The Steamboating Forum

mcandrew1894 Thanks for the advice, here is the current plan:

Coat all of your ply BEFORE you cut and fit it. It simplifies the job more than I can describe. 2 coats minimum.
ANS: Good Idea, I will do this

As far as interior, I would glass it too, at least below the chine in the bilge
ANS: Good Idea, I will do this where I have traffic. Removable floors will be mounted on the interior frames, about 4 ft long sections, 1 in x 3 in Spruce furring strips or similar, with about 1/2 inch gaps between the floorboards.

On the outside, I would put cloth down from the keel down over the chine by 2", and then again from 2" above the chine to the sheer. ANS: This has always been the plan, double glass on the chine.

Finish the chine before glass with about a 1/4" to 1/2" radius and the glass will go down allot easier. ANS: This has always been the plan, I thought I would need about 1 inch radius to keep the cloth from popping up when glassing the chines. 9 oz glass cloth, but it is bi-axial, so it will bend easier. I will make a test piece.

Bronze screws and nails if possible. ANS: I have used epoxy coated steel star drive screws in the glued-up frames, they have given good non-corrosive service for many years on my deck. I wonder if bronze might set up some electrolytic action on the steel? I think I will stay with hot dipped galvanized ring shank nails to attach the hull plywood, with lots of thickened epoxy glue, and fiberglass/epoxy over the hull exterior.

But I will admit to some deck screws in the frames and keel. ANS: Yes, they are cheap, strong, and the coated ones seem to hold up well, at least in non-salt water service.

Glass the bottom before the keelson goes on ANS: This has always been the plan, then the keelson can be knocked about as you mentioned. I will attach with hot dipped galvanized screws. The plan is to pre-drill thru the keelson & bottom, fill these holes with liquid epoxy, then drive the screws, along with liberal application of epoxy along the joint.

11% of the rudder area ahead of the rudder post for balance....works really well ANS: The rudders (two in number) will be balanced, and of the “kick-up” type, as they are the only appendages deeper than the boat’s 6-7 inch nominal draft. If we go in shallow water, then they will kick up, and not be damaged. This will also allow swinging up the rudders when backing the boat to a shoreline, then we can just step off the boat onto the shore without getting our feet wet, have a picnic or whatever, etc.

Interior Frames all done today, now to plane the frames to fit the plywood contour on the hull.

My hull was covered with 10 oz weave cloth. The chines are about 1/4 radius and it glued down fine. The radius as the end of a tongue depressor is about right

My deck is covered with 4 oz cloth and is transparent.

dave

Hi Fred,
No annestly, I was not drunk..........ehhhhhh maybe a little?????
Notting wrong whit that, thanks to that I have a steamer now.

No I had dd lack on my Starboat and after a few weeks, lets say 10, there were little bubblels in the lack.
It was between the epoxy skin and the dd lack.
If I cracked a bubble there was water in it, pure fresh water.
They told me, dd lack is waterthight but not airthight. So its passible for watervapour to come under the lack.
I have again dd lack on Panatela, but she is in the water for max one week, the rest of the time she on the trailer.
So for a longer time take an epoxy based paint.

Beautifull project you are doing Fred

Piet

Went shopping for 20 foot long (6 Meter) lumber today, for the chines. Found some, we had to rip several pieces to get something clean enough for the chines. They had clear Cedar 2x4, 20 ft long, but they are $74 US each! The Cedar is too soft anyway.

Now to cut the frames to receive the chine logs, 1-1/2 x 1-1/2 Douglas Fir chines.

Merenti is a great wood for chines and keels....it's sold as decking.

Watch for wind shakes......


Dave

Wearyman wrote : [quote] Heh, looks like piet's been drunk posting again!

Do you mean that some poor souls post when sobre ?

Ragreds Ewdard

No Edward, thats not what I ment.
For you its easy to write in Englisch, for me its far more difficult.
The translation from Dutch to Englisch went wrong.
Lack is not the propper word for enamel paint.
Sorry for that.
Piet

Piet, I knew what you meant.



Dave

piet schuurs wrote:No Edward, thats not what I ment.
For you its easy to write in Englisch, for me its far more difficult.
The translation from Dutch to Englisch went wrong.
Lack is not the propper word for enamel paint.
Sorry for that.
Piet

No need to apologize piet. We knew what you meant. I'm sorry if I offended you with my little joke. It's hard to tell sometimes when people spell English improperly because it is not their main language, or for other reasons.

Please don't let my poor humor drive you away. You are more than welcome here.

Hi Fred, nice to see a nice new boat started - please keep posting the photos.

Regarding graphite powder, the West System book "The Gougeon Brothers on Boat Construction" advises that it can be used as an additive to produce a low friction exterior coating with increased scuff resistance, for rudders and centreboards, or the bottoms of racing boats that are dry sailed. I would agree with the others that the bottom of your boat would be best sheathed with glass cloth imprgnated with epoxy, so there is no role for the graphite. Also, a jet black hull bottom would look odd on a steamboat.

I used West graphite in the epoxy sticking down my deck, to form the traditional looking black joints between the strips. It is just added to the mix, in the same way as the other fillers in the West system. It's worth getting to know the range of fillers - there is a filleting blend that is strong, and a fairing blend that is not.

Hope this may help, John