Redwing update

[WX]

I just did a couple of tests, one by placing the transducer in a plastic bag full of water in the bilge...no signal. The other was coating the face of the transducer with grease, still no signal. Of course there is the question of would it have worked anyway given the boat is not in the water? To make sure it did work I then placed it in an icecream container with a bit of water and the floated that in a bucket of water and got a signal.
It's windy wet and cool here, so I've decided stuff it...I'm having a day off. I might even watch a movie.

[Larks]

Of course you won't get anything while it's out of the water, remember it won't shoot through air! If you sit it in a puddle in the bilge all you could expect is to read the depth of the puddle.

[WX]

Of course you won't get anything while it's out of the water, remember it won't shoot through air! If you sit it in a puddle in the bilge all you could expect is to read the depth of the puddle.

Yeah bit of a senior moment I guess.

[WX]

I tried another experiment today. I put a square of 10mm ply in a plastic icecream container with enough water to cover it when the transducer sat on it. I then sat that in a 15 litre water container and turned on the depth sounder. I not only got a return but it triggered the shallow water alarm. I'm now going to try another experiment. I had a square of 10mm ply on which I marked the diameter of the transducer. I then drilled a colander pattern of holes about half way into the ply, these have been filled with thickened epoxy. The plan is sit the ply in contact with water (15 lt container again), smear the base of the transducer with Vaseline and see if I get a return. If I do then I shall perform the surgery on the hull and glue the transducer in place.

[johnno]

Gary, yep, that's what I picked up from that thread. Even though it shouldn't work, people with ply hulls rather than thick wooden hulls seem to have had some success all the same...look forward to tomorrow's results. I was trying to get an image of exactly where the sounding device is within the plastic housing. I too was thinking of a colander of holes, but I reckon you could even take them right through. With some epoxy bleed into the laminations on the way through, it might fill up a lot of timber cells. Especially a thin epoxy.

[WX]

Gary, yep, that's what I picked up from that thread. Even though it shouldn't work, people with ply hulls rather than thick wooden hulls seem to have had some success all the same...look forward to tomorrow's results. I was trying to get an image of exactly where the sounding device is within the plastic housing. I too was thinking of a colander of holes, but I reckon you could even take them right through. With some epoxy bleed into the laminations on the way through, it might fill up a lot of timber cells. Especially a thin epoxy.

I was going to do that but figured I'd try part way. if it works I'll use thinned epoxy (TPA) to saturate the holes first.

[WX]

The test result is a bit mixed and I didn't have a lot of time on it. No signal at first but then I did get a signal so I'm not sure what it means. I think I will go with the epoxy filled colander idea but drill the holes right through.

[WX]

Finally got to do a dry fit of the keel laminations to the the ballast today. Those of you of a moderate to perfectionist attitude to woodworking may wish to look away, it's not pretty...but it will be.

[Larks]

Cool!!!!

[P.L.Lenihan]

Those of you of a moderate to perfectionist attitude to woodworking may wish to look away, it's not pretty...but it will be.

Oh my! It is a thing of beauty, trapped within, which must be released Gary! Nothing a nifty right angle grinder and a hand plane or two can't handle in one afternoon. Being winter down there however, you could even stretch out the work to take all day,thus remaining warm and save on heating coal!



Continued success, from an ardent follower and fan of this thread,



Peter

[WX]

Oh my! It is a thing of beauty, trapped within, which must be released Gary! Nothing a nifty right angle grinder and a hand plane or two can't handle in one afternoon. Being winter down there however, you could even stretch out the work to take all day,thus remaining warm and save on heating coal!



Continued success, from an ardent follower and fan of this thread,



Peter

Thank you kind sir.
That side of the shed never gets sunshine this time of the year so it's bit on the cool side...14-15C I'd guess. The reason it's in the shade is because some bamboo nut in the past planted several stands of giant bamboo on the Northern side of the shed.

[WX]

I had planned to post some photos of the latest tribulation and it's cure but sadly Photobucket says no.

[RFNK]

Gary, that construction looks great - inspirational!! Now, what the devil is it?

Is there an up? Which end is up?

Rick

[WX]

It's my fin keel Rick, lead on the bottom and hopefully a boat on the top.

[WX]

The very front keel bolt doesn't go through the lead but starts just above it. So here we have the bolt fitted to the correct part of the keel sandwich.
Sorry about the blurry photo, it's the chill air of the late afternoon sub tropical winter.


Everything went fine till it came time to fit it.

Oops, there's a boat in the way.
So with some effort and an awfully large amount of care...we don't want anymore of those bake bean tin episodes this close to a launch. I moved and swivelled the whole thing around just enough to be able to do this.



Just to finish off, a photo of my latest delivery.

250m x 10mm polypropylene rope, this will do all my rigging and it was only $99.

[WX]

Just in case you ask why I didn't just knock the bolt back down a bit...I didn't think of it and it's a tight fit.

[skuthorp]

Gary, I'm going to mount those pics on my shop wall so when Anne tells me the place is untidy...................

[PeterSibley]

Moments of terror interspersed with boredom.


Careful Gary .Please.

[WX]

Gary, I'm going to mount those pics on my shop wall so when Anne tells me the place is untidy...................

It's organised chaos Jeff...most of the stuff on the ground is in use.

[WX]

The epoxy starts to go on.


I think I have posted more photos of this keel than any other part of the boat. So one more and I'll ease up a bit till it looks nice.
Two laminations on and glued down with a couple of old sash cramps to put a little pressure on.


I tidied up a little Jeff, just for you.

[WX]

3.5 litres of Botecote epoxy, 2 litres of low density filler and 3 metres of Dynel arrived today.

[WX]

Cut a hole for the transponder today.


To fill the hole I taped some plastic to some ply and then wet out two layers of fibre glass cloth on it . I then spread a layer of thickened but runny epoxy over it. The ply was then pinned over the outside of the hole. On the inside I filled the hole with thickened epoxy and glued the transponder over it and making sure there was no air trapped beneath it. Fingers crossed it will work.
Keels all glued up and looking uglier than ever. By this time next week I expect it will look a lot better.

[johnno]

Moving right along...well done Gary!

[WX]

Moving right along...well done Gary!

I keep telling myself...not much longer.

Okay the epoxy/glass plug I did for the transducer worked out quite well. This is the WX patented home made peelply.


When I crawled under the boat I noticed some epoxy drips on the ground so I wasn't too sure what I was going to find when I peeled it off but I shouldn't have worried.

A bit of a sanding back and it will be fine.

[WX]

I decided it was time to drill holes in the boat...for the keel bolts that is.
First a template, I use a surplus keel lamination to mark the holes in the template but to make sure I have them right I took it a step further. Using a hole saw I cut large holes where I marked the bolt holes, I thin placed the template on top of the keel. Using scrap bits of ply with 20mm holes drilled in them I dropped these down over the bolts and hot glued them to the template. This gives me accurate positions for the bolts.


The template is the nailed to the keel stub on the keelson and the holes drilled.


It's a messy job that only a Termite could love.

[WX]

By drilling the holes I could get an accurate measurement the keel length. I need to make up one more lamination 25mm (1") thick to get the 35 and 3/4 inches I need.

[PeterSibley]

Nice drill!

[PeterSibley]

and it's good to see that horrible job coming together Gary .

[WX]

Nice drill!

It is but it's not yours and not as good...no reverse.
I hope to start fairing it up tomorrow.

[skuthorp]

It's organised chaos Jeff...most of the stuff on the ground is in use.

I'll use that too!
It is coming along at a pace Gary.

[WX]

My back aches in several places today so I don't know how much I will get done. I just might discover religion and declare it a day of rest.

[WX]

Two jobs done today. The last lamination added to the keel and the skeg received a couple of top pack primer coats.

[PeterSibley]

Lookin' good Gary !

[Larks]

It's organised chaos Jeff...most of the stuff on the ground is in use.

It's amazing how much stuff it can take just to hold the ground down some times.....

[GaryK]

That yard resembles me.
Great looking deadwood Gary. How many species you got in there?
Have you considered clear coating the whole thing? That way you can conduct master classes on each haul out. Spot the timber species..

[WX]

Nice idea GaryK but no. Lots of filler and white primer for this baby.
I have a day off tomorrow! Get to work on the keel and I'm up to the filling and fairing stage.
One of the timber species must be pretty hard because it shattered my disposable planer blades.

[GaryK]

One of the timber species must be pretty hard because it shattered my disposable planer blades.

A local variety does that, if the blades aren't 100%, Jarrah ends up with a work hardened surface. Shiny like polished granite, and epoxy won't even key on it...
Barrel of fun.

[johnno]

I'm going to be interested in the final shape of that keel..I just can't work it out. I gather it's thinner closer to the hull? Maybe I need to have a squiz at the drawings?

[WX]

I'm going to be interested in the final shape of that keel..I just can't work it out. I gather it's thinner closer to the hull? Maybe I need to have a squiz at the drawings?

It is thinner close to the hull. for a bit over half it's depth actually. I found out tonight that I have two extra non paid work days this week so I'm into it. I want timber fairing pieces fore and aft on it as well.

[PeterSibley]

A local variety does that, if the blades aren't 100%, Jarrah ends up with a work hardened surface. Shiny like polished granite, and epoxy won't even key on it...
Barrel of fun.

I've got a pile of 100 year old ironbark bridge timbers like that. I can cut it slowly but a new 18g sander disc works fastest!

[GaryK]

It is thinner close to the hull. for a bit over half it's depth actually. I found out tonight that I have two extra non paid work days this week so I'm into it. I want timber fairing pieces fore and aft on it as well.

So the plot thickens. I thought you'd have to lose some lead off the back to get the right foil shape - which would be a wastes of lead.

[WX]

So the plot thickens. I thought you'd have to lose some lead off the back to get the right foil shape - which would be a wastes of lead.

I don't know why the designer has made the ends so blunt at the ends. The front is quite broad and there's no mention of fairing in the plans but I'm doing it. I have Hartley's how to build books so I should have another look at his keel section.

[GaryK]

I'm doing a similar thing. Excpet mine is a steel ballast box squared off fore and aft. Bolts were welded on those forward and aft facing surfaces for me to bolt on timber, so I could fair it to a reasonable shape.

[WX]

Chilly day for here but I've started the filling process and I've laminated some sections of timber together to form the fairing pieces. The epoxy filler is taking a while to cure so that's all I managed to get done.
I've hopefully got someone to remodel the Pushpit for me and I've dawn up some notes for him and I'll drop it off tomorrow. I'm going to get a removable mast crutch added to it as well.

[Larks]

Chilly day for here but I've started the filling process and I've laminated some sections of timber together to form the fairing pieces. The epoxy filler is taking a while to cure so that's all I managed to get done.
I've hopefully got someone to remodel the Pushpit for me and I've dawn up some notes for him and I'll drop it off tomorrow. I'm going to get a removable mast crutch added to it as well.

Depending on what you're doing to the pushpit, I'd suggest making a quick template of the deck shape showing where the bases sit so that he can keep them lined up or reposition them if any hot work causes the thing to move/change shape slightly.

[WX]

I've mentioned in my notes Greg that the angles have to stay the same. I'm dropping it off at a friends place tomorrow so I'll show him what I want done as well.

[RFNK]

But good advice there from Greg. I suggest you put it on a sheet of plywood and mark the positions, and give this template to the steel guy. It's a lot easier for him to make adjustments than for you later.

Rick

[WX]

Makes sense, okay.

[Larks]

Just remembering the cost implications of reworks and what we had to do to avoid them when I was at Stella.

[WX]

Now I'm NOT complaining about the rain because my dam needs it but how's a bloke supposed to do filling and fairing when it's mud under foot and everything is covered in a layer of condensation...I mean, how much can a Koala bear?