PocketShip.net

All,

After stitching together the hull, the bottom portions of bulkhead 1 & 2, and of floor 3, were significantly higher than the bilge panel despite properly aligning the hull, making sure the sides of the bulkheads were touching the middle panels, and tightening the stitches as much as possible. Picture: floor 3 and floor 4



While this is not evident in the official plans, the problem seemed to arise before, namely in Dave's So True (taken from his blog):
(http://pocketshipadventure.blogspot.com ... treet.html)



Dave's floor and bulkhead alignment was significantly worse than my own. Thankfully he had the solution, but since it's mentioned just as a side-note, I thought I'd post it here for future builders.

What you need to do is get a long piece of 2x4 or similar (I used 1x6 about a foot long) and use a car jack to push up on the bilge panel under floor 3. The panel is flat enough there so the jack won't slip sideways, and if you're careful you can push up the bilge panel (Actually, the whole boat lifts slightly). The panel and floor/bulkheads will now touch and tight stitches will hold them together.

An amazing difference after:



I was 99% sure I'd have to cut out new floor 3. Thanks Dave!

This doesn't work completely for bulkhead 1. There is still a 0.5in gap between bilge panel and the bulkhead. I've jacked directly under that spot, and frankly believe the wood under too much compression to bend any more. Epoxy to the rescue!

Yep, a car jack works there. I used "shims" .. found things that were the right height and jammed them underneath with angled pieces of wood on top. It brought up the lower hull panels just enough to get a stitch and tack weld in place.

installation of bulkheads

installation of bulkheads

Beautiful work. Interesting that you put in bulkheads one and two and did some fiberglass reinforcing on floors before adding side panels. This seems like a pretty good idea because you can do a lot of the important filleting, especially near the bow, without standing on your head and reaching so far. I think this allows you to do a better job of it.

I assume you will add another layer of fiberglass over what you have there now when you add the side panels?

I also wish I had seen this earlier and learned about the various methods you used to get the alignment correct. I doubt mine will end up anywhere near as close, although the measurements I have taken look pretty fair--off maybe 1/4" over the entire length of the boat. Anyway, I don't plan on racing it. I remember when I sailed with Captain Charlie on Yepimadeit he didn't even bother to lift the motor out of the water because we were just messing about in her. I think that prop added significant drag, yet we easily achieved hull speed according to my GPS. The wind was probably around 12-15 knots. So I'm not all that worried about slight misalignment--still, if I'd seen and used your methods it would probably be closer to perfect and that can't be a bad thing. Besides better performance, good alignment helps all the subsequent parts come together properly.

I forgot to mention the very point that was the reason for my earlier reply! The problem I had with bulkhead two was a little different. The bulkhead fit in OK, that is the bottom of the bulkhead reached the bottom of the vee with the two corners fitting properly into the joints between the bottom and side panels. Along the bottom panels themselves, though, there is a gap that widens out to about 3/8" in the middle. I couldn't figure that out and no amount of force would budge them, so I just filled the gaps in with epoxy.

More curve than normal somehow found its way into the bottom panels, although as far as I can tell everything from bulkhead one forward is correct. I'm chalking it up to slight differences in the wood fibers. Or it could be that the hot, wet towel I used to get the panels to bend did not extend back far enough. Anyway, I'm pretty sure the boat will still float and move through the water.