WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT
If you know all of this do not scoff at those of us who didn't or don't.
As I neared the end of the construction phase of my Navigator I pondered on what would have been had I been more patient, more tidy, more organised, more informed. Unfortunately I am none of those things. But when building a boat you often have plenty of time to analyse yourself. My observations may help you achieve a cleaner, more quickly buildand less expensive Navigator or other.
The gluing conundrum. If there is glue where it is not supposed to be, is there any where it is supposed to be? AND. If there is no glue where it shouldn't be have I put enough where it is supposed to be? Those who know please phone the 'Which came first, the Chicken or the Egg' department on the Ground Floor for your next challenge.
THE EPOXY GOES ON THE BOAT NOT THE BOAT BUILDER.
Always protect yourself. The dangerous time is when you think this is just a little job I won't worry. Be especially careful with the glue powders and fillers and always wear a mask when you are working at the glue table.
You have plenty of time to do your glue work so be safe, patient and methodical.
Forget those flimsy surgical rubber gloves (OK for painting) and buy a few pairs decent pair of reinforced washing up gloves. $NZ3.00 buys you a pair of gloves that will last for weeks. THIS HAS PROVEN TO BE INCORRECT They'll not let you down and I use them when hand sanding too to protect against epoxy particles in the skin pores.
A reader emailed to say… I would differ in one area of your gluing. I advocate use of disposable gloves because some solvents break through ordinary gloves without any obvious sign. I went through three boxex (150 pairs) during construction which was cheap at the price. Vinyl seems for me to be more effective than latex (neither is recommend for acetone by the way). People of high sensitivity should wear cotton inners underneath the thicker gloves.
Have a pot of epoxy hand cleaner, a bucket of hot soapy water and a clean cloth set up. When epoxy builds up on the gloves, apply epoxy cleaner, then wash, then dry. If you are using tools clean them too at the same time. Then back to your work. A gloved finger is a great tool for applying and fairing in difficult places and a quick clean and wipe of your glove before resuming the next operation keeps the mess away.
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It all starts with an organised bench well away from the boat
Dispensing pumps are a must.
Keep the hardener pump jet clean; check the pumps are tight on the container.
If you have a cat or dog you will have an endless supply of tins. If you don't you may have to shift to a regular intake baked beans. One empty tin will do me for quite a long sequence of small brews but what I like better are the small bucket shaped plastic containers. Unfortunately the things that come in them tend to be fattening (like nuts, and cookies and trendy ice cream) and as such they seldom survive the final cut on the grocery list.
A big find was wooden tongue depressors doctors use to make you say aaaaah. They are excellent for mixing resin and glue (especially if you use a premix epoxy because you have plenty of them it is more difficult to put the part A stick in the part B tin, or so I thought).
Bulk packs of glue powder and filler are a must. Jars with airtight lids make a great ready use containers.
A tablespoon and kitchen measures for mixing consistent batches of glue (i.e. 5 heaped tablespoons of glue powder per pump for a good firm mix). A plastic scraper for shifting spilt powder into a separate container for when you mix fillers that are not involved with structure strength (fairing and cosmetic filling).
A stack of plastic plates from the BBQ set and an endless supply of paper towels just about rounds it out.When you perfect a glue mix write it down so that you can repeat the performance
I use a pencil to mark places where I still have to fair with an X and put a O around any hole or cavity that needs filling. There are a lot of nooks and crannies on this boat and its easy to lose your way.
60cc syringes from a medical supplier are great for injecting glue into tight places, especially between planks.
Pallet knives should be ready for application and fairing. I have a wide range of sizes and round the ends off some of them. Make really good application and fairing tools shaping them out of the walls and bottoms of polythene containers.
Those tongue depressors will cater for many of your application tasks and the rounded ends are good for a lot of the fairing you have to do.
Small brush and a portable vacuum at hand to get rid of last traces of dust you might have missed.
A sweatband is a must as is a clean cloth for your face.
A proper industrial mask to remove the organics and dust is a must. Remove and wrap the cartridges in plastic film at the end of the day to prolong their effectiveness. The paper mask is in case I have a small job to do. I can hold it to my mouth with one hand while I work with the other but they are nearly useless as not wearing one at all.
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SAWHORSES
I have a few of these, with an old door or piece of board you have an instant table or trestle. Great when you are cutting out of big sheets of ply too. They are easy to make and very stable. If you can't work out for yourself how to make one perhaps you should not be starting work on your Navigator yet.
A REALLY GREAT TABLE/SAWHORSE
; Take a strong wooden box. Fasten a wooden leg inside each corner and stand the box upside down on the legs. A really effective device for all number of boat-building chores.
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WORKBOX
I have this great little Black and Decker Workbox in which I keep my first aid kit and things. It has a wide vice on top which is great and it is just the right height for me when I can't reach into the boat properly and need a bit of height. BUT. It has a label which says it can take 118 kgs but you're not allowed to stand on it. Well I am not quite that heavy yet and it is certainly well built and looks strong enough. Because it is exactly the 'tool' for the job I choose to ignore the warning, so far without any complaints from the box.
The cordless screwdriver is ready for instant use with a bucket containing self tapping wood screws (known in places as rockboard fasteners). Just great for tacking a piece of ply until the glue goes off or I can fully clamp it. Being cadmium plated steel they must all be removed from the boat before priming and painting. I often put a pencil line across the screw position to remind me this one has to come out..
CLAMPS
The bucket of clamps contains light spring hand clamps, heavy spring hand clamps, G and H clamps of various sizes. They are all cleaned each time and I normally have already opened the screw clamps up to the point where the generally slip straight onto the work I am doing. No fun holding two pieces of timber while trying to unwind a clamp.
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BEVELLING HEAVEN
Getting the plane angles right and consistent for the laps at the stringers is error prone and hard work.
I remembered Arch Davis in Wooden Boat had fitted out a plane like I have on the left (It was useful for tidying up the sheer clamp and coaming stringer as well). Rather than stuff up my precious Stanleys inherited from my father, I purchased a Chinese copy of abut a #5. I drilled two holes in the side of the body and with two hefty self tappers fixed a block of wood to the side plate of plane.
The rig bridges the space between stringers and or planks and the planing of the bevels was an absolute dream from there on. Thank you Arch. Incidentally I stopped reading Wooden Boat until just recently. Comparisons with my work made me feel inadequate. Recently John pointed out that they have some good photographers and thinking about it I realised that it is not very often I get an image for publishing that does not require some touch up work in Photoshop. So now I am reading Wooden Boat again and loving it.
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SHOPVAC
This is Suckimotor the resident windbag. It is a wet n dry vacuum with a bin and no bag. It is very light and can be carried in one hand very easily. The lightness can sometimes get up your nose and I put a brick in the bottom to make it more stable. I have extended the range with a length of hose from one of its ancestors and can now reach anywhere in the boat with it without moving the cleaner itself. Often I have it hanging from the rafters and use the sander in one hand and direct the hose with the other removing dust.
I find all sorts of treasures when I empty the bin.
When I have managed to kick over a box of screws or boat nails I empty the dustbin and use Shopvac for recovery. Beats crawling around on my knees.
ELECTRONIC LEVEL
An inexpensive and very useful tool is an electric level. It has three audio tones. Off left, off right and level. The angle part is not electric but has a number in a little window and can be locked.
I clamp it onto a part to assist with fitting up so things don't get out of wack when I do the fastenings. I have a couple of pieces of 35x25mm formed into a Tee to clamp on to objects for fore and aft trim. The level sits on the Tee.
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DEAL TO THAT EXCESS GLUE NOW!
Unless you want to sentence yourself to hours of drudge sanding off over glue make it a standard practice to go back over your glue lines several times. The first time with your fairing tool followed by a steel painters knife to remove excess. Then use the paintbrush you used to prime the joints to smooth out any peaks or rough patches that may have formed. Finally later on when the glue goes off a bit go around with a piece of sponge dipped in meths and clean up your work. You may have to come back for a second round of fairing or filling and it is much much easier if you have a nice surface to work on.
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HOOTS MON THE WEE BOXES
Another practical way of ensuring the quality of your excess glue removal is to precut two ends, two sides and a bottom for a small tray out of your waste ply and use recovered glue to make very useful trays at the end of each glue session. My Scottish ancestors would be proud of me for that one!
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