Stern tube ,is this where we launch torpedo's ?

Have made the final changes to the fiberglass Prop shaft tubes , have added a bit more beef to the end with the cutlass bearing  , better to be over strong than have a weakpoint .

The basic tube is 10mm thick fiberglass , but the end  has additional material to bring it up to 16mm

Made an initial thin tube by rolling wetted out fiberglass cloth over a steel pipe  , removed when set by slitting it off  , had to be a tight fit as the cutlass bearing is supposed to be a tight fit . Rejoined the tube ( while ensuring straightness and sizing )  and added more layers of cloth to bring it up to the 10mm thickness . Finally added the extra cloth to the cutlass bearing end ( just last weekend ) .
Cutlass bearing is a tight press fit and its as straight as a dye , must remember process as i need to make another one as well ( darn catamaran ) .

Have fitted the tube into a piece of the Keel structure , this will then be laminated into the main Keel.

Thinking about a support Boat

Jigsaw will require a tender / support boat with it as most of the construction will take place when its already in the water  .
First thought was

With a cross section of

A bow door like a landing craft and a fully enclosed floor for boyancy , problem is its not wide enough for all the jobs it needs to do  , Maybe a catamaran version ?

Time to Deliver my Second Baby

Bow section on the Second hull is now ready for its first look at a bright new world .

 



Have made some changes to the rollers that the boat will move on  , so hopefully it won't be as big a squeeze as the first time we did this .

 

 

Slowely she makes her way  , a naked baby this one as the garage is too full of wood to allow me to wash her down and paint  , so outside we go !

 

 

 

The changes i made to the rollers were sucessful , we had at least an inch of clearance this time , created steel L brackets that were attached to the main bulkhead that allowed me to lower the assembly closer to the ground .

 

 















 

 

And then  , just like a normal birth  , she rushed out to see the sunshine  , but OOP's

 

 

 

Things come to a sudden stop , the new low-riders are low alright , a little too - low for the uneven concrete surface , ah-well  , we are outside now  . Time for Baby's first bath .

 

 

 

A quick wash and a rub-down  , time to paint this baby .

 

 

Just a light coat of Hempel's Light Primer , this will make it easier to spot any inperfections in the finish so we can correct these with a bit of sanding or filler  .

 



As with the other hull  , this outside surface has the partial skin cover that allows for the rest of the side to be added later but with plenty of surface attachment .

 

The rest of the paint hasn't turned up yet so the additional layers of primer will need to wait .







Almost finished the Sharp bit !

It been a while since my last post , so quite alot has been done ,
The plywood party is complete so the dual layers of plywood have been fitted .

Have also added the conical bow section , the laminated forefoot capping strip , the external keel and the sides have also been fiberglassed .

 

Have left some of the peelply on the sides as it helps protect them while I fiberglass the bottom of this section .
Had a couple of mis-adventures with this section , created the conical bow section and fiberglassed the inside of the wooden strips used to create the shape , but when i went to refit to the bow the shape had changed slightly but since the glass had started to go hard was forced to cut the section in two and reglue / re-epoxy , two layers of 1200gm  fiberglass just doesn't want to bend once it starts going off !.

The Laminated forefoot capping strip was made in-situ and is made from strips of 6mm solid timber , on the other hull I had used 8mm strips , but they were differcult to bend , thus 6mm for this section , but it wasn't without its issues  , pays to remove the holding screws ( for laminating ) before the epoxy goes fully off  , was a little late on a couple of them  , the heads on the screws snapped off when attempting to remove ( 12g x 50 mm ) , so the shafts are still buried inside the lamination , lucky they were close enough to the middle of the section so they weren't exposed when i shaped the forefoot .

 

This weekend I have been fiberglassing the bottom sections  , one side of the bottom section was done yesterday and the other side today , the glass overlapps the keel and the chines ,giving two layers of cloth at these points .

So now all i need to do on this section is remove the peelply and prepare the section for painting  ,

joy oh joy  , more sanding !!!

 



Frames Done , Time for a Plywood Party

These curvy bits may look great , but there is a lot of work getting them straight ( HUH ) , well correct anyway .  Framing is complete  , now I just need to  fit the connecting bolts into the frame and we can start the Plywood Skinning of the first section of the second Hull . Each stringer ( longitudinal  frame )  is bolted to the transverse frames  , originally planned on using Stainless Steel bolts but changed to stainless coach screws , easier and as I soak each hole in activated epoxy resin the holding strength is much better than a standard fit , thanks to the WEST guys for that suggestion in their book .

Garage is a bit messy  , but didn't have enough solid timber for this section so had to get another shipment so got enough wood for the next section as well . Have timber stacked everywhere . Plywood sheets ( 18 x 12mm and 4 x 18mm ) have also arrived , so are stacked on the side of the garage , have barely enough room to move , yet along work . At least this being the bow section  , its at least narrow at the entrance anyway .

This being the starboard hull the first bulkhead 45 degree additional section is on the left of these pictures  , would have been Embarrassing if I had made two Port hulls .

The Jigsaw pieces lineup again

Have completed building the frames , now we start the assembly process , first to be done is the attachment of the stem frame to the Primary Bulkhead , relatively simple , couple of stainless coach bolts and an amount of Epoxy glue .

These are the sheet frames , these will run from the Primary bulkhead , rearward at 900mm intervals .
Additional gussets are yet to be fitted to the non-sheet side of the solid timber sections , do these as i fit the longitudinal stringers .

Bad case of Deja Vu

Section 4 is now outside awaiting its final Keel installation with the associated power train components , Manufactured my own Propeller shaft tube out of Fiberglass resin and 1200 gm quad-axial cloth . Came out quite well ( pictures later ) .

I have also started on the starboard hull Stem core .

This this the base structure for the stem and is made mostly from 40 x 150 kauri , additional lamination's of solid timber are added to the sides of this structure to build up to what is required . Its also reinforced by a plywood center-line  frame  , in the port hull we made this from  18mm ply , but I was not happy in the way this was connected to the stem core so in this hull I have changed to a box type frame made from 9mm sheet ply and solid timber  , the ply will go both sides of the timber structure and attaches easily to the stem core ( only one side affixed in this picture ) as the core and the frame are the same width .

The last time I built one of these was 28 months ago  , who's idea was it to build a bloody catamaran ,
 Talk about Deja Vu !!

Roll Me over ( not like the last time )

Section 4 is ready to leave the garage , so need to make space outside . Removed section 2 of the hull from the rotate cradle and moved the cradle back round  the front yard  , rotated and positioned in place above Section 3 that has been sitting ready for it .

Time to rock and roll:

Bit by bit  , up she goes

Taking my time , slowely but surely

Balance point now  , time to move the chain from the pull side to the brake side

Now back down the other side ( nice and slowely ) . Chain has been attached to the reverse upper point on the cradle .

Almost there !

Phew !! , Down !! , and no crash this time !!

Now that this piece is the right side up , can now fit more of the internal structure , plywood bracing floors  added to the frames , internal structual keel and the false floor supports . As this is one of the middle sections of the hull , not much in the way of hull shape changes  , put plenty of space . This is the port hull , this section ( roughly  7 ft by 16 ft )  will contain a small workshop area , in the starboard hull it contains a utility room under the main kitchen area for processing of laundry etc  . There is more hull side to be added (  24 "  on the outer side ) , and it will end up with  6 ' 6 " of usable headroom . This side meets up with the 45 degree section of the wingdeck  , fully loaded  displacement waterline is approx 12" up from the chine .

ITS A BIG JOB ( messy too )

Plywood skinning of the stern section is now complete , so now adding the fiberglass outer layer .
Such a shame to cover up shaped plywood  , it looks so pretty , oh well , only the fish'es would have noticed anyway .

I,m still working on my own so have had to work out an appropriate sequence for the fiberglass operation , to start with I cut an appropriate length of glass ( 400g biaxial ) from the roll ( 5 meters in this case ) and roll it onto a length of pipe .  After mixing up a batch of resin/hardner ( 1.2 Liters )   , using a paint roller I  make an initial resin coverage of the plywood area to be fiberglassed  , I prefer the wet system of layup as it helps hold the cloth in place . Taking the  cut cloth I then proceed to roll it over the wet resin taking care to stretch and position it correctly , the resin easily holds it in place and this normally works out quite smoothly . Mixing up more resin I then continue to wet out the cloth fully ( but not too much resin as there is more to come ) .
Time for Lunch ( man has to eat )
Once the resin starts to get really sticky  , its time for the Peel ply to be added , I mark out the locations of each piece of peelply on the hull to make it easier to apply a thin coat of resin to the appropriate location , the peelply operation takes time so I do separate pieces rather than the entire section at once ,  Next job is to mix enough  resin for a couple of widths of peelply and  apply a thin coat to the marked out area's . During Lunch  ( got to be organised ! ) I have cut the peelply and also rolled it over a length of pipe , using this I apply the peelply , stretching it out as I go , then using some plastic flat edges I stretch out the peelply as much as possible , working out any excess resin ,then repeating this peelply operation until the entire area is complete .
Three or Four hours later when the resin has gotten hard , I then trim off any excess cloth etc , its better to do it now as its too damn hard when fully cured .
This is the external side  , did it first as it only has partial coverage ( split skin on this side ) and its easier as only 900 mm of cloth width its used , did this one yesterday so I've already removed the peelply .

Did the second side today , its larger and uses the full width of cloth ( 1.27m ) , its still got the peelply attached .

As you can see , its a bit tight in the garage ,should have built a bigger one !! ( garage that is  , the boats big enough as it is !! )

Next chance I get  , it will be fiberglassing the bottom of the boat , it will partially overlay the sides as well so we end up with two complete layers of cloth on the chine area .

Cheating with the Stern Section

I added a prop tunnel to jigsaw to minimize draft and give added protection to the Propeller , but the practicality of creating the tunnel in complex compound curves out of sheet plywood while possible , is not easy . Therefore I cheated !  .   The basic cutout in the hull is formed by flat layers of sheet plywood in a basic shape , thus creating the structural base of the entity , the final shape will be created later out of fiberglass and foam , much easier   in this  medium . I used a similar technique  on the conical bow sections but that was a single curve where this is a compound ( 2 directions ) curve therefore more flexibility was required.

As you can see we also have a much curvier hull shape compared to the earlier 2 sections ,  as the hull lines make their way back up to the stern ,nice to see as straight lines are so boring.

This is only the first skin layer , still another to add , the second skin covers the edge of the first so as to increase strength and minimize the exposed edge of the ply , still its all covered with layers of fiberglass later anyway .

In the first picture you can just make out a bolt emanating from the  front of this section , this is the keel height as taken from the previous section , by the time it reaches the tunnel and propeller position it will be almost 800 mm from the base of the tunnel , not inconsiderable .

I had toyed with the idea of a propeller strut instead of a full keel but stuck with it as it gives more protection and at the design cruising speed of 6 knots shouldn't affect the propeller efficiency too much .

HouseBoat or Boat Boat

Have been fine tuning the overall look of jigsaw , and made some changes to the upper structure design . Have edged the design away from it being just a Houseboat to more of a conventional boat in the overall look .

 Propulsion system is also changed , is now a hybrid of solar , battery , diesel and electric motors .
Sounds complex but due to the large solar arrays on the top of the boat it should make for  more economical operation .
Am currently working on the prop tunnel in the last section of the first hull ( pictures soon ) .
Interior layout has also changed , large workshop at the rear is now replaced with an open deck , a smaller workshop has been placed into the port hull under the Dining area . Side Decks now surround the entire lower portion  . My own little ( relatively ) Mini Superyacht !