Mick’s blog

A quick turn in the pool reveals a few shortcomings.  The deck is a bit tricky to get on so needs a little adjusting around the coaming lip.  I need a bit of packing either side of my hips to improve connectivity, maybe a back-band at some point.

Boat now moved from shed to garage.

Easy does it!

Shiny and sparkly!  A slight accident with the glitter pot resulted in the bow receiving about ten times the glitter I had intended.  Subtle it is not!  Ah well! It was virtually undo-able so I have decided to live with it and claim I meant to do it.

Now the last of the deck lines and rigging is in place and ready for sea trials.  The cords suspending the boat are using the weight of the craft to stretch the deck lines a bit so when I take up the slack they remain tight.

Looking forward to having shed space back once it is moved to the garage.

Now the coaming, trim and cord are stitched in, some additional webbing to carry the deck lines past the cockpit is complete, then it is ready to be coated.

I am using a two pack (2k) acrylic urethane clear coat as used in car refinishing.  I used it on the previous skin and although the solvent is a bit much, the coating is well attached without having to squeegee it through the weave and builds quite nicely once the weave has been filled.  I think I will add some sparkle to the finish.  A few more coats to go yet though before I turn and do the deck.  Each subsequent coat uses less clear coat. As the coats build, the surface becomes flatter and it takes less coating to wet the surface.

 

 

Cockpit coaming cleaned up, holes de-burred, minor voids filled and a coat of epoxy.  All ready to fit.

Once the coaming is strapped into place I cut the opening for the cockpit, a bit at a time…

stitching as I go to maintain tension.

And finally trim off surplus material.

Now I need a band to trim the whole thing and add the cord to retain the spray-deck bungee.

Like so.

The deck is now completely stitched to the hull.

I have drilled the coaming to take the stitching for both the deck skin and the rope to provide a rim to hold spray deck bungee.

I am making steady progress towards the stern with my stitching. Now past the cockpit area and finding the boat cradles / slings very useful in that I can rotate the boat to bring either gunwale to the top to stitch. Working at the proper height helps prevent fatigue.

The chalk marks in the next picture show me where the staples are located.  It is all to easy to get into a rhythm and forget to remove them.

Rear deck lines to consider next.

Steadily progressing the stitching back towards the cockpit.  I needed to restore  tension in the length so a good pull over the stern using canvas pliers, then a few quick (and dirty) stitches create a pocket to keep the tension.

I lost my tension previously  by moving the boat about in it’s cradle and dislodging the speed-clamp that was holding it.

Now there are visible tension lines through the fabric where it is pulled taut.

Did I say easy on the eye? Each time I looked at the tape loops I disliked them more and the centre fore-deck stringer could have done with a bit more fairing in.   I have now replaced the loops with a flat tape across the deck but realistically it is too late to adjust the stringer

My fingers are feeling sore from sewing.  They’ve been stabbed with the eye end of the needle when the going gets hard.  A pair of rubber covered cotton gloves helps a lot with grip on the needle and a protective layer over fingers which helps when tugging twine.

Stitching is the last opportunity to mechanically tension the fabric by closing a gap between the fabrics.  I want to balance my seam on the gunwale corner and I try to get the tension sufficient to keep the seam in place but despite my best efforts, the line wanders a little.  Some of this is due to differences in tension between the top and bottom skins and larger areas stretch more.

Just over a metre stitched now so about half way to the cockpit. Both sides are being stitched at the same time to maintain an even tension. I have laid a cord in place to show where the deck-line goes.

Now the work begins with about 10 metres of stitching to do, about double that of a boat skinned the more usual way.

Because my previous skin was so waterproof and the seams especially so, I thought this time I would add some colour in the form of red decks as I am pretty confident I can get the seams watertight again.

How to stretch the fabric presented an issue.  I attached the bow end with a row of stitches then pulled hard at the stern and clamped the fabric to the stern-board, then pressing down firmly over the cockpit area I ran a line of staples up the centre  foredeck stringer.  Now I am fairly confident that the fore-deck has  enough tension to avoid wrinkles.

Stitching commences from the bow, removing staples from the hull skin as I come upon them.

Next I have added the first pair of a series of tape loops, to carry the deck-lines.

Not clearly visible here, this is a loop of nylon webbing or tape which is independently stitched to the deck skin .  The deck is separately stitched to the hull skin alongside the bottom of the tape loops.

In case anyone is wondering,  I plan to start the deck-lines at a bridle which will slip over the nose and then run them through a series of tape loops back to the cockpit.

Good progress so far and easy on the eye.