HUNKY DORY / Matt Krick / Washington / 6-21-02: I now have all the frames and transom braced on the form. Used a transit level to make all frames level. I hung a wire over the center line and then hung a plub bob off of the wire to center all the frames. I did have some problems though. Even though I used a jig to build the first seven frames they are not all exactly the same. When I put a long straight edge on the first seven frames I had some gaps some as much as 1/8th. I've adjusted then about a dozen times and I still have gaps. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, but as long as I can get the chine log and sheer clamp in straight and level, and I don't have any frames protruding past the chine log and sheer clamp then I should be okay. Any frames protruding past the chine log and sheer clamp will have to be planed down. So far the chine logs are going in with minor shiming and fairing. (Correct... brw)
7-25-02: Chine and outer sheer clamp screwed and glued. Took me a long time to set the chine and sheer clamp. I ended up having to fair of about 5-6 frames with 1/8 of an inch being the most I had to take off. Looks real good now. Just about to start scarfing the plywood side together. I bought the john henry scarffing jig to help. Being a first timer we will see how it goes. Starting to look like a boat, maybe it will float some day.
8-16-02: I have completed scarffing all the necessary panels. Panels are made out of 4'x8' sheets of marine grade 3/8 plywood. Used the John Henry scarffing jig and a Makita 1900b planner. Folks I have never done scarffing before, and with the use of this jig all the joints came out great. I know that sounds like I am exaggerating, and I am not trying to sell this jig, but it is nearly idiot proof. If you read other forums you may hear horror storys about scarffing, or think that it is too difficult of process. Each joint takes about 4 minutes to cut, maybe not even that long. Then I took each piece of plywood and slathered straight epoxy on the joints and let it sit for 5-10 minutes. I then mixed up a batch of thickened epoxy and slather more glue on the joints. I then put the two pieces together and clamped them tight. Joints came out nice and flat. If you look at the joint form the side you can hardly see the glue joint. Anyway, if any of you first timers like myself are considering scarffing the plywood instead of butt blocks, I highly recommend this jig. Anyway now the sides have been roughly cut are are clamped to the sides of the boat awaiting glue, and screws.
8-27-02: Well, it took me about 5 partial days to put all the siding on, but it is now on for good. Looks real nice, but then again with the light plywood color it is hard to see any defects, or waves. I think after some darker paint is on I will get a better idea if there are any waves or not. I have put a staight edge on her at various points and she looks pretty darn straight. Just to let everyone know I did vary from the plans a bit on putting the bottom on and ran into some problems. I opted for a double thick bottom made out of 3/8" plywood. Two layers of 3/8" will give me a 3/4" bottom. I didn't do quite enough research before placing the first layer of ply on the bottom. I realized after it was in place that when I go to place the second layer I will be placing twice as many screws into the battons, chine, stem, and transom. That worried me but Barry helped me work it out. I think if I had to do the bottom over again, I would still use two layers, but would have done my homework prior to putting it down. My bad, learn from it. Another bit of advise. When you are putting your siding on, get some help. I had two other people helping me and I know it made things go smoother. One person drilled holes, two people put in screws.
Well on Monday I ordered the rest of the epoxy, and glass for the sides. I opted for one layer of 10 oz on the sides, and a double layer on the bottom. Looking forward to getting the glass, and paint on her. I think if i flipped her over now and put some ducktape over the right areas, and a motor on the back i would be in business, but I think I will wait a little longer.
9-16-02: The fiberglass is finally on. I put one layer of 10 oz glass on the sides of the boat and two layers of 10 oz on the bottom. All joints are double lapped. I bought the book and video on "How to Fiberglass" both were very useful and helpful in the glassing of my boat. I found glassing not to be too difficult. I glassed both sides first, then did the bottom, and finished with the transom. I'm not sure the order makes any difference. I then put several coats of epoxy with filler mixed in. I used microballons and fumed silica. Seamed to work well. Not to hard to sand. After all the coats of filler were put on I sanded the entire boat flat. Took me about 4 full days of sanding with a 1/2 sheet electric finish sander. I would sand the sides of the boat and then check my work by wiping the side of the boat with water to give it some shine. Then I would look down the sides and look for imperfections. When I found a problem area I would circle it with a pencil and then either fill the area with more epoxy, or sand it down some more. Wetting down the area with water really seamed to show the problem areas. After all the sanding was done I bedded the bottom battens in epoxy and glass tape. Those went on without any problem. Then yesterday I put on the spray rails. Here is a little trick I used to put the spray rails on. The instruction call for the spray rails to be attached from inside the hull using 1" screws. What I did is attach it from the outside using 1 1/2" sheet rock screws. I screwed all the way through the sprayrail and hull. Then I went back and removed the sheetrock screws one at a time and put a new silicon bronze screw in from the inside. The sheetrock screws have a smaller diameter then the bronze screws. It worked great. If anybody sees any error in my thinking please let me know. I'm now ready for primer and paint on the bottom side. Soon as we get some dry weather up here on the Washington coast I'll go do some finger painting.
9-28-02: Well she is finally turned over. Can't believe how big this boat is when you finally get her flipped over. The boat turning did not go as smoothly as expected. My faithful boat building buddy Mike was nice enough to pull some strings and get access to a boom truck. Turned out the hanger doors where too short and the boom could not fit inside the hanger where we are building it. That turned out as my friend said "to be complete and utter failure". Well when we took the boom truck back there was a small forklift size crane. We drove that back to the hanger going 5mph. On the first attempt to lift the boat with the smaller crane one of the tires of it came off the ground. But with a little manuvering and patience Mike made her work just fine. After we got the boat outside on the grass, just three people were enough to lift one side of the boat up on edge to do the finally flipping. We attacted a wench to the crossmembers on the frames and let the boat down gentely on what we all hope will be her permenent resting surface, her bottom.
10-26-02: I now have the motor box complete. That went in without a hitch. I then put on the side rails. I went with 3 1/2" x 3/4" fir for the rails. They went on without any problems. We did not have to steam them. The last few days I have been working on the fishbox, and center console. My brother Leo, and his son Grant came up from Oregon and gave me some help cutting and fitting the fish box. It looks great and really makes the boat look like the ones down off Pacific Beach OR. Yesterday I primed the upper half of the boat, and fitted the inside shear clamp, that went much easier then the outside shear clamp. A couple more months.
11-11-02: The fishbox and center console are screwed and glued. Rail caps are also in place as is the sole (floor) in the rear half. And yesterday I finished installing the front deck. Been busting you know what trying to get this thing done before it gets too cold. I have some serious fiberglass work left and painting to do. Gonna need to get a heater for sure. I think I can see the finish line. (see Customer Photos)

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