Final To-do Items

The last couple of weeks of August were spent frantically working to accomplish the last minute items.  Forcing myself to a self-imposed deadline, I used every available amount of spare time to make sure that I was ready for the late August appointment to move Froonie to the marina for launch!

I spent my birthday weekend applying the bare teak trim to the interior of the raised forward hatch lip.  The teak trim would provide a rough finished look, and a place to mount hardware for securing the hatch in its closed position.  The clamps are indicative of the work...

At home, I took the opportunity in the evening to finish the forward hatch assembly: teak-colored polyurethane applied to the underside of the lexan glass, secure the lexan glass with stainless fasteners (countersunk), more teak-colored polyurethane, and final teak trim secured with stainless fasteners.

Back on Froonie, I mounted the forward hatch with stainless hinges and purpleheart (wood species) backing plates.  I would apply a D-shaped gasket to the underside of the hatch, as well as add brass hooks, to finish the installation.

Next, I completed the assembly the outhaul and gooseneck fittings for the boom (drilling and taping for stainless screws), and set all hardware and fasteners in Tuff-Gel, an anti-corrosion / anti-seizing product.

....and back down to Froonie, I drilled and tapped for the 1/4" bronze screws that would secure the genoa track on port and starboard toerails...

....toerails installed!  I was just about ready to go.  What I do not have pictured on the blog is the running of Froonie's electrical:  all-around anchor light, steaming light, deck light, nav lights, cabin lights (4), bilge pump with float switch, and new panel.  This work was performed by a local marine tech., which I was able to shadow somewhat, and proved to me that it is essential to learn this trade prior to work on the next, larger vessel.  In addition to the electric, I installed new halyards (main, jib, and spinnaker), topping lift, and flag pennant.

Finishing Toe Rail Installation

On Saturday, the 23rd of July, I took the opportunity to finish the toe rail installation - which included bedding the rails in polyurethane (Sikaflex 291 LOT).  My first task was to remove the rails from the deck, supporting the lengthy rails as I removed them.  I then measured the locations of the weep holes - scuppers for draining the deck of water - and marked and removed material.  There are two weep holes on the port side and two on the starboard side; both are located toward the stern.  The weep holes are roughly 1 and 3/4" in length, and about 1/4" deep.  The picture below shows the chisel used to remove the marked and scored portions of the toe rails.  

Sanding with a block was then used to create a smooth, finished appearance.

The bedding of the rails themselves was essentially a repeat of the dry-fit process:  work from the bow towards the stern, laying down a good bead of polyurethane as the rails are re-fastened to the deck.  With a tight seal of the toe rail to deck, a good amount of polyurethane would ooze from the sides - a good indication that adequate bedding material exists between the toe rail and deck.  Working with the bedding material is messy work, seriously messy work, but required work.  Thanks to all my amateur boat-building friends for their support in the installation of the toe rails!  Here, below, is a picture of the starboard aft portion all put to "bed".

One week later, after business travel out of town, I used Saturday the 30th to install the bungs in the toe rail - using Epifanes varnish to "glue" the bungs in their holes.  

The next day, Sunday the 31st, I used a chisel to remove most of the protruding bung.  After removing most the bung material with the chisel, I sanded the balance to fair with the rail itself.  Moving down the port side, I finished with the starboard, readying the rails for their first penetrating coat of varnish.

Toe Rail Dry Fit

On Sunday July 17th, I put the finishing touches on the recently epoxied toe rail scarf joints.  I had an issue with the port side aft joint after the initial gluing, so earlier on Saturday I had to take my smaller Japanese saw to the reopen the joint and epoxy once again.  Fast forward to Sunday, and upon inspection of the second gluing attempt, all came out well.  Now all that was left to do was to sand the joints to fair.  In the picture below you can just make out the diagonal joint...finish sanding would take care of the remaining uneven surfaces.

On Tuesday afternoon, Steve and I (my enlisted support) prepared for the dry-fit installation of the toe rails.  The first step in the dry-fit installation was to apply a measured fastener pattern to the rails themselves for pre-drilling of the countersinks for the bungs.  Photo below is of Steve (Cheoy Lee owner, and live-aboard) applying a simple measuring jig to mark the pre-drill points.

Once we had the toe rails marked, we ran the entire port and starboard rails through the drill press (roughly 21.5' of length per rail), applying a forstner bit for the drilling of the bung holes.

After both rails were pre-drilled for the bungs, we began the process of the dry-fit installation.  Starting at the port bow, the process was as follows:  support entire length of the toe rail with two slings hung from the shelter, position the lead of the toe rail at bow, drill 1/8" pilot hole through the rail and into the deck, screw in #10 philips pan-head.  Repeat about 30 times per rail working towards the stern.  This is easier as a two-person job, though I have read plenty of installations that include but one soul...and several well-placed lines.

Here's how the rail fasteners appeared as we worked down the line.

Tuesday, July 19th, the toe rails were installed...well, dry-fitted anyway.

Cutting Scarf Joints for Toe Rail and Rub Rails

     On Sunday, July 3rd, I took the opportunity to cut the scarf joints in the toe rail and the rub rail material.  I headed back over to The Pine Cottage, visited with my buddy Glen a bit, and then got started with construction of the jig.  After consulting a bit with Glen on proper layout, I dug into the cull bin and collected material to build the jig.  The use of the jig would assist in making sure my angled cuts were consistent from one length of rail to the next; it consisted of a plywood base, cleat stock, and a plywood fence.  The picture below shows the plywood base, the parallel cleats in the center would hold the rails as well as support the circular saw, other cleats to support the circular saw, and one of the plywood fences to create a "track" for the circular saw to pass through.

Here is a good picture illustrating how the jig allows the rails to be held between the cleat stock, and how the circular saw is guided across the rails at the required angle.

This picture shows the saw immediately after cutting one of the rails and prior to me removing the saw from the jig.

Here is a picture of one of the rails after being cut.  The scarf cut can be clearly seen.

I ran 6 lengths of toe rail through the scarfing jig, and 6 lengths of rub rail as well.  Here are the rails laid out as they will be installed on Froonie - port and starboard.  Originally, while cutting the profiles for the toe rails, I took advantage of some natural bend in the teak...so hopefully installation will be made that much easier.

A proper scarf joint is made with a 8:1 ratio.  That is, for every inch of thickness in the stock eight inches of scarf length is cut.  The thickness of Froonie's toe rails is 3/4", so my ratio is actually closer to 9.3:1.  This longer scarf joint will provide more surface area for the epoxy glue up of the rails - making for an even stronger joint.  Gluing the joints together with epoxy will be done at the boat, just prior to installation.

Companionway Trim Installation

     On Monday, July 4th, I spent a few hours installing the companionway trim.  On Saturday, the 2nd of July, I spent a few hours combing through the fasteners isle at a local marine chandlery - Pier 17.  This store has an incredible selection of "hard-to-finds", but you have to willing to dig, search, pick, and tease out the items you need.  I am not sure that the owners really keep a running inventory at all...but what a great place.  So, I spent about 2 and a half hours picking through various size silicone bronze wood screws until I found exactly what I was looking for.  Having spent so much time in the store, I would have to wait another day for the install.  That day had come...

     All of the brightwork was cleaned with TSP, sanded, and varnished with about 6 to 7 coats of Epifanes High-Gloss.  The picture below shows the sliding hatch rails installed (with one additional trim piece on the starboard side).

...and here we have yet more of the trim installed...

...a few more pieces to go...

Coaming Boards In!

     Saturday, June 25th, the coaming boards made their way back onto Froonie - where they look much better.  This was certainly a milestone...to see those boards coming back home, what a site.  If you have been following long, then you will remember the coaming boards as they came off of Froonie...ravaged by salt and sun.  

Installation would include over 40 stainless machine screws, finish washers, washers, and nuts...

...machine screws secured from the interior with washers and nuts.

All of Froonie's coaming boards were bed in a liberal amount of polyurethane - Sitka 291.

Welcome home coaming boards.

Fifth Phase of Hatch Build

     Over the course of a couple days in late March (27th and 28th), Glenn and I created a jig at the shop - see The Pine Cottage - and cut channels in the corners to accept essentially what are biscuits.   The biscuits provide yet additional glue surface area offering an incredible strong construction.  The fact that the hatch has no fasteners throughout its construction offers great aesthetic appeal but required joinery work that promoted a durable construction.  The biscuits are cut from lyptus, a hybrid species of Eucalyptus grown in Brazil primarily and used often as an alternative to mahogany.  The thought behind the use of lyptus was to offer a dense wood that would stand up to the marine environment, but also to offer a wood species that gave some color distinction for the joinery work.  I failed to take photos of running the glued up hatch over the table saw to cut the biscuit channels...but you get the idea.

    The dry-run picture above provides a great chance to see the unique characteristics of the teak and lyptus...next, I would glue them up.

     As I had done with the previous epoxy work with the teak, I wiped all surfaces to be glued with acetone to remove the natural oils from the wood itself.  I then mixed a batch of 'neat' epoxy, and painted all surfaces to be glued.  Secondly, I mixed a batch of epoxy thickened with the West System 403 Microfibers and proceeded to apply to all surfaces and installed the lyptus biscuits.

Another shot of the biscuits glued in...is that Biden throwing curve balls?

     After the epoxy cured, I trimmed the protruding edges of the biscuits with a Japanese saw and smoothed the rough surface with 150 grit paper.  More sanding will be required just prior to the first application of thinned varnish, but the picture provides an idea of how the hatch is coming together.  On a recent paint day on location at Froonie, I took the opportunity to place the hatch on the foredeck for a look-see.  Not bad!

Fourth Phase of Hatch Build

     Wednesday, March 2nd, I took some available time to continue the hatch construction.  It was again time for some epoxy work - gluing in slats and assembling the hatch frame rails.  The picture below is a dry run of the hatch assembly pulled together with a strap clamp.  The strap clamp provided great pressure around the hatch frame, pulling it tightly in on itself.

          The hatch slats were spaced out using 1" wide pieces of teak - cut from the same hatch slat material; the slats were secured with small brads, but are also glued in with 'neat' epoxy.

     The hatch frame rails were glued up in the same fashion as when they were originally brought together with the splines:  application of 'neat' epoxy and then a subsequent application of epoxy thickened with 403 Microfibers.  Once the frame was epoxied and secured with two strap clamps, I wiped up the excess epoxy and we flipped her over: as I painted out the spacers and slats with 'neat' epoxy, Glenn secured the slats as the epoxy kicked with a brad nail in each.

      I then set the hatch aside as the epoxy fully cured.

Third Phase of Hatch Build

     On Monday evening, the day after I had glued up the frame components, Glenn and I worked the edges of the hatch frame.  First thing to do was unclamp the frame rails and inspect the results.  All appeared to be in good condition with joints now likely stronger than the wood itself.   Off to the router table!

     Glenn worked on a great looking coffee table - one of his personal projects - while I eased the edges of the hatch frame rails over the router table.  I ran all edges over the 1/4" round-over bit.  Taking off the hard edge created a much more pleasing design to the hatch frame.  After I ran the rails over the router, I sanded first with 150 grit and then a 220 grit pad.  The teak was really beginning to look pretty.  In the picture below, you can see the spline that I had epoxied into the channels cut in the frame components.  Glenn's design was to eliminate use of screws on the hatch construction; the splines would create additional glue surface and promote maximum 'with grain' glue strength.

     While I had the router fired up, I ran the slats across the table as well.  Using the same 1/4" round-over bit, I eased the edges of the slats in the same way I had worked the hatch frame rails.  The slats would extend across the hatch adding some additional stability, as well as serving to break up the intensity of the sun.

     After I had completed the router work on the various hatch components, I turned over the hatch frame rails to Glenn to cut them to proper length with 45s.  Results on three of four below...

     Once we had completed the cuts on all four pieces, we laid out the rails giving an idea of the how the finished product will appear.

Second Phase of Hatch Build

     On Sunday, February 27th, I took the opportunity to layout the hatch frame and begin the glue up process.  This was a pretty straight forward part of the hatch construction, taking just a short amount of time.  In a previous trip to the wood shop, Glen and I cut the dado / channels in the frame pieces in preparation for gluing them together.  During this session, I began by laying out the components, ensuring the pieces to be mated presented the best aesthetics.  I then wiped down the surfaces of the teak with acetone, taking off the naturals oils of the teak that would hinder the effectiveness of the epoxy.

     Next, I mixed up a batch of neat epoxy and painted it on the surfaces to be mated.  I then combined West System 403 Microfibers with a subsequent batch of epoxy and applied this to all previous painted surfaces.  I first applied the 'neat' epoxy to the glue surfaces in anticipation that the teak would absorb some of the epoxy, so the second batch of thickened epoxy would supply an adequate amount of epoxy for bonding the wood surfaces together and filling in any voids in the wood surfaces.  If I would have bonded the wood immediately after applying the 'neat' epoxy, I might have ended up with voids and weak areas in the bond.  

     Once I had all surfaces covered with the epoxy thickened with 403, I assembled and clamped all pieces.  The clamps were secured tightly so as to close all seams.  I wiped surfaces on one side with a rag wetted with solvent...

     ....and repeated on the opposite side - ensuring all epoxy was removed that had squeezed out during the clamping.

I then set aside while the epoxy fully kicked and cured.  I would take care of any residual epoxy during a sanding session prior to applying varnish - a few more steps are required prior to this however.