Pathfinder Build In FL Keys

[deke]

Re: Pathfinder Build In FL Keys

Some progress today, tomorrow I hope to finish the rest of the keel structure. I've decided to mount the keel prior to putting on the Xynole. I figure it will be less stress doing all that mixing and glassing one side at a time. I'll wait to fillet the keel until I glass the bottom to tie it together.

Put a fillet under the laps...



Continued to work on the stem, put a bevel on it so its 7/8ths wide in the front, looks quite a bit different, it was nerve racking putting a power plane on the stem after having spent two days making it, all came out well, no goofs, Shinto was key...



here is a before and after..

Before


After...should I take the bevel higher up the stem? maybe another few inches?



Also located a spot for the boweye and the stem is now screwed to the boat and ready for epoxy...the hole almost came out perfectly centered on the inside stem, it's off about 1/8". I drilled the stem, got it nice and centered first, at the angle I needed for the boweye, then I used the stem as a guide to drill the hole in the boat.

I need to to decide how high to carry the bevel on the stem, I think I'll take it about half way up the sheer plank.

[deke]

Re: Pathfinder Build In FL Keys

Glued up the stern piece of the keel today, it's not permanently attached yet, just used the boat to as a jig...



Also so made the CB side pieces and beveled the forward keel structure...



And i I used all that excess epoxy from the stern keel squeeze out to fill the leading edge of the CB...



Ok off to work for a few days, next up when I get back, I will Xynole the bottom and attach the keel pieces, and paint, cheers!

[deke]

Re: Pathfinder Build In FL Keys

Big day, today we (the Sea Beagle and I), Xynoled the bottom up to the first strake. Overall, the Xynole was very pleasant to work with and it did not give me any problems. It was the first time I've used Xynole, but I have glassed many a time.

Going into it, I was concerned with the Xynole floating from what I've read on the forums. It turned out to be a non issue. Yes the Xynole did float when I poured resin on, but I was easily able to squeegee out the excess after it saturated and keep the cloth from floating. In fact I used the same technique I use when wetting out glass cloth. I used the pink bondo spreaders and they worked fine.

I mixed up up about a 3/4 red Dixie cup at a time, dumped it straight onto the cloth in about a 2x3 area. I allowed the resin to pool and allowed the weight of the resin to saturate the cloth fully. The color the cloth makes when saturated is easy to recognize. From there, I simply moved the pool of resin around with the spreader until it was gone. At that point I carefully squeegeed out any excess resin into dry cloth. Mixed up another cup, poured out the resin along the edge of the area I just wetted and repeated. I sorta kept a wet front line of pooling resin and just kept advancing it. I did not use a roller.

Of course I started in the middle of the boat and worked towards the ends. The Xynole conforms easily, no issues with wrinkles. The edges get a little sloppy where you cut the cloth with scissors, but luckily this butted up to the bottom of the first strake, I chose to not fillet that lap yet, now that I have the Xynole on, the fillet will cover that ugly edge.

Thats about it, long day, started at 8am prepping, started spreading resin at 1030 and didn't finish until 530pm. After I got the cloth wetted out, I went back and rolled two more coats of straight resin to start filling the weave. I used 1.5 gallons of resin, and probably mixed up about 30 cups.

I am happy with the results, Xynole was easy to work with, and it seems I have added a thick, tough layer to the bottom. The only thing I would have done different is recruit a dedicated mixer. Here some pics...

Up to this point, the keel pieces were made, dry fitted and remove (the keel came out nice) and the chine seam received 10oz, 6" wide fiberglass tape and that has been feathered on the edges...





Yeah me, a pile of cloth. At this point, Sea Beagle said I'm out and went looking for iguanas... Oh, and I taped the inside of the CB box really good...



All spread out and trimmed...



This is how I attacked the bow...I'm gonna cut the Xynole on the stem away where the stem will go. I had to split the cloth here, it's cut under the black tape...



8 hours later...



Front view after the wet out...

[deke]

Re: Pathfinder Build In FL Keys

As soon as the cloth was wetted out, I rolled out two coats of straight resin with a smooth nap roller. The mid section of the boat where I had started (about 6 hours earlier) was no longer tacky, but the bow had just been completed, so it was freshly wet.

Some I rolled out two coats on the rear of the boat first, and at that point (about an hour later) the bow was tacky. I rolled out two coats of resin on the front.

So now that Xynole has three full coats of epoxy. Next I want to roll out one more coat to wet it out and then spead a layer of epoxy thickened with cabosil, followed by resin with graphite...

[swoody126]

Re: Pathfinder Build In FL Keys

Some progress today,.... I'll wait to fillet the keel until I glass the bottom to tie it together....

Put a fillet under the laps...

i found a handy tool @ HF for sanding/fairing fillets, while restoring/rescuing a CLC Eastport Pram

http://www.harborfreight.com/4-in-80-Grit-Nylon-Abrasive-Wheel-with-14-in-Shank-60325.html

chucks up in a drill

just takes a light touch & renders a nice/fair sanded surface

also worked well along the skeg & rub strips

your work is INSPIRING and the documentation w/ lotsa pics is a joy to follow

sw

[deke]

Re: Pathfinder Build In FL Keys

Excellent, thanks for the tool tip!

After having a nightmare that my Xynole bottom peeled off like cheap tape last night, I was eager to have a look this morning. All is well!

i am very happy with the Xynole, I have indeed made the bottom very tough, it will be less stressful sailing the shallows of the keys knowing I've got some decent protection. I did a light sanding this morning to remove the little nubs which was easy with the orbital.

I tried to feather the edge at the transom and that's when I realized just how tough the Xynole is. Feathering 10oz glass tape was quick and easy. In contrast, feather just a couple feet of Xynole was a pain, this stuff is thick and tough. Glad I don't have much feathering to do!

About a 30 secs with the orbital on full blast and 60 grit, that would have taken glass right down...



I was able to achieve the desired result on the stem, now Ill sand that flush and attach the stem...





Here is the stem I made, it is tapered to 7/8"...



Just a little more shaping required on the keel, but real close...also brass rub strip from Online Metals just arrived, I have no drill press so I need to figure a smart way to drill by hand, or I need to use this opportunity to buy a much needed shop tool...

[deke]

Re: Pathfinder Build In FL Keys

Back at today, I'm starting to get pysched for the upcoming painting, hopefully only a couple of days out.

Starting the morning scuffing the bottom really good before applying more resin, I would of liked to have skipped this step but I ran out of daylight on the day of glassing and I didn't get all of the coats I wanting that day. So hopefully it's well enough for a good mechanical bond...



Next i wetted the bottom with straight resin, then I mixed up a batch of graphite resin and rolled that on the bottom only...



Then an I moved to the sides and put on a thick layer of micro balloons ... After that I rolled another coat of straight resin on the bottom to keep it "hot" or tacky and then rolled a final coat of graphite epoxy mix. So the bottom layers ended up consisting of saturated Xynole, resin, resin, resin, graphite, resin, and finally another graphite...





At this point I am happy with the bottom, It's not perfect, But looks smooth and shiny. I think I let the ocean finish wet sanding it for me. I am not going to paint it. It will get plenty of scuffing around these parts and I figure having a paint-less graphite bottom will be easily repairable every couple of years. Just scuff and roll out a light layer of epoxy graphite.

Final sanding will commence tomorrow along with primer and i will glue and screw the keel structure.

[deke]

Re: Pathfinder Build In FL Keys

Decided to go ahead and attach the stem and skeg pieces. Boy what a day, time flew and as I was wrapping up it was getting dark. Job was a success, a lot of epoxy. All teak was well acetoned.

The most critical area to have a plan for, before you attach the pieces at the CB slot, is how to ensure the joint at the edges is not ever going to leak or allow water to get into the ply end grain. I gave this a lot thought. I'll have to sketch a pic of how I tackled that later.

if working single handed like me, having a plan where to put the screws thru the skeg and where to screw up thru the inside bottom and how to clamp ahead of time is pretty key.

I used all excess epoxy squeeze out for the fillets.

Prep, well this basically I had to go from this...



To this...and yes it sucked...but in my mind the mechanical bond had to be well done...my tool of choice here was the Shinto....it is very well scuffed...




I started at the bow, then the stern, then the CB side pieces...and then it was dark, I'll have to take more pics manna...



This is pic looks like there is a gap, but there isn't it's just the light, I had about a 1/16 gap all they way around when dry fitted, this was to allow room for epoxy, there was sweet squeeze out all around...the bow eye bolt was used in clamping, after epoxy was almost cured I twisted a few times so it wasn't glued in, also it was taped...

[suzyj]

Re: Pathfinder Build In FL Keys

Very cool. I like the graphite/epoxy. Are you going to keep the bottom black? When I was wondering what colour to paint, Perry helpfully suggested air-sea rescue orange, on the basis that people usually wouldn't see it, but on the day when we're capsized 20 miles off the coast it could come in useful.

[BobW]

Re: Pathfinder Build In FL Keys

Great work!

[deke]

Re: Pathfinder Build In FL Keys

Yeah, I'm going to leave the bottom black graphite epoxy. I'll wrap the paint around about an inch on the bottom. My thought process here is the graphite epoxy is an easily repairable, slick, and reasonable durable surface. I don't think I would gain anything by painting it.

I like the orange color idea for safety though, too bad epoxy isn't orange.

[deke]

Re: Pathfinder Build In FL Keys

Rain for next two days, so no painting for me. I am going to use Epifanes monourethane Light Oyster on the sides and a bright sheer. Worked on some sanding, here's some better pics of the skeg...

[MoMan]

Re: Pathfinder Build In FL Keys

Looking great Tom! I suspect you will be on the water before me.

[deke]

Re: Pathfinder Build In FL Keys

Rolled on the first coat of Epifanes Light Oyster. Less than ideal conditions, very windy and upper 80's. Hard to keep a wet edge and got a little chatter using a quality double thick chip brush for tipping. I started with one cap full of thinner with 250ml of paint. Up'd it to two caps for the other side, slightly better.

Not perfect by any means, but I'm happy with it. I did not prime the surface, only used microlight filler to fill minor imperfections, the surface came out very very smooth. To many unknowns with the hi build primer for me, moisture issues, putting it on to thick, orange peel, etc. I felt confident with the epoxy and microfiller, it worked great.

i think it will cover nicely with four coats. Hopefully it will dry in 24 hrs for a light scuffing so I can put on a coat each day.

Prior to sanding with micro filler...took 2 lightly skimmed coats, about 2 hours...



After sanding...took about 3 hours to sand to 180 grit using an orbital and a long board...



Just oust prior to panting...



And the first coat...

[swoody126]

Re: Pathfinder Build In FL Keys

that looks so slick a fly would bust it's bunns trying to land on it

sw