Crossbeam construction

Crossbeams are at last under construction. This part of the building process has hardly any difficulties except for the fact that the ply crossbeam web consists of nine pieces on which fourteen hardwood pieces must be glued (more if they are scarf joined). As a result every crossbeam involves a serious amount of work and demands a serious amount of clamps! Fortunately, in the carpenter's workshop that I am assembling the crossbeams, clamps are not a problem! 

In the photos bellow the plywood web is seen, as well as the first croosbeam taking shape with the first hardwood parts glued on. A 6m long iron bar is bolted on the bench in order to keep everything straight until the assembly is over (cost 15 €). 

I had some doubts about the strength of the crossbeams, considering the loads they will be carrying, but even the three first pieces of hardwood gave the ply web enough stiffness to resolve all my ambiguities!

Masts and crossbeams

   It has been a while since I last updated this blog. Although I had a lot of other obligations during this period, I didn't neglect the boat at all! As the weather for the last couple of months in Crete was too cold for gluing, glassing, filleting etc, I decided to chanel other time consuming parts of the project such as the masts and the crossbeams. Their construction is straight forward but they consist of numerous components-ply webs, lots of softwood and hardwood parts-that take long to be cut and glued together, a fact that pointed out the significance of a workshop as close to my appartment as possible.

     As mentioned in previous posts, I was in search of such a workshop, so as to be able to spent every free hour on the project. A few days ago, a friend and proffesional carpenter agreed to let me construct a bench in one side of his workshop to glue up the masts and crossbeams. Furthermore, his stuff was willing to help me cut and shape all the wood parts of the assembly.

     The firt thing I had to do was find the appropriate wood needed. This was not easy as Douglas fir or Oregon pine (as is more familiar in Greece), the kind of wood specified for the job, is not very popular among house and furniture constructors lately. As a result wood suppliers in Crete don't import it any more. As if this was not enough, the ammount I needed was about 1,5 m3 and it should be first class. I had to buy from three different suppliers to find the quantity required and discard some when cutting and planing as unsuitable ( from lower quality). Total cost: 1800€ plus some 500€ for more epoxy and materials for the bench...a lot of money for pine...

    The good news is that with the Douglas fir for the masts and crossbeams I have almost bought all the material needed to complete the boat except for some more epoxy and glass cloth. In a later post more economical aspects will be mentioned as I think every future builder of such a boat would be interested in having a realistic estimation of the cost.

     In the photos below the first steps in organizing the construction of the two masts and four crossbeams are shown. Notice the 6m long cleargrained Douglas fir pieces I managed to find in a wood suppliers warehouse (unsought for two years..) and the beautiful Wharram  mast bases that I cut from a piece of oak I found in my friends workshop. Mast crane is from Iroko.  

      

        

6m long Douglas fir pieces. Not easy to handle but will save me a lot of scarf joining!

Cutting the wood

Only half the ammount required!

The two part gluing bench. A third part will be added for gluing the masts

Parts of the mast crane and the two oak bases

Heat!

Boatbuilding must progress during the oncoming winter. This requires heat!
Although temperature in Crete is still 15-20C I started experimenting in finding a way to heat the garage.
Aris, a good friend and fan of the project, kindly donated the kerozene heater seen in the pictures below. It is very economic and produces heat constantly, without a thermostat, which makes it ideal for large not fully enclosed spaces. When I tested it though I realized it was small for my boatbuilding shed which has no insulation and part of which is enclosed by iron plates (thus completely exposed to externel temperature changes). Nevertheless, it managed to maintain a stable inside 19C, while the outside temperature fell by nightfall to a prohibiting for epoxy work 15-16C (unfortunatelly the West System 205 hardener which is specified for colder climates is not imported in Greece!?).
As a result I think I will buy an identical heater and with both in use I will be able to use epoxy even during the coldest days of Cretan winter.
During the heaters test I managed to apply the first coat of epoxy on the underside surface of the plywood sheets of the forward bunk and floor and complete some of the keel and bulkhead fillet sanding. As soon as I finish with the glass reinforcement of the keel in this forward compartment I will paint it white before the final installation of the floor and bunk.

Heater in action!

Forward bunk and floor plywood parts cut

and epoxy coated on one side

Sanding land!

Although I rashed to cut the forward bank last week there is a lot of work to be done before its installation. Most of it is sanding and fairing!
A lot of people underestimate sanding as a basic part of these kind of projects. I think sanding is the finishing touch that will help reveal and then correct all the imperfections. It is what makes the difference between the smooth, elegant finish of a craftsman's work and an amateur construction. Keeping this in mind I removed the forward bank and started sanding the keel and bulkhead fillets in preparation for glassing the inside area of the keel with two layers of 6oz glass cloth as a reenforsment. I also removed with a dremel tool most of the fillets of bulkhead No4 - which were the first I made and looked like a real mess - and made new, before applying the glass cloth in this part of the keel.
When the new fillets were curred and sanded the area that was about to be glassed was taped all around at its boundaries (Scott William's technique). The glass cloth was cut and put in place and wetted out with a combination of brushing and using a squeege to remove excess epoxy. With epoxy in a tacky state the glass cloth was cut with a razor at the edge of the tape which was then removed leaving a clear margin between the glassed area and epoxy coated plywood.

Sanding...




Bulkhead's No4 new fillets!

Glassing the keel

Master bedroom...

I haven't made considerable headway with the project lately as I was "up to the throat", as Greek people say, with deadlines and comitments, both at work and with familly matters.
As a result I didn't feel much enthusiasm as I was driving to the boatbuilding shed last afternoon. To my disappointment my free time has decreased a lot lately and sometimes boatbuilding seems to be one of my last priorities, leaving me way out of my timetable.
I desperately needed some encouragment, so, instead of following the right sequence (thus sanding the fillets and the inside hull area below the floor and bunk level) , I desided to measure and cut the forward bunk.
The trick had instant results and worked as a visual injection of moral! It was the first time that I stepped into the hull, sat on the bunk and imagined the space of the forward cabin...That was it! I was dreaming again!

Fillets done!

I finally managed to finish all the lower hullside fillets today. Just on time as my daughter paid me a visit to inspect the progress of my work and, as you can tell from the look in her face, she was not very pleased! I must spend the next working sessions on sanding the keel and the bulkhead fillets and on coating them with epoxy before reenforcing the keel with two layers of glass cloth. On the same time I am searching for a warehouse closer to my house which, on a low rent can accomodate the construction of the four crossbeams during the oncoming winter. This will certainly accelerate things as work in my garage during the winter months is minimal. We'll see...

More fillets, more stiffeners.

I finally managed to spent some time at the building shed during the last week after almost a month. We were away on vacation on Samos island in northern Aegean. Unfortunately there was no sailing this summer as it was our first holidays with our newborn but I managed to learn some windsurfing which was fun and great exercise!
I am trying to complete a rather boring sequence of tasks before It is time to install the floors and banks. Thus I made some more fillets on the bulkheads- only a few remain now- and I glued in some more diagonal stiffeners in the middle and rear compartments. Soon I will be able to reinforce the keel from the inside with glass cloth as well as the bow and stern area. As autumn approaches I should better hurry as there is a lot of epoxy work involved in this part of the building process and it should be done in higher temperature.