True I haven't quite finished Skorpa. I have had her out for several sails and two overnights but neither the staysail or the spinnaker has been rigged. I need to apply some nonskid paint to the cockpit area. I also plan to build a cook box. A few other little projects.
So I haven't quite finished my first boat and only launched her about 6 months ago and yet, I have started on a Spindrift 10. This is a kit version of a 10 foot sailing dinghy designed by Graham Byrnes.
I am thinking of a small fun boat that an adult or child of moderate experience could take out on their own.
I ordered the complete kit. It comes with almost everything epoxy, hardware, sails, all the plywood pieces cut out on Grahams computer controlled CNC machine. There are only a few pieces like the gunwales and the seat stringers that you have to find on your own.
I have been thinking there might come a time when I could help someone else build a boat, and the Spindrift might just be the right boat.
All the pieces come in an 8 foot box and are cut from 8 foot plywood so there has to be a way to make the longer pieces and that is the first job. Graham uses his CNC machine to cut a stepped ramp into the plywood. This mates with a similar ramp cut into the piece of plywood to be joined. I first coat the joint with unthickened epoxy after that soaks in for awhile I coat the joint with thickened epoxy and then clamp.
The tricky part is to make sure the pieces are perfectly lined up. The steps cut into the joint help with this, but still once you smear the joint with glue and cover it with plastic and boards to apply even pressure it is difficult to know if the pieces are still lined up. This is the first part of assembling the kit ,but it requires a certian amount of precision. Best advice is to do some careful dry runs and try to come up with a way of knowing if the parts are in proper alignment even after they are clamped. Dry wall screws and clamps are used to squeeze the glued up panels between the scrap 1X8's and the work table.It is very difficult to develop adequate pressure with weights.
On the left are the bottom panels glued and clamped. On the right are the side panels glued and clamped.
Next the side panels are joined to the bottom, but only for a short distance maybe eight inches at the bow.
Graham has fashioned a kind of jig saw puzzle cut to help insure the panels are locked into their proper alignment. The side and bottom panels, port and starboard are all stacked up together and glued. Fiberglass tape is used to reinforce the joint and port and starboard are glued on top of each other so they will match perfectly.
After the epoxy has fully cured short pieces of wire are used to loosely stitch the two halves together.
This is called a butterfly joint and the next step is referred to as going 3-D.
There are some warning that the plywood will be highly stressed during this step and could crack. I soaked the forward section overnight with damp towels and a heating pad. Moving the assembly and trying to open it is very awkward and nerve wracking because of the risk of cracking. Fortunately had a good assistant.
Three patient assistants would be ideal. The long plywood panels want to flop this way or that.
I tied the side panels up to the ceiling because there were only two of us.
Totally amazing to see the flat panels morph into a boat so quickly. I had to apply a fair amount of pressure to open the panels and then the sides wrap back around. The pieces had been so well designed and precisely cut that they went together perfectly.
You have to do a little firm persuading to get the panels to conform to the shape of the temporary center bulkhead and the permanent forward bulkhead.
The plywood bends a lot up near the bow, and takes on a very how can I say nautical look.
