28' Great Alaskan Off Shore Boat Build

Discussion in 'Wooden Boat Building and Restoration' started by Grady300, Jan 19, 2013.

  1. troy2000
    Joined: Nov 2009
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    troy2000 Senior Member

    Thanks for the update. Always a pleasure to watch someone's project come together....
     
  2. Grady300
    Joined: Jan 2013
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    Location: Bend Oregon

    Grady300 Junior Member

    This is a picture of a 26 foot Great Alaskan being built by someone else. Check out the fish deck space!! Mine will be 2 feet longer. From the keel to the top of the bow is 6 feet!! I love the look, I saw it in person and it is much more impressive actually seeing it.
     

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  3. Grady300
    Joined: Jan 2013
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    Location: Bend Oregon

    Grady300 Junior Member

    Just as I suspected the build is moving slow, been working 60-70 hours a week and the weekends have been very busy also.
    Pictures below
    1) I cut the scarf joint on an angle as the chines started to make the bend. I thought I would be able to line it up by putting the step scarf together and it did come out close when I dry fit it but you could move it just a bit at the joint and the scarf still seamed tight but at the opposite end 8 feet away it made a pretty big change. So I went to work and printed out a full size/length template on the plotter in one 42" x 28 foot sheet of paper. Taped the paper template to the work bench and glued up the chines on top of the template. Came out perfect, made a note to self
    " be sure and send a template for the chines with any future GA kits sales".
    2) Picture of both chines stitched onto the bottom ready to glue up. I decided to try zip ties rather then the wire I have always used in the past. another note to self "zip ties are MUCH easier"
    3) Chines all glued to bottom shown with boards clamped across to keep them flat. It is important to wrap the ends with plastic to keep the epoxy from sticking or it will become a permanent part of the boat.
    Hope to get more done in the next two weeks but this weekend is bust and it is my wife's birthday. i plan on heading over to Lincoln city next weekend to move the RV to the lot on the Siletz River for the summer. One more weekend down the drain as far as boat building goes. maybe I will take the Tolman over and do some fishing while I am there. Working from 5am to 5pm every day is really cramping my style.
     

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  4. Grady300
    Joined: Jan 2013
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    Location: Bend Oregon

    Grady300 Junior Member

    Update on 28' Great Alskan 4/22/2013

    Continuing slowly on the GA build getting a little caught up at work and my wife was gone this weekend so I got a little done. I might get a little long in some of my explanations below but thought some might find it helpful.

    Pic 1) Chines stitched to the bottom at the bow with zip ties and boards clamped on across to keep it all flat prior to applying the thickened epoxy with pecan wood flour. My typical peanut butter mix after mixing the epoxy good I add 15-20% Silica and about 10-15% of Cabisol by volume. Then comes enough Pecan wood flour until I get the desired peanut butter consistency. (this is for most structural joints) The main fillet inside the keel joint has fine chopped fiberglass in it also. All Transom joints will be the same mixture as the keel with lots of Biaxial tape.

    Pic 2) View of bow after three layers of glass. First layer was 4' Biaxial 10oz. Second was 6" biaxial 10oz and the last was typical fiberglass tape 10 oz.

    Pic 3) View from the stern with all three glass layers on and sanded ready for the 10 oz. glass to cover the entire inside of the bottom.

    Pick 4) per-weted the bottom with two coats of epoxy waiting awhile between coats letting the epoxy soak into the Marantie BS 1088 marine ply good before applying the glass. Laying on the glass is easy if you get the wood wet enough to keep the glass in place as you roll it out. it also allows enough slip in the glass so you can easily slide it around into place with your hands with gloves on of course. Then after it is in place pour out more epoxy right onto the glass and use a medium soft squeegee to spread it all out. Makes very quick work of the whole job, both sides took two hours total to lay the glass.
    It is very important to put a little pressure on the squeegee when making the last pass to take out any excess epoxy or your glass will float off the wood surface as they call it. This not only waist epoxy you also loose strength. I got two more coats of epoxy on one this morning and the last this evening. 3 coats is plenty to fill the weave in the glass and have a totally water proof bottom.

    Brian's directions call for laying the glass side to side but I thought it was easier to run the length of the boat with the glass. This also gave me an extra layer of 10oz glass over the fairbody seam
     

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  5. 805gregg
    Joined: Apr 2010
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    Location: Ojai, Ca

    805gregg Junior Member

    How about an update? The Tolman want to build guys are waiting
     
  6. Grady300
    Joined: Jan 2013
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    Location: Bend Oregon

    Grady300 Junior Member

    She is going a bit slow as it is fishing season, should have some more progress to post over the next 30 days. This winter the build will be in full swing. Just to be clear my last build was a 21 1/2 foot Tolman Wide Body center console this build is a 28 foot Great Alaskan. The over all design and build technique for the Tolman and the GA is almost exactly the same. I am getting ready to build the gunnel deck then start framing it up. To do this I need to build the sawhorse to support the stringers and transom upside down with the gunnels on the molds.

    Below is a picture of my Tolman when it was at the completed framed up stage ready to secure the bottom to the stringers.
     

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  7. Grady300
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    Grady300 Junior Member

    few more pictures of the Tolman
     

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  8. Grady300
    Joined: Jan 2013
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    Grady300 Junior Member

    Inside of Bottom Complted & Now Flipped

    Still moving a little slow on building progress. Yesterday I had 4 friends come over and help me take the completed bottom with glass on the inside and 4" chines attached out door of the shop, set it on some tires and flipped it over. I had some 2x4's clamped across the chines to help flip the bottom and put it upside down on the building jig after putting it back in the shop.
    I had planed on framing up the hull next but then realized I had about 8-10 hours of work to do cleaning out all the thickened epoxy that slipped through the joints between the bottom and the chine flats while gluing up that joint. Especially where the 3/4" chines go up around the first 3/8" layer on the bow. You can see in the photo a how a dremal tool and a stiff wire brush in a cordless drill make quick work of this task.
    The joint needs to be clear of drips and build up of thickened epoxy prior to applying the second bow layer for a good fit to make it 3/4" thick same as the bottom. You can see the step scarf joint where the second 3/8" thick layer of ply will attach the the 3/4" bottom. The bend in the front is to much for a single 3/4" layer so it takes two 3/8" layers glued one at a time with thickened epoxy between the two layers. The second layer goes on later its just easier to clean up the joints now.
    I also got the rest of the fair body seam filled so it can be faired and ready for some heavy glass work over this major joint.
    I got the main transom parts cut out and the gunnel shelves all glued up and scarfed together. Most builders use framing lumber for the shelves as with the kits I sell for these boats I'm using Boise Cascade LVL Versa-lam engineered beam stock. These will never warp, twist or break because of some bad grain or a Knott in the wrong spot.
    The small rectangle holes in the transom are 1 1/4" x 3 1/2" long that will have a fiberglass sleeve made and inset into the hole this is where the bottom of my motor well will be. Thought I would go with a little larger drain here for backing down against the current to help drain water quicker out of the well just in case. I also plan to make some custom sculperes on the CNC like 2"x 6" for the self bailing deck that should let a good flow of water out should it be necessary.
     

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  9. Grady300
    Joined: Jan 2013
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    Grady300 Junior Member

    Got a little progress done today after not doing anything for a few weeks. Worked on the main stringers a bit more prepping to finish the pre-glassing.

    Got the bottom lifted up with the chain hoist. finished up the gunnel jigs to set on the building jig. Then placed gunnels on the building jig to see how it all fit. The proof in the pudding is when the gunnels are placed on the jigs how good the joint fits where the two meet up at the bow. Picture perfect but then the CNC always cuts perfect. The gunnels are made from 1 3/4" LVL planed down to 1 1/8" using 3 scarf joints. They were so long I made a paper template drawn with cad and plotted out in one long piece of paper. I assembled the gunnels on top of the template to insure they followed Brian's lofting dimensions exactly. After seeing how well this worked I will be supplying paper templates for this with any kits for the GA I sell.
     

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  10. Grady300
    Joined: Jan 2013
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    Grady300 Junior Member

    Got some more progress done this weekend.
    1) Finished up the transom filling holes, sanding & routing the ½” grove for the motor well bottom
    2) Finished pre-glassing the stringers and sanded all up with 40 grit where it is glassed to the hull
    3) Built the two sawhorses to support the stringers and transom
    4) Glued the transom to the gunnels and set at 14* angel
    5) Set finished stringers on jig to see how they fit and if a lot of fitting will be needed, turns out they fit great won’t need hardly and planning at all
    6) Made sure everything is square and level
    7) Decided to forgo making it longer than 28 feet so she is built to spec. Unlike the Tolman where it is easy to stretch the hull because past a certain point the hull stays the same width running aft. The GA tappers as it runs aft so everything changes as it grows and I did not account for it. Although I could have filled the gap with thickened epoxy and with the glass schedule as it is it would have been no problem I decided 28+ feet was good enough
     

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  11. Milehog
    Joined: Aug 2006
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    Milehog Clever Quip

    Thank's for the update.
     
  12. Grady300
    Joined: Jan 2013
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    Location: Bend Oregon

    Grady300 Junior Member

    Small Updated Design Changes

    Thought I would make another post of some minor design changes now that thinks are starting to come together a little bit more. looking for pro's and con comments, as always you guys have lot of good ideas.

    At this point I have also decided to get away from a bait tank on one side of the motor well. After doing some research I don't think I will have enough room to do it properly making it where the bait will have longevity. I will see after the flip if it is feasible. If I do go that direction I will have it custom made and just slip it in. I might just go with a deck mounted tank up closer to the pilot house if all else fails.
    I am still planing on a bleed tank on one side built very much like a live well as far as water pump to bring fresh water in and a drain out.

    As I understand the reg's and I will double check when I send in my HIN number you can include the length of the anchor pulpit in which case will be extended long enough to register as a 30' 1" boat so if I get stuck outside the bar on the way in I will have a better chance of getting in without a ticket when the bar is restricted to 30 foot and under. I seems that is one of the cut off points on the bar.
     

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  13. michael pierzga
    Joined: Dec 2008
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    michael pierzga Senior Member

    I can never decide if I prefer scuppers thru the transom or out the sides of a small craft.

    Side drains allow you to back down hard without flooding

    Also consider that you must not put the large sewer pipe size scuppers at cabin sole level. I prefer a small weep hole...the classic small craft size with stopper, at sole level then jumbo sewer pipe scuppers located well above the sole. If you get dumped they will shed water fast and since they are above sole level they stay dry when the boat is off trim. The small drain is plenty for rain, washdowns or morning dew
     
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  14. Grady300
    Joined: Jan 2013
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    Grady300 Junior Member

    photo.JPG

    View attachment 83646
    I have considered side scuppers but have not decided. The ones i will use I make myself on the CNC with two layers of marine plastic one bigger then the other with a rubber baffle in the middle to keep most if not all water out. The bottom of the scupper will be flush with the top of the fish deck and flush with the front of the motor well face approximately 18" from the tramsom with a fiberglass tube running from the face of the motor well 18" back to the scupper and they are above the water line at least 3" more like 4+" so my thinking is while at rest there should not be any water coming in and backing down should be good also. My deck is sloped from 8 feet forward to the stern 1 5/8" for better drainage. Here is a picture of the scuppers on my Tolman 21'6" Wide Body I built last year
     

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  15. michael pierzga
    Joined: Dec 2008
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    michael pierzga Senior Member

    Sounds good.

    I never have any luck with flappers or baffles. They always swallow a sardine or get squided up.

    Yah and put plenty of fore and aft slope to the sole. Small craft are always out of trim when loaded.
     
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