Bottom Battens 2

Today I had lots of time for the boat project. I finished most of the bottom batten/keel fairing. There is a lot more work in that then I ever thought there would be. I still have more fairing to do in the bow area but I am just about ready to install the aft 8' of bottom planking so I will most likely go pick up that material from Northwest Lumber tomorrow morning.
In preparation for the bottom planking I cut the limbers in the aft end of the battens just before the transom. These allow any water in the boat to drain to the middle of the boat where the drain plugs will be on each side of the keel. At the end of the day when back on the trailer you can simply pull the plugs and drain any water that swimmers brought inside the boat. It also makes cleaning the inside of the boat a simple matter of hosing it out and letting the crud drain out the back.

I think I am ready to unscrew these battens and epoxy and screw them in place for good. Then its ready for the planking.

Bottom Battens

Over the past week I have not been working on the boat much. I had to fix my wifes power window on her car earlier this week. I have been doing more flying lately in a 1942 Stearman Biplane and flying for my regular job.
Tonight I started working on fairing the bottom battens to the shape of the bottom of the frames so the bottom planking fits flat. I also cut the forward ends of the battens a few days ago. They are made to taper at the forward tips.

Here is a shot of the battens before fairing. They are only screwed in place for now. When I am done fairing they will be epoxied and screwed in place again.

I also came across a fellow Zip builder with a blog about his build. His name is Robert Greco and he is building his Zip in FL. He started the same time as I did but he has already flipped his boat and the finish is stunning!

http://www.robertgreco.net/New_Site/Photos.html

http://www.robertgreco.net/New_Site/Boat_Project/Entries/2009/9/5_Page_10_-_Flip_Day!_Thanks_Everyone!.html

Side Planking Finished.

Today I finished the side planking by filling the screw holes, sanding and coating with a thin layer of resin. Still need to fill and sand the joints where the two 8' panels meet on each side though.

Time to start working on the bottom battens.

Starboard Side Planking Glued/Screwed

Thursday evening the wife got home from work just in time to help attach the last piece of side planking. She helped spread the epoxy and drove the screws while I clamped ahead. Her labor cost me a nice mexican dinner for two. Completely worth it. She also works for ice cream.

I dont think I will get a lot done this weekend on the boat. Im celebrating the installation of all the side planking by sailing my Precision 13 saturday. The weather is supposed to be 80F with 8-10mph winds. In 4-6 weeks its going to start getting chilly so I am going to take advantage.

Hopefully I will at least get the planking trimmed and a protective coat of resin applied by sunday night.

Starboard Side Planking

I've had lots of time this week to work on the boat, about 4 hours a day of good solid work. So the starboard side planking is ready to glue. Pretty much the same game as the first side. Just need to do a little final sanding on the stem up front where the chine meets the stem so that both sides end up with the same contour. I need to flatten out the starboard side to match the first. A few minutes with the sander and its ready for epoxy glue and screws.

Its hard to see in the picture below but I am really happy with the way the wood grain matches up in this joint between the front and rear side planks.

Port Side Planking Finished.

Turns out the nicely matching Elmers Probond filler in the pictures from my previous post on friday did not turn out so well. When you apply epoxy resin to the area the wood surrounded the filler changes color like normal but the filler holds its color and does not allow the resin to soak into it. You must match the filler color to the finished color and NOT the pre-finished natural color. I should have experimented on scraps more. So I spent all of saturday trying to fix that. The problem is it dries hard so there is no removing it and starting over. So I bought some permanent art markers in various colors of brown and matched it up as close as possible. I am not very happy with it but the bottom holes will be covered by the bottom paint. I can always cover up the upper holes with the stainless steel rub rail or a paint scheme like Doug Hodder's Zip. http://www.glen-l.com/picboards/picboard1a/pic133h.html

Below you can see the results of the screw hole filling along what will be the top of the side of the boat.
Here is the finished port side. You cant see it in the pictures but I just need to fill the joint where the two 8ft ply sheets meet in the middle of the boat. I am very happy with that joint, its less than 1/16" thanks to my visit with Todd and his Zip last month. The folks on the Glen-L builders forum suggested Famowood filler after my debacle with the Elmers filler. So I am waiting for Ace Hardware to open so I can go get some to fill that joint with. In the meantime I turned the boat around to work on the starboard side planking.

Filling Screw Holes

Its been a while since my last post. I spent a couple days doing preventative maintenance on my truck. I have also been looking for a good wood filler for filling the screw holes in the side planking. That took a lot of trial and error with several products.

I finally found a product I like. Its from Elmers called ProBond. It comes in several colors, non of which match my wood. I can mix them to get a very close color match though. Here are the 3 that I am using. Red Oak is the base then about 25% walnut and 5-10% mahongany gives me a color very close to that of my wood.

Here are a couple pictures of the putty applied and then sanded. This batch is a little light in color but its the bottom of the side of the boat and will be painted later. The color around the top of the sides matches better but doesnt photograph well.

Only 110 more holes to go on this side.