The "NANCY G" a surfboat /lifeboat to motorsailer conversion build in progress

The Ballast Cage

Yesterday I punched in a good long day and attacked the build on two different locations. I think it's helpful to do this to keep the boredom level in check especially with repetitive tasks of which both were. I made good progress on the ballast cage tying most the longitudinal stringers in place ready for tack welding. I have completed the fin area and have only to extend a couple of runs aft to the skeg and forward into the forefoot to the base of the stem. (bow) I am hoping to complete this work over the next few days barring Christmas madness and Dec. birthdays (of which there are 6 or 7 in the family)dragging me away. The other work area I got at was removing "Palladin's Nose Cap" ( for you Western fans) which I will post as that project progresses further.

 

Removing Paladin's Nose

To do or not to do has decided "To Do" and in deciding so, it must be done before completion of the ballast cage's longitudinal rods. Two factors made me decide on this; #1 It just looked plain ugly much the same as those rubbing strakes on the hull. #2 I'm fighting weight and this will aid in that fight. So with about 2 hrs. drilling and punching out the copper rivets off came Paladins Nose. At 120 lbs. It was a lot thicker and heavier than I thought, being 1/2 in. thick along the stem onto which were welded the 1/8 side flanges. Removing the bow cap allowed me to also remove a section of the internally mounted lifting gear. Another 40 lbs. The result of this now requires me to slightly modify stretch and reshape that forefoot shell section of the new keel . This I will show in a future post once I have completed the ballast cage.

 

That was a lot of weight, but a good protection. Will you add some fiberglass reinforcement in its place?

 

The 160 pounds you removed has a huge impact on the boat's balance (which we've discussed). Just for laughs (because I haven't opened the file), lets say the CB is 15' aft of the tip of the bow. This means the leverage that cap had over the boat's trim, would be in the 2,400 pound range. This will trim her bow down by quite a bit, so the platypus bill had to go.

 

Hoyt good question, the stem itself is about 3 in. thick, solid GRP with no foam core as they often do on these builds. The hull skin thickness thru out is 1/2 in. min. again no core solid GRP. As you have seen on your visit she's overbuilt for pleasure standards being built to military specs. The hull was laid up in two halves and bonded together with the join being down the center line. No doubt that Stainless bow cap re enforced this fabrication and I was a little concerned about the loss of strength. However after checking out the glassing over of the join inside and no doubt use of epoxy bonding in the joint itself along with; Three GRP layers I will add to the stem on the outside, Chain locker bulkhead, Deck beams and skin, and Stainless capped floor timbers all will be again over strength. She will have lost her "Ice Breaking Rating" but then again "Following The Viking Way" Greenland in March was never high on my list
By the way welcome to my club with it's frustrating division of labour rules, Boats & Houses ----Geo.

 

Hey Paul as the fishermen at home said about the collapse of the Cod " She's gone By she's gone". So will be a couple of other items to lighten the overall load (displacement). One big one as I mentioned is that big Goodyear rubber bumper at her present deck/ sheer level. I'm just guessing but it plus about 60 of it's fasteners (bronze bolts) should reduce another 300lbs. Right now i'm going to leave it in place, possibly a plus for the Turning Over Party. We'll make a floatable object out of her yet ---

 

Glassing The Two Part Hull Joint

Today I glassed over the two part hull join using a special matt/45deg. axial combo. I ran the two layers of the matt/45deg. axial glass reinforcing in opposite directions to create opposing 45deg. bi axial runs for max. strength. This reinforces the two part hull bond as well as covers those three large 3/4 dia. former bolt hole openings. Next I will do some preparation work on the new keels forefoot shell which I will post in the next day or so.

 

Modifying The Forefoot Keel Section

Once the stainless bow cap was removed I was happy to see that the leading edge of the bow had a nice parabolic shape, however i've never been 100% happy with the forefoot add on section that it was leading into. This is the price one often pays when working from a male mold. Unlike female molds where the resultant shape is an exact reproduction, the product of a male mold is subject to changes in shape due to minor irregularities in the layup. The smaller the dimensions of the laid up piece the more pronounced these occur. My new forefoot piece seems to have suffered somewhat from this negative effect. What was intended to have a parabolic shape has turned out to be more of a circular leading edge. This plus the fact that with removal of the bow cap i am now blending into a different and smaller lower stem(bow) piece. To remedy this I cut a section out of the new forefoot piece's center line and glassed the two halves back together breaking up that circular face. I also laid up 6 additional layers of matt on the inside. This will allow me to do some re shaping of the outside without breaking thru it's skin. I then installed two longitudinal stainless rods, filled the forward half of the interior with transom filler and the aft. half with polyester and rock dust . This is actually the beginning 24 lbs. of my ballast install with only a couple of thousand or so remaining . My next post will be attaching the new forefoot section to the hull with those two stainless rods playing an important role.

 

We will have to try http://www.iogo.ca/en/ next time we go north.

 

I knew someone was going to pick up on that . Recall my Italian friend and next door neighbor Jo , he is a great consumer of that brand and saves the empty containers for my resin mixing. I must have 200 plus. of them. Made a trip to my fiberglass & resin store today and was very successful in obtaining vinyl ester and 1808 glass (matt/biaxial) which i will use to attach the new keel assembly to the hull. Man i'll be happy to get past this keel/ballast install stage. I've always felt this was the most time consuming part of these conversion/builds. It seems to be on a roll now, keep my fingers crossed Murphy doesn't show up which is usually of my own making but Paul doesn't let me get too far astray. (And a big thank you for that Ha Ha.) How are your twin projects coming along.

 

I mix resin in Chobani tubs. I peel out the dried mix and re-use them.


Will use the big project for the first time tonight.


Placed onto hull yesterday a small bow deck.

 

Great, don't forget the threshold tradition --Congrads Geo.

 

Shhhh!


You are no doubt referring to my pain threshold.

 

Installing The Keel's Forefoot Section

I laid down a good 1/4 in. layer of my good old off the shelf standby,Bondo with hair(glass fiber) as a bedding compound and set the section in place being sure that the two stainless rods were well seated in the pre drilled holes of the original stem piece. On the other end i lashed the rods to those converging from the fin. Because there will be "A whole lotta shakin goin on" installing the ballast, I lashed them all together with stainless wire and spot welded each lashing with acid core plumbers solder. Many people are surprised you can solder stainless but you surely can and it's a good tip to keep in the old head for leaky stainless tanks or small parts repair. Again using my good old handy off the shelf product, I filled and rough shaped the missing stem piece. Keep in mind that while this might look to be a slap happy way to fill in a missing part, in reality once it is glassed over it becomes nothing more than a solid filler identical to the construction used on the original stem piece. In this case possibly stronger with glass fiber being added to the filler. I will do a more completed job on this after the keel and ballast work is clued up.

 

To All My Liberal Friends:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes
for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress,
non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice
holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the
religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your
choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or
traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or
secular traditions at all.

I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the
onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2015, but not without
due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose
contributions to society have helped make Canada great. Not to imply
that Canada is necessarily greater than any other country nor the
only country in the Western Hemisphere .

Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

To My Conservative Friends:

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Author Unknown--