FS 17 - Raised Sheer

[Dan_Smullen]

Great to see all the details and custom touches you have put into your build! Like a lot of the builds here yours is one of a kind!
I for one would like to see more pictures.
Bob M.

Agreed! The raised lip on the combing is a nice touch. Great benefit keeping water out of the cock pit, but I'm always weighing that against discomfort when sitting on the rail.

Swim step is also sweet. Will it be bolted to the transom, epoxied or both?

[joe2700]

Great to see all the details and custom touches you have put into your build! Like a lot of the builds here yours is one of a kind!
I for one would like to see more pictures.
Bob M.

Thanks Bob and Jeff! I'll be catching up the build log over the next few weeks so should have plenty of updates. FYI Bob in case you hadn't noticed with the way I'm adding pictures you can flip through a few different related pictures in many of the places I add them. Just hover over the picture and click the right arrow and there are usually 2 or 3.

Agreed! The raised lip on the combing is a nice touch. Great benefit keeping water out of the cock pit, but I'm always weighing that against discomfort when sitting on the rail.

Swim step is also sweet. Will it be bolted to the transom, epoxied or both?

Getting that balance right is hard but I think this one is rounded enough to be comfortable, I've spent some time sitting on it without issue. It will help keep a little water out but honestly it's mainly for looks, I think it's one of those touches that makes it look more like it came out of a mold.

The swim platform will just be glued on. I'll grind through all the fairing compound down to bare glass and then over a square foot of epoxy contact if the swim platform came off half the transom would come with it.

"looking into the future" I can tell you after glueing it on I have jumped up and down with all my weight without issue, so far so good.

[Dan_Smullen]

[

Agreed! The raised lip on the combing is a nice touch. Great benefit keeping water out of the cock pit, but I'm always weighing that against discomfort when sitting on the rail.

Swim step is also sweet. Will it be bolted to the transom, epoxied or both?

Getting that balance right is hard but I think this one is rounded enough to be comfortable, I've spent some time sitting on it without issue. It will help keep a little water out but honestly it's mainly for looks, I think it's one of those touches that makes it look more like it came out of a mold.

The swim platform will just be glued on. I'll grind through all the fairing compound down to bare glass and then over a square foot of epoxy contact if the swim platform came off half the transom would come with it.

"looking into the future" I can tell you after glueing it on I have jumped up and down with all my weight without issue, so far so good.

The future indeed looks bright!

I like the lip on top of the combing because it's a classic touch. Like architectural details in a house, the style originates in function. Glad to hear initial seat testing indicates comfort.

[joe2700]

Next up at the end of April I was applying bilge paint to the inside/bottom of the seats and console.

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Glassed the outside corners of the console and seat back which I had not done with the other seats earlier.

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By early May it was time for the first time she touched water! A float test to mark the watertline. Installed the console, hatches, and most of the hardware to get close to the real weight. Was going to fill a tote with water to simulate the fuel but we realized a person sitting on the console seat was just about the right weight in the right place.

Pushing her into the water for the first time she stayed on the surface, good start...

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And then stepping in for the first time. Very satisfying!

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After enjoying the moment I had a friend sit still on the console and we slowly rotated the boat around while I marked the waterline with a sharpie mark every few feet around the whole perimeter.

[Jeff]

Congrats!!! Jeff

[joe2700]

Later in May after the first splash I got engaged which was wonderful, but of course wedding planning started to cut into boat building. I also committed to finishing the project by selling the old boat.

At the end of the month I corrected a time consuming mistake. I had spent a lot of time glueing on something like 60 stainless nuts for the seat and console to screw in to. I don't remember why I didn't just tap the g10, but I didn't. Probably had already drilled holes that were too large to tap for 1/4-20 bolts. As I test fit the console and seats a few times I had continuous problems with the stainless galling and the bolt would get stuck in the nut. I suspect the alignment wasn't perfect and the side loads cause the stainless to gall really easily, which it is prone too. I had no faith I'd actually get them all in during install.

Instead I knocked off all the nuts I had glued on using a hammer and chisel and glued in a second layer of g10 to tap into. I've found g10 doesn't gall at all, making it great to use with the 316 stainless hardware.

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With wedding planning and the sailing season in full swing it was not much progress until July, other than finishing priming the seats and console. Next I starting rigging the console. I used the mounting templates to mark locations for the electronics.

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Then drilled the corners and used a jig saw to cut out the openings.

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With the electronics in place I used a level to make sure all the tops were aligned then screwed them in.

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[VT_Jeff]

Congrats on the engagement!

Great work on the documentation, and the build obviously. G10 is new to me, my interest is peaked. Always learning something new on here!

What and where are you sailing?

[joe2700]

Thanks Jeff!

Yea I have been buying 1/4" g10 sheets from either Jamestown Distributors or Mcmaster Carr. It's actually FR4 now as G10 is the older grade but I see most still use the old name.

https://www.mcmaster.com/8667K15/.

I didn't see any g10 on boat builder central but if I missed it let me know and I'll link to that instead.

It's expensive and terrible to cut, dulls tools like crazy. I have an old table saw blade dedicated to it. That said it bonds very well with epoxy, is completely waterproof, and very strong. It machines very easily with standard metal tools. Very quick and easy to tap even with no lube. I did a few tests driving a 316 machine screw into a tapped hole with an impact driver and the screw failed before the g10 every time. I think putting strips of g10 vertically on the deck using a few laters of glass with a fillet then tapping into it is the best way to attach a console or seat securely with no holes in the deck or metal worry about. Also great for backing plates. I also embedded it in my hatch lids for attaching hinges.

For sailing I mainly sail on a Swan 42 out of Newport. Most of the major NYYC regattas plus some things like Block Island Race Week. Doing Newport -> Bermuda this year if it doesn't get canceled again. Between that and some weekends sailing small catboats on Cape Cod I have a few months in the spring that are mostly sailing before it slows down over the summer. Lot's of fun but not much boat building.

[joe2700]

At the beginning of July I moved the boat to the yacht club to rig it.

I ran steering hoses, wiring harness, and control cables from the engine to console.

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I installed the helm and throttle in the console.

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Hooked up the steering at the engine end and bled the system. Also ran the harness and control cables through a rigging tube and connected them at the engine. Was using the Suzuki factory service manual for all of it. For the engine I also installed a cheap amazon prop to start with.

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Made all the harness connections at the console and installed the ignition switch and troll mode switch. Also installed the switch panel.

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Had some help from the pup when it was my time to watch him but he was in his teenage phase and didn't always help progress. Still fun to have have around.

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Installed my MFDs and VHF and got to test out night mode while I was working late. At this point I also had the compass and light/antenna mast installed. Also the stereo which is a black box in the console you control through the MFD or a small remote.

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I had all of critical equipment wired up even though the switch panel wasn't connected yet.

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And the NMEA fuel level sender was hooked up too.

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There was still plenty to do but nothing that couldn't happen while in the water in her slip so I launched her under her own power for the first time at the very beginning of August. I was worried about how long the engine had been sitting having never run so I squirted some fogging oil in to each cylinder and used the prop to turn it over by hand a few times. Got everything secured again and backed her into the water. Engine fired up like it had been running 5 minutes ago... something I had honestly been stressing about for weeks doing all the rigging myself with no experience.

My fiancee was traveling but had a few friends who had helped do some priming earlier in the build come for the first trip. I had the break in procedure written on an index card and we followed that as we got the first hour run time on the clock. One of my favorite parts is just how quiet these modern 4 stokes are. Quick clip of the first trip with 18 minutes on the engine.

https://youtu.be/EljZDBe9E1A

[Jeff]

Really nice work!!! Jeff