My Official build thread. 27 1/2’ GA

[Todd j]

Hope you didnt stay up too late doing homework,  thanks!
After I posted my apologies for giving the wrong dimensions in the forum I found the 5” number again? FWIW I moved the spray rail closer to the stem so I can grab it with a screw.   They are cut and scarfed. 

[Brian.Dixon]

Hope you didnt stay up too late doing homework,  thanks!
After I posted my apologies for giving the wrong dimensions in the forum I found the 5” number again? FWIW I moved the spray rail closer to the stem so I can grab it with a screw.   They are cut and scarfed.

Yeah ... It looks like the text in the manual has some inconsistencies here

Brian

[Todd j]

There’s bound to be.   There’s a lot of stuff I. There!

Did one main spray rail today.  It was a rascal.   It doesn’t look quite right at the bow, but it’s on there and it ain’t coming off.  Looks nice viewed from aft.  Those curves aft of the bow make that wood do stuff it’s not comfortable with.  It’s all screwed down with big fillets. 

[Brian.Dixon]

There’s bound to be.   There’s a lot of stuff I. There!

Did one main spray rail today.  It was a rascal.   It doesn’t look quite right at the bow, but it’s on there and it ain’t coming off.  Looks nice viewed from aft.  Those curves aft of the bow make that wood do stuff it’s not comfortable with.  It’s all screwed down with big fillets.

The technical term for when wood is both bent and twisted is 'torture' ... for a reason.  It works best if you use natural wood such as mahogany rather than plywood, and if the wood's too stiff and doesn't want to comply, then building the rails up in 2 layers instead of just one helps.  So far, nobody's had to use steam bending to get them on.  Epoxy is your friend....

Brian

[Todd j]

Any builders reading this?  Did you glass your spray rails?   Why? Why not?  I intended to but I’m not sold. Your .02 please

[json]

Any builders reading this?  Did you glass your spray rails?   Why? Why not?  I intended to but I’m not sold. Your .02 please

2¢ is about all my view is probably worth since I haven't actually gotten my project wet yet, but I am glassing my spray rails as we speak. I debated it a bit, it's a pain in the butt, but at the end of the day they are protruding from the hull and will probably rub against things here and there, or get dinged, and less risk of intrusion and/or abrasion resistance at the end of the day will probably make me sleep better. It likely wouldn't be hard to cut them off and put new ones on if they were to ever get compromised (relative) but it's just one more thing that could lead to time off the water. I am glassing them with 10oz just because I had some extra laying around in full boat length and just cut some tape out of it to width. Looking back I kind of wish I went 6oz for an easier time, 10oz didn't seem to want to follow small curves very well so I have been going back and injecting epoxy into voids a bit. It's been a more time consuming process than I had hoped but I am almost done so... w/e.

[Todd j]

I couldn’t get 6 oz tape to wrap the aux rails.  Tried off boat.   I think I can do the main with 6 or 8” tape.  I couldn’t find any lighter tape at fiberglass supply.  My former contact there is no longer with them.
  Any tips for glassing small parts?

[Djeffrey]

Hey Todd, I did glass mine with tape. Not hard to do but took a lot of time, mostly filling the fibers with epoxy. Lots of coats. After my flip I can see that they still need some work. Good luck.

[json]

I couldn’t get 6 oz tape to wrap the aux rails.  Tried off boat.   I think I can do the main with 6 or 8” tape.  I couldn’t find any lighter tape at fiberglass supply.  My former contact there is no longer with them.
  Any tips for glassing small parts?

I used 10oz and they were a pain but I got them done fairly well (the aux rails), the second one better than the first. The problem I was mostly running into was the glass overhanging resting on the sawhorse wanting to push the rest of the glass off the piece at that point. I tried to trim it as close as I could to fit and then just sort of kept on pushing it in place until it stayed. The other thing that works better for me glassing small stuff is using a chip brush to wet out the glass. I oversaturate it right on the piece and use the brush to push it into place until it stays there, and then kind of touch up less wet parts behind where I am currently working as I go. It's tedious but it seems to work ok.

[First Draft]

Any builders reading this?  Did you glass your spray rails?   Why? Why not?  I intended to but I’m not sold. Your .02 please

I didn't on my Tolman, but wish I had as just this year I had to completely remove and replace one of them due to rot.  Only a tiny breach in the epoxy coating caused it to suck up water like a straw over time.

[json]

Any builders reading this?  Did you glass your spray rails?   Why? Why not?  I intended to but I’m not sold. Your .02 please

I didn't on my Tolman, but wish I had as just this year I had to completely remove and replace one of them due to rot.  Only a tiny breach in the epoxy coating caused it to suck up water like a straw over time.

Just out of curiosity, how many years did it last before that was required?

[Todd j]

Brian once suggested making tape out of cloth cut 45* to the edge of the cloth.  That allows to tape to bend at NOT right angles.  I have some 6oz cloth, but it sure is ragged once it’s cut and seems very wasteful if you need 25’ strips.  Also adds several lap joints in the tape lay up.  I think I will try to round over the edges a bit more and try to pin the tape down with some tiny finish nails.  Not sure it’ll work.

[Brian.Dixon]

Brian once suggested making tape out of cloth cut 45* to the edge of the cloth.  That allows to tape to bend at NOT right angles.  I have some 6oz cloth, but it sure is ragged once it’s cut and seems very wasteful if you need 25’ strips.  Also adds several lap joints in the tape lay up.  I think I will try to round over the edges a bit more and try to pin the tape down with some tiny finish nails.  Not sure it’ll work.

True ... woven cloth with the yarn running at 45 degrees (cut your own tape diagonally from wide cloth) bends over sharper curves more easily.  Yup .... there are trade-offs.... like hairy stragglers all along the edge of the tape.  MY solution is to ignore them ... don't sweat it.  It is FAR easier to just let the tape cure, stragglers and all, then just after curing you use a sharp carbide scraper to remove all the goobies and stragglers, and taper the edge of the cloth to the hull.  Don't try to fix things when the epoxy is wet .... takes time and never works well.

Brian

[Todd j]

Soooo, I’ve been struggling with the spray rails.  I checked the plans many times.  I’m using the right numbers.  I don’t like the way they fit the boat.  Enough so I ripped it off to start over.  Much work and not fun I might add.  I don’t know if it’s perspective and the distance as viewed said perspective?   
 At about the first 60” station aft of the bow the spray rail appears to dive toward the chine and then break away as it gets closer to the stem.
  Last   Night I laid them out again and played with a string and moved it around at the stem.  To my eye 3” lower at the stem looked like it mirrored the chine flats better.  Without the snake as I described earlier.  I must have looked at 50 similar boats.  They all seemed to mirror the chines or have a nice swoop up and away from the chines. Idk, my boat I can do what I want right!  I guess if I had it to do over again I would do a dry run!!!

[Brian.Dixon]

Soooo, I’ve been struggling with the spray rails.  I checked the plans many times.  I’m using the right numbers.  I don’t like the way they fit the boat.  Enough so I ripped it off to start over.  Much work and not fun I might add.  I don’t know if it’s perspective and the distance as viewed said perspective?   
 At about the first 60” station aft of the bow the spray rail appears to dive toward the chine and then break away as it gets closer to the stem.
  Last   Night I laid them out again and played with a string and moved it around at the stem.  To my eye 3” lower at the stem looked like it mirrored the chine flats better.  Without the snake as I described earlier.  I must have looked at 50 similar boats.  They all seemed to mirror the chines or have a nice swoop up and away from the chines. Idk, my boat I can do what I want right!  I guess if I had it to do over again I would do a dry run!!!

Hmmmm.... I need to double check the drawing.  The spray rail IS supposed to follow the chine, so I'm puzzled on the measurements in the drawing.  I'll get back to you soon on this.  Note that if you allow the spray rails to gently curve upward (away from water) as they travel to the stern, then it makes it more forgiving in how the boat looks when sitting a little stern low due to loading ... the 'smile' shape is an old boat building trick.

More later.... Thanks for the heads up

Brian