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

7 layers of 2 oz. matt, 10gal. resin, 14hrs. later and the deed is done . Well far from completed, 6 months, multiple stages of finishing/assembly and it should be a fully ballast keel attached and sitting under that hull, upright. I will describe my plan of attack in the next posting.

 

Prime gofer....

Sounds like a beer tender.

Isn't that like appointing the fox to guard the hen house?

 

Are you kidding these guys are so hopped up on fumes after 14 hours, beer is but a mouthwash especially "old school" Peter. However we did partake upon completion but without much pleasurable effect as it promptly closed our eye lids.

 

Those nasty fumes! They ruin a good beer, or two.

 

No prob just switch to rum

 

Thought i'd better post an update to let those interested the ball is still rolling on this build. I'm into what I term support work. All those non boat related chores that have to be carried out to keep the project going. Experienced builders know well what i am talking about and new builders take Note. Incidental work (shelters,electric supply, heat, work and storage areas, and so on -- will take 50% of your build time. Up here in the north east we are dead in our tracks without heat. My chosen fuel is wood for two reasons, It is reasonably priced. I get about 50% of my shop firewood free for the taking. The other great feature is wood combustion also dehumidifies which is a great feature when working with wood and FRP. So for the hell of it just to show i've not been sitting around drinking beer and neglecting my project I've thrown in a few photos of my "Project Support Work"

 

Good you did too. It is going to be a cold winter. We will see you before too long, God willing.

 

So my friend, how much beer does it take to gather, split and stack all that wood?

 

Paul as Hoyt says "it's going to be a long cold winter". Keeping that in mind i was saving most of my beer to drink next to the warm wood stove when the winter winds are howling. All experienced boat building friends are most welcome to visit -- Scheduled to go back at her full time Dec 1. Have one more piece of prep work to get done before then, a heavy dust collection system, which i am about to install.

 

Over the past couple of weeks i worked on my super fine dust collector/extractor. I need this over the winter due to working in an enclosed heated shop. Basically I found another use for my universal paint, fume and fine dust hood. To improve the volume I robbed the blower assembly off my heavy duty portable sawdust/chip collector modified it to handle a 6 in. dia. hose and set up a new system to extract the fine fiberglass dust out of and away from the building to be collected in a water bath. I received the financial shock of my life when i priced the regular 6 in. exhaust hose at $7.00 a foot. My alternative was what we call 6 in.solid (no perforations) Big O flexible foundation drainage pipe at $1.50. It sings a little but otherwise works just great.Trial run using a spray can of paint 4 feet away from the hood intake proved 100% plus effective. Included a few photos of the set up which will be in full operation on Tuesday --Finally

 

Hi Geo

I really enjoy reading your thread. I have a small shop with a plasma table and I rigged up an old furnace motor and squirrel cage fan for exhausting the smoke and dust out side from it, it works good during the warmer seasons when I can open up a outside door but in the winter it also sucks all the warm air out of the shop at the same time and when its -30c outside it doesnt take very long to cool things off, so I only use it sparingly during the winter and sometimes with water instead of the down draft system, I have in floor heat in my shop so it isnt a issue but with a furnace or wood stove the vacuum created inside the shop may try and draw air down the chimney unless you have a alternate way of bringing air into the shop to feed the vacuum without cooling the shop down. Just my thoughts.

Regards
Edd

 

Thank You for those kind words Edd. A Plazma table, bet you have fun with that. Re the heat loss, I have one advantage in that we get very little snow and seldom does the temp. drop below minus 5 to 10 C. I also have one hell of a wood stove and a 4 in. flexible stainless combustion air supply hose. You're right about sucking the heat out of the shop but when i get too chilled I shut the unit off --stick my *** on the stove pour another rum (antifreeze) warm up inside and out then go back at her. In your case possibly a house air/heat exchanger should do the trick. You should easily find a used unit for a hundred bucks or so on Kijiji. The warm exhaust air preheats the cool incoming air reducing your heat loss. Also has a built in air filtration system to boot. ---Geo.

A yacht is not defined by the vessel but by the care and love of her owner.

 

Hi Geo
living in Winnipeg I envy your winter temps even though I am not there very much, I am just finishing up a 4 month tour (working) in Mexico and heading home later this week for a month or 6 weeks of R&R over xmas with the family. The cnc plasma is a awesome tool to have once you get through the learning curve, it took me over a year of my time off at home to really get the hang of it where I could sit down and draw out a part and cut it within a short period of time but cutting multiple duplicate parts is where they really excel and pay for themselves, at the moment it is just a hobby for me in which I hope to build my own aluminum boat with in the future. I thought about the heat exchanger before but I need to build a new shop anyways and extend my plasma table so whenever that happens I'll just convert my table to a water table and eliminate the down draft system altogether. I have some fond memories as a kid visiting your neck of the woods in the early 70's, my moms uncle was a Fisheries Inspector living in Mill Village close to Liverpool and one summer my parents loaded up granny and all us kids into the 67 chevelle wagon with a camper behind and struck out from the Toronto area for a summer vaction down east... this was 40 some odd years ago but i remember the lobster chowder my moms aunt made, the stacks and stacks of salted cod in the fish plants my moms uncle took us to and if my memory isnt totally gone I think we visited or seen the Bluenose moored in Liverpool... it was a great trip for a kid but someday i hope to return for another visit as an adult to visit the museums and learn more about the culture and sample the down east cuisine and hospitality.

Cheers
Edd

 

Finally after 4 months of life's chores and responsibilities I get back at it. Made up a longboard to match the 30 or so custom made odd size 60 grit sanding belts I got a great deal on ($50)about 8 months ago. I simply cut a piece of 3/4 ply of the same width (3 In.) and of a length (45in.) that the belt fit snugly over. This makes an excellent 2 sided longboard. The photo shows a trial run. My plan is to do a rough sanding with the air powered automotive style 17in. strip sander knocking down the higher imperfections then fine tuning with the longboard. Then it's on to the dirty dusty disc grinding to remove the gel coat from the hull in the area where the keel shell will be glassed to it. Lots of fun and games ahead ---

 

It was 77 today for me and we'll peek into the low 80's tomorrow. We have it tough down here. Now I can hear you saying "I like the seasons . . .", which admittedly, I do too and the very reason I moved to a place where we only have the good ones . . .