Richard Woods Flica 34' plywood/epoxy Build

Hi guys just a quick update I glued timbers and the butt strap to make bulkhead 4. Should I put the 150mm butt strap only on one side or both sides of the bulkhead what do you guys think?

I'm currently building the 12mm chipboard backbone that goes underneath the keel panel. However I'm having difficulty finding the distance between the stations and bulkheads. In the drawings it says the stations are 920mm apart. I know that bulkhead 1 is very close to station 0 but there's no distance given in the drawings. The drawings only show the distance between the bulkheads themselves and I can't find any distances between the stations and bulkheads. I emailed Richard about a week ago but I haven't heard back most likely he is on a passage somewhere do you guys (particularly woods builders) happen to know the distance between the stations and the bulkheads or how to figure it out? I feel like it should be obvious somewhere and I am probably just having a brain fart but I have been wracking my brain for a week now trying to figure it out!

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!!!

 

How are the bulkheads attached? Look forward a bit to see of you have to tab the BH in. You wouldn't want to tab around timber. No tabbing then buttstrap. Otherwise glass sttapping.

As for the BH v stations, the way you'd do it is to calculate all the stations at lwl and all the bh at lwl. It should be doable from wothin the plans if you look at two separate drawings. Add up all the station distances and BH distances and see of they are the same.

...fg

 

Also, for a main structural BH, a little surprised that wasn't required to be scarfed, so RW needs to tell you I'd say.

 

Yes I was also surprised it didn't need to be scarfed. Here's what Richard Woods said when I had emailed him earlier:

"I would make the butt joints in 9mm ply with a piece of 9mm plywood about 150mm wide. Obviously on the inside on the hull skins. On whichever side of the bulkhead is the least visible or interfering with other structure.

Round off or bevel the edges and it will look neat enough. No need to add glass as well. And butt strap only one side of the joint."

Since it is such a structurally important bulkhead, I'm tempted to put a butt strap on the other side of the joint as well anyway).

 

You need to trust Richard fully. He is very wise. He is an excellent designer and understands forces on the vessels well.

He answered your question fully in his reply.

If the joint bothers you; go ahead and strap it or glass with a 1708 tape 4-6" wide.

I think you may be bothered by your original workmanship which was done poorly. Follow the rules; precoat and mix with fumed silica and test a sample joint 7 days later. It will likely pull the plywood apart.

 

Hi guys, just an update, I put timbers, butt strap, and epoxy on bulkhead 5. I am presently trying to make the chipboard backbone that will fit underneath the keel panel between the bulkheads. However, I'm trying to figure out the best way to draw a fair line through all the points at each of the keel depths. I read that you can use a PVC pipe or a flexible piece of wood. I tried with a PVC pipe but it was too difficult to fit between the points. I tried with a flexible plastic batten and a flexible wood batten but none seemed to be ideal. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

 

I went to a local plastics shop and they gave me an offcut of lexan they were using as a batten; they end up with various offcuts every day so it was worthless to them but bent in a very even curve.

I clamped it to wood blocks every foot or so, and then rested a half pound weight on each lead block.




That's a short batten but you could get longer sections, this one just happened to suit my needs.

 

3/4" x 3/4" clear lumber works well

you can use thin nails to hold it and a second person helps or duck weights or anything good n heavy

 

Thank you guys for the helpful advice I really appreciate it!!!

The other thing I was wondering was that to join the chipboard strips, the design says to put butt straps but doesn't specify the dimensions or what to do with the gap between the wood. Because the chipboard strips don't fit perfectly next to each other, there is a triangular gap between the two ends that I'm suppose to butt strap. Should I cut out a triangular sliver of chipboard to fill in this gap, or just leave the gap? Also since the plans doesn't specify the exact size of the butt strap, would 150mm be a good size width for the butt strap?

Thanks in advance guys, you guys are really awesome and I am very very appreciative for all the tips and advice!!!

 

You should be using nails. I can see the flat spots at each block.

 

those margins get covered by blocks the way I read it. I'd make them about 250mm.

Is this component a permanent part of the boat or jist a mould? If jist a mould, no need for filling the gap.

 

Yes I agree, it looks wrong to me too, but I'm following the instructions and drawings to the letter so I can't figure out what exactly is wrong. Even in the drawings, it shows the chipboard backbone butting up to each other at an angle, so there HAS to be a slight triangular gap, right?? It would be simple to just cut out a triangular shaped wedge out of chipboard to fill in the gap- is that what you guys would recommend as well?

I attached the drawings and instructions to make the chipboard backbone.

 

Thanks for the reply Gonzo, but sorry for the confusion, where should I be using nails, and what flat spots do you see and why is that a problem? Are you talking about the timbers glued to the bulkheads? Or something else?

 

Reread my edited post Ron. I think the gap does not matter because you are only making a jig, no?

 

Yes I think you are right, it is only there to give shape to the keel panel I think. I think I'm suppose to remove it after turning the hull over.