-Week 39 Write Up- Lots of teak, plumbing, Dynel, and exterior trim

We came up a little short of our goal to finish the deck by Friday. But we are damn close. Oliver and I went at the deck all week and after we had put on the last of the full length planks, we were able to split off into different sections: Oliver taking the bow, and me at the stern. This way we could work at double the time. Although now that the planks are smaller, they need much more custom attention to fit them around the coach house, the hatches, cockpit, and lazarette. As I worked in the stern, I shaped all the planks that hung off the end of the boat to follow the shape of the stern. Then I made a mold out of plywood in order to make a solid teak plank in sections that wrapped around the stern. This was pretty tricky and took me most of a day to finish, but the result looks wonderful. Then we just plugged away at the teak planking, trying to get on as many as possible in a day.

Brendan, meanwhile, worked on installing some thru hulls for the engine exhaust and others to Alfie's specific specifications. Instead of using a bronze thru hull, we are using a very thick PVC type of thru hull, which wont rust, fade, or wear, and is just as strong. Brendan also installed the exterior mahogany trim around the coach house. He covered the coach house roof perimeter with 6 inches of fiberglass cloth and epoxied it down. After fairing that and applying a couple skim coats of fairing compound micro balloons, he was able to fair the raised edge of the cloth into the roof. The roof was also coated in epoxy to soak in before it was covered in Dynel cloth which will take the place of canvas as the surface of the coach house roof.

As you all may have realized by now, the project is taking longer then originally expected. I think this is usually something to expect with such a large custom project like this. We havent talked much about a launch date, and I dont want to let anyone down, so just stay tuned and as a date comes nearer, I will let you all know. Thanks for checking in and sorry for the late posts, I am living aboard IMPALA at the moment, without internet, so it is a little more challenging now to update on time.

-Week 39 PHOTOS- teak decking, dynel cloth, and plumbing

Here is where the teak planks hit the king plank in the stern, ready for glue.

Here they all are together, glued and held down.

Brendan and I rolled on some fiberglass cloth around where the coach house roof meets the coach house.

My aft section, cutting away the excess teak to follow the shape of the stern.

The finished product.

I made a mold for the curved stern teak sections.

Here they are after being cut, sanded to shape, and glued down.

Here is a nice subtle detail of where the teak plank intersects with the coach house.

Another detail of the other side where some custom fitting was needed. Oliver did a beautiful job here.

Oliver's bow section really coming together now.

The last plank where it joins the coach house is only but a sliver. Here I am scribing with a 3/16" block to get the correct shape.

Here is my little sliver plank dry fit in place.

After it is glued, it came out pretty well and finished off the starboard side of the boat.

Here is the thru hull for the engine exhaust.

A detail of the stern section where the planks pass by the cock pit and hit the lazarette.

Here, I nib the planks into the king plank in the stern. Where the pieces are so small, I can fit many at a time before I need to glue.

Brendan covers the coach house roof in Dynel fabric and epoxies it down.

Brendan installs the exterior mahogany trim.

At the end of the week, Oliver is almost finished nibbing in the foreward king plank.

The Last Shot of The week...and I am almost finished with the stern. Another day or two and the teak will be completed.

-Week 38 Write Up- Interior hand holds, Coach House Roof, and Teak Decking

This week, Oliver and I focused primarily on the Teak Decking. Brendan stuck around with us for half the week showing us how to cut nibs into the king planks using a very sharp chisel and to help figure out a system for fastening the teak deck planks. After that, he let Oliver and I loose and we laid down plank after plank. It is a little tricky and is definitely a two person job, at least as long as the planks stay full length. We have 15' and 10' planks and we space them specifically to stagger the butt joints where they meet. The first plank was difficult because it had the most bend in it as it followed the shape of the sheer. As there was nothing to clamp against with this first plank, we had to create a system of screwing down blocks that we could wedge off of. After the first plank, however, we could use a clamp to pull in the next plank to the one previous. After the teak is wiped down with acetone to remove the oils and help the glue stick, we lathered both the hull and plank with G Flex and then bent and held it into place. A series of blocks are then used to hold it out board and down, given a 3/16" space between it and the previous plank, which is held consistent by using plastic 3/16" spacer blocks. By the end of the week, we had installed mostly all of the full length planks, which puts us nearly half way down.

Brendan, after getting us situation, worked on cutting and fitting the mahogany hand holds that I had just varnished. He got those installed with G-flex and bunged. He also put another puff coat of paint on the coach house roof. Then, he installed the coach house stringers and we helped him on Friday to install the coach house roof, which went smoothly. We used the chain hoists to raise it over the deck and after dry fitted it and making sure everything was going together correctly, we lathered the perimeter of the coach house and the stringers with a generous amount of 5200 and laid the roof down. Then we fastened it with wood screws and cleaned up the mess.

With the roof on, it gives you a whole new perspective on the interior. It with the interior of the coach house painted, I think it will bring in a lot more light, especially considering thats where the light enters the boat from the port holes. I can stand up fully in every area of the coach house and at six feet tall, thats not too bad.

-Week 38 PHOTOS- Hand holds, coach house roof, teak decking

Here is a nib in the king plank being chiseled out and with the help of a forsner bit, removed.

A clamp in the foreground helps bend the plank into place as we screw the blocks that hold it down.

Brendan and Oliver discuss how the nibs are looking.

Our trash barrel after one week of putting on teak.

A detail showing how the planks meet around the lazarette trim.

Brendan cleans up G-flex after he installed the mahogany hand holds.

A nice detail of the hand holds.

The bow section.

Late in the week, we dry fit the painted coach house roof.

And laid down some 5200 to secure it.

After cleanup on Friday, Oliver and I got a chance to relax down below.

The Last Shot of the Week. Coach house roof is on and rough trimmed, and nearly half of the teak decking is down.

-Week 37 PHOTOS- interior and exterior coach house moulding, coach house roof and the first teak planks

Three layers of 1/4 " plywood is dry fit for the coach house roof

Setting up a fence on the routing table for the interior mahogany trim.

The beginning of what will become the interior mahogany hand holds.

After some help from Brendan on the table saw, this is the finished (sanded) result.

The coach house roof comes off after being glued together and gets some paint.

The lazarette and cockpit get trimmed in Teak.

The king aft king plank gets glued down.

As well as the fore king plank.

Brendan gets a couple coats of paint on the interior.

My first real varnishing job. Here are the mahogany hand holds.

Brendan trims out the coach house in Teak.

Here, he shows us how to chisel nibs into the king plank.

Prepping the deck with G-Flex for the first teak plank.

The Last Shot of The Week. On goes the first teak plank. Remember, no fasteners here, just those blocks you see holding the planks down.

-Week 37 Write Up- Making mahogany moulding, the coach house roof and installing some teak decking

This week was spent working on some tough wood work. Brendan put me in charge of making the hand holds that will line the coach house on the interior, or mahogany moulding. These are very similar to the mahogany fiddles that I made for the interior surfaces, but more complicated. Brendan came in a helped me with a difficult cut as he passed the planks through the table saw at an angle to get a certain shape in the wood.

Alfie stopped as we were fitting the plywood for the coach house roof, and we decided to add an extra layer of ¼” okume for more structure. We but joined them with a total of 3 layers of ¼”. These were piled atop each other, with a generous coating of epoxy and fastened into some false stringers that we installed strictly for that purpose.

The next day, we were able to remove the coach house roof and place it alongside the boat to sand, skim coat with micro balloons, and eventually paint. Now she is ready to be glued down and fastened perminantly.

I got my first job taking wood from bare bones, through to the final coat of varnish, which I am proud of. I sealed and varnished the Mahogany moulding and two Fir stringers for the coach house roof.

Meanwhile, Brendan had been dry fitting, and laying out where the teak decking is going to go, and figuring out the order that it will go down. He trimmed out the coach house with teak, and then later Oliver and I glued down the king planks, which run down the middle fore and aft. Brendan also trimmed out the hatches, lazarette, and cockpit lockers.

Oliver was busy skim coating the sheer and around the cabin house with micro balloons and doing a lot of sanding. The mouldings alone were a work out in themselves, being taken from 40 grit to 120.

On Friday, after a puff coat of varnish was laid on the moulding and stringers, we went full force with the Teak decking. We laid Teak down along the entire perimeter of the boat, which will give us something to push against when it comes time to filling in the rest.

I presume that next week will be spent mostly on laying up the Teak decking…something I have looked forward to for a long time.

Here is the time lapse video from 5/11-6/13:

Week 37

-Week 35 & 36 WRITE UP- on goes the deck and coachhouse

To re cap the last two weeks, which is almost three weeks from this post date, I have to think back to when we hoisted the plywood deck onto the boat, which now seems like so long ago.

Painting the deck was easier then expected in curious location alongside the boat, suspended from the chain falls. We rolled on two layers of primer and then after puff sanding her with 280, we rolled on the finish coat of semi gloss white. One coat was all that was needed to get a nice surface. The deck beams were all in place from the week before, and we easily hoisted the deck up with the chain hoists, using carpet alongside the sheer to protect the paint finish. With some quick jig saw work by Brendan, the plywood was notched around the head bulkheads, fit into place, and tacked down.

Once organized, we broke out the white 5200 caulking and hoisted the foreward half of the deck to caulk the beams, then laid down the deck and fastened the plywood directly into the deck beams. Then the aft section as well. We didn't waste any time in cutting out the hatches, lazarette, and cockpit lockers. Then the excess hanging over the edges was rough trimmed with a jigsaw and then eventually cut closer with a hand saw, block plane, and finally sanding board.

At this point, everyone was feeling pretty good. I took a few days off to see my girlfriend, Amelia, in Washington DC for her birthday, and when I returned a coach house had been built and fit to the boat! But a lot of work was still needed. When I returned on Tuesday, the coach house was dismantled in order to install a series of Fir blocking around the perimeter of the coach house. This Fir blocking is fastened to the deck beams, and also glued down to the plywood deck. Then, 6 inches of bi-axial fiberglass cloth was used to even further secure these blocks, which will eventually hold in the coach house, to the deck.

Looking ahead, I dug out some old Wana that was brought to Pease Boat Works years ago by sail power from another country ( south america?) and milled out some nice long boards that will be used in the bulwarks.

The other big news circulating around the boatyard when I returned was the hole that Drew almost drilled through his hand with a Forsner bit. Fortunately, he didnt poke through the otherside, but he will be out of commission on the MC-30 until his hand heals. So we are essentially one man down.

With the fiber glass set up, we were able to put the coach house back on the deck and fasten it. All necessary bungs were placed and the following day was spent sanding.

Although the launch date hasnt been mentioned at the boat yard yet, the generally suspicion is in the air, and it is very exciting.

As a side note, I took a trip up to Orleans with Aflie to see the mast maker, and although no progress has been made yet, she will be going at it full force within the next week or so. I was very impressed with her shop and I expect to see a very wonderful mast come out of it.

-Week 35 & 36 PHOTOS- plywood decking, coach house, laying up fiber glass cloth

Brendan gives us a demonstration on how to roll primer onto the plywood under decking.

Oliver and brendan work on the engine box.

Brendan and oliver deliberate over the hinge system for the engine box.

With two coats of primer and a finish coat of semi gloss white, the plywood under decking is ready to install.

Brendan installs Fir cleats for the forward hatch.

A nice view of the deck on, with hatches cut out.  No photo opportunities were available when putting it on, which was very exciting, but without incident.

Here is the port section of the coach house with port lights cut out.

A detail of the port light.

More Fir cleats are fastened to the deck to support the coach house.  These will later be fiber glassed to the deck as well.

Six inches of Fiberglass cloth was also laid over the edges of the boat all around.

Brad and Brendan pick out some Wana for me to slice up into long boards for the bulwarks.

Viewer discretion advised:  this is what happens when a Forsner Bit finds its way through your hand.  This puts Drew out of commission on the MC-30 for a while.

Brendan laying out the fiberglass cloth that will tie in the coach house cleats to the deck.

Another view of the cloth before it is smothered in epoxy.

Here epoxy has been applied and clamps and a stick is used to push it tight into the corners.

Brad and Brendan consider the work at the end of the day.

The forward port light.  Photographed when the house was dry fit in place.

Here it is glued down and fastened to the cleats.

The Last Shot of the Week(s).  Oliver tidies up the deck after gluing on the coach house.