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Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue May 15, 2018 9:29 pm
by Chenier
Our summer vacation fleet needs something that sails to complement the outboards, canoes and kayaks already on hand. So I’ve started building a Bateau.com MF14 Moonfish. The Moonfish is a tape-and-glue small plywood sailboat, similar to a Sunfish. The objective is to have her ready by this time next year.

She’ll be joining a fleet that features cedar strip-plank boats. That’s where the “hybrid” comes in. Instead of ply, this Moonfish will have cedar strip topsides and deck. I’ll be using versions of the strip building techniques described by Schade, Folsom and others for kayaks and canoes. Topsides and deck will be finished bright.

A few prior Moonfish builds have been well documented online here:
https://forums.bateau2.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=20214

Here:
https://forums.bateau2.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=58206
http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread. ... uild-in-UK

And there’s another underway here:
https://forums.bateau2.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=62869

I’m indebted to those builders for pre-answering many of my questions and offering lots of good ideas. Now I get to make my own mistakes, of which I’m sure there will be quite a few.

My sole prior experience in boatbuilding was a stitch-and-glue rowboat about 20 years ago. I’ve been planning this build since January, waiting for the weather to warm up and my daughter to get her stuff out of our garage. That’s given me plenty of time to overthink everything. This certainly won’t be the fastest or most economical way to build a Moonfish. But it’ll be fun! So here we go …

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue May 15, 2018 9:30 pm
by Chenier
Bateau.com offers a CNC-cut kit for all the plywood pieces, but I couldn’t see ordering the kit only to throw a considerable portion away. So I’ll be cutting the plywood myself. The experience is good for me, right?

There’s a boat in here somewhere:

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Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue May 15, 2018 9:31 pm
by Chenier
Hey, look, I found a transom!

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Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue May 15, 2018 10:03 pm
by Fuzz
Welcome and let the fun begin :D

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed May 16, 2018 12:26 pm
by Bogieman
Alright! Another sailboat builder. Good luck on your Moonfish and welcome to the forum.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed May 16, 2018 1:44 pm
by OrangeQuest
Welcome to the forum. Happy building.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed May 16, 2018 2:59 pm
by Chenier
Uh Oh. I'm being attacked by the metric system!

Discovered that the marine ply I bought is 122cm x 250cm rather than 4' x 8'. That's not a problem width-wise (122cm = 48.03") but I have some extra length (250cm = 98.43").

Jaques, it appears the bottom panels are drawn so that the seam between the two ply sheets falls on Frame B (Drawing B244/5). Is this correct? If so I can compensate by adding an extra 2.43 (2 7/16") to the 16 3/4" offset between the transom line and the and the end of the sheet. Or is this a "doesn't matter"?

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 5:13 pm
by Chenier
Here's a visible sign of progress - the frames are all cut and trimmed.

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Lightening holes, ventilation holes, limber holes and drain holes will all be cut later, after I assemble the parts and see where the longitudinals intersect the frames.

Those longitudinals, the stringers and trunk sides, are next at bat.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 5:57 pm
by OrangeQuest
Great use of your clamps!! Looks like they are practicing. Or maybe protesting! :lol:

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2018 5:44 pm
by Chenier
The longitudinals are cut and trimmed. Bow and trunk sides on the left, aft stringers on the right.

There are two trunk sides and two aft stringers - the pairs were cut stacked so that both sides of the boat would have the same mistakes. The boatbuilding literature calls this "symmetry".

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They're laying down on the job!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2018 5:59 pm
by Bogieman
:lol:

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2018 7:13 pm
by OrangeQuest
Chenier wrote: Thu Jun 21, 2018 5:44 pm The longitudinals are cut and trimmed. Bow and trunk sides on the left, aft stringers on the right.

There are two trunk sides and two aft stringers - the pairs were cut stacked so that both sides of the boat would have the same mistakes. The boatbuilding literature calls this "symmetry".


They're laying down on the job!
I make my cuts one at a time. I make so many mistakes they multiply! :oops:

Everything is looking very good!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2018 2:54 pm
by Chenier
I tackled trunk/bow stringer assembly. This is a slight departure from the build notes which would have me lay out the deck next. As you can see from the photos my garage shop doesn’t have a lot of extra room, so I’m doing as much as I can before erecting a big 4’x16’ worktable.

Here I’ve cut cleats for the mast step and daggerboard from cypress and added lightening holes to the big plywood parts. The lightening holes are partly to save weight but also to allow some air circulation during the months the boat will be in storage. The build plans say “Respect minimum 2” offset” for lightening holes in the frames. That seems like a good guideline. In addition I’m keeping 2” between holes.

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Kindly ignore the limber holes some idiot cut on the deck side of the stringers. Thank you. The working limber holes are on the hull sides of these pieces.

Next is a dry fit of the assembly. It took a while to get everything square and clamped into position. Then I drilled through at each of the cleats and pegged the assembly with 1/4” red oak dowels. That holds it square and let me put each component exactly where it belonged when epoxying.

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This photo is the way the whole structural frame gets built - upside down on a flat deck.

The epoxy step was a bit of a mess, in part because the last time I fooled with marine epoxy was about 20 years ago. I’m trying out SilverTip because the manufacturer says you can let it sit for 72 hours before needing to sand when putting more epoxy over it. Everyone else says 12 hours - even the same manufacturer’s other brand of marine epoxy.

Before assembling everything I coated the inside of the trunk sides with epoxy so I wouldn’t have to get into that slot later. Then came a small frenzy of epoxy gluing and fiberglassing. There was enough play in the structure that the final piece, the starboard trunk side, might not line up with the dowels if the epoxy set firm. Fortunately, using slow hardener, there was enough flexibility after 1.5 hours to get that piece in place and then clamp everything:

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In this photo the deck side is up.

The Build Notes say to fiberglass inside of the mast step and inside the daggerboard slot. I used the method recommended in Gougeon Bros. book: Lay a piece of fiberglass around three sides of the hole. Apply a second piece to the fourth side, then close up the assembly. In retrospect it would have been much easier applying the glass as four pieces - one for each side of the hole. Except for the bow side of the mast step, all the glass could have been applied to its appropriate component the day before. Live and learn.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2018 5:12 pm
by Bogieman
Nice bit of progress. She's looking good so far.

Bogie

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2018 10:04 pm
by walkabout_slp
Chenier,
Nice progress so far.
I am hopefully finishing my boat before the end of the summer so feel free to PM me with any questions.
I made many a mistake so far, some documented in my build:
https://forums.bateau2.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=62869

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2018 10:07 pm
by walkabout_slp
Are you going to do strip planking on the sides and bottom of the boat too or just the deck?
The reason I ask, is that I believe from experience (built a cedar strip canoe 20 years ago) that strip construction needs fibreglass on both side's of the strip for strength? Or am I not remembering it correctly?

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2018 10:33 pm
by Chenier
You are remembering correctly. According to the Gougeon Brothers book, p. 275 says 6oz cloth over both sides of Western Red Cedar strips has equivalent breaking strength as marine ply.

I'm planning on cedar strip just for the deck and [top]sides. They'll be finished bright. Bottom will be painted so there's no point in getting fancy. Inner frame and bottom will be marine ply as per the plans.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2018 6:28 pm
by Chenier
It’s been a while. Spent the rest of the summer and early fall using and repairing other boats. Now it’s time to get back to the Moonfish!

In this phase I’m working on the long, skinny parts. The 24-inch wide worktable is extended to 15 feet for cutting the side and bottom panels. I’ve also built an overhead storage rack to hold said long skinny pieces out of the way until the build is ready for them.

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Side panels were next up. As mentioned earlier these will be “strip built”: made of 1/4-inch x 3/4-inch cedar strips edge glued together. Later in the build these will be sandwiched in 6-ounce fiberglass and epoxy. This is the "Hybrid" in Hybrid MF14. Some kayak and canoe builders use this technique to produce compound curves and stunning designs. I’m using it just for the looks. That gives me some leeway in how I do the strip build. While borrowing heavily from the strip builder’s toolbox I’ll take advantage of the fact that the Moonfish’s deck and sides start life as flat panels. The deck stays flat while the side panels take a simple curve in one dimension (the long way.) I’m building these panels flat and will bend the sides into place later in the build.

The strip builders construct their craft on molds spaced one foot apart. I’m in no position to argue so I set up MDF molds with that spacing. Rather than using staples or hot glue to conform my strips to a curve, I’ve set up each mold as a little panel clamp to keep the panels flat.

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The strips themselves were obtained from a supplier of strip-built kits so I didn’t have to cut them myself. These are flat panels therefore no need for bead and cove. Since the strips are only about seven feet long I’ve joined them lengthwise with scarf joints. They’ll need to hold together when bent onto the side of the boat, so 8:1 scarfs. Strips are glued together one at a time with TiteBond, the favorite glue of strippers. In the above photo the eighth strip was just put in place. You can see the extra clamps for a scarf joint about half way down the table. The tape between molds helps compress the strips together - TB doesn’t like gaps. After an hour the tape and clamps come off and another strip gets added.

In theory if one were a perfect craftsman there would be no difference between the panel’s two sides. But I’m not such a craftsman so there’s a distinct difference between the side I can see while I’m building and the side I can’t see. Therefore the side I can’t see becomes the “inside” to hide my sins. Here’s the port side panel all glued up:

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Then I reversed the molds to glue up the starboard side.

Once both sides were glued I stacked the panels back-to-back and taped them together so I could cut them as one. Here I’m laying out the curve of the bottom:

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Et voila! Two side panels.

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There’s a bit of scraping and sanding in my future to knock off the squeezed-out glue and fair the surface...

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2018 6:48 pm
by narfi
Looks nice!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2018 10:13 pm
by Bogieman
8)

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2018 5:20 am
by Fuzz
That is going to be pretty :D

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2018 5:53 am
by OrangeQuest
Very nice!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2018 7:27 am
by Jeff
Chenier, very nice work!! Jeff

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2018 5:08 pm
by Chenier
Bottom panels.

This was a bit of head-scratcher. The MF14 US plans that I’m using assume an 8’x4’ sheet of plywood. However it turned out the marine ply from my local wood junkie is metric. The widths are identical but the lengths aren't - my ply is 250cm long, about 98.5”. I needed to figure out how to correct for the “incorrect” size of my ply.

The MF14 (p.B244/5) uses different offsets from the aft end of a plywood sheet to set out the deck, side, and bottom. (Measurements on the Moonfish start from the transom.) Studying the plans it became apparent that the offset for the deck placed its butt joint (between the fore and aft sheets of ply) right at the front of the cockpit, on Frame B. The bottom has greater offset so its first half is shorter, placing the joint in the cockpit behind Frame B. The side panels have no offset so their joint is somewhere ahead of Frame B. Aha. This staggers the joints so they don’t all line up and create a “Tear Here” line across the boat.

Since the deck and side panels of this particular MF14 are strip-built cedar, they each end up as a continuous panel with no joint in the middle. Therefore I “moved” the bottom joint a few inches ahead of Frame B by using less starting offset. This gets the butt joint bump out from underfoot in the cockpit and hides it under the deck. I won’t need to spend time fairing it out later on.

For what it’s worth, the prior Moonfish builds that have been well-photographed also ended up with a bottom joint ahead of Frame B. I’m not sure why. At least it seems to work OK:
https://forums.bateau2.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=20214
https://forums.bateau2.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=58206
https://forums.bateau2.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=62869

Here are my two bottom panels, stacked and cut. Per walkabout_slp’s recommendation (last thread, above) I cut them slightly wide on the chine side and will trim to fit at installation.

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Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2018 5:23 pm
by Jaysen
Did you consider just cutting off the extra length to make the sheets the size to match the plans?

A bit wasteful but ...

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2018 7:17 am
by topwater
I don't get the problem all the plywood sold here and used to build and design these boats on this web site are metric :wink:

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2018 8:35 am
by walkabout_slp
Yes I would recommend cutting the bottom panels slightly outside of the true cut line. Unless you are meticulous your assembled frames and side panels are not going to be perfect. Having the bottom panels at least 1/4 larger enables you to trim them to the exact shape of the assembled frame. I wish I had done this. I did not and had to fill the joints with thickened epoxy in a few sections.

I also do not think it maters where the fg splice falls for the bottom panel as you will be adding a full layer of fg on the hull and in the cockpit once the hull is assembled.

Are you going with a clear coat on the bottom of the hull and in the cockpit? Or is it going to be painted since it is ply and not strips?

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2018 9:45 am
by Chenier
Did you consider just cutting off the extra length to make the sheets the size to match the plans?
Yes, but as you mentioned it's a bit wasteful. Also, once I found the dimensions weren't what I expected my insticnt was to try to understand what was going on before cutting anything. Besides, as topwater says, I might have been wrong. :o
I don't get the problem all the plywood sold here and used to build and design these boats on this web site are metric
The build notes for the MF14 call for "Standard sheets 4x8 (122 x 244mm)". That should be "cm" BTW.
Are you going with a clear coat on the bottom of the hull and in the cockpit? Or is it going to be painted since it is ply and not strips?
Paint!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2018 10:13 am
by OrangeQuest
If you measured everything out before cutting should not matter how long the sheet is or am I missing something. If you measure 240cm from point A to point B you either have 4cm left or more/less. But the measurement should still the example 240 cm

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2018 5:43 pm
by Chenier
That's true - the Moonfish bottom panels are 174 1/4" long. The plans, though, explicitly say to begin the cut for the transom offset 16 3/4" in from the end of the sheet. Where you start has to make some kind of difference or the plans wouldn't be that specific. So I tried to figure out what I was missing.

Re: Hybrid MF14

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2019 6:57 am
by Chenier
After seeing how much space the 15' x 2' table took up in my workspace, I realized I wasn't going to have room to get out the tablesaw once the larger table was in place. So in between holiday distractions I've spent the last month ripping and cutting stock for the cleats that will be used during construction. Not much to see there. Also rearranged some of the shop to give me a bit more room.

Finally ready to start the "big build". Got the 15" x 4' worktable set up. Nothing fancy - just plywood on 2x4's:

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Not shown: the table is presently occupied with deck panels being joined together with a fiberglass butt joint. The epoxy is curing slowly at these temperatures.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2019 8:06 am
by OrangeQuest
Nice big worktable!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2019 8:50 am
by Chenier
Thanks. I'm going to save it after the build to use as a dance floor. :D

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2019 9:47 am
by Bogieman
Nice! Can't wait to see what is next.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 5:35 pm
by Chenier
I want to be a boat when I grow up!

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Just finished the rough cut of the deck template, still need to trim it to the lines that you see in the picture. I'm using a BC plywood deck template so I won't feel bad about drilling holes for construction cleats etc. in the fancy strip-planked deck I'll build later.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2019 10:59 pm
by Chenier
Laminating a sheer clamp:

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Wait. The MF14 doesn't have sheer clamps. :doh:

From the examples online, Moonfish builds end up with a noticeable gap between the deck and the side panels. The gap dissapears after it's covered with fiberglass tape, epoxy and paint. But since the deck and sides of this Moonfish will be finished bright, a gap won't do. Shear clamps on each side will replace the cleats outlined in the Build Notes and allow the deck to be firmly affixed to the side panels. They will also fill any gaps that might appear when I radius the deck/side joint.

The sheer clamp is 3/4" x 3/4", laminated from three cedar strips, on the left side of the assembly. I'm laminating because a solid piece of cedar or cypress won't take the bend by itself. And I'm not about to build and fire up a 15-foot steam box when I have easy access to cedar strips and epoxy.

To the right of the lamination, the large strip you see with the shiny top is my fairing batten covered with packing tape to keep epoxy from sticking. It's held firmly against the edge of the deck template by pine cleats screwed into the worktable. This forms the basic shape. The deck is also screwed into the worktable, under the poly sheet, to make a rigid jig. Spring clamps and a sprinkling of quick clamps hold the cedar strips against the jig while the epoxy sets up.

I'll make two of them, one for each side. The sheer clamps will be trimmed to fit and glued in place just before the deck goes on. In theory I could wait to laminate until then. But, being in uncharted waters, I didn't want to risk distorting the boat with wierd stresses. Not to mention this is a sloppy process and cleanup is way easier at this stage before I have to work around a whole lot of structure.

Hope this works. Where's the "Cross your fingers" smiley?

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2019 3:32 pm
by Chenier
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Sheer clamps are done.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2019 4:58 pm
by Chenier
All the pieces for the internal structure are cut and dry-fit in place.

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I'll be cutting lightening holes before gluing it all together.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2019 5:02 pm
by Chenier
Cleats and wedges hold all the parts of the internal structure in place. The wedges make it easy to remove a piece without throwing the cleats out of alignment with the design lines drawn on the deck template. They also avoid screw holes in the boat components.

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Each pair of wedges is backed by two opposing cleats - the one the wedges press against and another one on the far side of the frame or stringer. In my layout the solo cleat is aligned with the design reference lines. You can see an example at the top of the photo. The positioning of the cleats on the wedge side is not critical.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2019 7:50 am
by Bogieman
Looking good.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2019 6:28 am
by Chenier
Thanks. It's great to see the boat finally start to "take shape"!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2019 5:12 pm
by Chenier
Dry fitting the frame together (see previous page) allowed me to mark where all the aft stringers intersected with the frames. I could then take it all apart and lay out the lightening and ventilation holes. The optional lightening holes at the outer ends of the frames are indicated in the plans. I added additional holes in the two aft-most stringers and in Frame D, where they're protected from the elements. The plans say to keep lightening holes 2 inches from the edges of their parts. I also kept the holes 2 inches from each other.

Here are the finished holes in Frame D and the aft-most stringers:

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During the build I kept track of the weight of the wooden plugs taken out of all the lightening holes (I didn't weight the sawdust.) For the record they added up to 40 ounces - 2.5 pounds. That seems like not much payback for the work involved.

The holes will serve another function, though: ventilation. I'm planning to install ports in Frames B and C that can be left open when the boat is in storage. The Sunfish fleet has a history of rotting badly inside their hermeticaly sealed hulls. Hopefully the additional lightening holes will allow all corners of the boat to air out.

Here are Frames B and C with 1/2" doublers added and holes for their 6" ventilation ports cut:

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Incidentally, the boating industry calls these ventilation ports "deck plates".

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2019 5:19 pm
by Bogieman
Good stuff.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2019 5:33 pm
by Chenier
Oh no, the bow isn’t straight!

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I built the trunk and bow stringer assembly last summer. Since then it’s been stored vertically in my shop, usually leaning up against something. Looks like it took a set. It's off by 2/3 of an inch or so.

On top of that, there’s a big gap between the bow stringer and its doublers and the side of the deck, on both sides.

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This is a challenge because the building instructions say to epoxy glue the side panels to the bow. There's a 1/4-inch gap between the doublers and the side of the deck at the bow.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2019 5:56 pm
by Chenier
The gap at the bow was both better and worse than I expected. The bow is supposed to be one inch wide and it turned out to be 1.25 inches. Don’t know how I made it an eighth of an inch too wide on both sides but I did. Weird, because the deck width 5 inches away at the 14-foot line (the line at the cleat in the picture) is correct to within a sixteenth. It was easy to shave down the sides of the deck and get rid of the extra 1/4-inch at the bow.

But that’s not the whole story. I made a cardboard template of the forward most portion of the side panel from the plans.

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The panel tapers down to zero height at the bow. Understand, this panel fits on the outside of the deck template, snugged up against the deck itself. And the deck is 1/4 inch thick. With the taper the panel doesn’t rise (in this upside-down view) to deck level until 1-3/8 inches back from the bow. And at that point the deck is 2.5 inches wide! How does one glue the side panel to the bow across such a gap?

I decided to glue up a little bow block out of scraps of 1/2” marine ply taken out of those lightening holes. This will give me something onto which I can glue the side panels.

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The block is only 3 inches long.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2019 8:51 pm
by Chenier
I took the Moonfish to the orthodontist for braces and the plastic surgeon for a nose job. Here’s the result:

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I shaved down the sides of the bow block to meet the sides in the back. It’s going to take more fiddling when I apply the bottom panels. The braces are aluminum angle irons bolted together through the lightening holes. (“Holes are handy!” is my motto.) They'll come off when the bottom panels are epoxied in place and the whole assembly is stable.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2019 9:04 pm
by Bogieman
8)

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2019 3:42 pm
by Chenier
Assembly has begun. Last week I glued Frames A and B in place with thickened epoxy:

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This week I assembled everything aft of Frame B with 1/2-inch epoxy fillets:

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The next step, installing the side panels, probably will put stresses on this structure so I'll give the epoxy a few days to cure.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2019 3:42 pm
by Chenier
On Drainage

In my last post you can see limber holes in the frames and stringers. They were made with a 1-inch spade bit, making the limber holes 1/2-inch high since they're half-holes.

I thought long and hard about the holes and drains in this craft. Too long and hard. Sunfish are notorious for accumulating water inside and rotting. A factory Sunfish has a drain on the port side of the deck just ahead of the cockpit. You have to roll the boat onto its side to get the water out.

One improvement restorers (and some builders here) have used is to put a couple of drains in the transom. That can work - provided you lift the nose of the boat way up so the water can run back there.

This is because the low point of the hull is right at the front of the cockpit. If the boat is level, that’s where the water wants to go. So I “designed” limber holes in frames and stringers to let water get there - at least until it runs into the cockpit walls. I was going to put garbord drains in Frame B on either side of the centerboard trunk and one centered at the bottom of Frame C. Then I thought better of it.

The drains were going to take considerable fussing and they were going to add weight. In addition, unless the cockpit was completely dry they’d do a good job letting water into the boat instead of out.

The heck with it! The 6-inch ventilation hatches will be big enough to get water out with a boat sponge. I might add a simple deck drain like the Sunfish for days when I don’t feel like fooling around with the screens that are going to be on those hatches.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2019 3:48 pm
by Chenier
Uh oh, there's daylight under Frame C!

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This is supposed to be flush with the deck template.

Don't know how this came to be - the frame was dead flush during the dry fitting. Wonder what got under there? :doh: Too late to worry about it now. I'll figure it out later when I flip the boat over and take off the deck template.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2019 2:35 pm
by Chenier
Trouble in River City!

I did a dry fit of the side panels and found some of the frames don’t extend all the way to the panels. The gaps ranged from 5/16 inch down to some of the frames were too long. Perhaps I cut the deck too wide or the frames too skinny.

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And then the side panels came up short. They were short by anywhere from 1/8 inch to 5/16 inch everywhere except Frame D.

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This is a great ad for why one should buy the CNC kit :wink:

I consulted with the Delphi here ...
https://forums.bateau2.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=64037

… and started contemplating the fillers that would need to go between the frames and the panels. And the extra 1/4 inch strip I was going to have to glue to either the top or the bottom of the panels. Either way, with no place left to lay out the panels flat, it was setting up to be a hack job.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2019 2:39 pm
by Chenier
After a suitable period in the moaning chair I it was time to make lemonade out of lemons. I lifted the side panels up onto the bottom of the deck instead of having them wrap around its outside.

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This simultaneously filled in the gaps and raised them up to be more even with the frames.

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There was a little bit of trimming involved. That was a lot easier than futzing around with fillers and adding on a strip. I’ll need to trim the perimeter of the bottom panels when I get there, which I was planning on doing anyway.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2019 2:41 pm
by Chenier
It took some outside bracing to hold the panels in place while I applied all the glue and fillets.

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Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2019 2:57 pm
by Fuzz
Nice thing about this way of building is as long as you use top quality plywood there is no problem that can not be fixed :wink: :D

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2019 3:39 pm
by Chenier
Blue Tape Special, Aisle 3:

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Prep for epoxy coating the edges of the structure and sides. These will be inaccessible once the bottom goes on. I can't paint the edge of a board without runs unless I take the time to be incredibly fussy. Fussy isn't in the cards with epoxy setting up in your cup, though.

Used almost a whole roll of blue tape on this. But the tape caught almost all of the dribbles! It, and the dribbles, came off as the epoxy started to gel.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2019 5:41 pm
by Chenier
Brought the bottom panels, cut earlier, down from the overhead and gave them a try.

Image

The center seam wandered in an out a bit more than I liked. Stretched a taught string down the centerline for reference and then started planing away the spots were the panels ran into each other. Stopped when the widest part of the panels became flush with the side panels.

At this point I attached temporary cleats to Frames A and D, port and starboard. One screw in each cleat fixes the bottom panels with respect to the rest of the boat. I couldn’t help myself and “spot welded” bow, transom, and Frames B and C to the bottom panels with a little bit of epoxy glue. The epoxy was just sitting there…

Except at their widest points, where the panels together took up the whole width of the plywood sheet, I initially cut the bottom panels wide. Now that the panels were in place I trimmed that excess off around the sides with a multitool and a block plane.

Image

It isn’t waterproof yet but it looks like a boat!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2019 5:44 pm
by Chenier
Per the build notes I taped the deck to the sides. Then I taped all the seams in the bottom - in part to hold it together and in part to keep epoxy from leaking through when I go to work on the interior. After removing all the exterior cleats (interior ones were long gone), I lifted the boat up onto some 2x2’s.

Image

The deck pulled away from the duct tape in a few spots so I supplemented the duct tape with cargo straps.

Now I’m phoning my friends to come over for a flipping party!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2019 7:25 pm
by Biney777
It looks Good!
I suggest making sure you have enough hands available before you start the flip. Loud crunching noises midflip are not any fun! don't ask me how I know this... :wink:

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2019 9:08 pm
by Bogieman
I like the way you are working through your issues. My build has had plenty too. Your commentary is quite commical. :D

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2019 9:44 pm
by Chenier
>> I suggest making sure you have enough hands available before you start the flip. <<

Presently we have 9 people scheduled for the Flippin' Party. Way more than can fit in the garage with the boat in there too. The strongest get the "priviledge" of helping said Tom Sawyer swiftly.

>> Loud crunching noises midflip are not any fun! don't ask me how I know this... <<

I'm allergic to loud crunching noises! We've told everyone the flipping will be completed before any beverages are served :D

>> I like the way you are working through your issues. My build has had plenty too. Your commentary is quite commical. <<

Thanks! It's challenging. It's a *lot* easier to go out and buy a boat. But this way is a lot more fun.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 5:56 pm
by Chenier
Flipped!

Image

It finally dawned on me that I could build a cradle using the same dimensions as the bottoms of the frames. The height of the cradle is adjusted at each frame by the frame’s difference in height from Frame B. Weatherstripping on top makes it kinder, gentler. You can see the Frame A cradle in this photo.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 5:59 pm
by Chenier
Deck is off. Ready to start epoxying in earnest.

Image

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 2:31 am
by Biney777
Glad the flip went well. She is sure looking good!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:57 am
by Jeff
Nice flip!!! Jeff

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 12:12 pm
by Chenier
Thanks, y'all!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2019 5:23 pm
by Chenier
Gravity is not my friend.

That, and I think I bought the most useless roll of duct tape on the planet! Not only did it not hold the deck on, about half of the tape holding the bottom to the sides came off as well.

So I pushed the bottoms back up with some of the cleats and wedges I'd used earlier.

Image

And judiciously applied some weights to get the panels flush with each other in the center.

Image

Then I "spot welded" the center seam and the bottom-to-side seams with thickened epoxy so everybody will stay where they belong.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2019 5:31 pm
by Chenier
The nose job came out nicely.

Before:

Image

After:

Image

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2019 10:25 am
by Biney777
Good job on the nose. Figuring out how to keep the straight parts straight can be a challenge!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2019 1:15 pm
by Bogieman
Looking good, Chenier. I like the way you're working through your problems

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2019 4:20 pm
by Chenier
Thanks.

Finished filleting and taping the inside keel seam today. That was good practice! About 40 more linear feet to go ...

Taping the keel inside of the trunk/mast assembly was fun. Thank goodness I'd cut lightening holes - it gave me better access.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2019 5:31 pm
by Chenier
Finished filletting and taping the inside.

Once that set I removed all the duct tape from the outside before it made itself a permanent addition.

Image

With all the hull joints sealed up, it's now watertight. It's a boat!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2019 5:44 pm
by OrangeQuest
Looking good!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2019 7:02 pm
by Chenier
You're being kind. It looks like I slathered a chicken with epoxy and let it loose in there. :D

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2019 7:46 pm
by Jaysen
You owe me some rum. And a nasal passage.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed May 08, 2019 8:12 am
by Chenier
Back on page 5 I mentioned there was daylight under some of the frames. Well, that chicken came home to roost. Now that the boat has been flipped it's apparent that a deck laid across the structures wouldn't be flat.

Image

If I weren't going to bright finish the deck and side panels I'd just fill the gaps at the sides with thickened epoxy and move on. But that would be too easy.

With varying heights of stringers, frames and side panels it wasn't obvious to me if I should be trimming in spots, building up in spots, or what. :doh: So I got out the laser level and mapped the variances.

Image

In addition to telling me the boat wasn't as level as I thought it was, the laser said the transom was on a bit crooked. Oops.

It also showed me which stringers & frames to shave down to get the straightedge laying flat.

Image

All better now.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed May 08, 2019 8:57 am
by OrangeQuest
The builder is always the worst critic!

Your build is really looking good and if you needed a laser level to tell you the transom was off a little then that makes it a custom, one of a kind. :wink:

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed May 08, 2019 7:31 pm
by Bogieman
She's coming along nicely :D

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu May 09, 2019 10:27 pm
by Chenier
Thanks.

The next challenge was inserting a 3/4" block into the mast step for the mast base. First I had to make said block. It was easy to laminate and chop out a block that fit the nominal dimensions of the step. But there were enough irregularities in the fiberglass (who, me?? :D) that the block had to be shaped a bit to actually fit.

Q: How to tell if it would fit all the way down to the bottom of the hole without it getting stuck down there?
A: Mast-step-on-a-stick! A little bit of TB3 fastened the handle. Then I could lower the block in and out of the hole, sanding away areas that were binding.

Image

Of course "everyone knows" there has to be a coin under the mast or all manner of disaster and decrepitude will haunt the ill-fated craft. This bateau will live in Canada so no less than the Queen will do for good luck:

Image

All set for final assembly. I had part of a sheet of 12-gauge brass kicking around from a long-forgotten project so I laminated some of that to the top as a wear plate. The Queen is napping comfortably beneath the sheets.

Image

Some epoxy thickened with wood flour went down the hole to give me a level base over the V-bottom. Then some epoxy thickened with cell-o-fill to act as glue. Then the laminated block, Queen and all, went down the hole. I pushed it into the epoxy until glue started coming up around the sides of the block. It should last.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed May 22, 2019 5:35 am
by Chenier
Image

Got the cockpit floor fiberglassed.

I ran the glass all the way up the sides of the cockpit so I wouldn't have to fair a seam just a few inches up. Turns out some fairing is going to be involved anyway to deal with a couple of sags in the fabric. The fabric lifted in a couple spots at the side-to-bottom joints, too, which is going to take some fixin'.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed May 22, 2019 7:48 am
by Bogieman
Chenier wrote: Mon Apr 22, 2019 7:02 pm You're being kind. It looks like I slathered a chicken with epoxy and let it loose in there. :D
:lol: :lol: :lol:

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed May 22, 2019 9:25 am
by Jaysen
Bogieman wrote: Wed May 22, 2019 7:48 am
Chenier wrote: Mon Apr 22, 2019 7:02 pm You're being kind. It looks like I slathered a chicken with epoxy and let it loose in there. :D
:lol: :lol: :lol:
isn't that how you're supposed to do it?

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed May 22, 2019 11:01 am
by Chenier
It's important to use a free ranging chicken. The ones that have been raised in cages just sit there and don't know what to do.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu May 23, 2019 3:03 pm
by Biney777
Chenier wrote: Wed May 22, 2019 11:01 am It's important to use a free ranging chicken. The ones that have been raised in cages just sit there and don't know what to do.
You see! Right there! It is the tips and tricks of the trade like that, that make me grateful I am a member of this forum! Growing up in the midwest and knowing how difficult it is to actually catch a "free range" chicken I would have definitely ordered the wrong kind.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2019 5:28 pm
by Chenier
I've cut and shaped all the wood cleats that go along the tops of the frames to provide a surface on which to glue the deck later. Similarly, I notched the frames and fitted the shear clamps to both sides. That'll also provide a glueing surface for the deck.

Now that those parts all fit it's time for assembly. Here's epoxying the port sheer clamp in place.

Image

Assembly will be limited by the number of clamps available!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2019 10:06 pm
by Bogieman
She's looking really good

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2019 10:15 pm
by Netpackrat
It is physically impossible to have too many clamps. :lol:

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2019 10:34 pm
by Bogieman
Netpackrat wrote: Sun Jun 23, 2019 10:15 pm It is physically impossible to have too many clamps. :lol:
:D

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Jun 24, 2019 6:30 am
by OrangeQuest
Looks like an ad for a clamp maker!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Jun 24, 2019 4:26 pm
by Bogieman
OrangeQuest wrote: Mon Jun 24, 2019 6:30 am Looks like an ad for a clamp maker!
And I like how he / you kept the clamp families together :lol:

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Jun 25, 2019 12:13 pm
by Chenier
:lol:

Glueing the cleats to the interior frames is a bit more of a jumble.

Image

One more day of cleating to go ...

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Jun 25, 2019 9:29 pm
by Bogieman
You're flying right along

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2019 4:55 am
by Chenier
Cleats are in.

Image

Time to go fishing ...

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2019 8:23 am
by Jeff
Nice work!!! Jeff

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Sep 01, 2019 3:54 pm
by Chenier
I'm back working on the Moonfish for a few days.

Here I'm adding 1-3/4" x 3/4" pieces to the sides of the cockpit rim. These will give the hapless sailor a handhold in the unlikely (Ha!) event of a capsize.

Image

The temporary cleats align the new work with the top of the existing structure so it doesn't go sliding all over before I can clamp it when epoxy is applied.

Also filled in the top of the gap in the center trunk structure so there's backing for the hardware that'll get mounted on the deck in that vicinity later.

Image

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Nov 10, 2019 6:53 am
by Chenier
After several month on the water I'm back in the workshop.

The interior is done and encapsulated with two coats of epoxy:

Image

Building tip: If you're going to have surfaces that you can't see and/or will be facing down (like the undesides of all those cleats and the sheer clamp), put the encapsulating epoxy on those surfaces before assembly. Coating them later has been a fiesta of epoxy runs and drips.

Now moving on to building the strip-plank deck.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Nov 11, 2019 7:56 am
by Jeff
Nice work!!! She is going to be beautiful!! Jeff

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2019 7:17 am
by Chenier
The deck begins.

After plenty of head-scratching I dumped the idea of building the deck on the plywood template I'd used for shaping the hull and sides. That would introduce an extra layer of abstraction and opportunity for error. Instead I'm building the deck right on the boat itself. I've added temporary crossbars to support the deck during construction, using hot glue to keep them in place. Then I covered the entire boat with plastic film and packing tape to catch glue drips.

Image

The cedar strips come in various shades. Above I've used a heat gun to bend some of the darker strips to form a visual "gunwhale".

Image

Once the gunwhale was anchored down I strongarmed a couple lighter cedar strips into place alongside it.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2019 7:30 am
by Chenier
The decorative accents are in place and the deck centerline is established. The cedar stripping will build out from the centerline.

Image

It takes a certain amount of insanty to build a four-foot wide deck three-quarters of an inch at a time. I seem to be amply supplied. Decking in progress:

Image

Staples hold the strips down on the frame and keep the whole deck flat during construction. They'll all get pulled once the deck is complete.

The crossbars you see are simple DIY bar clamps. They press the cedar strips together while the glue between them dries.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2019 7:35 am
by cape man
You will not regret the time you are spending. That is going to be gorgeous!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2019 7:37 am
by cape man
Did you seal those strips on the underside?

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2019 8:05 am
by Chenier
>>Did you seal those strips on the underside?<<

Not yet. Once the whole deck is glued up I'll flip it over, scrape off all the glue drips and give it a layer of fiberglass. Then it goes right-side-up again and gets glued down onto the frame with thickened epoxy.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2019 8:27 am
by Jeff
Really nice work!! That is going to be beautiful!! Jeff

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2019 8:52 am
by pee wee
Agreed, that looks great and well worth the extra effort! 8)

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2019 9:01 am
by OrangeQuest
Wow! You can see already it is going to be a stand out!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2019 11:42 am
by Bogieman
Very nice!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2019 11:49 am
by cape man
The foredeck and gunwales added 2 plus months to my build, but I have never regretted it.

Image

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2019 12:00 pm
by Chenier
Wow, that's awesome!

Thanks, all.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2019 12:51 pm
by cape man
By the way...what is a Hybird? Is that a bird way up in the clouds? :) 8)

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Jan 07, 2020 3:02 pm
by Chenier
Hot diggety! Finished glueing up the deck this morning:

Image

Still need to scrape, sand and fiberglass both sides before the deck is "done".

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Jan 07, 2020 3:14 pm
by Jeff
Beautiful work!! Jeff

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Jan 07, 2020 3:17 pm
by Fuzz
Man that is going to be one pretty deck :wink:

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Jan 07, 2020 4:23 pm
by Bogieman
Wow! Very nice

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2020 6:21 pm
by Browndog
Looking good! Your making good progress. Keep it up!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2020 4:41 am
by OrangeQuest
That is really looking good!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2020 6:40 am
by cape man
Love it!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2020 8:35 am
by Chenier
The underside of the deck is scrapped, sanded and glassed with 6-ounce cloth.

Image

The fiberglass cloth was applied at a 45º angle to the deck so it wouldn't line up with the seams between the wood strips.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2020 8:45 am
by Chenier
You can see that the staple holes absorb epoxy resin:

Image

Epoxy even leaked through some holes to the other side:

Image

A few experts recommend rinsing down the deck with water to raise the grain and cause the staple holes to swell shut before fiberglassing. I thought this was just for cosmetics so I skipped it as this side of the deck will be sealed inside the boat. I guess skipping the washdown wasn't such a great idea. :?

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2020 8:51 am
by Jeff
Chenier, Still beautiful work!!!! Jeff

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2020 9:41 am
by Bogieman
Very nice! She's going to be the prettiest little sailboat on the forum

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2020 10:35 am
by cape man
My cedar strip canoe used the same staple method, and shows the same staple scars, but guess what? No one has EVER commented about them, as the boat is what you see. You might try the water swelling trick on the top side, and see what it does for those where the epoxy didn't seep all the way through, but I think it is absolutely gorgeous as is.

I picked up an LM18 hull that another builder was selling. I am thinking of what we can do to give it some wood bling on the tops of the deck and/or gunwales... Your strip construction of the deck off the boat, allowing glass on both sides, is very interesting to me... 8) 8)

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2020 12:49 pm
by Chenier
cape man wrote: Fri Feb 07, 2020 10:35 amI picked up an LM18 hull that another builder was selling. I am thinking of what we can do to give it some wood bling on the tops of the deck and/or gunwales... Your strip construction of the deck off the boat, allowing glass on both sides, is very interesting to me... 8) 8)
In retrospect it would have been way easier for me to build that deck on a flat plywood table covered with a sheet of poly rather than build it on top of the boat. The edges can be trimmed with accent pieces added later, as I did for the trim around the cockpit.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2020 6:52 pm
by Chenier
Well that's wierd. I thought I made a post this morning, but it doesn't appear in the thread. It must have been eaten by vampire electrons or something. Let's try this again...

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2020 6:57 pm
by Chenier
Deck is finished. Before the last sanding I wet down the upper side with hot water - that reduced the size of the staple holes by about 50%. The staple holes that weren't already filled with epoxy from the other side, that is. :roll:


Image

I've hoisted the deck overhead so I can work on the internal hardware and backing plates for the external hardware.

We had a nice day today so I was able to take the saws outside and rough-cut most of the backing plates. Sawdust is good mulch for the garden, right?

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2020 10:40 am
by Bogieman
8)

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2020 11:05 am
by Jeff
Beautiful work!!! Jeff

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2020 5:24 pm
by OrangeQuest
Very nice!!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2020 10:22 pm
by Chenier
Hardware backing plates are done.

The building plans call for 1/2-inch backing plates on the underside of the deck for all deck hardware. Since my deck build was unconventional I don't have lines all over it's underside telling me where the internal frames are. Rather than play an extended game of trial-and-error I decided to glue the plates to the structure flush with the top surfaces. Then, as I glue the deck down, I'll be gluing it to the backing plates at the same time.

Image

A few notes:

- The bow backing plates are a lot wider than they need to be for the bow handle. But they need to attach to the sides and it didn't seem worth it to start doing cutouts. Now I'm properly equipped to ram icebergs!

- I put backing plates on both sides of the mast for the halyard fairlead. The normal MF14/Sunfish halyard is on the right side of the mast. But I'm hoping to do a wooden mast with an in-mast sheeve at the top so the halyard would end up the left side. With backing plates on both sides it's no big deal to configure the mast either way.

- The V-shaped backing plates aft of the mast are for a Sunfish-style splash coaming. I laminated a doubler to the middle of the backing plate, taking it to 1-inch thick, so I can use longer screws on the coaming. I want it durable as in service the coaming will take some serious abuse from feet etc as it sticks up well above the deck.

- I extended the aft-most backing plates from the bridle attach points all the way back to the transom. This allows me to install kayack-style lifting toggles in the corners if we later decide we need them.

Next task is fabricating a nut plate to go on the inside of the transom. The plans say to use bolts, nuts, and wide fender washers to hold the rudder fittings on. But they don't tell me how to install said nuts and washers inside the boat after the deck is already sealed in place. So I'm going to make a plate that I can fix in place ahead of time with four threaded holes to catch the rudder bolts.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2020 2:59 pm
by Chenier
After a few distractions, like fishing and fixing my drill press, the nutplate is done.

Image

The plate and nuts are 1/8-inch bronze. The nuts are simply 3/4-inch squares brazed in place so they won't twist.

I laid out on the transom where I wanted the holes for the rudder gudgeon, then made a jig for them out of 1-1/2" hardwood so I would be sure to drill holes perpendicular rather than willy-nilly. With the holes drilled, I clamped the nut plate in place and ran the drill in again, just enough to mark the centers of the holes. Then off to the drill press to make holes going all the way through both plate and nut. The holes are threaded to accept 1/4x20 bolts.

The three little screw heads you see are #4 wood screws that attach the plate to the transom. They'll keep the assembly in place and aligned while I put the deck on and fiberglass the outside of the boat. It'll be waiting patiently for a few months until I'm ready to bolt on the rudder.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2020 11:29 am
by Chenier
Time to glue the deck down onto the boat (gulp!) This is one large all-or-nothing epoxy job. Epoxy and filler need to be mixed and spread over all the top surfaces of the inner structure and hull, then the deck applied and aligned before the epoxy begins to set.

Image

One of my sons helped me. We picked a cool morning (50ºF in the garage) and iced the epoxy in our trays after mixing to slow down the set. It took about 2-1/2 cups of epoxy glue. Working together we got it mixed and spread in about half an hour.

Once the deck was in place and aligned, I put tiny little nails into the bow and the two aft corners to keep the deck from sliding around. Then we applied weights, sandbags and heavy tools all over the deck to press it down onto the inner structure. The blue tape on the deck marks out where the weights needed to go. A yoga mat (color coordinated, of course) sacrificed itself so the weights wouldn't scar the deck.

Image

Then we closed the garage door and cranked up the heat. The epoxy started gelling about mid-afternoon. Once it was the consistency of putty and wouldn't run I pulled off all the masking material. And pulled out the alignment nails. A few more days for the epoxy to really set and I took off the weights.

Image

Et voila, it's a boat!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2020 11:33 am
by Jaysen
Dang... Daaanng. That's... daaaaaaang.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2020 11:43 am
by OrangeQuest
Jaysen wrote: Mon Apr 13, 2020 11:33 am Dang... Daaanng. That's... daaaaaaang.
X2!

Very nice work! I have loved following this build. Kind of sad it is so close to being finished. So what is the next project??? :D :D

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2020 12:00 pm
by Chenier
Thanks!

This project has plenty left to do. Lot's of fiberglassing and fitting out the outside. Then a few minor things like making the mast & booms. I'll be entertaining y'all for a while yet.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2020 12:37 pm
by Jeff
Beautiful work Chenier!!! Jeff

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2020 1:11 pm
by Bogieman
Wow! A real work of art

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2020 3:13 pm
by cape man
I'm so impressed ! What a beautiful job! Hats off sir!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2020 3:15 pm
by cape man
I want so much to change your thread title to High Bird 8)

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue May 05, 2020 11:33 am
by Chenier
The router came out of its winter hibernation.

Image

Used a laminate trim bit to trim all the edges and clean out the holes in the deck for the mast step and daggerboard slot.

Image

Then used a 1/2-inch roundover bit on the deck outside edges and the daggerboard so that fiberglass can cling to the turn.

Image

Image

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue May 05, 2020 11:34 am
by Chenier
Next I sanded everything smooth, vacuumed it and wiped it down before moving on to fiberglass. Sanding is not very photogenic so you'll just have to visualize me with the random orbital sander. Took it down to 220-grit sandpaper. Smoother then my new grandson's bottom.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue May 05, 2020 3:05 pm
by Fuzz
You are doing some amazing work here :!:

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue May 05, 2020 8:40 pm
by Chenier
Thanks.

My publishing had to go on a short break while the humans battled the gremlins in the Bateau server. If I make my pictures small enough they'll post without a 500 server error. Here goes nuttin' ...

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue May 05, 2020 8:51 pm
by Chenier
Building with cedar strips calls for a skin of 6oz fiberglass on both sides of the cedar. I'd already glassed the inside surfaces of the deck and sides before assembling them onto the boat. Now it's time for the outside.

At its widest point the deck is 48 inches across and the sides are another 12 inches each, for a total of 72 inches. The widest cloth I could find anywhere was 60 inches, so I was going to need a seam somewhere. I decided to run the seam right down the middle.

Here's the starboard side draped with 38-inch cloth. I pre-coated the deck with a thin coat of epoxy so the staple holes wouldn't suck epoxy out of the cloth like they did on the inside surface.

Image

Just forward of the cockpit you can see where I notched the fiberglass cloth and stuffed it down the daggerboard slot. The mouth of the slot is going to take a lot of abuse as the daggerboard gets shoved in there. The glass should protect it a bit.

Now the other half is glassed and epoxied in place.

Image

And the extra fiberglass is trimmed off:

Image

When joining two pieces of fiberglass cloth, the Gudgeon Brothers book says to overlap the pieces by two inches. I overlapped by three inches, so shoot me. Did my best to run the edges down the outside edge of the cedar strip that's just outside the blond wood stripe. It's hard to see (Yay!), but you can sort of see it from the reflections in the last two photos.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue May 05, 2020 8:56 pm
by Chenier
I left the cockpit edges 90º and glassed right up to the edge. Figured if I tried to wrap the fiberglass cloth over the edge of the cockpit I'd spend the rest of my natural life trying to get the wrinkles out of those rounded corners.

Image

Then Mr. Router rounded the edge for the comfort of the sailor sitting there.

Image

Plenty of drips after applying a topcoat of epoxy to the cockpit rim with a brush. Yeah, sanding is going to be involved. I hope I do better when it comes to varnish!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue May 05, 2020 9:00 pm
by Chenier
Fill coats of epoxy finished on top of the initial fiberglass. Deck is done for now.

Image

In a few days, after the epoxy is good and hard, I'll flip it over and work on the bottom.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue May 05, 2020 9:33 pm
by OrangeQuest
I have no words that can say how awesome that boat looks!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue May 05, 2020 9:39 pm
by Fuzz
Repeat what OQ said. And then do it again and again :!:

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed May 06, 2020 12:37 am
by Netpackrat
Wow.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed May 06, 2020 6:07 am
by cape man
Everyone! Hats off!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed May 06, 2020 6:33 am
by Browndog
Nice job!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed May 06, 2020 6:42 am
by Chenier
Many thanks, all.

Sure hope it floats! :)

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed May 06, 2020 6:44 am
by Jaysen
Floats? you're putting that on the water? I thought you were making a sculpture.

I repeat my last response....

daaaaaaammmmmmn. That is one fine boat.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed May 06, 2020 6:55 am
by cape man
Don't know if you want advice, but I have been very pleased with the EMC Quantum 99 clear top coat as a UV protection for the bright work. It goes on very easily with a foam roller and self levels quickly. You can put a second coat on without sanding in a 4 to 12 hour window. I just used it on a cedar strip canoe where I sanded the epoxy to 420 grit and it came out beautiful. I used it on an oak bar out by the pool that gets several hours of direct sunlight and 3 years later it's still clear and hard. Currently refinishing the OD18 I built 10 years ago, and it is going on all the bright work. It's pricey compared to varnish or polyurethane, but the finish and ease of application is worth it to me.

Again, my hat is off to you sir! You took a basic plan and turned it into art. That boat is going to turn heads everywhere.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed May 06, 2020 7:49 am
by Jeff
Beautiful work!! We are still working on the photo issue!! Jeff

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed May 06, 2020 9:58 am
by Chenier
cape man wrote: Wed May 06, 2020 6:55 am Don't know if you want advice, but I have been very pleased with the EMC Quantum 99 clear top coat as a UV protection for the bright work. ....
Thanks for the pointer! I'll look into it.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed May 06, 2020 8:29 pm
by Aripeka Angler
Wow, nice work!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed May 13, 2020 9:13 pm
by Chenier
Flipped her over to start work on the bottom.

Image

That sure turned ugly in a hurry!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu May 14, 2020 5:55 am
by cape man
YUCK! I would just get rid of that pig. Need my address? :lol:

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu May 14, 2020 7:34 am
by Jeff
Beautiful work!!! Jeff

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu May 14, 2020 7:36 am
by OrangeQuest
Chenier wrote: Wed May 13, 2020 9:13 pm That sure turned ugly in a hurry!
What the hell happened!!? 8O

I am sure you will fix that soon enough!! :) :)

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu May 14, 2020 8:05 am
by Jaysen
What was it CL said... Only the fish see the bottom and they don't care!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu May 14, 2020 9:46 pm
by Chenier
OrangeQuest wrote: Thu May 14, 2020 7:36 am
What the hell happened!!? 8O
I haven't touched the bottom since I screwed and taped it into place a year ago April. So I flipped it while the deck has a simple epoxy finish. The deck still needs to be sanded so a few minor scratches, which are inevitable while it lies face down, won't be a problem.

My plan is to take the bottom all the way through painted and done before flipping again and finishing the deck and cockpit.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu May 14, 2020 10:01 pm
by OrangeQuest
Can't wait to see it turned into the same as the topside!! :D

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 5:00 pm
by Chenier
When you have a nice bottom on your carefully hand-crafted boat, the first thing you need to do is drill a hole in it!

Image

This is so the router could get started at cutting out the daggerboad slot. The router with a laminate trim bit made short work of cutting out the slot:

Image

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 5:03 pm
by cape man
Nice cut! Big step! I so want to edit your build title... 8) 8) :lol:

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 5:13 pm
by Chenier
The build notes tell me to create a 1/2-inch radius on all seams that will be taped. This was easy to do on the deck with a roundover bit in the router, and it was easy to knock the sharp edges off the bottom's center seam with a sander. But the chine is a different story. There I'll be wrapping the tape around an 85º angle. The router needs perpendicular and the ROS sander was too slow. So I made a bevel all the way around with a block plane:

Image

And then knocked the sharp edges off of that with the sander:

Image

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 5:19 pm
by Chenier
Then I filled dings, gaps, screw holes, etc. with thickened epoxy. The bow area, shown here, had the widest gap between the bottom panels - about a quarter inch.

Image

This will cure for a few days before I can attack the bottom with a sander.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 5:22 pm
by Chenier
cape man wrote: Thu May 21, 2020 5:03 pm I so want to edit your build title... 8) 8) :lol:
I asked Jeff if he could fix it way back near the beginning, but nothing ever came of it.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 5:28 pm
by cape man
So what's the plan for the bottom? Paint, graphite? So loving this build.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 10:05 pm
by Chenier
cape man wrote: Thu May 21, 2020 5:28 pm So what's the plan for the bottom?
We're out of TP so we'll be using fiberglass. :D

Then paint.

She'll be coming ashore on sand beaches. Glass & paint work well there for wooden outboards so I expect they'll do fine for a sailing dinghy.


Image

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 10:11 pm
by OrangeQuest
Chenier wrote: Thu May 21, 2020 10:05 pm We're out of TP so we'll be using fiberglass.
8O 8O


:lol: :lol: :lol:

Your little boat is going to fit right in with that crowd... other than your boat doesn't smoke, or make noise.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 10:22 pm
by Chenier
OrangeQuest wrote: Thu May 21, 2020 10:11 pmYour little boat is going to fit right in with that crowd... other than your boat doesn't smoke, or make noise.
Noise? Just the screams of an inept skipper. I haven't really sailed in thirty years. This little boat will teach me as much on the water as it did while I was building her.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 6:00 am
by cape man
That's a gorgeous fleet of boats! Where is that?

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 6:46 am
by Chenier

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 7:33 am
by Jeff
Beautiful photo!! Jeff

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri May 29, 2020 6:25 pm
by Chenier
Fiberglass tape is now applied to all the seams on the bottom and transom.

Image

The picture doesn't show the daggerboard area well. I added tape around the sides of the daggerboard slot for extra reinforcement, inspired by what walkabout_slp did in his "MF14-Minnesota" build.

https://forums.bateau2.com/viewtopic.ph ... 9&start=70

Alas, the pictures in that thread seem to have gone away and I forgot to take one.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri May 29, 2020 6:27 pm
by Chenier
Then I draped fiberglass cloth over the whole bottom.

Image

I had to add a fiberglass joint amidships. The Bill of Materials (in the build notes) calls for 5 yards of fiberglass cloth and that's what I ordered. Then, without thinking very hard, I chewed into those 5 yards to glass the inside of the daggerboard slot and the inside of the cockpit. The boat is 14 feet 5 inches long so there really isn't any spare cloth in those 5 yards. I got more cloth and overlapped the two pieces a couple of feet forward of the daggerboard slot.

Image

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri May 29, 2020 6:30 pm
by Chenier
The boat is 48" wide and the fiberglass fabric is 50", so obviously we aren't going to be draping fabric down the sides of the boat. Beside, this boat already has glass fabric on the side - it doesn't need a second layer. So I decided to cut the cloth just short of the side.

I know from sad experience that letting an epoxy-filled brush or squeegee anywhere near the cut edge of fiberglass cloth results in an unholy mess of tangled fibers pulled loose from the fabric. So my first try was to wet the fabric down, wait a couple hours for the epoxy to start gelling, and then cut it freehand with scissors. Then pat it back down. That worked but it looked a bit like my dog chewed on the edge.

Image

Next I put down masking tape along the line where I wanted the cut to be - under the fiberglass cloth that you want to cut away. Wet it down and wait for the glass to start gelling again.

Image

Then cut along the edge of the tape with a sharp box knife. Pull up the tape and the waste cloth et voila!

Image

The seam between the two fiberglass pieces goes across the bottom of the picture and you can see the cut edge going up to the bow on the left.

(Incidentally, the notes on the MF14 plans say to fiberglass both the bottom and the sides, while the build notes only mention the bottom. If one does both it's going to take a lot more than 5 yards of cloth!)

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri May 29, 2020 6:31 pm
by Chenier
Forgive me for I have sinned. I epoxied down some of the cloth in the morning, and then the day warmed up. Outgassing!

Image

Interestingly, these bubbles went right through the 4oz cloth and inflated on the outside. It was a simple matter to knock them off with a bit of sandpaper. The adhesion of the cloth to the wood wasn't bothered at all.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri May 29, 2020 6:34 pm
by Chenier
Yesterday I applied the first fill/fairing coat with a thin mix of phenolic microballoons. Remember earlier I said it got ugly in a hurry? Well, this coating brought to mind the expression "putting lipstick on a pig."

Image

Today's second coat, with a thicker mix of microballoons, was much better. More like icing on the cake.

Image

At least that looks like a reasonable boat bottom. Now it gets to cure for a while before sanding.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri May 29, 2020 6:37 pm
by OrangeQuest
You lucky dog!! That was nice of the epoxy!! Very nice glass work!

Shouldn't take much fairing with the 4oz.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri May 29, 2020 9:28 pm
by Chenier
OrangeQuest wrote: Fri May 29, 2020 6:37 pm You lucky dog!! That was nice of the epoxy!! Very nice glass work!
Thanks. I'll take all the breaks I can get.
OrangeQuest wrote: Fri May 29, 2020 6:37 pm Shouldn't take much fairing with the 4oz.
The 4oz isn't much of a problem. It's the 9oz tape at all the seams that really need fairing into the 4oz across the bottom.

And I'm really looking forward to avoiding a goat rope when I try to fair the 9oz tape on the sides - which are going to be finished bright and therefore can't use regular fairing mixes. Maybe I'll start reading Harry Potter to find a magic spell.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri May 29, 2020 9:38 pm
by cape man
Awesome job and the masking tape was a sweet little trick.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 4:20 pm
by Chenier
Well.

That was a lot more filling, fairing, and sanding than expected. I sanded the first round of filler too agressively so I had to go back and re-apply. I put on some thick filler in the worst spots, then hit the whole bottom with two more "runny" fill coats rolled on. Here's the bottom in the midst of sanding that whole mess:

Image

I also noticed some epoxy, from wetting out the fiberglass, had dribbled down into the daggerboard slot. Had to flatten that out, too. Sandpaper on a stick! Lots of fun.

Image

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 4:27 pm
by Chenier
Finally got it all flat and cleaned off the dust:

Image

The blotchy effect is from sanding into all the different layers of fill coat. You can see the outlines of the fiberglass tape in the center and around the edges - when I hit the clear epoxy filling the weave on the tape, that was my cue to stop sanding.

Then a couple coats of unthickened epoxy to encapsulate and protect all those microballoons:

Image

Mirror, mirror on the wall
Who's the fairest bottom of them all?


:D

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2020 1:10 pm
by Jeff
Nice progress!!! Jeff

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2020 2:38 pm
by Fuzz
Looks like one slick bottom to me :D

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2020 6:50 pm
by Chenier
Fuzz wrote: Mon Jul 27, 2020 2:38 pm Looks like one slick bottom to me :D
Sadly, looks aren't everything. Being epoxy, it needs a UV protection coat. Yeah, I know, UV doesn't get underwater. But think of the hull laying upside down on the beach during the summer. Shudder. So now I'm sanding that shiny epoxy down to 220-grit in prep for paint.

Had intended to go with a green bottom. But SWMBO liked the color of the microballoons. So I'll probably find a similar paint. Thus far EzPoxy Burgundy is the only marine paint I've found that's in the ballpark. I wonder if Rustoleum comes in a high-gloss? :D

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2020 10:31 pm
by Netpackrat
Chenier wrote: Mon Jul 27, 2020 6:50 pm Had intended to go with a green bottom. But SWMBO liked the color of the microballoons. So I'll probably find a similar paint. Thus far EzPoxy Burgundy is the only marine paint I've found that's in the ballpark. I wonder if Rustoleum comes in a high-gloss? :D
https://www.rustoleum.com/product-catal ... ide-paint/

Only in bright red, not primer red though. :lol:

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2020 2:33 pm
by Chenier
Small change in plans.

I had intended to sand and paint the bottom before turning the Moonfish over again and finishing the deck. Got the bottom sanded to 220, then read the instructions on the paint. "The substrate and air temperatures must be between 50ºF and 90ºF throughout the entire mixing, application, and curing process." Urgh. My garage has hit ninety or more every day for the last two months. Paint will have to wait until it starts to cool down around here.

So. Flip the boat over and start sanding the deck and cockpit. That went faster than the bottom - learning curve. Finished sanding them to 110 grit last week. Then checked my notes: I've been sanding since Memorial Day!

Took a few days off from sanding to actually build something for a change. I fashioned a collar to go around the mast step. It's main job is to protect my fancy deck from being stabbed while stepping the mast. Secondarily it makes the mast step round, like the mast, and will be an attach point for the halyard fairlead. Here it is epoxy coated and epoxied in place:

Image

Not much, but that's what passes for excitement around here these days. It needs to sit and harden for four days before I start sanding again - taking everything down to 220 before varnishing happens.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2020 11:23 pm
by Bogieman
Looking great!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 3:42 pm
by walkabout_slp
Looking good.

Good that you installed the collar now. I installed one a few weeks ago after 2 years of sailing my Moonfish because there was a little too much play on the square mast hole. I ended up with a slightly larger one than yours, but also mounted the halyard fairlead. It does not look as nice as I just doubled up some 1/2" marine plywood and then cut a 2 3/8" hole for the 2 1/4" mast (I was worried that by adding epoxy to a 2 1/4" hole would make the hole too small). I ended up crimping my mast a little when I righted the boat after capsising for the first time. Not sure if it was because I applied too much pressure on the centerboard or it was because of the square mast hole, either way I am hoping the round collar will be better.

I also installed a standard Sunfish self-bailer at the same time as I was tired of hand bailing when big boats would swamp the boat or bigger waves. So far it has worked like a charm. If there is plenty of wind and boat speed I leave it open otherwise I put the plug in it. I struggled to find one though as the manufacturer was delayed in making any, but I was lucky enough to find someone on a Sunfish forum that sold me an extra one.

You adding a splash guard? Before or after varnishing?

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2020 7:41 am
by Chenier
>> Good that you installed the collar now. <<

Thanks, but I got a bit ahead of myself. Last week's lesson was that I should have painted the inside of the mast step before gluing the collar in place ...

>> I also installed a standard Sunfish self-bailer ... <<

Good idea!

>> You adding a splash guard? Before or after varnishing? <<

Yes. After varnish. The splash coaming is voted "first part of the boat to break" because it's such a tempting target for fat feet. I don't want it epoxied in place so I can fix it as needed.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2020 8:43 am
by Jeff
Beautiful work!! Jeff

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2020 11:58 am
by Bogieman
Looking forward to your sailing pics

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2020 11:15 am
by Chenier
Here I've masked off the mast collar, daggerboard well and cockpit for paint and varnish.

Image

Initially I thought I'd be varnishing the whole deck next, but later changed my mind. Completing the cockpit now meant I wouldn't have to abuse a varnished deck. So after painting the inside of the mast step & the inside of the daggerboard well, and varnishing the cockpit sides, I re-masked to paint the cockpit bottom.

Image

The inside of the daggerboard well was painted by the ol' "shove a foam roller down there" technique. I had to modify a small trim brush to get past the mast collar to paint the inside of the mast step.

In the second photo you'll see I masked the sides of the cockpit with wax paper. It's much more convenient to work in small sizes like this that cutting up huge sheets of poly. (The white stuff is freezer paper, for the same reason.) However, it was a mistake to wrap the wax paper up onto the deck. Leaning on it to sand, vacuum, clean and paint the cockpit bottom multiple times ground some of the wax into the deck. This was not helpful to the first coat of varnish on the deck! The freezer paper, which is only coated on one side, did not have that problem.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2020 11:18 am
by Chenier
After painting the cockpit bottom I applied nonskid. There were some "holidays" in the nonskid so I put down more paint where needed and applied more nonskid. The "repairs" ended up as dark blotches. Here they are after a top coat of paint:

Image

I think what I have is a "sponge" of nonskid material, held together by paint of course. Under this theory the dark would be from all the tiny holes between particles in the sponge. I tried sanding them down but that was a non-starter. I ended up putting a couple more coats of paint over them and they disappeared.

Image

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2020 11:23 am
by Chenier
Finally the cockpit is done!

Varnishing and painting the cockpit was a good warm-up for the much larger jobs on the deck, sides, and bottom.

Image

After letting the cockpit dry a bit I masked it over to start varnishing the deck.

Image

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2020 12:02 pm
by Bogieman
Very nice work!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2020 12:32 pm
by Jeff
I agree, excellent work!!! She is going to be a beauty!!! Jeff

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2020 5:44 pm
by Chenier
Slathered varnish all over it:

Image

Waiting for that to harden, then on to paint the bottom. Imagine the excitement.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2020 7:12 pm
by cape man
WOW!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2020 10:26 pm
by Fuzz
Holy **** does that look good or what :!:

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 4:38 am
by Browndog
That is one fine looking boat!

Looks so good it will be hard to imagine getting her all scratched & dinged up from use.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 4:44 am
by OrangeQuest
Yes, very fantastic work!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 8:04 am
by Fair WX Pilot
Absolutely amazing, what a great look.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 9:58 am
by gstanfield
I agree with the others, nice work!

George

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 10:07 am
by pee wee
That's the kind of boat you dress up to go for a ride in!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 10:14 am
by Jeff
Again, WOW!!!!! Jeff

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 12:44 pm
by cape man
So I keep going back and looking at this boat! Cannot wait to see it on the water! You should be VERY proud! Personally I think it will look better with a couple of good scratches... 8) :lol:

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2020 8:15 am
by Chenier
Thanks, all!

By the time I get the mast, hardware and add-on bits done, it’s going to be too cold to sail her. It’ll be tough waiting for spring.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2020 11:48 am
by Fair WX Pilot
Do you have a name in mind for her yet? I suggest “Whiplash” as that’s what they will get the first time they see it and spin around for a closer look :lol:

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2020 8:55 am
by BB Sig
Chenier wrote: Sun Oct 25, 2020 5:44 pm Image
8O :D 8O

I don't usually like it when we repost pictures but I think this is worth it! 8O Great job!!!!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 10:04 am
by Chenier
Thanks. I had a helper.

Image

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 10:07 am
by Chenier
Masked and ready for bottom paint.

Image

A roll of wax paper was a convenient medium for masking the sides.

The crosswise stripes you see on the bottom are from blue tape that was holding the masking on the bottom when I varnished the sides. It pulled all the loose sanding dust off the bottom. Vacuuming and wiping down with denatured alcohol made the whole bottom cleaner than those stripes.

Bottom paint being applied:

Image

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 10:10 am
by Chenier
One can of paint (Ez-Poxy) and four coats later, the bottom is done.

Image

This finishes the hull. Woohoo! Now wait a week for the paint to harden.

From here on the project is all about attachments - rudder, daggerboard, mast & spars, splash coaming and hardware.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 1:54 pm
by cape man
You make me sick! 8) Just beautiful!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 3:15 pm
by gstanfield
Very nicely done.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2020 9:03 am
by Jeff
Beautiful work!!! Jeff

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2020 10:27 am
by Chenier
Weighed the hull today. Put a bathroom scale under each corner, then subtracted the weight of materials supporting the boat. 132 pounds.

Image

The MF14 study plans spec the hull weight at 150 pounds. I'm going to need a really heavy deck cleat.... :D

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2020 11:53 am
by cape man
She's going to fly!!!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2020 12:56 am
by Fuzz
Sexy and skinny like a super model! You had better plan on a lot of extra time at the ramp for questions :D

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2020 8:56 am
by Bogieman
Very nice ! Looking forward to seeing her in the water

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2020 6:27 pm
by Chenier
The first attachments at bat are the ventilation hatches. The boat has to sit outside for a while so there's room in my shop to make the other attachments. Need to seal those big holes in the bulkheads so critters don't move in!

Common six-inch plastic deck plates.

Image

No white plastic for this boat, thank you very much. Spray painted them brown.

Image

And then set them to dry for 48 hours just like the directions on the can says.

Image

They look like mushrooms.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2020 6:28 pm
by Chenier
You would think a spray paint manufacturer (Krylon) would sell a clear coat that was compatible with their spray paint.

Image

No such luck. The clear coat was almost as good as paint remover.

Got to start over again. Second time I used common spar varnish as a clear coat and that went fine.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2020 6:31 pm
by Chenier
Hatch rings are installed.

Image

And, after the silicon sealant sets, so are the hatches.

Image

Not visible: one of the hatch plates has a 1/16" hole drilled in it to let air pressure inside the hull equalize with the atmosphere during barometric and temperature changes. Only one hole, though. Don't want all the air to bubble out when someone capsized the boat.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2020 6:35 pm
by Chenier
Got the hull out of the shop.

Image

A Sunfish mast fits!

Then I had some fun crawling around on the ground under the boat adjusting the dolly. NOT.

Image

Didn't get it right - the wheels are too far back and the tongue weight is too high. But it'll do till it comes back to the shop.

Image

Now hibernating under the trampoline which doesn't get much use in winter.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2021 11:12 am
by Chenier
Next "attachment" is the daggerboard. The owner of a local business did a CNC daggerboard for his father's Sunfish. So I commissioned his shop to do another one for me with a Moonfish handle.

Image

Misread the Moonfish plans and made the part of the daggerboard that passes through the hull two inches too long. Got to spend a day with a belt sander, block plane, and sanding block extending the foil up another two inches.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2021 11:14 am
by Chenier
Someone on the internet suggested wrapping an extra layer of fiberglass over the tip for abrasion resistance.

Image

As you can see, there was no way the fiberglass (6 oz) was going to adhere to the tight radius at the tip. I had to cut it, creating a seam, so the 'glass would stick to the wood.

I was more successful draping the fiberglass over the leading edge:

Image

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2021 11:17 am
by Chenier
Next I rounded off the corners of the handle and cleats with a 1/4-inch roundover bit in the router. Then glued the cleats to each side.

Image

Here's the whole board coated with epoxy. Three layers of fill on top of the fiberglass and two layers of encapsulation on the raw wood.

Image

Varnish to come, after I get the splash coaming done.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2021 2:23 pm
by Jeff
Absolutely beautiful work!!! Jeff

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:40 am
by Bogieman
Nice! Looking forward to the splash

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:29 am
by cape man
I don't know why, but I love the patterns one gets when shaping ply wood. The alternating grains are gorgeous. Have you considered adding some type of protecting layer on the edge that will first hit bottom? Similar to what they put on the edges of paddles?

https://www.shawandtenney.com/product-c ... ional-oars

I tried to find Rockgard protection and just get stuff for keeping rocks from damaging your vehicle or boat while on the road.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 6:42 pm
by Chenier
That's a good idea!

Unfortunately the last time I saw protection on the end of an oar was during crew in the '60's. They were tipped with copper sheet, IIRC. I'll sniff around and see if the state of the art might have changed since then.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2021 7:59 am
by Chenier
I'm adding a splash coaming to the Moonfish. The coaming will sit on the deck between the daggerboard and the mast, deflecting some of the water coming over the bow. In one form or another it's been a feature of Sunfish since day one.

I had to make a taper jig and a canted mitre jig to cut the two wings of the coaming. Here's the mitre jig in action:

Image

And the completed coaming:

Image

The coaming is 3 inches high in the center, tapering to 1.5 inches at the outer ends. The angle between the wings is 120º and they cant forward 15º.

You can see the holes for mounting screws near the ends of the wings. I aspire to forge a bronze bracket that will hold the center. We'll see...

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2021 10:49 am
by cape man
Walnut?

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2021 7:19 am
by Chenier
Sapele.

It's a reasonably close color match to the dark strips of Western Red Cedar in the hull and sides. But building something you're going to kick and step on out of brittle cedar didn't seem very smart.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2021 7:41 am
by Jaysen
It was seeing boats like the one you are building that sparked my interest in sailing when I was a kid (about 7). At the time there was zero ability for me to be anywhere near a dinghy of any size so I read and read and read. Now that I'm old I find that I don't care about the beauty aspect as much for my own boats. Seeing what you are building... it reminds me of a time when my life was simple and I didn't understand "the world". Sailing was a dream that I was able to sprinkle with pirates and swords and all the lies of literature. I love sailing for different reasons now but the fantasy of a 10yr old boy sitting on the bank of a lake watching the "rich kids" needed to be aired out.

Thank you for that kick in the pants. That is one beautiful craft you are building.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2021 9:16 pm
by Chenier
Thank you.

I'm building her for that kid, of whom we have bunches in our extended family. They have access to starter rowboats and outboards, but no sail. Sure, I'll sail her too, but that's just goofing around.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2021 9:21 pm
by Chenier
At this point all the woodwork on the Moonfish is done with the exception of the mast and (maybe) to booms. I'm going to take a break from the woodworking side of my brain for a while and get the metalworking side of my shop out of mothballs. As you've probably guessed by now, I don't always do things the easy way. This craft needs several metal fittings and I know just the amateur boatbuilder to make them ...

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2021 9:16 am
by Chenier
I've decided my MF14 should have bronze fittings to go with the olde timey look of the boat. Of course almost all the small boat parts these days are stainless or chrome plated. I did find a bronze deck cleat so I'll be making the rest of the parts.

Padeyes first. The MF14 has a bridle across the deck near the back. The bridle provides an attach point for the main sheet that's up and over the tiller. You can see one in action on the back of this Sunfish:

Image

The ends of the bridle attach to the deck with a pair of fittings called padeyes. I'm going to forge them out of 1/4-inch bronze rod. First thing to do is set up a crude smithy in the driveway:

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There's a propane burner hiding in the shadows that heats the bronze to a dull red - what one needs to bend and hammer it.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2021 9:21 am
by Chenier
Here are the padeye prototypes and forged "blanks". The blanks are much longer than the finished product because you need handles to hold it (with tongs!) while you hammer it into shape.

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Before and after machining:

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(The fuzz was some spray-on adhesive I used to hold the paper patterns in place.)

Finished padeyes, polished up:

Image

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2021 9:33 am
by Jaysen
Beautiful. The hand touches on this ...

I use a bridle on my v12. I find that having it be adjustable really helps with performance. Class spec for the sunfish may require fixed though.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2021 10:50 am
by Chenier
Thanks.

The original Sunfish had a loop in the middle of the bridle to which the mainsheet attached. The Class Rules were amended in 1980 to allow a straight piece of line, effectively turning the mainsheet attachement into a traveller that could move from side to side. That's what I'm planning on. It's also the way Jacques drew the MF14 plans so I'll be class-legal at the Moonfish races. :D

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2021 11:02 am
by Jaysen
Ha.

The traveler aspect is what I was hinting at. Being able to pull the sheet over the centerline for a few extra points on the chains was a game changer for Lil Bit. I imagine it would be huge on a ‘fish.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2021 2:20 pm
by Jeff
Nice work!!! Jeff

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2021 6:24 pm
by mattkab
Chenier wrote: Mon Mar 15, 2021 9:21 am Here are the padeye prototypes and forged "blanks"
...
Finished padeyes, polished up:
Wait... you forged your own padeyes!?! :!: :!: :!: :!: :!:

The things I come across on this forum sometimes... truly amazing and inspiring.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2021 9:13 pm
by VT_Jeff
Chenier wrote: Mon Mar 15, 2021 9:16 am First thing to do is set up a crude smithy in the driveway:
HOA: what's that?

You: Crude smithy

HOA: <flips through bylaws>....Carry on.

Fun stuff!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2021 7:37 am
by Chenier
Fortunately we don't have an HOA.

I'm not going out of my way to bring this activity to the attention of the zoning officer, however! :D

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2021 3:51 pm
by cape man
Oh Hell yes!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2021 5:29 pm
by Chenier
More bling. I've been distracted by some house projects but did get a chance to turn out the open fairlead:

Image

It's a 1/2-inch hook that mounts at the front of the cockpit. A sailor hooks the main sheet under it to anchor the sheet in the center of the boat. Early Sunfish had a hook like this. Nowadays they use a block.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2021 5:30 am
by cape man
Very cool!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2021 8:22 pm
by Fuzz
You have some mad skills! I am constantly amazed by the skills found here on this forum.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2021 8:25 pm
by VT_Jeff
Agreed, very cool. Those are the kinds of small details that keep the fun in it!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2021 4:38 pm
by TomW1
Have been watching your build but haven't said anything. But you are building one heck of a boat! :D

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2021 8:47 pm
by Chenier
>> You have some mad skills! <<

A lot more now than I started this adventure with. :D

>> But you are building one heck of a boat! <<

Thanks, all.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri May 21, 2021 4:46 am
by Chenier
Finished a couple more hardware bits:

Image

Halyard Fairlead.

The fairlead is only about 1.5 inches high. It'll sit near the base of the mast and turns the halyard (rope that hoists the sail up) 90º so it can run horizontally to the cleat on the deck. Cleats are available in bronze so I'm just buying one of those.

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Rudder Gudgeon.

A bracket that'll hold a Sunfish rudder onto the transom. It turned out my anvil was the same width as the bracket needed to be long, so bending it to shape was a lot easier than I thought it would be.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri May 21, 2021 6:10 am
by cape man
You are amazing!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri May 21, 2021 7:31 am
by Jeff
Beautiful work!!! Jeff

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Jun 09, 2021 3:23 pm
by Chenier
Finished the last of the forged hardware.

A bracket to hold up the splash coaming:

Image

And the bow handle:

Image

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Jun 09, 2021 7:32 pm
by cape man
It is indeed going to be a work of art! Can't wait for the splash!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Jun 09, 2021 7:46 pm
by Jaysen
Am I the only one that is both excited and depressed when chenier posts updates?

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Jun 09, 2021 9:54 pm
by Fuzz
Jaysen wrote: Wed Jun 09, 2021 7:46 pm Am I the only one that is both excited and depressed when chenier posts updates?
I am pretty sure it is amazement in my case. Well throw some talent envy in there with it :wink:

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2021 12:52 am
by Netpackrat
Truly first class workmanship. Love the homebuilt bronze fittings.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Jun 13, 2021 4:15 pm
by Chenier
Time for the mundane: I made ventilation plates. These replace the solid inspection hatch covers during the off-season allowing the hull to air out a bit. Screens keep critters out.

Image

I took the hatch covers ruined by incompatible paints (months ago) and cut half-moons in them with a hot knife. Kept a handle in the middle because they twist on a coarse thread into the hatch seat. Then drilled holes around the rim and sewed on aluminum screen with 18-gauge copper wire.

Let me tell you, sewing with copper wire isn't in danger of becoming a big fad. :roll: On to mast-making ...

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 8:37 pm
by Chenier
As I mentioned a bunch of pages back, I obtained an old Sunfish rig, including sail, for a song. The only problem was the mast was bent down near the deck end. Bummer. But, the original Sunfish mast was a hybrid: four feet of aluminum tube topped with six feed of wooden mast. Well, my bent mast has more than four feet of straight tube at the top, so that's what I'm doing.

The original Sunfish spars were derived from the wooden Sailfish, just made a bit longer. Kent Lewis documented the Sailfish spars here if you're curious:

http://smallboatrestoration.blogspot.co ... sions.html

Before starting on the mast, I did a couple of trials at sparmaking on a 3-foot long 2x4 cut in half lengthwise. Conveniently, the resulting 1-1/2 inch square pieces are the same dimensions as the boom and gaff that I'll be making so it seemed like a good test. The tests were successful and good practice, so I set out to make the wood portion of the mast.

I began with a 2-1/4" square blank of laminated Douglas Fir, which you can see below. It's marked out to have a slight taper as well as a sheave (pulley) for the halyard embedded at the top, just like the original.

Image

In sparmaking, the drill is to knock off all the corners in an organized fashion, such that you turn a square into an octagon. Knock off the corners of the octagon and you get a 16-sided polygon. Wash, rinse, repeat. Here's the first corner planed off, developing the octagon:

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You can see the mortise that I chopped out for the sheave near the top of the mast. That's the first mortise I have created ever. There was not a 3/8-inch mortise chisel to be had anywhere in North America, so I made do. It's adequate, but I'm not in danger of putting any fine furniture makers out of business.

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Little old mast maker.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 8:44 pm
by Chenier
Here's the blank taken down to a 32-sided polygon.

Image

That's a triacontadigon if you must know. All the lines on the end were to help lay out the starting octagon. The arrow was to give me a reference as I rotated the piece.

Once at 32 sides, the next step is sand it round. I did that by hand on the test pieces and decided it was a lot of work. Then I said to myself: "Self, you have a lathe that makes things spin." My lathe is for metalworking. It's powerful enough but it's way too short. But this is sanding, not precision machining. So I took the tailstock off and set it up with a live center on some wood blocks six feet away.

Image

Dang, that worked. One morning of sanding got the mast round, the next morning got it smooth to 220 grit.

Image

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2021 6:32 am
by cape man
Nicely done.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2021 7:57 am
by Jeff
Agree, very nice!!! Jeff

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2021 11:58 am
by OrangeQuest
Wow! this is just amazing work!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2021 5:50 am
by Netpackrat
Just because you got a great result doesn't make it not wrong to turn dead tree carcasses on a metal lathe! :lol:

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2021 4:17 pm
by Chenier
Having been suitably chastised and now repentant, :D I rounded the top end of the mast by hand.

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Then I built a 15-foot worktable to do the rest of my spar-building

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And cut a 4-foot straight section out of the old Sunfish mast

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The wide-angle lens on my phone makes it look longer than it really is.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2021 4:20 pm
by Chenier
About 5 inches of the wooden mast is trimmed to fit inside the aluminum one. That was done by hand sanding and chiseling the shoulder. I could have done it while I had the lathe set up but I didn't know the inside diameter of the Sunfish mast.

Image

Here are the two parts of the mast assembled. A screw keeps the wood and aluminum parts from going their separate ways.

Image

The assembly will come apart soon so I can varnish the wooden part. That'll happen after I finish the boom & gaff.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri Jul 30, 2021 6:47 am
by Chenier
The boom and gaff will be 1.5-inch diameter Sitka Spruce by 13 feet 8 inches long, the same dimensions as a Sunfish rig.

My supplier only had 8-foot lengths, but was kind enough to pre-cut scarf joints for me.

Image

Earlier in the project I came home from the box store with a 10-foot section of Unistrut. It makes a decent straightedge when carving plywood panels lengthwise with the circular saw.

In this case the strut was helpful getting the spar-building table straight and shimmed level. With a level table as my horizontal reference, the Unistrut then became the longitudinal reference for the scarf joints. Wrapped it in wax paper so I wouldn't epoxy the spars to the strut.

Image

Finished scarf joints

Image

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri Jul 30, 2021 6:53 am
by Chenier
Making the spars is the same drill as the mast: knock off the corners, then knock off the corners again and again.

Here's the first corner planed off.

Image

I got about two feet into it when I had one of those "this doesn't look right" moments. After a suitable period of measuring and head scratching I re-did the layout. :doh: Turns out some knothead had done the calculations for a hexagon instead of an octagon. :roll: Hence the double lines on the unplaned corners.

Halfway there:

Image

I gave the spars catchy names, "A" and "B", so I could tell them apart.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2021 6:39 pm
by Chenier
Image

Octagon

Image

16 Sides

Image

32 Sides

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2021 6:41 pm
by Chenier
Boom!

Image

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2021 7:20 am
by cape man
Very nice.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2021 7:55 am
by Jeff
Nice work!! Jeff

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2021 7:53 am
by Chenier
I've finished shaping and sanding the spars. They taper at the leach (outer) end, just like the original wooden Sunfish spars.

Image

The ends will be used to hold 'em while they get varnished. I'll cut and round off the ends after varnishing the body of the spar.

But before I clean the shop up for varnishing, I'll make the blocks and linked eyes that go on the booms.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2021 6:50 pm
by Chenier
My next project was turning the sheaves (pulleys) for the halyard and mainsheet. The halyard sheeve will be embedded in the mast, up top, so it's diameter is the same as the thickness of the mast.

Rounding the blank:

Image

There were a few false starts (ie: scrap) as I figured out how to cut the goove. Finished masthead sheave:

Image

I also turned two smaller sheaves for the mainsheet:

Image

They're just under 7/8" diameter. Ultimately they'll be attached to the underside of the boom. More on that later.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2021 7:00 pm
by Jaysen
My hatred of this perfection is simply due to my own feelings of inadequacy when seeing such beautiful work. It’s the boat porn equivalent of seeing the Mona Lisa, David, or the Sistine in person.

Your work is amazing. Absolutely stunning.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2021 4:56 am
by cape man
I'm swallowing spit!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2021 5:53 am
by OrangeQuest
I was just thinking of your build the other day and was wondering how it was going. Genuinely nice craftsmanship.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2021 7:34 am
by Chenier
Thanks, all.

It's good to be away from distractions and back at boat-building!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2021 6:11 pm
by Chenier
Finished the main sheet blocks today.

Cross-drilling an axle for cotter pins that will hold it in place:

Image

All the bits and pieces, sitting on my shop drawing of the shell. The shell is sheet metal work, cut out of 1/16-inch bronze. The basic technique was described in the October, 2018 issue of Small Boats Magazine.

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Two completed blocks:

Image

They'll handle a sheet up to 3/8-inch diameter, and are loosely patterned after the blocks Sunfish come with today. As on the Sunfish, they'll be attached to the boom with a pair of padeyes that I get to fabricate next.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2021 5:41 am
by cape man
Just amazing....

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2021 10:17 am
by Jeff
Beautiful work!!! Jeff

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2021 10:01 pm
by Fuzz
cape man wrote: Wed Dec 08, 2021 5:41 am Just amazing....
X2 :!:

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2021 12:40 pm
by Chenier
Here are the padeyes (or eyestraps) that will attach the blocks to the boom:

Image

The third one will anchor down a "leash" for the daggerboard to keep it in the vicinity of the boat after a capsize.

Finally, a set of linked eyebolts:

Image

In the MF14 plans the linked eyebolts attach the boom to the mast. However, I've obtained an early bronze Sunfish gooseneck to serve that function. These linked eyebolts will attach the sprit to the boom, just like on the Sunfish.

This concludes the hardware portion of the show. Up next: deep cleaning the shop a couple of times so I can varnish spars, daggerboard, coaming and other attachments.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2021 4:46 pm
by Netpackrat
That's awesome. I would be interested in hearing about how you cut the grooves in the sheaves.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2021 6:42 pm
by Chenier
Starting with a cylinder that I cut to the right size, I outlined the boundaries of the sheave, as shown here:

Image

Then I attacked the blank with a series of knives. First attack was to plunge the 45º knife you see above into the blank as far as possible and then work it back and forth from shoulder to shoulder of the sheave. Wash, rinse, repeat until just short of the desired depth. This created a groove with 45º sides and a flat bottom. Then I used standard left- and -right cutting knives to cut away as much material as possible that wasn't needed for the rounded bottom. The top three knives in the photo below are the 45º flanked by the left- and -right cutting knives:

Image

(For those of you not used to lathe knives, the upper end of the knife is the cutting edge that I'm talking about. Most of these are double-ended, with the knife on the bottom end face down. The purpose of the bottom end may or may not have anything to do with the top end.)

In the case of the masthead sheave this was a two-part process. For the first half of the depth, the groove needs to accomodate the entire diameter of the rope as the whole rope has to drop all the way into the groove. So for that portion I used the left- and right- cutting knives out to the shoulders to get flat sides. Then repeated the plunge & cut trick to get a new 45º groove at the bottom with the right depth for the rounded bottom.

Once the groove was roughed out, I used the forming knives shown in the bottom row. The groove in the masthead needed to be 1/4 inch and, happily, the knife blanks were 1/4 inch so it was straightforward to just make a knife with a semi-circular end. That knife is bottom row, center.

Here's a different shot of the finished masthead sheave. Now that you know what to look for, you can see the upper straight sides and a little ridge where the rounded portion of the bottom starts.

Image

The boom gets so-called "racing blocks", where only the bottom half of the rope enters the groove. The shell has to leave plenty of room above the sheave for the top half of the rope. You can see this if you look at the boom blocks on the previous page. The groove in the boom sheaves is 3/8 inch wide, so I made complimentary left- and right- quarter-circle knives that were each 3/16 inches wide. Those are the two in the bottom row, left.

As you might imagine, there was lots of switching knives back and forth to get all this to come out right. It's what one might call "fiddly work". The two knives having narrower, rounded noses (bottom row, right) are traditional smoothing knives that I used to clean up some of the more egregious ridges and bloopers.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2021 10:13 pm
by Fuzz
Seeing this stuff is just plain neat! I am really happy you are taking the time to show us your work.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2021 7:10 am
by Netpackrat
That's awesome, although it looks like something that would be excruciating to do with a non quick change tool post. I am mostly using insert tooling at this point although I have ground a couple HSS tools for special tasks. I'm mainly using the inserts because I am trying to keep grinding dust out of my shop to the extent possible. Something like you are doing, I would probably just try to get as close as possible with my parting tool, and then go at it with a file to try to smooth off the ridges. But your way is a lot more elegant.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2022 1:46 pm
by Chenier
Varnishing the wooden spars presented a bit of a problem: How to apply the varnish evenly to these cylinders. Because varnishing requires a wet edge while you work I couldn't varnish one side, flip them over, then varnish the other. That would leave a seam on each side - times seven coats would be fourteen seams on each spar. The millions of wooden spars on boats throughout history suggest this problem has been solved before, but I didn't know how.

Fishing fly tyers have a solution, though. For about $75 you can get a gizmo that will slowly rotate flies with epoxy heads while the epoxy hardens - so the epoxy doesn't all sag to one side. The pricing seemed a bit steep, especially as I'd need three.

Amazon to the rescue: They were happy to sell me three disco ball motors for $15 each.

Image

A simple nail in a V-block held up the other end of the spars. I ended up cutting off the nail heads.

Image

Anyone remember disco? Time for a spar varnish party!

Image

The setup worked well. The motors turn at 6 RPM, which is a nice speed for this application. I turned the motors off for hand sanding, turning them back on again for vacuuming, wiping down the spars & varnishing. At 10 seconds per rotation keeping a wet edge was a snap. If I got the varnish a little heavy in spots it couldn't sag or run as there was no "down".

Here are the varnished spars:

Image

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2022 3:42 pm
by OrangeQuest
That is one slick idea and the results are amazing!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 4:34 pm
by Chenier
Finished varnishing "parts" today. Most of them had holes near one end so I could hang them up and get both sides at the same time.

Image

From near to far, these are the two pieces of the splash coaming, the rudder, the tiller extension and the tiller. The daggerboard is furthest from the camera, standing on edge.

Rudder, tiller and extension are stock Sunfish parts, store-bought. They had a very light varnish on them so I put on more coats while varnishing everything else.

The "hang 'em up by their thumbs" technique worked OK, but not perfectly. I was able to coat both sides, but with flaws. Seems I always missed a spot here or there. So the last coat on the bigger pieces went on with them laying down flat.

Image

I flipped them after 36 hours and coated the other side.

Note to self: in the future, resist the urge to varnish in the dead of winter. I'm able to keep the shop around 60º, but at that temp the varnish took 48 hours to harden enough to apply the next coat. Frustratingly slow!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2022 7:49 am
by cape man
Great work...again!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2022 7:56 am
by Jeff
Very, very nice work!!!! Jeff

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2022 10:26 am
by Chenier
Thanks guys.

Varnishing the ends of the spars now. Watching varnish dry is worse than watching grass grow!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2022 9:26 am
by pee wee
Patience, grasshopper! :lol:

Things do dry slowly in cold weather, but isn't it nice to know that when things warm up, you'll be ready to go? Your build is coming together beautifully. I know you'll be glad to see it complete, but I'll be a little sad when it's over. Please continue to post about your boat once it's in use, I'd like to see it in action and as it matures.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2022 12:27 pm
by Chenier
LOL!

Will do.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2022 11:12 am
by Chenier
A little outpatient surgery was required:

Image

I cut off the ends of the spars where they'd been mounted to the disco motors and rounded over the ends. Seven coats of varnish later, varnishing is done.

Image

Final assembly begins in a week or so, once the varnish has a chance to harden up.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2022 11:41 am
by OrangeQuest
The craftsmanship that is going into your build just amazes me. Are you sure you will want to put it in the water and not on display in a museum? :)

Great work!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2022 1:22 pm
by Fuzz
OrangeQuest wrote: Thu Feb 03, 2022 11:41 am The craftsmanship that is going into your build just amazes me. Are you sure you will want to put it in the water and not on display in a museum? :)

Great work!
X2

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2022 6:37 pm
by Chenier
My family says the same thing. It's for sure they're going to make me put the first scratch on it!

I have no delusions, though, about how wooden boats fare out in the wild. I already have two to take care of. Which is why I know how to varnish. :lol:

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 4:59 pm
by Chenier
I was reading a Sunfish book the other day to plan the rigging. It described how to protect your deck from the eyebolt end on the boom. Ugh! I realized the lower end of the interlinked eyebolts would gouge the dickens out of my fancy deck.

Image

The old wooden Sunfish didn't have this problem. It had a custom fitting that didn't come out the other side of the spar. I did some checking - those fittings are made of unobtainium. So I made a modified eyestrap for the boom that mimics the function of those old Sunfish fittings.

Image

That ought to work. Had to plug the eyebolt hole in the boom and re-varnish that end.

(The writing on the dropcloth was me keeping track of how many varnish coats I'd applied as I went along. Easy to lose track...)

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 5:01 pm
by Chenier
Then I made a couple more hardware bits: I'd forgotten the S-hook that fastens the sail tack and I trimmed a copper nail to plug the hole I'd made in the top of the mast.

Here's all the Moonfish hardware lined up for a group photo:

Image

Except for the cleat and the Sunfish gooseneck, the hardware is handmade. Now it's time to start applying that hardware.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 5:05 pm
by Chenier
The sheave is in the masthead now. Cotter pins hold the axle in place.

Image

The wooden and metal halves of the mast, ready to be pinned together. The mast will be under compression so a simple screw holds them together.

Image

The finished mast:

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The aluminum tube is wrapped with gaffer's tape so it isn't in harsh contrast with the rest of the boat. Perspective makes the tube look disproportionately long. It's four feet, the wooden section is six feet.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 5:49 pm
by Jeff
Beautiful work!!!!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2022 4:47 pm
by Chenier
Continuing with assembly. Here are the sheet blocks installed on the underside of the boom:

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And the gooseneck installed on the side:

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If you look back a couple of posts you'll see I had a rather greenish gooseneck. I tried polishing it - and discovered it most definitely was not bronze. Some kind of silverish metal. So I sprang for a factory gooseneck here - which is now available in bronze. They only came plated when I started this project. I guess this pandemic has a bronze lining ...

Here's the hardware interlinking the gaff and boom:

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Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2022 4:49 pm
by Chenier
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Spars are finished!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 9:31 am
by pee wee
Chenier wrote: Sun Feb 27, 2022 4:49 pm Spars are finished!
And quite nicely!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2022 10:31 am
by Chenier
The hull came back to the shop for hardware installation.

Bow handle:

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Halyard fairlead and cleat:

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Splash coaming:

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(In the above photo you can also see the eyestrap for the daggerboard leash)

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Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2022 10:34 am
by Chenier
The forward wall of the cockpit received the open fairlead for the main sheet and the builder's plate:

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And the transom received the rudder:

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Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2022 10:35 am
by Chenier
Here's the completed hull:

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Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2022 10:39 am
by Chenier
Vintage estate sale sail. My sister-in-law found it for $5.00!

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I had some help lacing the sail onto the spars

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Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2022 10:41 am
by Chenier
Finished!

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I test-fit the mast and found I needed to remove the bottom eight inches of tape from the base for it to fit the mast step. Couldn't raise the sail in the driveway due to overhead power lines.

Sea trials in May when the waters warm up a bit.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2022 12:54 pm
by Jeff
Beautiful work!!!! Jeff

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2022 1:19 pm
by cape man
I want a ride!!!!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2022 3:05 pm
by OrangeQuest
Very beautiful boat but that trailer doesn't do it justice. It seems overkill for the fine lines of the boat.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2022 5:54 pm
by Chenier
cape man wrote: Mon Mar 28, 2022 1:19 pm I want a ride!!!!
So do I! :D
OrangeQuest wrote: Mon Mar 28, 2022 3:05 pm Very beautiful boat but that trailer doesn't do it justice. It seems overkill for the fine lines of the boat.
Well, I didn't buy the trailer for its looks. :roll: That's a 250-pound capacity model from Trailex that's designed for small craft. I certainly didn't want anything with stiffer springs as the finished hull is 138 pounds. It would probably look more proportional if I'd gone with the standard 8-inch wheels. I'm going to be hauling this puppy 645 miles though - most at freeway speeds but the last hour or so is on dirt logging roads in dubious condition. Both freeway and rough roads favor 12-inch wheels so I went with that.

The trailer needs some adjusting to the boat, too. Aft the trailer has two long, straight bunks on either side of the centerline. That might be great for an outboard. The bottom of the MF-14 is curved though - both side to side and fore & aft. Right now the hull just teeters on two points on those bunks. I'm going to replace them with four adjustable pads to support it better.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2022 6:33 pm
by Jaysen
138lbs… rooftop transport?

That’s a beautiful hull. I envy the final product but you put all the time in making it so beautiful.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2022 8:49 pm
by Chenier
Jaysen wrote: Mon Mar 28, 2022 6:33 pm 138lbs… rooftop transport?
Certainly could be done. But SWMBO and I aren't as adept at throwing boats on rooftops as we used to be ...

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2022 1:00 am
by OrangeQuest
Maybe some kayak cradles in the front and hully rollers in the back. As handy as you are, I am sure you already have something in mind.

Our outboard powered canoe comes in about that weight and we also use a trailer with 12" tires but 500 lb springs and it gets bounced around a lot on Houston highways.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2022 10:10 pm
by mhd
That really is a work of beauty...top job.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 5:32 am
by cape man
The cherry tree is a nice touch. Great pic!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue May 03, 2022 4:27 pm
by Chenier
Finished fiddlin' with the trailer.

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Sadly, the cherry tree has moved on to making cherries so now the boat is doing it's best to look better than our trash cans. :D But in the cherry tree picture (previous page) you can see the boat is teetering on those horizontal bunks. The basic problem is this trailer was made for boats with longitudinally straight bottoms. Unfortunately the bottom of the MF14 isn't straight in any direction. My solution was to appropriate some parts from the beach dolly that I have.

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Up front I used the padded front bracket from the dolly as it has more extension than the trailer's rubber roller.

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Aft I used the dolly's 10" adjustable cradle. Ordered an extra pair of those so that back by the wheels I have four support points in contact with the hull. This ought to do. (That wheel you see in the background is part of the decimated dolly.)

Now I just need water warm enough to test it.

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue May 03, 2022 7:43 pm
by mhd
With work like that, I need you to come around here and do the finish work on my boat! Looks wonderful. I'd die a happy man if I could produce a finish like that...

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue May 03, 2022 9:31 pm
by Chenier
Many thanks!

You can. That finish is care of a random orbital sander of the epoxy coat down to 150 grit, then seven coats of varnish. The first three coats get got sanded with 220 grit. After that it was green ScotchBrite by hand between coats. Vacuum and wipe down with denatured alcohol after sanding/scotchbrite. It takes an infuriating amount of patience to let all the coats dry. It's not museum-quality, but it sure passes the 10-foot test.

Whatever you do, don't let your cat into the workshop after you've brushed on the varnish!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2022 7:49 am
by Chenier
Ready for the road ...

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Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2022 7:51 am
by Chenier
Maiden voyage a success!

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Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2022 6:48 pm
by cape man
Wow! Just a big plain Wow!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2022 11:44 pm
by Fuzz
cape man wrote: Sat Jun 11, 2022 6:48 pm Wow! Just a big plain Wow!
X2!
Man does that thing look great or what. How did it sail for you?

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2022 3:02 am
by narfi
Looks great, how was the sailing?

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2022 7:44 am
by Chenier
There was a light breeze and we scooted right along. Manouverability was great. Gave it a thumbs up!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2022 2:33 pm
by Jeff
Beautiful work!!! Jeff

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2022 4:21 pm
by TomW1
That is absolutely one beautifully boat. Glad you had the patience to do the finish work! Tom

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2022 9:23 am
by pee wee
Congratulations on the splash, the first day of hopefully many years of enjoyable use. What you have created will bring a smile to your face every time you look at her. Now that you're finished, it was worth all the effort! :D

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2022 9:36 am
by Chenier
The first test drive showed that the driver can't see the boat and trailer at all in the rear-view mirrors. It's too low for the central mirror and too skinny for the side mirrors. That's a problem when trying to change lanes - you can't tell how much space you need. So I rigged a flag to the rudder bracket:

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The flagstaff is a simple fiberglass contractor's stake padded by rubber grommets and wired in place. The arrangement worked well. I replaced the orange tape at each gas stop because it was flapping itself to death at freeway speeds.

The two-day tow itself was pleasantly uneventful. The light boat and trailer had negligible impact on the Suburban's gas mileage. With the hull strapped down tightly the last hour of logging roads passed without drama. We launched her the day after arrival.

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Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2022 9:46 am
by Chenier
At home in the North Woods:

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Sailing:

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The hull is quite stable - even shifting my svelte 220 pounds from side to side didn't cause her to tip much. As with any sailboat strong winds cause her to heel. But I managed to not capsize. She accelerates well, too. It's going to be a fun summer!

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2022 10:01 am
by Jeff
Beautiful!!! Jeff

Re: Hybird MF14

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2022 11:07 am
by cape man
Please keep posting! Awesome build! Love the lines and doing it in strips honors them perfectly. That pretty outboard boat behind her looks fugly compared...