Hello Ebb. Long time no post :-) Hope all is well in your world. Can we have an update?
Hello Ebb. Long time no post :-) Hope all is well in your world. Can we have an update?
Hello Frank, long time! And we could do with an update from you as well - hasn't it been as long? A shot of your NEW retirement cottage, some improvements to the Flicker - and likely works on even smaller craft! Could use some inspiration.....
Woodn't bore you with the usual impairments and disfunctions last year - admit I did
more shuffling than hustling thru this mortal coil. But here it is February again - after the longest
series of freezing nights and cold days noticed robins bathing in the fountain out front in the morning sun - that's a sign of spring in Coastal California.
So I'm fairly bouncing up the ladder at the boat in San Rafael. When I'm there.
Bill is on my case! I have no cosmetics to photograph.
So what might happen is that we can post some shots of the mast reno, so far as it's gone.
Also made some thin plywood cases for mounting/protecting naked modulars of a Specter Ventura acquired years ago. Have to reacquaint myself with Specter, whose shop is around the corner in San Rafael.... I turned in the membrane, at their suggestion, to come back later and pick up a fresh one when I was ready.... but only the shadow knows when ebb is ready???
But will stop by and see if anybody remembers me! Fitting a desalinator into the Ariel is
a bit like building a house on your head.....
I'll have photos of some of THAT.
LITTLE BOXES
So, I've been making these cozies with 1/4" or 6mm meranti - somewhat like stitch & glue. Boxes are all about right angles, merely
introducing short sides to long with epoxy gel. No stitches, just hold shapes together at right angles with square chunks of wood.
Keep the squeezeout minimal. Position on a flat mylar covered surface. When set, run a clean fillet on all inside corners with more gel. Let this set.
As always use laminating 2 to 1 no solvent epoxy.
Now roundover the outside corners with the router. Clean it up and scuff the surfaces, laminate 6oz woven fiberglass cloth inside and out
by laying on the dry material. Dab with loaded brush. Pliable plastic spreader excess gently away. Trim cloth with orange scissors as you go, try not to lap the cloth, it'll be hard to sand flat. But it can carefully be done. Or lap seamlessly over to an edge where it can easily be trimmed when dry. Don't try to cover the edges with fabric.
The major deal - as with stitch&glue - we are using the fabric to integrate the joints. NO fastenings. Elephants can sit on these cases.
When you paint, if you haven't filled the surface, the result is a very nice industrial texture look!
However, for other projects you can transform thin meranti by skinning both sides with 6oz - and proceed as if it were normal plywood.
The stuff is maybe 1/16" thicker and has doubled in strength and hardness, Still easy to glue, but it's elevated into another kind of hard stable material.
Painted on a coat of Aluthane which makes strange cases even stranger looking, like cast aluminum or sumthing!
If I could do it all over again, the whole interior of litlgull would be done this way. 'Cleatless' will rule!
While gluing little boxes for a desalinator isn't exactly exciting - the method is note worthy - sure not the first doing this - often reinvent the wheel!
The transformation of filleted meranti, glass & epoxy into a synergetic construct is amazing! Unbelievably stiff and strong.
Stitch & glue is a game changing method of building watercraft. Filleting panels & skinning with fabric is the same game. If only I'd been aware - the whole interior of A338, with all its natural planes and angles could have created with 1/4"& 3/8" ply and glass, hardly any bloody cleats anywhere to complicate vertical to horizontal tansitions. Half the weight of what I've burdened litlgull with!!
M-1
Spent some time looking into polyether-based adhesives and sealants - some of which are now building trades GREEN mainstream.
Recently used ChemLink's silyl terminated polyether 10oz tube M-1, filliing a seam on the cabin sole. Very reasonably priced. $6, I think, local roofing supply. No smell, no solvents, essentially no VOC, non flamable. No UV problems, won't get yellow, moisture cure, said to have strong adhesion to virtually all surfaces including a number of plastics, excellent flex. excellent durability. Only polyether that is 3rd party (LEEDs) certified Green. Alcohol cleanup. Blue tape masking pulls off leaving a clean line...after partial set.
My focus is on its ability to be used underwater. Solvent based 3M4000 silyl terminated urethane polyether advertised for (immersion) thru-hulls and requires toluene or acetone for cleanup. Both these products will bond thruhulls to fiberglass - which I don't think is a good idea.
And M-1's ability to be used as a truly allpurpose caulk, sealant, adhesive remains to be forum confirmed, but it's looking real good. Will not be used for thru-hulls either. [Plan on well-known construction butyl tape, under the flange only]
M-1 not marine marketed like the 3M polyether at three times the price.
(Research ChemLink's Duralink an extremely elastic sealant/adhesive for on-deck metal to frp fittings like stanchion bases, cleats, pads, track. Butyl shouldn't be used on fittings that might move in use. Super stick
butyl tape like MaineSail's Bed-It could be used for stanchion bases and other under-stress fittings. imco)
Out of the tube gun, it's clean, non-viscous, easy to tool. If I remember experiences with polysulfide, the messiest unfriendliest most unforgiving tube rubber on the planet, M-1 is 180 degrees from polysulfide in handling. Works clean rather than messy. M-1 bonds to stuff, it's not a bedding compound.
Won't it be great to reach for one type of goop where 4 or 5 used to poop?
Promise activity here with photos ASAP.
Last edited by ebb; 10-07-2016 at 09:34 AM.
1st off...GREAT TO HEAR YOU'RE ALIVE AND THE PROJECT CONTINUES!!!!!!!!! I and I'm sure "WE ALL" are all looking forward to pictures!!! I'm checking in from Green Turtle Cay Abacos....Ebb....ya gotta get going! Looking forward to ya sailing in here. We have rum to drink, stories to swap, ideas to debate. Looking forward to the pictures. ;-)
So glad to hear that your wonderful little ship is making her way closer to being launched!
Faith is tugging at her lines, I am suffering away my days doing charters here in the Virgin Islands. I left the US on Thanksgiving day, and have not been back since. I am onboard a Pearson 424, and expect to be back (if I come back) some time this year.... This ship has been very good to me, but I sure miss Faith. Can't wait till we are all out here together!
Strange how a sailboat can
represent at the same time
the comforts of solitude
and the pleasures of company.
.................................................. .................................................. ...........................
Author Unknown - from my daughter's blog
teapot = sailboat
So true.....That said....I'd love your company out here :-)
OK guys, aye am with you..... in thought if not boat!
I have the hippocampus in tow. Often called reptilian,
mine is actaully a potamus, almost impossible to lead out
of the marina.
Last edited by ebb; 03-30-2015 at 08:28 AM.
Just reviewed your work....for the 100th time. As I posted back in 2008.....
""As usual...the 'Ebb-myster' delivers. Combo of designer-craftsman-engineer-dreamer and poet.Looks great!! Keep at it...and not so long between pics""
So true to all of the above.
Along with revisiting this thread, a couple favorite haunts of mine include the threads for Revival, Faith, and Uhuru. By no means am I limited to those. Grace, Princess, Maika'i, and YTBN C147 are but a few other threads I like to read over from time to time. They are not only inspirational, but also a marker of a great time spent in the company of great people. This forum, along with its members have definately shaped my life these last years.
Thanks to all of you!
My home has a keel.
Your timing is great Tony. I just reviewed yours as well (and copied several pictures). You do incredible work as well and to have ripped out great work to start over shows far more patiance than I pocess !! I truly admire the both of you.
I'll skip over to 215's so as not to hijack Ebb's.
(Enlisted a photographer friend to compress a number of litlgull 'process' photos
to send to Bill for editing and ensertion into the gallery. Progress on boat.)
ebb
Really looking forward to seeing the photos. Can't wait
JERRY CARPENTER - C147
A man can succeed at almost anything for which he has unlimited enthusiam.
Last edited by ebb; 03-20-2013 at 01:59 PM.
These six photo composition pages all loaded smaller than meant to.
[ OK, screwed up. This is a first try at posting photos. This a group of six compositions.
They all loaded together like newborn puppies. So you will have to bear with us on this. The first Comp 1 is the first three photos, which I was told I had to text before blindly uploading. microsoft medieval managing]
Notice the 1/2" wood dowel in the top photo in relation to the level balanced on the track-flat?.....
That's how w a y off Pearson drilled holes for the spreader sockers & lowers..!
Next two shots show a sliding box jig marked with center-lines and hole locations. Multi-purpose.
The interior dimensions are straight lines, obviously, makes it real easy to find, for instance, the center line of the mast extrusion. Sides and front! Can be used to lay out any straight line along the mast, not just centers.
For example: not only were the factory spreader cup brackets crooked HORIZONTALLY - as seen by the wonkus dowel - but also VERTICALLY. Top bolt not in line with the bottom bolt. And not only that: the brackets weren't 'installed' on the centerline of the mast! Too radical to fix THAT. Can't blame it on a DFO, only four bolt holes showed when the mast was taken apart. Can see on the left foto of the box jig how OFF CENTER the oversized bolthole is. A compromise fix - because of the midmast concentration of fittings and holes.
There aren't too many 1/2" holes in the mast, guanantee matching 90degree guide holes in the sleeve jig were drilled on the drillpress - 3/4" ply sides stacked - before it was assembled. Obvious, but it works.
Photo on the right shows how the top pair of crooked holes were fixed OK by offset drilling using the jig with more alined larger ones. The larger hole fits a 3/4"OD-1/2"ID s.s. compression tube that the bolt for the lowers slips thru. Cut & polish the ends square for washers and tangs to seat on!
The tang's bolt in the tube can not be tightened so much as to deform the mast, because thread-end provides refusal. The tube also is a bearing in that it increases surface area for the active pulling on the bolt by the four lowers. Thought this a good solution because the new spreader bar, just above the lower shrouds, floats in its thru hole - using the slip-on spreaders mounted tight against the outside of the mast to keep the system from shifting.
Sleeve box jig is also a pattern for routing the 2"R quarter circle (out of the front 1/3 of the 6" length of the mast section) for SantaCruz/HuntingtonBeach FORWARD mast lowering. Jig also locates the off-set 'hinge' bolt that the Ballenger tabernacle requires. The mast rolls on its bottom for which a 3" thick G-10 insert to share mast load is provided (not shown.) Tabernacle is the essense of simplitity.
.................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ...............................................
Next four same size mast shots, from left to right:
1) Shows bar that hollow airfoil spreaders slip over. Also the new 3/4" tang-bolt hole for the lowers.
2) Shows the new Louchard Delrin sheave and new welded sleeve being fitted. Darker gray is reconstruction material on the track side of the mast at the head, and metal filler used to fair 45 years of squeezing & corrosion by the sheave bolt nut - that also tangs the upper shrouds that keep the mast up.
3) Opposite view of the sleeve. Jig was used at the mast head to check Pearson's hole drilling and slot cutting expertise. Good job there!
Helped layout the widened slot on the front side of the mast. Track flat side widening is a no-brainer.
New sleeve (with welded top & bottom pieces) bears on mast, provides extra support for the hard working 1/2" bolt. Imco, sleeve improves structure at the top of the mast by supporting sheave where the bolt load is. Except for the bolt, no other fastenings to keep it easy to disassemble for inside access.
4) Prepped mast mid-section just befor painting. Shows filled upper bolthole, and location of new spreaders in relation to the original double bolts.
.................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ..............................................
Next group: two shots of mishmash molding set-up for winch bases - cheekblock bases - and inside/outside electrical fairing fitting (meant to created a waterproof wire continuity thru mast and thru deck (not shown.) mylar and p.ethylene dimensional sheet provide mold release.
Shot with blue tape shows already hard inside/outside cookies taped together for drilling. The hole saw (actually two holesaws) were used (not on the mast there!) to make the thru-mast pad rings for the white Maralon thru-hull.
.................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .............................................
[Sorry about the size. Zooming to 150% helps with the photos.]
Set of five showing the ballet of getting the famous Wichard Solent Stay Tang INTO the mast - thru that narrow slot. The two part butterfly tang is ingenious and French and customizable all at the same time. If anybody is interested in this, maybe we can figure out how to enlarge this set.....
1) Where to place the extra forestay? How we gonna run the fall from the masthead sheave?
2) Shows that when the tang is slipped into the slot, both flanges have sharp corners bearing on the mast inside that must be rounded over. Stainless wins over Aluminum every time. (A good portion of this fitting lives permanently inside the mast - any grinding must be buffed to a high polish to reduce chance corrosion that can't be seen.)
3) Showing that result.
4) Helpful scale drawing shows the tang as it will be when inside the mast - to accurately locate the offset for eight fastening holes that have to be drilled into the mast from outside. Fitting comes with holes already drilled in the flange(s) - they were redrilled and tapped for 1/4-28 machine screws. Holes in mast drilled for a slip fit.
5) Made easy hole drilling..... missed one anyway!
The diameter of that large hole for the stay (have seen pics of this tang with smaller diameter shackle pin holes) is 18.43mm[23/32"]
It requires a bronze bushing for any normal sized shackle or clevis pin. My rig terminates in 7/16" pins. Catalog McMasterCarr: 7811K17. Alloy 660 Sleeve Bearing for 12mmshaft[15/32"]. 18mmOD[23/32"]. Bushing length is 15/32", actually this 'width' fits snugly inside 7/16" strap-toggles. And bears well enough in the 1/4" thick hole of the tang's double plate.
Tang connecting pins, shackles, toggles will always hang straight. Good for a Solent stay that will be loose and tensioned intermittently.
Imco, the concept genius of the Wichard stay tang is how it mounts INSIDE the mast - depending on no outside mast fastenings to hang it. Does want those fastenings to lock in the narrow 2-part tang, and keep it from being pulled down the mast. Consider the Solent a backup forestay.
.................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ..............................................
Last three (reduced size) photos show the roll & tip mast. Numerous Aluthane and System3 WRLPU coats result in little buildup. Mast could almost be a new anodized stick. Little shot shows chain dragged thru the interior on the track side to break off worms from track hole filling. Some idea of a successful refurbish of the multi holed flat - and rebuild to top of mast. Jib-block tang won't go back there, unless a new design is made that gets support from the sides of the mast - it's not full restoration.
Last edited by ebb; 03-24-2014 at 09:07 AM.
Comp 6.
This set of shots shows a number of Specter 150/200 Ventura desalinator modules fitted with
hose specific plywood mounting cases. They are meant to help protect vulnerable units from damage
and also hold connecting hoses in a way that won't allow kinking or pulling, with best access to hose clamps - & filter changing.
Left side, un-assembled. Right side, ready to be mounted vertically on bulkheads in & around the forward dinette seat locker.
Imco the construction style of these cases generates from the facinating & unfamiliar STITCH&GLUE method of kyack and tender building (Ken Littledyke INV, see wikipedia).....
Where thin high-grade plywood is assembled by bending precut shapes and binding their edges by butting them together and holding them with wire thru adjacent holes.
The resulting wire stitched compound shape is epoxy-gel glued at a number of strategic places to hold the intended shape. Then the stitches are removed, the weld points cleaned up, and the full length of the butted seams filled and filleted with thickened epoxy. The filleting is deliberately kept smooth and fair. Cure until firm. Then the whole surface of BOTH SIDES of the 3D shape gets covered with light weight fabric, usually 4 - 6oz fiberglass. This technical quantum leap makes very strong monoque structure for its weight. [an experiment with the method at: TENDER by EBB - Or The WayWide (sic) in Technical forum]
DESCRIPTION
Top two photos. End of system diverter valve: with many choices for in/out tube connect. This simple (no 'off' position) p.propylene valve is the sampling tap AND the product water on-route from desalinator to storage. Brine waste is led directly overboard thru another fitting, usually to a valve at a thruhull.
Next object: primary strainer for incoming seawater. First module after the saltwater seacock.
(Center bottom: thru hose fitting for mast electrics (nothing to do with desalinator) with the fairing plates Aluthaned, ready to install.)
Middle: 5 and 20 micron filters, at the moment without a cover.
Little black pig is the accumulator which provides steady pressure from the (black) pump shown
in the last picture: Inlet seawater pump module. Fresh water charcoal filter for system flushing - service valve on the center white metal frame - and black feed pump to micron filters that deliver clean salt water to the Clark Pump Intensifier, ie the reverse osmosis membrane that makes the drinking water. (not shown, as this much larger mod is installed on its own dedicated shelf in the V-berth.) Where the hell to put all this stuff?
Boxes are strategically cap-screwed inside the forward starboard seat locker walls - with nuts on the inside. Modules are similarly mounted to their case, allowing removal of both at once or just the module. Pressure hose is reinforced clear vinyl - stiff and not very friendly.
Inlet pump module needs air circulation & access - so it's installed athwartship outside the forward seat locker in the dinette kick space. Sliced off corner fits against the hull.
3 SECRETS
These little boxes are all right angled - require no stitching and no fasteners. Pieces are propped together with blocks of lumber or anything handy - for initial gluing.. The idea is to get a predetermined 3D shape by buttering edges with small amounts of thickened goop, letting it set. When you stick together 2-3-4 sided open units, you can easily pull generous (approx 1/2"R) fillets on all inside corners - using a 2oz plastic syringe to apply controlled worms of thickened epoxy. The COVE FILLET is the first secret of this construct. The glue is 100% solids, no-blush, 2:1 laminating epoxy, mixed with fumed-silica. Slow hardener. (TAP Plastics, Premium Laminating Epoxy)
The second secret: After full or partial fillet cure, lay in a SINGLE LAYER OF FIBERGLASS coverng the whole inside surface to tie flats and verticals together. Use a pliable (green) spreader to keep the amount of liquid lean and press the fabric onto the plywood. Butt join fabric pieces on flats when you have to. Arrange cloth at 45 degrees (diagonally) to get it to turn corners. Isn't easy but sure is a lot of fun. Cure.
[Difficult to explain how to apply cloth. Cut to very loose fit - arrange it in dry - then stick it on - wet it out - by dabbing with loaded brush. Try not to pull weave of fabric too much out of shape while teasing it into corners when going from horizontal to vertical. Get frisky with Fiskars cutting out 'V' darts in corners. Cut wet fabric for accuracy. Gently pull it off the wood, cut out the offender, paste it back in place.
OR make a single cut into the corner - down the middle of too much fabric - and just lap it over on itself, covering over the cove fillets.
Light weight fabric has very little thickness (1/32") when wet, and lap joins pretty much disappear... finessing cut edges by gently poking with the brush-tip. Make sure fabric is squeegied tight to the surface of the ply, and itself. Don't forget to wipe the epoxy off your zizzers! Isopropyl alcohol 91% RiteAid.]
After rounding corners and edges, etc. cover the whole outside in a single layer of cloth & epoxy. Let the fabric flop over edges, don't attempt to turn the fabric trying to glue it onto a narrow edge. Run cloth over holes - cut fabric out after set and round holes and edges smooth. Slice off cloth overhangs when dry to touch with utility knife.
Let pieces cure. Detail sand and shape until satisfied. Don't worry about edges not covered with fabric, won't matter. Fill the weave with a second coat of epoxy gel if desired. Leave no ridges. At this time touch-up/seal raw edges with liquid epoxy. Cure. final light sanding overall and paint.
What you see in fotos is one coat of Aluthane - no primer. Because the cases are quite detailed, they look like they might be cast aluminum metal!
The method: covering with glass inside & out over reinforced corners makes an amazing structure, stiffening thin ply, making a seamless cohesive object stronger than any traditional mehod, imco!
The third secret is 6mm or 1/4" MERANTI BS1088 HYDROTECH. Make sure your maranti has the British Standard stamp.
[ I think this technique, including form-fitting to hull curves, using the materials described here, perhaps a size up of plywood and fabric, (if it hasn't been done already!) can be used to fit out a 23-30ft cruising sailboat. Wish I'd done it. Many other uses aboard: light weight bins - lockers - panels - shelves - Dorades - containers of every sort (including lids) can be prefab, primed & painted. If conceived modularly, interior furniture can be installed with fasteners, rather than permanently glued. Nearly everything can be designed removable. A racer day sailor can be transformed into a tricked out weekend camper. And back again.
Last edited by ebb; 09-07-2013 at 09:25 AM.
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