breasthook oddities and setbacks

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Re: breasthook oddities and setbacks

Postby craig on Tue Mar 31, 2015 1:55 pm

Since I don't have the kit, I'm not familiar with how the location of bulkheads are indicated. Are the stitch holes pre-drilled, making it clear where to put each one? Most stitch holes are pre-marked in the kit, but oddly not for bulkhead 2 (and maybe/maybe not bulkhead 1, I can't remember). I had to really figure out where it should go. If you placed bulkhead 1 too far forward then it would push the sides outward more than they "should" be, making it look like the breasthook and deck are too small. If the stitch holes were pre-drilled, then bulkhead 1 placement would be correct and then I would have no idea what the problem is. The remade breasthook looks perfect. I can't tell the differences from the original.
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Re: breasthook oddities and setbacks

Postby DanaDCole on Tue Mar 31, 2015 11:39 pm

Thought of that. No, the holes were pre-drilled in hull and bulkheads so it should be in the right place. My only other thought is that somehow the upper panels got curved in too tight, which might push the deck aft a little, but that doesn't make any sense because it butts right up to BH2 like it should.

It really looks like the deck and upper breasthook were cut too narrow. As I said what makes me believe that is that it is too narrow at the location of bulkhead 1. I know that for sure, and it might be a little narrow at bulkhead 2 but I don't remember for sure and can't tell now with the fillets in place.

I guess even CNC routers can "make mistakes." I don't know if you saw my earlier post about one of the footwell sides. I would have to refer back to the host to be sure, but what I remember is that it was the correct width at the aft end, then and inch or so forward of that it notched up about 1/4 - 3/8 inch and stayed that way all the way to the front end. The other side was fine. How could this be? I checked and as far as I could find out no one else's kit had this anomaly. So that means the machine was not mis-programmed. It just happened to screw up that one part in my kit (and maybe a few others belonging to people who didn't see the post). Hard to believe.
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Re: breasthook oddities and setbacks

Postby DanaDCole on Wed Apr 01, 2015 10:49 am

A couple thoughts have occurred to me since that last post:
1. Perhaps if I'd gone to the trouble of forcing the full 3/4" x 1" cleats in place they might have pulled the hull in a bit and allowed the breasthook to fit (this still doesn't explain why the deck is too narrow though). My mistake in trying to install the full-size cleats may have been that I started at the aft end of the cleats and tried to force the curve at the stem. If I had started at the stem end I would have had a lot more bending leverage.
2. I am going to use the hot, wet rag method to gently push the port cleat back out to a fairer curve. I don't want to use a heat gun because that could heat up the glue at the "horn" of the breasthook too much and cause it to release. The hot rag should give me more control. I've used that method in other places and it really only takes an hour or two for the wood to give.
Addendum: Well I just checked and the cleat sat there long enough that it seems to have faired itself out. Patience is such a great virtue. Wish I had more of it!
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Re: breasthook oddities and setbacks

Postby John C. Harris on Thu Apr 02, 2015 11:24 am

A head-scratcher here. I paged through the original CAD drawings and CNC files to confirm the shapes of the breasthooks. The lower breasthook should match the anchor well deck exactly; the upper breasthook is a little narrower. It's not been a problem in the past, so this gremlin is new and the first I've heard of it. (I searched my email box back to 2008 with the terms "PocketShip" and "breasthook" without any hits.) Reviewing the thread above it looks like everyone ended up in the right place, ultimately, but only after some aggravation. If something seems really odd and cross-grained, please let me know so I can head off frustration!

Here's a quick diagram so everyone who's coming up on this step can double-check. If this isn't what you've got, definitely drop me a line!

Breasthook Check.jpg
Breasthook Check.jpg (179.41 KiB) Viewed 6093 times
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Re: breasthook oddities and setbacks

Postby DanaDCole on Thu Apr 02, 2015 4:43 pm

Thanks John. After looking at your diagram I measured my homemade upper breasthook at the tips of the horns. It measures 17 7/8".

I think a quick way to check the deck width would be to lay the deck across the top end of bulkhead 1 at the point where they should meet when installed in the boat. To my way of thinking the width of the deck at at that point should match the width of the bulkhead. In my case it was about 1" to 1 1/2" narrower.

I still think though, that if I had used full 3/4" wide cleats on the topsides instead of cheating with doubled 3/8" cleats, the full-size cleats would have pulled the hull in a bit and the upper breasthook might have fit. But I repeat that when I put the deck in place (before the topsides panels were in) the deck was so much narrower than the hull that I did not want to try to fill in with fillets. I added cleats between BH1 and BH2 to close the gap.* Also, the deck was quite a bit narrower than the lower breasthook. I installed the breasthook flush with and inside the cleats and the deck on top of the cleats and breasthook. Correct?

*I love that because I installed the cleats I did not have to try to fillet upside-down under the deck, crawling into the locker. I was not looking forward to that--hate to admit it but I'm getting too old for that sort of contortions--also would have had fillet material all over me and the boat. I also used doubled 3/8" wide cleats there to avoid distorting the hull shape. In one area I had to add a third cleat to make it wide enough to reach the deck.
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Re: breasthook oddities and setbacks

Postby John in CC on Sat Apr 04, 2015 2:59 pm

My breasthook was large also. I don't remember the original measurements but I did have to trim it to fit. Currently my boat is upside-down and I just crawled under and measured the hook. It is exactly 16 3/4". My sleep will not be disturbed :D
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Re: breasthook oddities and setbacks

Postby craig on Sat Apr 04, 2015 8:11 pm

I found your problem. The lower breasthook is installed before the cleats. If I'm reading your post right, you installed the cleats between the bow and bulkhead 1 and THEN installed the lower breasthook. That added 1/2 inch to each side, pushing the side panels out and causing the deck to not fit properly. Am I right?

Look on page 117 of the manual to see what I mean about the breasthook not being put inside the cleats.
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Re: breasthook oddities and setbacks

Postby DanaDCole on Sat Apr 04, 2015 11:02 pm

Thanks Craig. At first I thought you had it, and felt like a complete dope. But then I got to thinking about it and when I said the breasthook was installed inside the cleats, I realize now I was thinking of the upper breasthook. Then I cast my mind back and remembered heat-bending the cleats and that they only extended from the lower breasthook to BH1. Luckily, because of my blog, I don't have to tear the boat apart to check. I know there is no need to prove anything, but I found two pictures in the blog that show how the lower breasthook was installed, so I might as well show them here:
Image
The breasthook is a little out of focus in the above shot, but you can still see that it is not inside the cleats.

Image
You can also see in this one where I installed a third cleat on the port side because of the wider gap to the deck. And remember too, that the deck is still too narrow at the point it crosses BH1.
So, sorry but mystery not solved. And thanks for trying to figure this out. I have asked the folks at CLC to measure the width of one of their forward decks where it attaches to BH1, and the width of BH1. They should be the same. If not, then the decks and upper breasthooks are cut wrong. If they match then I am out of ideas.
My drawing in a previous post is wrong too. I may or may not bother to fix it. That's what I get for trying to rely on my memory.
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