Duckworks Scout

[Paul356]

Re: Duckworks Scout

On break for a bit. Off camping and sailing in the Core Sound 17.

[Paul356]

Re: Duckworks Scout

Back to the project after more than a month away. (The camping trip in the Core Sound was excellent. We explored the 10,000 Islands in Florida.)

I *finally* finished sanding the original fillets and now I am ready to apply the second layer of fillets and then tape the joints. Phew, lots of dust.

Done sanding for now.jpg

[Paul356]

Re: Duckworks Scout

I've moved on to gunwales. Each gunwale has four pieces to install: the foam core and the three plywood pieces that go around the foam (the hull forms the 4th side of the box). Just installing the foam core made the whole hull stiffen up. I was able to put inside plywood pieces on at the same time, as shown here, and later put the top and bottom plywood pieces onto the port gunwale in one operation. There is a modicum of fitting and triming required to get the foam and the three long plywood pieces to fit on each side. I will get the top and bottom pieces on the starboard gunwale in the next session while wrapping 'glas cloth around the port gunwale once it is trimmed and corners rounded. The inside of the hull needs some more sanding and then a final coat of clear epoxy. Once the gunwales are done, the two breast hook pieces go in, probably in two operations, and then the deck goes on. I decided to use thixo for the deck to make sure I get plenty of gooey goodness on the frame in order to squeeze in place well and also to form nice fillets for the deck hull joint around the edge. Then I think the inside will be done!

Gunnels.jpg

[Paul356]

Re: Duckworks Scout

I'm finally back at it and making some real progress. After the usual interminable sanding and then some fitting of the laminated deck piece, I was able to glue the deck in place. I used Thixo on the stringers and to lay in the fillet around the edges where the deck more or less "floats" against the strake on the hull to form the outside joint. Three tubes of Thixo later, it all worked well, with very smooth fillets. I'm glad I used the tube-stuff, even given the cost.

Here is the deck after gluing, with clamps where possible and weights to hold the outer edge against the hull:

deck being glued.jpg

And here is the result:

deck in place.jpg

With the deck glued in place, the already solid structure stiffened even more into a very solid unit. Before gluing the deck, the gunwales had a fair amount of flex, since there was really nothing providing horizontal strengthening. With the deck in place, no more flex.

I had been able to get the breast hook pieces in place earlier.

[Paul356]

Re: Duckworks Scout

Then, according to plan, it was time to take Scout out of the volunteer boat shop and bring her home. The shop was a great place to work when the weather was cold outside, but hours were generally limited to weekday "office hours." Now that it's warm out, I can work late afternoons, evenings and weekends at home. Although I plan to carry Scout on top of the car when finished, for this trip I used my little Harbor Freight trailer. It worked well, and it's nice to know I have that as an alternative if needed.
heading home.jpg



My shop is a wonderful space in the attic of our old garage. It's not the easiest access, but my wife and I got Scout up the steps, and there she sits. I have some sorting and clearing to do, but I'm glad she's there. I think the final outside painting will wait until I bring her (slide her?) down the steep steps, since it's likely some scrapes will ensue.

new quarters.jpg

[Liberty53]

Re: Duckworks Scout

Great Progess!

Love that Deck

[Paul356]

Re: Duckworks Scout

(Note pix restored above.)

Progress continues. I cleaned up the deck fillet and 'glas, then added tape on the fillet. I also added a fillet inside under the rail and added a tape. I have no clue how I was going to try to fillet and wrap the rail on four sides with a single piece of cloth as suggested in the instruction, working in part upside down. So I wrapped what I could, then tipped the boat on its side and added that final fillet and tape. Then it was sand, sand, until all of the fillets were smooth. Most of this was hand-sanding, since the power sanders would not fit in between the deck and rail. Some of the sanding...
sanding.jpg

Then a final couple of coats of epoxy brushed on to the tapes and another coat rolled on to the deck itself. I also installed the mast steps and mast tube. I think the inside is ready for paint!

Meanwhile, I had a chance to use the bandsaw at the boat shop, so I cut out blanks for the oars. I was extremely lucky and found a knot-free 2x12 8-foot plank of southern yellow pine at Lowe's. It cost only $14. Everything else at Lowe's was knotty "white lumber" junk. I was all set to head for the pricey custom lumber yard, figuring a pair of oars would cost me $60 or more for wood, when I spotted the SYP on the bottom of the stack. Sometimes, you just get lucky. There were only two of these knot-free SYP planks. All the other SYP was fairly knotty.

oars.jpg

Meanwhile it was time to turn over the hull and work on the bottom. This required filling the plank gaps, filling all holes and gaps, installing the skeg, and a smooth-sand. Then I draped a single piece of 'glas over the hull,

loose cloth.jpg

made it fit with some darts and by smoothing it,

fitted cloth.jpg

and finally epoxied it!

epoxied cloth.jpg

I was nervous about the epoxy lamination, but it went ok. It took about two hours and seems to be ok. I'll trim it out once it turns green, and then follow with some coats of graphite-thickened epoxy on the bottom and the two lower planks, and fill out the transom with clear coats of epoxy. I had thought to varnish the transom, but it doesn't look that great, frankly, and rather than introduce the problem of masking and varnishing, I'll just paint it the same color as the top strake. I plan to sail this boat, not look at it. Still hoping to finish up in <10 days for a little messabout. We'll see. Right now, I need to wait for some more resin to arrive from Duckworks, due Saturday. I'm sure liking the boat, tho.

[alfredparker360]

Re: Duckworks Scout

The Duckworks Scout, a versatile and compact watercraft, was the adventurer's dream. With its lightweight design and sturdy construction, it sailed through calm lakes and navigated challenging rivers, becoming the trusted companion for exploration.

[Paul356]

Re: Duckworks Scout

Progress, although there's always something, as my Grandma would say.

In any event, I applied epoxy with graphite to the bottom and two lower strakes once the cloth was in place. I ended up with four coats of epoxy, various efforts of sanding in between. I will say that the photos are not that flattering, but I'm happy with the result. We'll see how the finished product works. I stuck in the dagger board for fun. The dagger and the rudder get the graphite treatment below the waterline. (I also finished shaping the oars and tiller, and put two coats of clear epoxy on them, along the way.)

graphite.jpg

After the graphite layers, I was able to carry Scout (with my loving wife's help) from the garage attic to the "paint room" on the first floor. I added the gunnel outwale strips and did some other detailing.
first floor.jpg

This morning, I even got to work outside. I thought there would be painting today. Nope, more sanding and detailing. But the design is so neat, and I finally get to see it from near and far. This picture looks long, tho google tells me it is not stretched. In any event, it's a good look. Thanks, Duckworks.

outside.jpg

[dbp1]

Re: Duckworks Scout

Looking good!

I noticed in the earlier photo, it didn’t look like you’d put the hardwood keel strip on before glassing the outside. Did you do that afterwards? I just did it, and it was a bit of a pain, as the keel doesn’t taper to a fine point in the front! (A sander fixed that)

Have you weighed it? Yours should be essentially the final weight (I still have to do the outer glassing…)

[Paul356]

Re: Duckworks Scout

Hi, Daniel. I might be misunderstanding, but I epoxied in the foam/glassed keel on top of the epoxied ply, then glassed over everything. Then I put the hardwood strip on top of that assembly, so i guess on top of the glass that was on top of the keel. Kind of lost track in there. I haven't weighed it, but it seems like it's still around the 65 pound or so. I keep telling myself that I know how much the glass weighs and the jugs of resin and hardner, so it can't weight *that* much more....

[Paul356]

Re: Duckworks Scout

So, progress, and then frustration, which is to say the usual boatbuilding process.

I did some more sanding and prep and got the inside ready for two coats of Total Boat primer. It was lumpy and thick, but it still didn't fill as much as I thought it would. Anyway, I don't want to add more weight, and, as I keep telling my self, this is a sail-boat, not a look-boat, so two coats it is. But I was really glad to finally start painting.
primer.jpg

That was Tuesday. The primer was nice and dry in a few hours, and I scuffed it with 220 grit, then vacuumed and wiped with a tack rag.

Wednesday morning, I was up early to take my wife to the airport, so I thought I'd make use of the time and FINALLY APPLY SOME REAL PAINT!
I've chosen Total Boat [something] Beige for the interior, and it looks really swell.

beige.jpg

The problem is, that 40 hours later, IT'S STILL TACKY! Oh boy am I ticked. I've had good luck with Total Boat in the past, drying to the touch in a few hours and sandable, even in colder weather, in 16 hours or so, like they say. Painting conditions yesterday were, I thought, ideal. 70 degrees or so, reasonably low or moderate humidity, out of the sun, warming through the day. The nice lady on the tech desk at Jamestown said that occasionally if the fiberglass is colder than the ambient air as can happen in the early morning in a garage, there will be a problem with the paint drying. I suppose that is what happened. But tacky paint is a big mess, and very frustrating. Good thing it looks good. As it turns out, it will slow me down only a day, because I am headed out of town for family doings over the weekend and can't paint any more until Tuesday anyway, but, gosh, this is frustrating. Will I use Total Boat in the future? Hard to say. But, it sure looks great and smoothed out so nicely -- but tackily. I am so eager to get this puppy in the water.

Meanwhile, there was some confusion over the sail rig hardware package I received from Duckworks, but Scott straightened it out quickly. Tx.

[dbp1]

Re: Duckworks Scout

Hi, Daniel. I might be misunderstanding, but I epoxied in the foam/glassed keel on top of the epoxied ply, then glassed over everything. Then I put the hardwood strip on top of that assembly, so i guess on top of the glass that was on top of the keel. Kind of lost track in there. I haven't weighed it, but it seems like it's still around the 65 pound or so. I keep telling myself that I know how much the glass weighs and the jugs of resin and hardner, so it can't weight *that* much more....

Oh, that makes sense. That was what I was expecting (as that way it can be replaced as it wears out, if the idea is that it is getting scraped up as you drag the boat up / down places), but as I read the instructions, seemed like it was supposed to go under the glass (though, the instructions definitely require some interpretation at times, so who knows) -- hopefully I don't regret that decision!

[Paul356]

Two steps forward, one back. There were some substantial delays due to some personal things, and then the Total Boat paint I've relied upon in the past just refused to dry in some applications. Tacky for days. TB help line is sympathetic but not much help. So done with that product.
In any event, It's great when it works, but 3 of 4 applications have been tack-o-rama and I'm really peeved.

In any event, I was able to get the inside painted beige and (finally dried), and put some non-skid on the bottom, which did dry and worked out well. This picture shows the masking, and it looked real sharp when I peel the tape off.

non-skid.jpg

Then I glued in the deckplate rings using, as recommended, upscale silicone. It seemed to work just fine.

deckplates.jpg

And the interior is finished. Time to flip it over and paint the transom and top stake with boat enamel. And I'll be done. (Famous last words. Waiting again for Total Boat to dry. Geez.)

interior.jpg

[dbp1]

Looking good! That's frustrating about the paint. I had a bad experienced with Total Boat once before too (with a tube of epoxy that mixes in the tip: it never cured! I called them and their only explanation was that I should have discarded the first bit that came out of the mixing tip, nevermind _none_ of it curing).