Mercury 22 footer coming along nicely

[Archie1979]

Gday everyone well its been some time since I have updated my project on here. I have been so busy with work not much has been done. However I have had a chance to build the frame and have begun to setup the frames.
They are not all installed just yet but nearly there. I also couldnt help but drop the keel on top just to give me a feel for the size of the vessel.

Any coments welcome.

Cheers
Archie
this is the link for all the photos

http://s294.photobucket.com/albums/m...albumview=grid

[Archie1979]

Well it has been ages since I have posted about my boat which is no longer called Mercury, I have renamed her she will now be called QUALIA the definition of the word is
'Qualia are the experiences of sensory input (as opposed to the describable facts of such input). (The singular is the two-syllable word quale.) In the classic example, a sighted person can see red, but cannot describe the experience of such a perception; the best he can do is make an analogy (e.g., "red looks hot") or provide informational descriptions (e.g., "it's the color you see when light of such-and-such wavelength is directed at you."). Simpler still, consider the impossibility of ever describing the experience of seeing color to a person born blind.

Well enough of that to the pictures.

Mohogany planking completed filling in staple holes and fairing the underside before coating with 10mm of Epoxy.

[Archie1979]

Gday Everyone,
Its been sometime since I have posted on here and my progress has been very very very slow. Work and other things you just dont get the time, anyhow Xmas is here and time to start building again.
The mahogany planking has been finished, coated in fibreglass and epoxy, faired most of the hull and undercoated from the keel.

Here are a few pictures

[Wayne Grabow]

Very nice. Thanks for posting. Could you explain what you mean by "fairing the underside before coating with 10mm of Epoxy"? 10 mm thickness of resin? Any tips on the glass and resin coating? That will be the next step for me on an 18' hull working by myself. Did you do it all in one operation? I am working in our home's basement; may have to wait for warmer weather so I can open the windows. I know what you mean by slow going.

Keep it up; looking great and provides an inspiration for me.

[Archie1979]

Gday Wayne,
Thanks for the reply at least I know im not the only one in the same situation. what I meant by " fairing the underside before coating with 10mm of Epoxy" The plywood hull needed to be levelled ie the little shallows and bumps that you can see and feel when you run your hand over the hull. All of these little imperfections needed to be removed before I coated the hull with epoxy. There was still a few little imperfections after the fibreglass was on but these were simply fixed with some epoxy with fairing powder.
I fibreglassed half of the hull before doing the other side I started on the starboard side then a few weeks later completed the port side.
Well one tip I can give for glassing is get your wife to help mixing the resin so you dont have to stop and mix it made for a quicker application of the fibre and I think she enjoyed being involved as well.
Its a big job on your own.
Good luck Wayne would love to see some pictures.

[PAR]

As a good rule of thumb, the smoother and more fair you can make the surface, before the goo and fabric goes down, the easier the 'glassed surface will be to fair. In fact, if the finish is to be bright (natural) then you have only the time before the 'glass goes on to fair the surface.

Way to go Archie. Is that magic marker I see likely circling a low spot or imperfection under that primer near the bow? If it's a perminate marker, then the ink may bleed right through the primer ruining the top coat. You can fix this by coating the marker area with aluminum paint. The spray paint (poor man's chrome) is easiest. Apply several coats (3 at least) as it's thin stuff, then over coat with your regular primer. The aluminum oxide flakes in the paint will lay down and lock out the ink from bleeding through.

Keep up the good work and don't take quite as long to get back here next time . . . :D

[missinginaction]

Geez, just pokin around here I never cease to be amazed. Nice job Archie and nice tip PAR. I'll file that one away.

MIA

[Archie1979]

Hey PAR nope no magic marker on the hull nothing but builders pencils. You are right though a little low spot on the bow but its coming along.
I agree I wont leave it so long to post back on here next time.

Archie

[Wayne Grabow]

From PAR: "As a good rule of thumb, the smoother and more fair you can make the surface, before the goo and fabric goes down, the easier the 'glassed surface will be to fair."

I am at the point where I have no visible variation in the unfinished wood hull surface but can still feel that it isn't completely level when I run my hand lightly over the surface. Should I keep sanding, or should I take care of this after applying resin and glass? I worry that when the glossy resin finish is done, the imperfections will become more visible. I will probably paint the final finish coat, although the grain is attractive..

Archie: If it worked for you then doing half the hull at a time is what I will try (sometime after the holidays). I have 3+ gallons of resin on hand and will be using 6 oz. cloth. Plan to overlap at the keel and chines.

[PAR]

There's a big difference between smooth and fair. An average new car has a smooth paint job, especially if it's buffed up nice, but it's usually not very fair. It's a lot better then a home built with a wire brush paint job, but not very fair.

Fair is something you can see and feel, smooth is something you can only feel, unless it's very obviously a textured surface. You can't tell if a surface is smooth from far away, but an unfair surface is clearly visible in most cases, given good lighting.

The way you can tell is to get a shine on the surface or with different colors and also with lighting conditions. If a shiny surface isn't fair it will not reflect images or light evenly, then florescent tubes over head (for example) will clearly show distortions as will near by objects reflected in the finish. This is the classic unfaired, but shinny surface.

When sanding a hull you have to long board it smooth and fair. The long board prevents a small sanding block from following the subtle surface distortions, bridging them as you go. With filler, blocking or building primers you can fill the low areas (hollows) and knock down the high spots (humps).

Most of us use a two color technique for this. A base of filler is applied and then long boarded until the tops of the humps begin to appear. At this point you have a good idea where you need more filler (the hollow area) and where you need to knock down the surface more (the humps). After a few sessions of knocking down the humps and filling the hollows (the hollows will be a different color then the humps once sanded, making them easy to see), the surface is brought up or knocked down to the same plane. Eventually you get to a point where no humps or hollows show up and you can move on to finish.

Getting a truly fair surface is hard work and requires a good bit of practice. Smoothing out a dent in a door on your car is easy compared to fairing a lumpy hull. I've used automotive body guys and had them crying by the end of the day. They thought they knew how difficult things could be, until they saw hundreds of square feet of sexy curves with lumps, bumps and dimples everywhere. Show a good body man a 40' boat, with a hull that looks like someone had been taking whacks at it with a sack of nickles , and I'll show you a grown man crying by day's end.

So, Wayne, stop sanding and identify the low spots. Fill these in with a light weight fairing compound (epoxy and Qcells, micro balloons, etc.). Knock this down with a long board and see where you're at. If you're working to a brightly finished hull, then you have no choice but to continue sanding, but use a long board to fair the surface. You can smooth it later when it's good and fair.

Long boarding technique is simple, Start at one end and work the board at an angle (45 degrees or there about) and use this angle the full length of the hull. Switch directions and come back down the hull's length. This will provide a good, even cross hatch pattern for you to examine. Look for low and high spots, mark the low spots with a light pencil cross hatch. This will indicate when the surrounding area is about the same height as the low spot (you'll begin removing the pencil marks with the board). Work up and back, switching angles with each pass (45 degrees to the right, from bow to stern, then 45 degrees to the left, from stern to bow). Once up and back the length of the hull is all you need. Obviously some high spots will need "special" attention, such as prolonged long boarding to knock them down, but when you get close, stop and use the full length of the boat techniques I mentioned.

Ideally, you'll want to remove as little material as possible to get a fair surface. You're elbows will be grateful too. The up and back at a single angle technique is fast, easy to keep accurate and orderly. There are other techniques, but this one works good for novices and pro's alike.

The next time you walk past your car, watch straight edged objects reflect in the shine of the paint. Do you see waves or clear distortions that have nothing to do with the way the car is shaped? Yep, this is "unfairness" and is most noticeable around openings, like doors, windows, etc. where the steel is stretched as it was stamped into a die. The metal got really hot and a very slight distortion worked into the metal. The surface is still smooth, but the distortion is still there.

This ends lesson one. Lesson two shows techniques to get your girlfriend, wife or significant other involved in the fairing process, so you can have more free time.

[Archie1979]

I obviusly must have skipped that lesson because no one wants to help me sand any part of my boat.

[Wayne Grabow]

PAR thanks for taking time for such a detailed reply. I had read some on this subject but not so good as your advice. I am actually not too far off from my goal, but I really want to get it right after all the work to get this far on the hull. I have been using a 16" long board at approx. a 30-45 degree angle as well as sanding localized high spots when identified. Also the hull is a well-supported developable surface design, and I know all the ruling line directions and have been checking them with a straight edge as I went along. Any ripples are on the order of about 2 mm or less. I didn't want to use the contrasting color primer paint technique until after applying resin because I am afraid it may reduce the epoxy bonding strength. Thanks again for quantifying the sense of difficulty and effort involved.

Archie, don't want to hijack your thread. Keep updating the great photos, and let us follow your build. I know my wife well enough to understand that this is my mission alone. anyway, that epoxy is so toxic that I don't want her handling it even to mix.

[Archie1979]

Hey again Wayne,
Dont worry about hijacking my thread I dont mind as long as everyone is getting the info they need and can achieve the outcome they strived for in the beginning.
I will keep on posting as Paul said I wont leave it so long this time.

[troy2000]

Good to see you're still plugging away at it, Archie. And keep posting pic's....

[PAR]

As a follow up to my previous post. This is a classic example of an unfair, but smooth surface.

http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/attachments/projects-proposals/38249d1260755352-racing-cat-hull-express-cimg9283.jpg

Note the reflection of the stuff behind and under the boat (power cat hull). The bunk and a PVC pole (with light green tape on it) are clearly visible in the reflection on the bottom. They are wavy in this reflection, but perfectly straight in real life. Unfairness in the bottom causes this to occur. I can assure you, that if you ran your hand over this area, it would feel quite smooth, but the experienced hand will also feel the subtle hollows and humps on the surface.

[Archie1979]

Hi again everyone,
I have a question and need some advice:-
I am looking at possibly installing some planing chines on my hull and not sure if it is a good idea or not as they are not in the original design plans. From what I do understand however is that the planing chine will allow a small savings in fuel and require less power to get onto the plane.
ie as the surface area of the planing chines is less than the hull on its own creating less drag through the water once up on the plane.

I am just trying to find some good article on this subject and I dont want to waste my time on these chines if I am not going to get any REAL benefit out of it.

Advice is most welcome

Oh yeah I forgot to add I will be installing the Volvo Penta QL Automatic Trim tabs so would these chines be necessary

Archie

[PAR]

If I remember correctly your hull is a typical warped bottom. You can install strakes if you want, but you will not appreciate, nor notice much difference between a hull without, compare to one with these. Your warped bottom will quickly get up on plane, because she has a moderate amount of deadrise aft. Any improvements will be very slight with strakes. I also think you should wait to install the trim tabs, as the boat should "run out" will engine trim fairly easily.

[Archie1979]

Thanks Paul i'll give them a miss and wait until she is completed to see if I even need the trim tabs.

Archie

[Archie1979]

Hi Everyone
Just a quick question you may be able to help me out on, I am completely confused when it comes to boat trailers. Do I opt for a trailer with keel support like an aluminium boat trailer or do I go for something more designed for a fibreglass hull.
Mine is obvioulsy a wood/fibre/epoxy hull and I dont want the trailer to ruin my boat.
Archie

[PAR]

Rollers for the keel, never rollers for the planking on a wooden boat, regardless of construction method. It'll just test all the seams and fasteners pull out strength, eventually causing issues. Bunks are effective if the boat is to remain on the trailer a lot, but they should just keep the boat from flopping over, not push up hard into the planking. The boat should rest on the keel and not it's bilges. Use as many keel rollers as possible, the more the better.

[Archie1979]

Thanks again as always

OH and by the way

Ho HO HO
MERRY CHRISTMAS

:)

[Archie1979]

Hello Everyone,
Well its been way too long since I have posted about my boat. Progress has been really slow since my last post. I had a work injury which needed surgery and have had my spine fused and have just been told by the doc today that I can start to slowly do normal things again.

Sooo that means back to the shed. wooohooooo

anyway I though I would do a quick message just to let everyone know that I am still constructing my beauty but it has just been taking a bit longer than I first planned.

The joys of boating hahah

When I get down to the shed I will take some pictures so everyone can see where I am at.
:D

[PAR]

These once a year posts are hard to keep up with Archie. Glad you're on the mend. Did you get a trailer?

[missinginaction]

Sorry to hear of your troubles Archie but glad to hear that you are on the mend. Be careful around your boat and take it slow at first.

Good Luck,

MIA

[Archie1979]

Hey Paul & MIA,
Thanks for the replies, yeah I know once a year posts arnt much use to anyone. Now that I am fixed it wont be long until my baby can be flipped.

As for the trailer I was injured shortly after that post so no headway on that just yet, but like I mentioned back on my feet again now and things will now happen pretty quickly.

Its a good time for us Aussies to import engines too so I might look at that whilst the dollar is up.

thanks gents, chat later and I will post some pics this afternoon once I finish spraying the undercoat.

Archie