Electric Motor Mount, Hatches, and Coaming Boards

December 31, 2019

I wanted to close out 2019 with a milestone project - drilling out the holes for the fasteners and control cable for the electric motor.  I did a bit of sanding to improve the fit between the mounting block and the hull pad, onto which the electric motor will be installed.  Achieving a good fit was an iterative process, sanding portions of the mounting block with the small 5" random orbital sander.

Satisfied with the fit between the mounting block and hull pad, I then roughed up the area around and including the hull pad - this was more so to complete taping off the water line and priming.

I cleaned the area with solvent, and then proceeded to hut-glue the mounting block in its future position.  The holes within the mounting block would serve as guides for drilling out the fastener and control cable holes.

Next, I gathered a few tools to help in the effort of drilling those holes out, chiefly a 1 and 5/8" hole saw.

The drilling depth of the 1 and 5/8" hole saw was just 2", and the hull and hull pad, as well as the interior "backing plate", together, was more than 2".  So, in order to get the hole saw to push all the way through, I needed to remove the retained plug (this plug was now bottoming out inside the hole saw).  I used two different, smaller size hole saws to remove as much of the retained plug that I could.  With  a flathead screwdriver I simply pried off the thin remnants of the plug.  With a bit more than half of the way through, and the retained plug now ejected, I could drill through the remaining fiberglass.  I finally broke through, and was very happy to see everything nicely aligned.

I drilled out the forward and aft bolt (fastener) holes, and then cleaned up the lazarette and grounds around the boat.  In the coming days, with priming the starboard bow and the hull pad, I will prime the interior of the motor mount holes.

I returned to the shop to apply a sealer coat of varnish to the undersides of all the hatches.  I sanded off any varnish that clung to the underside of the frame while I was applying the 6 coats of varnish to the tops, as well as cleaned up some excess epoxy from the filleting I applied to the forward and lazarette hatches.

I vacuumed and solvent-wiped the surfaces of all the hatches to prep for varnish.

I used Epifanes Clear Gloss for the sealer coat on the undersides of the hatches, thinned a bit less than I normally would for a sealing coat.  Application was with a 2" foam brush, and went on without issue.  The hatches are now complete, and will be installed in the coming weeks. 

I headed back out to the boat for continued work on the laminate issue I discovered at the starboard bow.  With the three layers of 10 ounce glass applied, as well as the first light skim coat of fairing compound, I came back today to sand and determine if another skim coat was required.  In fact, another skim coat would be required.  So to that end, I solvent-wiped the surface and mixed another small batch of the TotalBoat TotalFair product.

With a 6" knife, I applied the skim coat of fairing compound.  Tomorrow, I will sand this area and prime it in preparation for the first coat of topsides paint.

I headed up into the cockpit after completing the work that I could on the bow.  I grabbed the coaming boards, a small bottle jack and some scrap wood/shims and headed to the boat.  I had previous fine-tuned the fit of each of the coaming boards, and now I wanted to get both boards in and measurements taken to prepare for fasteners.  The fit was great, and with the boards pushed into their future positions, I marked the high point of the molded fiberglass coamings on the outboard side of the new teak coamings.  I will be laying out the location of the fasteners soon, and then drilling pilot holes in order to tap for machine screws.

Total Time Today: 3.5 hrs

Bow Cap (Rail) and Tiller Fabrication (Pt 2)

December 30, 2019

In a previous work session I joined two blanks of teak culled from the shop's supply, being nearly 2" thick.  I removed the clamps from the assembly this afternoon, and proceed to clean up the cured squeeze out epoxy by sanding the surface smooth.

I laid out the original bow cap - part of the boat's toe rail system - onto the new teak and transferred the shape.  As mentioned previously, the original bow cap was fabricated in the same manner I choose to utilize, which was gluing up two pieces of teak to create the width required.  The center line of the bow cap aligns with the center line of the boat.

With a jigsaw, I then removed the new bow cap in "rough" form.

Here is where the time would be spent for the day's work session: an iterative process of shaping the underside of the bow cap to take the lip of the deck (bolted to the inward facing flange of the hull), as well as the convex shape of the deck.  Essentially, the process was to allow roughly 1/4" of material around the perimeter of the bow cap (I'll call it the foot of the bow cap), which will rest on the flange of the hull, and then to remove the material inboard of the foot to allow for a good fit.  In plain speak, I gradually hollowed out the underside of the bow cap (inboard of the foot), to allow for the curved deck surface.

The toe rails will join the bow cap at its aft, where the notches are cut to port and starboard.  More "finish" shaping to come upon full assembly to blend the joinery of the various toe rail components. 

With the bow cap tucked away for now, I directed my attention to the small laminate repair on the starboard bow.  I had ground out some bad laminate in a previous work session, and then laid up a few layers of 10 ounce cloth as a repair.  I removed the peel ply today and sanded the area smooth, eliminating the excess epoxy and gradually tapering the perimeter of the repair.  I cleaned the area with solvent, and then applied a skim coat of fairing compound - using TotalBoat TotalFair, without a picture depicting that.  Next step here will be to sand the fairing compound smooth, and then apply primer paint to complete.

I finished up the billable work, and moved on to completing the tiller - a gift for the owner of the Allied 24.  I set the lamination onto the work table, still in clamps on the tiller form template, and proceeded to remove it from the form.

I was a bit worried about "spring-back" after removing the new tiller lamination from its form, but there was literally none to observe.

There was copious amounts of cured epoxy squeeze out, and I really should have cleaned things up a bit prior to walking away from it....now this has become a sanding chore.  

I removed the excess epoxy to clean the tiller lamination.  The alternating layers of teak and quarter sawn white oak were beginning to really shine.  Varnish will further improve the charm of the new tiller.

Total Time Today: 3 hrs   (tiller will not be billed time and materials)

Bow Cap (Rail) and Tiller Fabrication

December 28, 29019

With family in town, I managed to make it to the boat today by nearly 3 o'clock with at least one item to get through - gluing up the blank for the new bow cap, part of the deck rail system.  The original was well-worn, with significant checking and dry rot.  The piece was almost 2" thick, and over 8" in width.  I culled a piece of of the thicker teak from the remaining supply, and with a circular saw cut to lengths that I would need to glue together to create the width needed for its replacement.  Examining the original cap, I noticed that it was also fabricated in this manner.  After cutting the two pieces I jointed their edges to be glued up.

I wiped the two halves down with a solvent to clean any remaining sawdust and teak oils from the surfaces, and then mixed an ounce of resin to first apply to the gluing surfaces to wet them out, and then thickened the remaining resin with 406 colloidal silica.  I applied the thickened epoxy across the gluing surfaces, and on a sheet of plastic then joined the edges together.  I placed two clamps on the blank to pull the two halves tight, forcing good squeeze out.  I placed another small bit of plastic on top of the blank, and with an off-cut piece of piece of teak clamped across the blank to keep the two halves in plane.

From this blank I will be forming the new bow cap - more to come.

I spent the balance of my time in the shop today working on the boat's new tiller.  In the previous work session I had created three strips of quarter sawn white oak, so today I replicated those dimensions and created four strips of teak.  The assembly will be to alternate teak and white oak strips in the final lamination.

After sanding each side of each strip of wood, I laid them out in the order I liked, using the natural curves of the teak to my advantage.  I also compared the width of the seven strips of teak and white oak to that of the original, and it was grossly too thick.  I removed one strip of teak and one of the white oak strips, and this new dimension was pleasing in form.

I tested how the wood strip assembly wood take the forms of the tiller template and was satisfied in how fairly easily it took to the form.  I am hoping that post-cure there will not be much spring-back after removing it from the template.

I then laid out a sheet of plastic and placed the wood strips on top.  With each one, I ran an acetone-dampened rag down all surfaces to remove oils and sanding residue.  Next, I mixed two cups of epoxy resin: one 'neat' (with no thickening agents, and the second one thickened with 406 colloidal silica.  Alternating application of the two epoxy cups, I applied the neat epoxy and then the thickened epoxy to each of the gluing surfaces.  With all surfaces having epoxy applied, I assembled the tiller lamination and then folded one of the sides of the plastic sheeting over it.  

I placed the assembly into the tiller template, and then folded the other side of the plastic over.  Working from a couple spaced out clamping blocks, I alternated tightening clamps on the blocks, pulling the tiller assembly tight into the block and forcing the form of the old tiller onto it.  I slowly worked all clamps until I was tight across the length of the tiller lamination.  I used a small block of wood and a hammer to tap the lamination into a flat plane, ensuring that no single strip of wood was out of line with any of the others.  In the coming days I will remove the clamps and clean up the cured epoxy squeeze out, and begin to shape her for final form.

Total Time Today: 1 hr  (tiller will not be billed time and materials)

Priming the Cockpit Lockers, Gluing Up the Toe Rails, Laminate Repair, and Tiller Fabrication

December 27, 2019

I made it over to the boat just before noon, and immediately got to work with today's goals.  First, I flipped over and staged the recently primed cockpit lockers and battery box / landing platform.

I wanted to get a couple coats of the grey primer on the interior surfaces.

With this primer paint application, the locker lids and panels would be ready for finish paint on their exterior surfaces.

I started by mixing a small pot of the TotalBoat TotalProtect epoxy-based primer / barrier coat.  I covered and set the paint to the side for a prescribed 15 to 20 minute induction period, and then tended to the parts to be painted.

I wiped down the surfaces with acetone to remove any unwanted debris, detritus, and the like.

With the parts prepped and the paint chemically ready to apply, I painted out the parts with both a foam roller and a brush.

With the paint drying (I chose not to watch), I moved on to the toe rails.  I carefully pulled them out of storage from (not so) deep within the shop, and laid them out in their proper orientation:  three lengths of toe rail for each the starboard and port sides.

I then set up a few workhorses to support the toe rail assembly.  Two of the four workhorses were of the same height, while the others required some additional layering the scrap material to gain a level (more or less) plane down the length of toe rail.  I began with the port side lengths of rail, laid them out and prepped the glue joints by sanding out any remaining cut marks, followed by a thorough cleaning with acetone.  The oily teak can interfere with the epoxy resin, producing a less than perfectly strong glue joint, so effort should be made to remove the oils.

Next, I assembled a couple three-point clamps (a clamp that can be tightened down on three of four sides of the workpiece), and applied plastic sheeting to protect the workhorses from epoxy resin.  I first wet out the each of the glue joints with 'neat' resin - no thickener applied to the resin - and with the remaining resin, thickened it with 406 colloidal silica.  I applied the thickened resin to the glue joints, spreading enough on to ensure squeeze out, and then clamped the scarf joints together.  The joints were checked for evenness, and excess thickened epoxy resin cleaned up.

I repeated the process imparted to the port rail on the effort to glue up the starboard rail.  As I completed each rail, I applied a few additional clamps to ensure the rail did not move during their cure time.

I have noticed an issue with the starboard bow topsides...a little bubbling of the primer paint.  I had made a previous attempt at a repair, thinking it was simply an excess of resin, gelcoat, or paint applied to a small area - about the side of a pea.  But after my first attempt, I noticed that the surface with pliable - the material underneath the recently applied primer was not compatible.  To reduce the trial and error time required to exact a repair, I decided to grind the surface down to clean, solid laminate, and I did so with the 1" belt sander.

I cleaned the surface with acetone, and with a small square of plastic sheeting, made a template for three pieces of 10 oz fiberglass cloth, each one smaller than the prior.  I wet the surface out with resin, and then applied the fiberglass cloth by starting with the smallest one first.  I finished the lamination with a layer of peel ply, enabling me to apply fairing compound after this patch cures.  I will blend the area in with its surrounding surfaces, and then prime it in preparation for the topcoat of paint.

With the remaining hour and a half I had left, I decided to get started on fabricating the new tiller for the Allied 24.  I decided to use alternating layers of teak and quarter sawn white oak.  The choice of materials would provide a interesting look of alternating dark and light layers.

I dug out my tiller template, removed the clamping blocks I had applied in creating the last tiller and then sanded the surface smooth.  I grabbed a handful of new blocks for use in clamping the lamination for the new tiller.  I laid of the old tiller onto the templating surface and hot-glued the first layer of blocks to the templating surface and set tight against the old tiller.

I then hot-glued the second layer of clamping blocks to the first layer, pre-drilled pilot holes, followed by 2"-long drywall screws.  Two screws per block would ensure no movement when clamping the new tiller lamination in place, and taking the curve of the old tiller.

I prepared three lengths of the quarter sawn white oak, approximately 3/8" thick, before running out of time.  My next step for the tiller will be to prepare four lengths of teak, and then prep all lengths for lamination.

Total Time Today: 4 hrs (tiller will not be billed time and materials)

Sanding and Priming the Cockpit and Cockpit Scuppers

December 26, 2019

My ability to get to the boat around Christmas has been challenging to say the least, but as it should be.  I was able to get a couple hours in today, tacking some sanding and paint work.

I started by water-washing the spot-fairing that I had done in the cockpit, as well as a small bit around the cockpit scuppers that I had glassed in.  I used peel ply on the layer of biaxial cloth on the underside of the cockpit well, though I wanted to ensure that all exposed cured resin was "clean".

I then used 60-grit paper, by hand, and knocked down any of the rough edges around the underside of the cockpit scuppers.

Starting first on the port side and then wrapping things up on the starboard side.  I vacuumed and solvent-washed the area to prep for primer paint.  I mixed a small pot of the TotalBoat TotalProtect to apply to the small areas on the underside of the cockpit well.  This work would bring me to the point of being ready to attach drain hose.

I then headed out into the cockpit to sand the spot-fairing.  I used 60-grit paper here as well.  With the small 5" sander and by hand, I moved around the cockpit hitting the areas needing sanding.  With a small pot of TotalBoat TotalProtect (white), I primed the front half of the cockpit well, including the top portion of the interior of the scupper drains.

With the remaining primer, I headed into the shop to prime the tops of the cockpit locker lids...

...and the battery box / landing platform.

The final task I managed to accomplish was application of a skim coat of fairing compound onto the starboard cockpit seating.  I had dropped a hand plane onto the surface of the cockpit seat, marring it, and as a result needed to sand it down and apply fairing compound.  Its getting to the point that I need to begin deploying towels and blankets around the boat to protect the surfaces and finishes.

Total Time Today: 2.5 hrs

Glassing in the Cockpit Scuppers & Spot-Fairing the Cockpit Well

December 24, 2019

I had just a bit of time today to devote to the refit of this Allied 24, so I got straight at the work - glassing in the cockpit scupper drains.  

Using the 1" belt sander, to work quickly and in tight spaces, I sanded the underside of the cockpit well and the flange of the drain.  I needed to ensure that the surface of the flange and the underside of the cockpit well was roughed-up (keyed to accept a mechanical bond of epoxy).

With the sanding out of the way, I vacuumed the surfaces and then wiped them down with solvent to remove any remaining sanding residue.  Back in the shop, I cut lengths of fiberglass to wrap on the flange and the underside of the cockpit well.  I finished things off with peel ply in order to cut down on the need for water-washing and sanding prior to painting the surfaces.

The last item on the list today was spot-fairing the cockpit well.  There were a number of voids on the surface of the cockpit well floor and verticals...hence the pox!  With TotalBoat TotalFair, I applied the  fairing compound to the numerous small voids.  In the next work session I will sand these spots fair and finish off with primer paint.

Total Time Today: 2 hrs