Brightwork glue?

[Keiffer]

Not quite Hetarios

I built a 16' Steve Redmond designed "Whisp" twenty three years ago using West System Epoxy. It was stored uncovered outdoors for years. I recently stripped and re-finished the boat. I have never had a failure. The boat is built and coated with expoxy.

 

[ignacio]

The work begins

I've started my sliding hatch rebuild. I'm using 1/4' plys, but only went 1/2" total. And, I used epoxy.

Here's my next question on this:

I'm getting ready to start making the frame and have noticed that none of the photos on the site show any screw holes that hold the top to the rabbetted frame. Are your hatches' tops secured to the frame only with epoxy?

 

[Martin King]

Pictures! We need pictures! 1/2 inch seems kinda, well,... bare minimum
to me. Especially if you have some heavy apes standing on it. Why not
lay up another 1/4"?

Anyway to answer your question, you are not seeing the screws
'cause the holes are counterbored and plugged. You should save
some of the cutoffs from your frame and make your plugs from that.

Glad to see you are using epoxy!

One thing I wanted to add regarding the frame- on mine I half lapped the corners-more for looks than anything else.

 

[ignacio]

Ok Ok!

I'll go snap some pictures and upload later today. I decided on 1/2" for these reasons:

1. The existing sliding hatch was 1/2" - poor reason, I know, but....

2. I never had to stand on my sliding hatch, even when I'm underway and need to take the main down. This is especially true when the sliding hatch is all the way aft.

3. My intent is to build a sea hood, and that project is high on the list of the next top 5 projects to tackle,

4. Stand on my beautiful new hatch? Are you joking?

That all said, I'm starting to reconsider (and can still lay up another lam)

Thanks for the tip!

Pictures! We need pictures! 1/2 inch seems kinda, well,... bare minimum
to me. Especially if you have some heavy apes standing on it. Why not
lay up another 1/4"?

Anyway to answer your question, you are not seeing the screws
'cause the holes are counterbored and plugged. You should save
some of the cutoffs from your frame and make your plugs from that.

Glad to see you are using epoxy!

 

[ignacio]

Half lap

Do you have a detailed picture of that half lap?

Pictures! We need pictures! 1/2 inch seems kinda, well,... bare minimum
to me. Especially if you have some heavy apes standing on it. Why not
lay up another 1/4"?

Anyway to answer your question, you are not seeing the screws
'cause the holes are counterbored and plugged. You should save
some of the cutoffs from your frame and make your plugs from that.

Glad to see you are using epoxy!

One thing I wanted to add regarding the frame- on mine I half lapped the corners-more for looks than anything else.

 

[Sven]

I built a 16' Steve Redmond designed "Whisp" twenty three years ago using West System Epoxy. It was stored uncovered outdoors for years. I recently stripped and re-finished the boat. I have never had a failure. The boat is built and coated with expoxy.

That is stunning !



-Sven

 

[Emerald]

P
Glad to see you are using epoxy!

I'm just going to have to use resorcinol on my next project just because...

 

[Keiffer]

Sliding hatch another method

I was fortunate that while the 1/2 plywood was completly deliminated on my E31 the frames were in decent shape. I stripped the frames, repaired some damaged ends and used the frames as the mold for my new hatch.

I agree with Martin on 1/2 being the minumum thickness and decided to go to 3/4" by using 1/2 plywood with 1/4" x 3" wide teak strips. I kerfed the 1/2" plywood and clamped it to my existing frames. I then filled the kerfs with several coats of thickened epoxy. (lots of sanding) The epoxy filled kerfs held the plywood to the exact needed shape even when removed from the frames. The top of the plywood was coated when I glued the teak strips in place. I did not use any screws on these strips just epoxy.

When completed the plywood was completly encased in epoxy for what I anticipate to be a long life. I caulked the seams (actually my wife caulked the seams) and applied the first several coats of varnish.

Just another way to skin a cat.

As a side note my sea hood had zero clearance beyond the original 1/2 thickness of the sliding hatch so when making the hatch thicker you have to deal with raising the sea hood to accomodate the added thickness. I think there are some benifits to raising this anyways but that is for another discussion.

 

[ignacio]

Almost done

Ok folks.....I've reached substantial completion. I ended up taking the same mold/frame approach to create the laminated top. However, for the frame I used the Kenan method to secure the top onto the frame. Througout, I used epoxy. The outside frames are epoxied and screwed with the inside frame on which the top rests. For the front and back of the frame, I cut the curved pieces with a jigsaw using the old hatch for a pattern. I also scratched my head a few times (and lost a few more hairs) on how to cut a rabbet onto a curved piece. I even tried it with a 1/2" router bit using some scrap wood, but without great results. Holding the whole thing together is expoxy and some #10 screws that go in from the edges of the front and back pieces and attach to the frame sides, and used a half lap on the front.

Admittedly, there are little areas of gaps, or where it's just barely flush. As Martin predicted, epoxy was my friend there. For the finish, I used 3 coats of Epifanes folowed by 4 coats of Bristol. The unit is built a little light (1/2" top) mostly because I havent' yet found that standing on it was either necessary or a good idea (slippery).

Comments are welcome!

p.s. Happy Halloween!

 

[jkenan]

Beatiful work Ingnacio - you should be very pleased with what you have built! Unless you are an absolute expert craftsman, you will have some gaps in project like this. I'm right there with you - mine had a few gaps along seams, and like you, I filled them with an epoxy/teak sawdust filler. In the end, that does not detract one bit from the acheivement. And we'll never learn unless we try, right? Keep on going, man, these boats are worth keeping alive and strong, and there is a reward in the learning experience as well...

Good stuff!

 

[Martin King]

Congratulations! That looks like a winner. I like the bookmatched
grains on the show surface. For future reference, shaping curved
work- be it rabbets or whatever can be done on a router table with
a template and bearing guided bit. You might consider rigging up
some uhmw blocks underneath for it to ride on. One other thing
you might also consider adding is a finger pull on top. Keep up
the good work!

Martin

 

[ignacio]

Thanks fellas

Thanks for the support. This was definitely an involved project, but excited to finally see this on my boat! Here it is installed. Decided to try it out like this before making more mods to it.

 

[toddbrsd]

Tint on Port Lights

Ignacio,

Can you tell me about your portlight glass. Is the glass clear with a tint film added or is that new glass that you bought tinted? I am thinking of a DIY project and buying some film to tint my glass (which I have never done) or hire a mobile car tinter to do the job.

Thanks

 

[ignacio]

Definitely clear

It's definitely clear/no modifications there. I think the time of day and the angle of the sun and my camera make it look like it has a tint.

I'm actually considering doing something like what Nigel Baron did in the projects section of this site. My portlights leak pretty bad and need to do something soon about it soon.

There's a guy across from me at my marina that did something like what Nigel Baron did (not an Ericson), but you can see the idea in this picture. He placed the cap nuts on the outside, whereas Nigel put them inside the cabin.

Ignacio,

Can you tell me about your portlight glass. Is the glass clear with a tint film added or is that new glass that you bought tinted? I am thinking of a DIY project and buying some film to tint my glass (which I have never done) or hire a mobile car tinter to do the job.

Thanks

 

[Keiffer]

Nice Work

Ignacio,

Nice work on the sea hood. I know it will draw a lot of attention dockside. I meet a lot of people who love the look "of" varnish, they just don't like "too" varnish.

You do have one final step for the project to be complete - getting that first little ding, nick, or smudge on your finished project, then you wiil be complete

I typically like to go ahead and take care of that last step duiring my install of the completed part.

What is your next projcet?

 

[ignacio]

Hi Keiffer,

Thanks for the compliment. Yes, I have one little nick right in the middle, aft-most part of the top....right where it's most visible to people in the cockpit. I'll probably just need to sand that away and put another small coat on it.

Next project is the installation of a manual bilge pump. I currently have a small electric bilge pump (not very much capacity), and one of those handheld blue pumps from West Marine, but nothing I could use while in the cockpit. I got a Whale Gusher Urchin manul bilge pump for cheap and in "like new" condition, so I'm going to be installing that in the port side lazarette this weekend.

After that, I still have leaks in the cabin from the portlights and from the stanchions that I need to fix before the heavy rains come. It ruined my galley countertop (from previous owner, actually), which I ripped out last winter but just haven't gotten to it yet.

Ignacio,

Nice work on the sea hood. I know it will draw a lot of attention dockside. I meet a lot of people who love the look "of" varnish, they just don't like "too" varnish.

You do have one final step for the project to be complete - getting that first little ding, nick, or smudge on your finished project, then you wiil be complete

I typically like to go ahead and take care of that last step duiring my install of the completed part.

What is your next projcet?

 

[bigd14]

The hatch looks great! Nice job. Its nice to have that out of the way I bet. I was very happy to get that job done.