit wavy in places, but a decent first attempt I guess. I'll make sure there's enough thickened epoxy to fill any gaps.





Next I taped some plastic to the garage floor and glued it down.





I snapped a chalk line near the edge to give me a good datum and marked out the points for one of the planks. I don't have a 16' batten so I used a piece of shoe moulding to mark out the curve.





Eventually I got the bottom, side planks, and most of the other parts cut out. I still have one full sheet of 1/4" and a fair amount of the 16' panels to use for decking and laminating the rest of the parts (mast step, mast partner, rudder, cheek filler pieces, cleat pads, etc.) I also have the ubiquitous box of scrap that's too small to keep, but too big to throw out.

[The Jeff]

Here's a shot of all the smaller parts.





The heros of this part of the build.




So far I've been at it for just over three weeks and I hope to have this boat done by the spring of next year.

[Rich Jones]

Will be following!

[Mike J]

Good grief Jeff, my shoulders ache at the thought of using that tiny plane for the scarfs! Props for getting such good results; you definitely earned a cold one.

Ross's designs have such a clean look to my eye, and his Periwinkle was on my short list before I decided on an Oughtred Fulmar. I'm looking forward to watching your progress and thanks also for sharing it with us.


Mike

[jon m]

I had originally convinced myself on the lug rig, but I think I've changed my mind to the spritsail and jib. I'll probably end up trying both rigs at some point, but I don't see myself making the Bermuda rig.

Great choice! I love cruising my Phoenix III.

I started with the 76 sf balanced lug but added the little jib Ross drew last year. I now run the original sail as a standing lug with jib set flying, and it has dramatically improved the boat's performance. Now my first reef is dropping the jib, moving the downhaul, and resetting the main as the original balanced lug. It has been a handy, simple, effective upgrade.

[swoody126]

WOW a new build to follow

i'll be interested to see which rig you end up setting

i kinda like the added method of reducing sail jon m mentioned above which w/ 3 rows of reef points would/shoud provide you with a much more manageable rig when Mother Nature spanks you(i didn't say IF)

you mentioned camp cruising as part of your dream so... IMHO listening to WI-TOM and studying his travels and rig evolution would be time well spent

please keep the pics coming

sw

[cracked lid]

Great to see another First Mate build. I'm going to share a list of things that I would have do different based on experiences with mine, and you can do with it what you will:

I should have added a foot to the length of the mast shown in the plans. The boom is too low to see under without leaning over and I have to really duck down when tacking.
A solid mast is fine weight wise, but a hollow spar for the balanced lug would help the sail hold it's shape better in light air and bumpy water. The spar could also be a little less thick. It is very stiff and makes it hard to flatten the sail with the down haul.
I'd redesign the rudder and centerboard case attachment so I could lift the rudder.
I'd use porch and patio latex rather than simple exterior latex as it is harder wearing. The easy touch-up of latex paint has been nice.
I wouldn't have added weight to the centerboard. It should sink under its own weight and I ended up using a line and clam cleat system that makes that irrelevant anyway.

One thing I did that has been really nice was to use a hole saw to cut a 1" hole in all of the side deck knees to use as tie down points.
I spent time thinking about visual details and it was time well spent. Things like making a sweeping arc to the deck around the mast instead of a straight line and mirroring the varnished rub-rail on the inside of the cockpit to add a bit of contrast added time and complexity to the build but are things that I like seeing every time I sail.

[Breakaway]

I'm in. Thanks for sharing your project!

Kevin

[jon m]

One thing I did that has been really nice was to use a hole saw to cut a 1" hole in all of the side deck knees to use as tie down points.
I spent time thinking about visual details and it was time well spent. Things like making a sweeping arc to the deck around the mast instead of a straight line and mirroring the varnished rub-rail on the inside of the cockpit to add a bit of contrast added time and complexity to the build but are things that I like seeing every time I sail.

cracked lid gives good advice. I did both of these on TWO-HEARTED as well. I have lengths of thin shock cord running through the holes in the deck knees and they are great for stowing jackets, lights, charts, or whatever up under the protection of the side decks.

I should have added a foot to the length of the mast shown in the plans. The boom is too low to see under without leaning over and I have to really duck down when tacking.

Try moving the downhaul attachment forward on the boom to set the sail as a standing lug. It doesn't affect performance too much and raises the boom enough that I can actually sit on the thwart and row beneath it.

I also just remembered that I made a measurement error which added about an inch to the gunwale; it's been quite useful because the wider gunwales help knock down the spray, and the wider decks are great for hiking out when things get sporty.

[KenStocker]

Great start, keep those photos coming!

Ken

[cracked lid]

[/COLOR]Try moving the downhaul attachment forward on the boom to set the sail as a standing lug. It doesn't affect performance too much and raises the boom enough that I can actually sit on the thwart and row beneath it.

I appreciate the advice, and I have played around with the downhaul attachment point as the block just has a cowhitch to attach it to the boom. I use the bleater setup on Storer's website that loops the line around to the boom and onto itself with taut-line hitch. I can go from balanced to standing lug configuration in very little time, but the issue I found with doing this is that it brings the front of the boom down even more, and at that point there isn't enough space between the top and bottom blocks of my downhaul set-up to fully tighten it, so I'd also have to redo my downhaul arrangment plus I still have the visibility issue looking over the bow, which is actually a bigger deal to me than ducking to tack. All in all, it isn't a huge deal, as if it was I'd just make a new mast. But considering I cut the mast down to make it the length in the plans, I figured I'd save someone else from the same issue.

[The Jeff]

Thanks all for the comments! I'm glad to share my progress with the community, after all I've learned a ton browsing old build threads and hope mine can help someone in the future.

Great choice! I love cruising my Phoenix III.


I started with the 76 sf balanced lug but added the little jib Ross drew last year. I now run the original sail as a standing lug with jib set flying, and it has dramatically improved the boat's performance. Now my first reef is dropping the jib, moving the downhaul, and resetting the main as the original balanced lug. It has been a handy, simple, effective upgrade.

I emailed Ross the other day and got a copy of that drawing, along with the gunter rig. I haven't studied the gunter very closely, but it appears to use the same mast as the spritsail and lug which might be interesting to experiment with someday.

i kinda like the added method of reducing sail jon m mentioned above which w/ 3 rows of reef points would/shoud provide you with a much more manageable rig when Mother Nature spanks you(i didn't say IF)


you mentioned camp cruising as part of your dream so... IMHO listening to WI-TOM and studying his travels and rig evolution would be time well spent

I definitely agree that the spritsail rig is not conducive for quick reefing. I guess I should clarify my thought process. My day sailing area is in a pretty protected creek and small river so I think the spritsail might be the better option for that. However, once I get out into the Chesapeake I do think the adjustability of the lug setup will be ideal. Realistically, camp cruising will probably be less than 10% of what I do, so I think I'll make the spritsail first and then eventually make the lug and pick between them based on the conditions and what I plan to do.


Cracked lid, thanks so much for your advice. I've read through your build thread multiple times to get an idea of what to do. Ross does say in his plans you can add a foot to the mast and I was leaning that way. The line/shock cord running through the interior was also high on my list of modifications. What exactly do you mean about the rudder and centerboard case attachment? I though the rudder does kick up?

I also just remembered that I made a measurement error which added about an inch to the gunwale; it's been quite useful because the wider gunwales help knock down the spray, and the wider decks are great for hiking out when things get sporty.

That's interesting. In Ross's plan update he mentioned making the gunwales stick out about 1.75" from the hull.




So I started zip tying the planks to the bottom and I'm pretty stoked with how well they fit. The curves seem to match pretty well and the lines for the bulkheads are lining up.





Whoo! After nearly 2 hours of work it's finally time for the whisky plank!!! haha





Here's the hull tied together and most of the bulkheads positioned. I need to cut some stiffeners and glue them one before zip tying them in place next.

[jon m]

I appreciate the advice, and I have played around with the downhaul attachment point as the block just has a cowhitch to attach it to the boom. I use the bleater setup on Storer's website that loops the line around to the boom and onto itself with taut-line hitch. I can go from balanced to standing lug configuration in very little time, but the issue I found with doing this is that it brings the front of the boom down even more, and at that point there isn't enough space between the top and bottom blocks of my downhaul set-up to fully tighten it, so I'd also have to redo my downhaul arrangment plus I still have the visibility issue looking over the bow, which is actually a bigger deal to me than ducking to tack. All in all, it isn't a huge deal, as if it was I'd just make a new mast. But considering I cut the mast down to make it the length in the plans, I figured I'd save someone else from the same issue.

I agree, and when I eventually replace my birdsmouth mast with a carbon one, it will be 10-12" longer.

[cracked lid]

The rudder kicks up. The tiller cannot be lifted and there are times when it would be handy for it to be able to rotate vertically.

[WI-Tom]

Great choice of a boat--enjoy your build. Phoenix III (and First Mate, which Ross thinks might actually be a touch faster) is a wonderful design, and Ross is tops.

Cheers,

Tom

[The Jeff]

It's been a while since I updated this thread, but work has slowly been continuing. I got all the bulkheads ziptied in place and the first problem has popped up. The planks are quite a bit taller than the bulkheads! I'm pretty sure the problem is due to how I drew them. I put the nails for the batten right on the points I measured, and I doubt I cut right down to the line, so the planks grew a bit. Once I tape the inside of the hull I'll use a batten to draw a fair line to the tops of the bulkheads and then plane to shape.





Next I taped the seams with 4" x 12oz biaxial fiberglass tape. First I put on a blob of thickened epoxy between the zipties as a sort of tack weld to hold the panels together. After it cured, I cut the zipties and brushed on neat epoxy along the seam. Then I put a fillet of thickened epoxy from a ziplock bag along the seam and the placed the fiberglass tape. Then I followed it up with more epoxy until the tape was wet through but not so much that it floated. I started up in the bow section to get some practice as this area will be covered by the deck.





I positioned precut strips of fiberglass tape to save time. On the two largest sections it was a real struggle to get everything wet out before the epoxy started to set.





Eventually I got all the seams glued together with epoxy and fiberglass tape. My technique was getting quite a bit better by two rearmost compartments, but unfortunately they'll never be seen. This picture doesn't show it, but I did trim the sides down to the tops of the bulkheads. Hopefully the gunnels and deck will come out looking fair.





RIP zip ties. I had these spaced about 4" apart in the bow and 12" apart elsewhere which is way closer together than what's actually needed. But I have no experience building boats and thought it was better to be safe than sorry.





Next I laminated a layer of 4oz fiberglass cloth to what will be the inside of the centerboard trunk. I followed this up with three coats of epoxy to fill out the weave of the cloth.

[The Jeff]

Apparently you can't have more than 6 images in a build thread post........

Then I epoxied on the bed logs for the centerboard trunk onto the other side. These are made from 3/4" pine. I cut off the excess with a bandsaw and planed to match the curve of the plywood.



This brings the thread up to where I am now. Next I'll glue the end posts into the centerboard trunk and probably start working on the kingpost, framing, gunnels, and motor well. So far the project has been a series of doable steps, but it is a bit overwhelming skimming through the rest of the instructions and seeing just how much more there is.

[cracked lid]

... it is a bit overwhelming skimming through the rest of the instructions and seeing just how much more there is.

It all happens a little bit at a time. Things are looking fine.

[The Jeff]

I've been plugging away at it, but Thanksgiving and deer season have put a serious dent in my free time. I've made the motor well and laminated and cut out the rudder, although I haven't shaped that into a foil yet. But my main goal lately has been to get the gunwales on.


I made the gunwales to the shape Ross specifies in his update to the First Mate plans. Once the two 3/4" wide layers are glued together, they'll have a slight slope on the underside. I originally cut these out of an 8' board and thought I'd scarf them together to make four 16' lengths, but scarfing didn't go well. No matter what angle I thought was right I seemed to make a gap somewhere else. I should have scarfed them when they were rectangular and then ripped them.





So I cut them again out of a 16' board. And here's the ridiculous looking way I got them home from work





Thank goodness for Harbor Freight clamps. I have a clamp about every 10" which seemed to close up all the gaps. I had enough squeeze out on the bottom to make a nice radius with a plastic squeegee.





Clamping on the second layer. I wrapped packing tape around the fixed jaw of the clamp. Also, I've made a new discovery in boatbuilding which I'm sure will see significant productivity gains world wide! If you prop the boat up on some cardboard boxes, it puts it at a nicer working height!





Here's a shot of the boat after trimming the ends off. I also have put in some of the interior framing and made the motor well.





Then I began beveling the gunwales to accept the deck and hit a snag. The plans say "The upper edge of the gunwale should extend up past the top edge of the planking by about 4mm/5/32” to allow for beveling to accept the deck." My gunwales are pretty close to the shape specified in the plans, and they're positioned about 5/32" high, but there seems to be too sharp an angle for the deck to smoothly wrap onto the ends.





Once the gunwales are beveled, the deck will still be a good 3/8" off at the end. It's not quite as bad at the bow and stern where the sides are more vertical, but in the middle of the boat it's pretty bad.


Has anyone else had a similar problem? Will 1/4" Occume take that bend? The only ways I can think to fix it is to:
A. Epoxy an oversize triangular strip and plane to shape.
B. Leave a gap and fill with epoxy, although I imagine that'll take quite a bit.
C. Plane down the angle of the deck. This should work fine for the frames, but I don't think the bulkheads will work so well.


Any thoughts on what you'd do to fix this problem?

[castnet]

I would go with option A.....I doubt if a triangle piece of molding would be worth the effort...just a square piece at 3/8 that spans the width of the gunnel then plane everything in one shot......may want to upgrade to a bigger plainer.....GL

Great job so far!!! Looks really good!!!

[figo]

I agree with castnet. and yes, nice work!

[cracked lid]

I think your best option at this point is A. Make sure that the outside edge of the triangle is at least as high as the top edge of the ply and you'll be fine.

I'm not sure I would trust the cardboard boxes. I used the OSB sheet and the boards that protected my plywood during shipping to make a couple of stands by cutting rectangles with slots to act as crossed half lap joints. I then ran the boards between the stands and set the boat on top. Worked when I flipped the boat to glass it and paint the exterior as well. I still use the OSB boards to make a quick outside worktable by setting them up and tossing a sheet of ply on top.
all panels quarter profile.jpg

[fossilfool]

Cracked Lid, good job so far.

Do you know what the hull weight or complete boat weight is on the First Mate? I'm interested in building this one, but am comparing it to the Argie 15 from Dudley Dix. The way the panels go together they look almost identical but the Argie is almost a foot wider. Hard to find weights on Lillistone boats.

Thx,
Paul

[cracked lid]

Cracked Lid, good job so far.

Do you know what the hull weight or complete boat weight is on the First Mate? I'm interested in building this one, but am comparing it to the Argie 15 from Dudley Dix. The way the panels go together they look almost identical but the Argie is almost a foot wider. Hard to find weights on Lillistone boats.

Thx,
Paul

That is an old shot. That boat has been completed for years. Build Thread - http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthre...e-s-First-Mate
I've never weighed it, but it isn't heavy, likely in the 160lb range. A good percentage of the weight comes from fiberglassing the exterior and epoxy coating all of the panels. I used Meranti Ply, which is heavier than some options. I wasn't trying to make a super light boat, but it is plenty light. It is light enough that you should pay attention to where your weight is. I once docked by walking forward onto the deck to step off the bow. As I stepped off the entire stern rose up out of the water, and I only weigh about 170lbs. When I recover it onto the trailer I literally just hook a finger through the bow eye and drag it up onto the trailer. It takes little effort to lift it at the transom and reposition it on the trailer if needed.

The Argie 15 has more plywood used on the interior and a higher freeboard along with more beam, so it is going to weigh more. Without the side decks that First Mate has, the Argie 15 has a lot more seating area. If you are going to regular sail with a couple of other people First Mate might feel cramped. I mostly sail solo, and I really like the side decks because that's where I spend most of my time. I tend to sail it pretty hard, with my feet under a strap and leaning out, and the decks give me a broad surface to sit on, and a bit of a safety margin if a gust dips the rail.

[The Jeff]

Thanks castanet, figo and cracked lid for your thoughts. I did give it a try, but read on to see how that worked out. Fortunately the cardboard boxes still have stuff in them, so they're pretty sturdy. Eventually I'll get around to making some sawhorses. Maybe haha. You know how those temporary things tend to become permanent as long as they're working.


Fossilfool, I'm not sure what the finished weight will be. I know Occume is a bit lighter than Meranti. Currently I can lift the hull pretty easily, but there's still a bit more to add.




I decided to try epoxying on a 1/2" x 1/2" strip to build up the edge. It really didn't work very well because the two surfaces weren't parallel for the clamps to bite. I noticed there were some gaps and voids in the glue and it just generally didn't inspire confidence.





After a lot of hoping, procrastinating, and trying to convince myself it'd be fine, I decided to start over. I jigsawed them off, then planed and belt sanded back down to the plywood. This was not a fun day.





I've finally figured out where I went wrong. In Ross's original plans, he specifies 1/2" material for the gunwale. This indeed will bevel fine if it's held 5/32" high. But in his updated plans, he shows two pieces of 3/4" material to make a wider gunwale. The angle of the corner is 90º, which results in the gunwale dipping down. After some tinkering around, I modified the angles to get a shape that is perfect at the frame where the deck meets with the most acute angle. This means the gunwale will be too high at all the other frames which will give me material to plane down when I go to fit the deck. I contacted Ross about this and he confirmed the gunwale shape needs tweaking. He said future plans would incorporate these changes.





Then it was back to the table saw to cut them out. These weren't quite as easy to cut as the other since I had a sharp edge against the fence, but it all worked out fine.





I decided this time to screw the gunwales on rather than clamp them while the epoxy set. I also started in the middle of the boat and worked my way to the ends which really helped prevent smearing the thickened epoxy around. After the epoxy had cured for a day or so an impact driver took the screws out without any trouble. I also fiberglassed the four hanging knees beside the temporary cross bars. Once they've cured, I'll remove the cross bars and fiberglass the other side. I also began finishing the centerboard in preparation of fiberglassing it.





Here you can see the gunwale needs just a little bit of beveling to match the angle of the deck.

[fossilfool]

That is an old shot. That boat has been completed for years. Build Thread - http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthre...e-s-First-Mate
The Argie 15 has more plywood used on the interior and a higher freeboard along with more beam, so it is going to weigh more. Without the side decks that First Mate has, the Argie 15 has a lot more seating area. If you are going to regular sail with a couple of other people First Mate might feel cramped. I mostly sail solo, and I really like the side decks because that's where I spend most of my time. I tend to sail it pretty hard, with my feet under a strap and leaning out, and the decks give me a broad surface to sit on, and a bit of a safety margin if a gust dips the rail.

Would you consider it feasible to scale up the First Mate by 5-10%? This would improve the cramped feeling when sailing with 3 and keep the deck seating you mention.

Thx,

Paul

[cracked lid]

Would you consider it feasible to scale up the First Mate by 5-10%? This would improve the cramped feeling when sailing with 3 and keep the deck seating you mention.

Thx,

Paul

You would have to ask the designer. Ross does have other designs, and his Periwinkle is like a big brother to Phoenix III, from which the First Mate is derived.

[WI-Tom]

You could most likely stretch a Phoenix III 10% by length with no problems. Scaling everything up, I doubt it.

Periwinkle is a significantly bigger boat, bigger build, higher volume. Not really the same boat at all, I think. Still, it might be the right boat for you if you need the room. On the other hand, I have found that most people over-estimate how many passengers they will sail with regularly.

Tom

[The Jeff]

I've been working along on my boat, but it's been tough sticking to just one step. When it's too cold for epoxy, I cut out stuff and prep other parts of the boat. Then when it is warm enough to epoxy, it's taken a while to cure. Basically, I have a bunch of stuff half done. I'm going to be out of the country for most of March, and my goal has been to get this boat done before then. I'm not sure if I'll make it, but I'm going to give it my best shot.


Next up I notched out the knees to take the deck carlings. These are 1/2" thick and 1-1/4" wide. Some of the knees needed a temporary 2x4 clamped to them so I'd have something to pull against to spring them into place. I epoxied these on with healthy sized fillets of thickened epoxy. I made a mistake when cutting the other to length, so I had to scarf on a piece. It's gluing up on what passes as my work bench.



After removing the clamps I was pleased to see it didn't go sproinging across the shop. It also stiffened up the knees considerably. It has a bit of flex to it, but I'm sure the deck will fix that when it's epoxied down.



Then it was on to the starboard side carling. It wanted to bow down at the first bulkhead, so I clamped a small stick wrapped in packing tape to the top which rests on top of the bulkhead. That kept everything on the right position.

[The Jeff]

Next I finished up fiberglassing the centerboard. I used Ross's method outlined in the plans to reinforce the edges with thickened epoxy.


First I went around the edges of the centerboard with a small plane and planed a flat back 1/8" to 1/4". Then I epoxied on a layer of 4oz cloth.





Once that had cured, I flipped the board over and filled in the resulting gutter with thickened epoxy. After that cured, I trimmed the fiberglass cloth and smoothed out the epoxy.





Then I flipped it over and glassed the other side.





Finally the finished product. I need to drill out the pivot hole and figure out the raising/lowering details, but that can wait for later.





Here's the beginning of the rudder which will get the same treatment. It is three laminations of 1/4".

[The Jeff]

A while back I made the two halves of the centerboard case. They have 4oz fiberglass laminated to their inside edges, and the bed logs epoxied to the outside. Next I made the spacer blocks and stuck it all together as accurately as I could. I whittled out a long thin spatula to get a nice fillet of thickened epoxy on the inside corners of the case. The spacers have been left long so I can locate the case accurately in the boat.





Next I marked out where the two spacers should protrude through the boat. I could still make out my chalk line from when I cut out the bottom panel, so I'm calling that the centerline. I don't know what else I could measure from.





Then I cut out the holes with an oscillating tool. I had to use that grinding attachment to smooth out the fiberglass and enlarge the holes enough so the case would fit into place. Something felt really wrong about cutting a hole in the bottom of a boat...





It fits!





I had some 4" wide 12oz tape left over from making the hull, so I fiberglassed all the corners of the case. The instructions just said to use thickened epoxy fillets to attach it, but I figured it couldn't hurt.





I have a jib and spritsail kit from Sailrite coming, so sewing them together will be an adventure. I plan to work on them when it's too cold to epoxy.

[Powerwagon]

Solid work! Do you use a disposable paint brush to saturate the fiberglass tape of the fillets? If not what is your technique? I was watching a YouTube tutorial on making fillets and the lady recommended using plastic picnic spoons as fillet tools. I tried it and they work WAY better than the tool I had and the homemade radius tools I'd made. What do you use?

BTW I love seeing pictures where there is sawdust on the floor...

[The Jeff]

Thanks Powerwagon. I'm no expert on fiberglassing, this is my first big project with the stuff. But the way I've been doing it is I first brush on plain epoxy 2"+ on either side of the joint. Then I mix up a batch of thickened epoxy and form a fillet. Next I place the 4" wide fiberglass tape onto the joint and press it down into the now slightly tacky epoxy. Then I come back and spread plain epoxy on top of the tape and work it down into the fibers until it turns mostly transparent. After it sets up in a couple hours I come back and add another coat of plain epoxy to fill in the roughness of the tape.


I use cheap chip brushes, but I cut the bristles down about halfway so they're stiffer. When I glass large areas I use a plastic squeegee to push the epoxy around, and the brush for detail work. Foam brushes just fall apart on me.


For forming fillets I started off loading thickened epoxy into a ziplock bag, cutting off the corner, and piping it on. But that is a load of work and I feel like a lot of epoxy stays stuck in the folds of the bag. So lately I've taken to scooping the epoxy into place with a putty knife, then running over it with a plastic squeegee with the corner cut into a nice radius. The excess epoxy gets pushed to the side where I scoop it up with the putty knife to be reused. The fillets are perfect and I wish I had figured out this technique when I put the hull panels together. I'll have to try the plastic spoon idea.


Taking pictures for the forum motivates me to clean up the shop! Otherwise I'd be knee deep in sawdust and off cuts by now, haha.

[The Jeff]

My Sailrite kit came in so I've switched off of working on the hull and on to sewing until late at night. I vaguely remember sewing some pieces of paper together in a useless home ec class back in grade school and helping my mother with some of her projects when I was a kid, but basically I haven't touched a sewing machine in over 15 years. I'm using her Janome New Home 2014LE which seems to be doing ok.


Here are the panels for the jib laid out and the top two sewn together, along with the patches.





Sewing on the top section to the rest of the sail that's bundled up. Each seam gets two zig sag stitches. This wasn't too bad as the seams were fairly short and it stayed rolled up pretty well.





Now to do the hems on the edges.





I started with the foot which wasn't too bad either.





Sewing up the luff and leach was a lot harder. The material gets pretty heavy so the machine doesn't feed it so well, plus there's so much material it's hard to handle. I don't even want to think about doing the main sail just yet.





But eventually I got it done and installed the grommets and leather. Also a stainless cable with two eyes gets sewn into a pocket on the luff. I think it came out pretty good, considering my general lack of experience. I found cleaning the needle with acetone every few seams helped keep the stickum from the basting tape from building up. The machine seemed to sew a little better after each cleaning. The instructions were adequate and had all the required information, although they could have been clearer.





I guess it's on to the mainsail next...