Jeffs FS14 LS

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VT_Jeff
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Re: Jeffs FS14 LS

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Eric1 wrote: Thu Nov 21, 2019 2:23 pm [Nah that ain't cheating. I would've used mine but Between it and my big butt I figured it was gonna be a PITA. :lol:
Nice! :lol:


I started gluing up my long panels. Wasn't sure how much of a gap to use, I ended up using a 3/8 washer as a spacer, seems to look about right. This is my first experience with Gel-magic and bi-axial tape so I've been moving slow and trying to get things right. I ordered slow hardener because my goal is to do the whole hull wet-on-wet, this may mean some extended wait times for the glassing table. I'm trying to speed up the cure with some lamps and insulation board. At this point I can probably move these panels on top of the jig to finish curing and start gluing up the other panels. The gel-magic seems to be pretty hard/holding the panels together, the resins is still pretty tacky.

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There are only two seasons in Vermont: boating season, and boat-building season.

Completed Paul Butler 14' Clark Fork Drifter
Completed Jacques Mertens FS14LS + 10%, Build Thread
Started Iain Oughtred Tammie Norrie

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VT_Jeff
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Re: Jeffs FS14 LS

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Eric1 wrote: Thu Nov 21, 2019 2:23 pm Nah that ain't cheating. I would've used mine but Between it and my big butt I figured it was gonna be a PITA. :lol:
Eric, I was just looking through some of your food photos. I am now starving and completely understand your big butt comment, I'd weigh 300 lbs with that delicous stuff lying around! When most people say "I've been doing some baking" they mean cookies or a pie, you go straight to artisanal breads. I guess when most people say they are building a boat they mean a rowboat or a dinghy, you go straight to a serious, beautiful 21' skiff! Super impressed, keep up the great work, on all fronts!

Jeff
There are only two seasons in Vermont: boating season, and boat-building season.

Completed Paul Butler 14' Clark Fork Drifter
Completed Jacques Mertens FS14LS + 10%, Build Thread
Started Iain Oughtred Tammie Norrie

Eric1
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Re: Jeffs FS14 LS

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VT_Jeff wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2019 4:51 pm
Eric1 wrote: Thu Nov 21, 2019 2:23 pm Nah that ain't cheating. I would've used mine but Between it and my big butt I figured it was gonna be a PITA. :lol:
Eric, I was just looking through some of your food photos. I am now starving and completely understand your big butt comment, I'd weigh 300 lbs with that delicous stuff lying around! When most people say "I've been doing some baking" they mean cookies or a pie, you go straight to artisanal breads. I guess when most people say they are building a boat they mean a rowboat or a dinghy, you go straight to a serious, beautiful 21' skiff! Super impressed, keep up the great work, on all fronts!

Jeff
Wow! Thanks For those kind words. I'm holding steady at 204 but Doc say I should weigh 165.
What does he know? LOL

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Re: Jeffs FS14 LS

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On Sat we glassed the bottom, went pretty well. Here were my complete steps for the hull:


Panel assembly:

1. Stitched panels together. Did my best to "float" them, get them fair and avoid pinching. Used nails to maintain a gap and pvc pipe for alignment.


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2. Taped the gaps on the inside with blue painters tape

3. Used an epoxy syringe to fill the gap with Gel-magic. Instead of spot-welding, I got as close to the stitches as I could. On the transom, there was a natural gap on the inside but the outside edges were flush, so I used the syringe to fill the gap on the inside.

4. Allowed welds to cure overnight, removed stitches, completed taping gaps inside with blue tape where the stitches were

5. Filled in the welds where the stitches were, Allowed that to cure for a few days

6. Used a block plane to radius all edges to at least 1/2" radius. This resulted in removing some wood from the edges. I'm not sure I understand how other people can get a good radius just by adding thickened epoxy to the outside of the joint, but I read about people doing it all the time so I assume it works.

7. Sanded the radius all the way around with 80 to ensure that the glass/epoxy would bond(secondarily) to the cured Gel-magic.

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Hull Glassing:

1. Measured and cut all tape and fabric a few days ahead of time and put guide-lines on the hull with a sharpie. The sharpie was a mistake as the ink ran when we applied the epoxy, lesson learned.

2. Got the shop warmed up to 65 and turned the crockpot on low to get the epoxy warm.

- ready for glassing, I taped off the rub-rail area so I can glue the rub-railto bare wood as much as possible
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3. Pre-wet the transom seams, the keel and the chines

4. Laid the tape on the transom seams, the keel and the chines, did not wait at all once pre-wetting was done

5. Wet out all the tape

6. Pre-wet the rest of the hull and transom

7. Rolled on the fabric (from cardboard tubes) and wet it out

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With Elaine and I, it took a solid 4 hours from start to finish, which felt like about 15 minutes, could not believe it when we looked at the clock. We used slow hardener and never felt like we were getting behind, everything stayed greasy as desired.

The guidelines we drew on the hull, outside of the fact that the sharpie ran and will surely cause the boat to sink the moment it gets wet, worked great, made it really easy to get the tape and the fabric in the right place on the first try, or at least close. Working on greasy epoxy instead of tacky epoxy also made it possible to make small adjustments, if I had gone with my original plan of letting it get tacky, we probably would have gotten in trouble.

It all went pretty smoothly so not a ton of other lessons learned. We used bondo spatulas and glue brushes. When I do the inside I'll get some epoxy rollers to make it a little easier to get the air bubbles out. Fallguys recommendation to wet out the layers individually was spot on; if we had gone with my plan of laying all the glass down and the wetting out the layers together, we would have ended up, I suspect, with a lot more air and a lot more work. As it was, the areas with 3 or more layers of glass ended up a little milky but not too bad in my completely amateur estimation. Efforts to get them any clearer usually resulted in upsetting the glass layers so we figured best to leave them.

Last night I put another coat of raw epoxy on just the bottom and hit the sides with quick fair to start filling in the weave. System 3 gives a theoretical 72 hour re-coat window, my goal is to keep it under 48 hours and get the weave completely filled in the next day or 2. I used quick fair on the sides because it doesn't sag and I figured it would be easier than dealing with dripping epoxy, which was true, but it's a lot more work to mix and apply. What I thought was going to be a quick 1 hour job last night turned into a 4 hour job by the time I got it done.

I'll add some photos, there are some in my gallery now of the hull assembly etc, need to upload the rest.

Thanks again Jacques and Fallguy for the input!

Jeff
Last edited by VT_Jeff on Mon Dec 16, 2019 12:35 pm, edited 2 times in total.
There are only two seasons in Vermont: boating season, and boat-building season.

Completed Paul Butler 14' Clark Fork Drifter
Completed Jacques Mertens FS14LS + 10%, Build Thread
Started Iain Oughtred Tammie Norrie

Jeff
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Re: Jeffs FS14 LS

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Nice progress Jeff!!! What are your temps up there? Jeff

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VT_Jeff
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Re: Jeffs FS14 LS

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Jeff wrote: Mon Dec 16, 2019 10:57 am Nice progress Jeff!!! What are your temps up there? Jeff
Thanks jeff.

Sat was 32-34 outdoors, today it's back down to.....20s?

My basement has electric baseboard heat, I expect the bill will be a decent line item in my final build cost. ;)
There are only two seasons in Vermont: boating season, and boat-building season.

Completed Paul Butler 14' Clark Fork Drifter
Completed Jacques Mertens FS14LS + 10%, Build Thread
Started Iain Oughtred Tammie Norrie

Jeff
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Re: Jeffs FS14 LS

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OK, that is cold!!! At least you have a heated work space!!! Jeff

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VT_Jeff
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Re: Jeffs FS14 LS

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Jeff wrote: Mon Dec 16, 2019 12:00 pm OK, that is cold!!! At least you have a heated work space!!! Jeff
You said it! Not sure I'd be able to do this in the winter up here otherwise. Mad respect to those guys working in garages with a kerosene heater in cold weather climates, I have it easy!
There are only two seasons in Vermont: boating season, and boat-building season.

Completed Paul Butler 14' Clark Fork Drifter
Completed Jacques Mertens FS14LS + 10%, Build Thread
Started Iain Oughtred Tammie Norrie

RiggsWNC
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Re: Jeffs FS14 LS

Post by RiggsWNC »

What temp you reckon your basement sits at when your working with the slow hardener? I can get the shop to about 60 when it’s freezing or below and want to try the slow hardener, the med and fast is kicking fast.

I feel you on the heat bill. I have a separate electric service for where I work and it’s typically less then twenty bucks a month. Bet it’ll be over a hundred while I’m building.

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VT_Jeff
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Re: Jeffs FS14 LS

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RiggsWNC wrote: Sun Dec 29, 2019 7:54 pm What temp you reckon your basement sits at when your working with the slow hardener? I can get the shop to about 60 when it’s freezing or below and want to try the slow hardener, the med and fast is kicking fast.

I feel you on the heat bill. I have a separate electric service for where I work and it’s typically less then twenty bucks a month. Bet it’ll be over a hundred while I’m building.
60-65 is typical, rarely higher. I went with slow so I could glass wet on wet, so far so good, probably more time spent waiting than others may like. The quikfair, I think, is single speed, no issues yet using it in the same temps.
There are only two seasons in Vermont: boating season, and boat-building season.

Completed Paul Butler 14' Clark Fork Drifter
Completed Jacques Mertens FS14LS + 10%, Build Thread
Started Iain Oughtred Tammie Norrie

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