Hard To Reach

Welcome to PocketShip.net! This bulletin board is for builders of the Chesapeake Light Craft-John C. Harris "PocketShip" design, a 15-foot micro cruiser sailboat built from a kit or plans.

For more information on PocketShip, click here: http://www.clcboats.com/pocketship

This site gathers PocketShip builders in one place. Here you can share photos, tips, questions, and---eventually---your sailing adventures in PocketShip! CLC will also post design updates and tips here as they come up.

We'll try to knock down spam as quickly as possible.

Moderator: John C. Harris

Forum rules
Spam or commercial posts will be deleted.
This is a civil forum: no flames or drunken tirades.
Please stay on-topic.
PocketShip's Web Page: http://www.clcboats.com/pocketship
If you need CLC customer service: http://www.clcboats.com/forms/contact_us.html
We'll try to delete spam as soon as it appears.

Re: Hard To Reach

Postby DanaDCole on Mon Apr 07, 2014 8:10 am

Amazing. I don't understand the language, but from the pictures I understand that you glued and fillited the lower panels and all the bulkheads and floor joists (and put in the floor boards) before attaching the side panels. Is that a departure from the manual or did I misread it? Did you have any trouble making the side panels and lower panels conform to each other after having already glued the lower panels?

I hope I did misread the manual because it will be very little trouble to take the side panels back off. I climbed in and out and in and out of the boat getting the floor joists wired and it was a very wearisome job. I have been dreading trying to do the glueing and filliting with those side panels in the way, not to mention the strain I will be putting on the stitches. One worry I have is getting bulkheads one and two aligned properly because they extend above the side panels.

I hope others will weigh in on this. Did I misunderstand the manual? If not, is getting all the glueing, filliting, etc., etc., done a better way to go? Any downsides?
DanaDCole
 
Posts: 497
Joined: Wed Sep 25, 2013 2:06 pm
Location: Stillwater, Oklahoma

Re: Hard To Reach

Postby DanaDCole on Mon Apr 07, 2014 8:32 am

Hood, from your pictures it looks like you may have fiberglassed the lower panels before installing the side panels. If I adopt your method (after hearing from others) I will not do that, the 'glass is supposed to go across the joints from panel to panel for added strength. I suppose you can overlap the 'glass from the side panels down on to the lower panels, but that is a modification I don't feel qualified to make.
DanaDCole
 
Posts: 497
Joined: Wed Sep 25, 2013 2:06 pm
Location: Stillwater, Oklahoma

Re: Hard To Reach

Postby hood on Mon Apr 07, 2014 9:23 am

hallo DanaDCole,
I'am from the Czech republic and i don't know how to speak in english.i only use the internet translator.for your question: yes,it is the departure from the manual everything i had been doing comfortably at waist height until i stuck side panels .cheers Hood
Attachments
0309.JPG
0309.JPG (93.91 KiB) Viewed 6205 times
0302.JPG
0302.JPG (110.7 KiB) Viewed 6187 times
0273.JPG
0273.JPG (123.35 KiB) Viewed 6161 times
hood
 
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat May 12, 2012 2:31 pm

Re: Hard To Reach

Postby craig on Mon Apr 07, 2014 3:21 pm

Wow, that does look easier. I would be terrified the boat would not align properly, though, without the side panels to pull everything into alignment.

Side-question: Dana, I saw on your blog you stitched bulkhead 1 and 2 in "temporarily." Why temporarily? I haven't reached that part of the build yet, but from reading the manual I don't understand why those would be removed after the sides are put in. Am I missing something?
Titania, launched January 2015
craig
 
Posts: 284
Joined: Fri Feb 21, 2014 1:04 pm
Location: Chapel Hill, NC

Re: Hard To Reach

Postby DanaDCole on Mon Apr 07, 2014 4:01 pm

I have had several back-and-forths with John Harris who says this is a very bad idea--serious distortions to bow shape will result.

Answer to side question. The front two bulkheads are temporary at this point because I don't have the bow ends of the panels aligned properly as yet. I thought the bulkheads might help with this, but if not I can take them out. I've also yet to put in the temporary brace that will be replaced later by the lower breasthook. This also may or may not help me with alignment. I am having the devil of a time trying to get the stem ends of the side panels above the lower panels. Then there is a fairly wide gap between the panels further back. I may try the hot water treatment, but I don't know if that will help on the outsides--maybe 'glassing the insides wasn't such a good idea after all.

Any suggestions would be welcome--but I think what I need is two or three large helpers with very strong fingers.
DanaDCole
 
Posts: 497
Joined: Wed Sep 25, 2013 2:06 pm
Location: Stillwater, Oklahoma

Re: Hard To Reach

Postby herbt on Mon Apr 07, 2014 4:53 pm

Dana
You can bend that wood but you cant stretch it.
How large is the gap?

Herb
herbt
 
Posts: 55
Joined: Sun Jul 12, 2009 6:14 pm

Re: Hard To Reach

Postby truenorth on Mon Apr 07, 2014 6:47 pm

It sure looks convenient, but I don't know about this technique... I just nailed down the bow decking last night and even then there were minor adjustments to the bow profile and the alignment that had to be done. I fear with the way this was built, things will be off kilter, and you won't be able to nudge things back to order. Now, anything is possible with stitch and glue - with an emphasis on the glue. Time will tell if the boat lists or not and I hope for Czech's sake it doesn't!

The issue with delicate work when the hull is first stitched together goes away pretty quickly. After the real fillets go in, it's surprisingly sound. I wouldn't do anything traumatic (people have put their feet through the bilge panels) but with care, it's possible to accelerate past this point onto more sturdy footing.
truenorth
 
Posts: 137
Joined: Sun Nov 04, 2012 12:10 am

Re: Hard To Reach

Postby DanaDCole on Mon Apr 07, 2014 9:49 pm

In answer to Herbt's question, the gap is not too bad--maybe a little over a quarter-inch at it's widest. The thing is, though, that the stem end is almost a quarter-inch too low, so we're getting pretty close to a half inch there. I had been working all day on it when I got to that point so was pretty tired. Maybe with a fresh start I can force it into place next weekend. My hope is that when the stem end of the lower panels drops down that will allow the areas further back to bend inward and a little upward, but the opposite may happen--too many compound curves involved for me to figure it out. We'll just have to see.
DanaDCole
 
Posts: 497
Joined: Wed Sep 25, 2013 2:06 pm
Location: Stillwater, Oklahoma

Re: Hard To Reach

Postby DanaDCole on Mon Apr 07, 2014 10:11 pm

Truenorth. It turns out "Hood" doesn't understand English and is working strictly from the pictures (don't know if he is building from plans or kit). Now that I know how he is having to work, I can see he is doing a brilliant job--I'm afraid he'll have to make a lot of corrections along the way, but it looks like he is up for the job.

Hood, I hope this translates OK for you. John Harris pointed out that some of the foreign builders did not add any in-boat ballast because there are no pictures of it in the manual. You need at least 160 pounds of lead under the floor-boards--small ingots best and in burlap bags. John is planning to add the pictures "eventually."
DanaDCole
 
Posts: 497
Joined: Wed Sep 25, 2013 2:06 pm
Location: Stillwater, Oklahoma

Re: Hard To Reach

Postby hood on Tue Apr 08, 2014 1:26 am

I want to put a lead block under the battery + bags of ballast under the floor boards - manufacture of mold for casting lead
Attachments
0343.JPG
0343.JPG (121.07 KiB) Viewed 6157 times
0347.JPG
0347.JPG (120.77 KiB) Viewed 6138 times
0344.JPG
0344.JPG (122.32 KiB) Viewed 6143 times
hood
 
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat May 12, 2012 2:31 pm

PreviousNext

Return to PocketShip Forum

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 22 guests

cron