Trailer Time Redeaux!

 Ok...finally making progress again on the boat. The last process completed was building the trailer.

Over the past few weekends, I welded onto the frame the fenders, brackets for the bunks and lights onto the trailer. I welded a tongue extension and changed out the coupler for a 2" ball. Both the coupler and the extension are secured by bolts as well as welds for extra security. I also welded some reinforcement steel to the sides of the trailer.

The trailer was painted an off-white ivory, which is the same colour as the boats waterline stripe (which I have yet to paint. I pulled the wheels off and made sure the bearings were greased and all true running, and painted the hubs to match the boat. (the inner star).

The rims I painted the same colours as the bottom of the boat, and then added new trailer lights and a license plate bracket.

I installed slightly less then 12' bunks with doubled 2x4 pressure treated lumber. The bunks were bolted onto yellow cedar blocks from the top, through the cross member and also sideways into the brackets I built to avoid "twist".

I got some premium outdoor carpet in remnet form End Of The Roll. They were super helpful in selecting the right carpet, and I got a smoking deal. It was also cool that it was in the same colour as the bottom of the boat. I like the fact that the carpet is 12 feet long so there are no seams. It was 3.9 feet wide, so I had enough, that I created a double layer and atteched it with a pneumatic stapler with galvanized 18ga narrow staples.

I then installed new trailer lights (which came with the trailer but were not installed when I bought it)

Overall impressed with the result.

Aluminum Runners

Finally good weather and time to work on the hull! The materials arrived from Pt. Roberts. I opted for aluminum keel runners .188 thick (3/16) to top off the maple & oak.. for the "sacrificial strip". Like everyone else before me, I was worried about galvanic action between dissimilar metals.. and debated using stainless steel strips instead of aluminum. The big cost factor convinced me otherwise. In the end, I decided on trying American made aluminum screws. To say the least, I wasn't sure about the strength, but my experiment has paid off.. I can torque them down as tight as I need to and haven't had any snapping problems or stripped heads. I think this in part to made in usa versus China. I used Sikaflex as a bedding/bonding agent liberally applied and spaced the screws 1 foot apart. I countersunk the heads slightly.. I thought I had ordered oval heads that taper but they were the round ones... I did drill pilot holes, which I would have done anyhow as oak and maple can be prone to splitting.

The "Wet Coast"

Out here on the "Wet Coast" we have suffered the coldest beginning of October in 123 years, and that so far has been followed by non-stop rain... We had triple the amount of rainfall this September than normal so I didn't get much done.. I took a break from my work (staycation) after Canadian Thanksgiving hoping to get a few final things done before winter set in.. but all this rain has hampered things...

The only good thing is I left my build deliberately exposed all last month and this month to the elements to see how it did with freezing temps and lots of water, and the paint is really holding up well...I'm impressed! So once I get a dry day I will throw on the tarps.

Bottom Painting Time!

 I've done the best I can with the 1708. The bottom and sides are ready for an initial primer of paint...

Getting the bottom painted... could be faired up a little more... but overall I'm ok with results so far... a couple low spots..and more sanding and filling would work.. but I just don't have it in me... 1708 is hard to work with... a couple coats on...

1708 Glassing the bottom

Now that the weather has warmed it's time to complete covering the bottom of the hull... this time with 1708...over the top of the seams.  probably not the best choice since the hull is so flat and has such a wide surface area. It has taken alot of resin,  sanding and effort to get things glassed. 

Its tough stuff and I do like how it is coming along on the build but is a real pain to fair and sand. Very labour and material intensive. I don't recommend for those reasons. Fortunately I only did the bottom and up to the water line.. the rest is lighter fabric. Anyways, got the runners on and I see the light coming at the end of the tunnel.. should be ready for paint and a flip very soon..

Oh my! What have I gotten myself into... I don't think the 1708 was such a great choice of cloth, although I was sold by the merits of its toughness! Hopefully, I will never need to test the strength!

The oak runners are bedded down and screwed into place with Sikkaflex waterproof construction sealant.

Beams & Posts

 There are a ton of roof beams, and supports that need to be made. In our case we decided over the winter months to make a mould to laminate strips of oak together, rather than cut each beam. The mould was cut based on the beam shapes in the plans, and was then pressed together with each strip being glued in place.

The result was a "glue" up of laminations to make up a beam. We used reclaimed oak strips for the beams. These are all the middle beams - we also need to make beams for the sides of the roofing using a different template.

This is the process that we used to make the beam form.

Here is how the middle roof beam turned out:

Cabin Posts

 While the weather was still cool out, complete the cabin framing for the port & starboard cabin sides.