Dillon Laker 14/16.5 Wooden Tunnel Hull Build/Mod Project

[mickyryan]

I have been watching but not much to add on yet

 

[gm280]

My hat is off to you gomopar440. I have a very hard time trying to find time to work on one little cheap tri-hull boat rebuild, and you are talking about doing two such projects. I envy your stamina and willingness to try that. I do have my mind on a Bass Boat refurbish after this little tri-hull project is finished, but not until I refurbish the inside of our house to bring it up to something from this century. If you start another boat building thread, be sure to let us all know so I can follow along...if that is okay with you.

 

[gomopar440]

I did the two threads on different forums thing for my sand rail project, so I know how to do it and the tricks to make it work out easier. The only real "gotcha" is remembering that you're talking to a different audience and to modify your statements to suit where needed. Otherwise as long as the forums both work the same way with HTML, I can make a post once and then cut and paste it over to the other forum. I just have to remember to make the mods to my comments for each forum when answering questions and talking to specific people. Asking questions is more of a shotgun approach. Those usually go out the same to both forums in order to get the biggest audience to see it in hopes someone experienced with that topic will have an answer.

I must say though, so far I'm a little surprised how much different the two forums are. I've heard a lot of people here asking questions here about old FG boats, and then getting replies telling them to go to the FiberGlassics forum to see if they had the answer. That led me to believe they have more specialized knowledge over there for the accurate restoration older boats, not just the mechanical side of repairing them. That was the biggest reason I started the Rambler thread over there. So far I've posted a ton of pics and a few questions and so far have gotten just one "welcome aboard, sounds like a neat project" type of comment. I'm hoping it's just because I started out the thread by saying I wasn't going to be beginning the Rambler restoration until I finish this Laker build first. From what I've seen here so far, iBoats has a lot more feedback, in both quality and quantity IMHO.

BTW, I'll start the Rambler thread over here when I get ready to start on it. It's going to be a while before I begin because I want to stay focused on the Laker right now. I lost yesterday to cleaning up the Rambler for winter storage, and another day today due to the back pain because of it. The next two days are supposed to be in the low 60's so I really would like to take advantage of those temps to glue the other bulkheads on while it's nice out if possible.

EDIT: Here's a link to the FiberGlassics build thread with a ton of new Rambler pics in it. I'll post a link to the iBoats build thread for the Rambler when I start one here. http://www.fiberglassics.com/glassic...rebuild#128201

 

[gomopar440]

Felt a little better today so I headed out to the tent and got started on the other sponson bulkheads. First I had to move the other side to the floor for now so I had room to work on the other one.

I also added a 4' fluorescent shop light to the tent, but it's only temporary until I can pick up a LED type shop light to replace it. The fluorescent lights don't turn on when the temps drop too much below freezing. This is something I've learned from first hand experience. Last winter I tried to go out to the barn to do something and couldn't get a single one of the shop lights to turn on. Some were practically new and the rest were no more than a year or two old.

Just like on the opposite side, the notches on the bulkheads were marked and cut on the top and bottom corners for the deck stringer and the sponson keel. I chopped up a few more pieces of scrap wood to make the diagonal braces and mini cleats to hold the bulkheads perpendicular to the sponson side. The temps starting dropping before I had everything ready to glue together, so I just assembled everything with temporary screws for now. I'll unscrew them and glue them together permanently tomorrow if the weather stays nice.

 

[gm280]

Looks like you need to build a construction table (3' by 6' ?). Then you can have a nice flat area to assembly things. Just an idea.

 

[gomopar440]

I'm waiting on payday to do that. I only have a tiny budget for this project so I'm trying to make the most of it as I'm able. The plan is to pick up another set of saw horse brackets, and the wood to make them. I want to make a 4' x 15' table out of the saw horses and some 1/2" ply. Then I can get everything centered up in the tent and leveled out.

The stuff I'm doing right now doesn't require a perfectly flat surface just yet. I will need a flat and level build table before I connect the sponsons together with the beams though. From that point onward, pretty much everything I do from then on requires the boat to be kept level. The bulkheads and sponson inner sides are still floppy enough that I have plenty of wiggle room to align everything properly when I start to install the battens, stringers, chines and keels. Once the bottom is completely skinned and the hull gets flipped over, it has to be leveled all over again.

 

[gm280]

Just make sure if you are going to use saw horses for table supports, and that isn't a bad idea, that you make enough so the plywood doesn't sag. I do know how working on such long projects do present a dilemma. When I was assembling my long stringers together, I laid them on the floor to glue them up. I lap jointed them and had no other means to keep them straight. But my shop floor is long enough and flat enough to use. You just have to improvise sometimes. The real interesting situation was when I dadoed the stringer for the different bulkheads to fit. I had to use power toold for the dadoes and that was interesting on such long pieces. I built my underfloor supports like a jigsaw puzzle so everything fit into everything else. Why? Who knows now. :noidea:
I figured it would add to the support structure. JMHO

 

[gomopar440]

I'm going to have a total of four saw horses over a span of 15', so one at each end and the other two spaced out 5' apart. Then I'll put five 15' 2x4's, each spaced 1' apart, to lay lengthwise across the tops of the sawhorses to form the basis of the table and also help tie it all together. Since I'm working off of a dirt floor, I'll be placing patio stones under the legs to help prevent them from sinking in over time as I add more weight on the table. The top 2x4's will be shimmed between the tops of the sawhorses to get the table level in all directions. The 1/2" ply top will be screwed down to the top 2x4's after I'm happy with how level it is. The width of the tunnel between the inner sponson sides will be just a bit under 53", so I plan to make the table top 48" wide. Two full 4x8 sheets of 1/2" ply, with 1' lopped off the end of one sheet should do the trick.

Eventually I'd like to put a concrete floor in and build a 10'x20' shop addition onto the side of the barn, but that's a long ways off before I'm ready to tackle that job. Sure would make it a lot more comfortable and easier to work out of the cold and wet weather.

 

[gm280]

I'm going to have a total of four saw horses over a span of 15', so one at each end and the other two spaced out 5' apart. Then I'll put five 15' 2x4's, each spaced 1' apart, to lay lengthwise across the tops of the sawhorses to form the basis of the table and also help tie it all together. Since I'm working off of a dirt floor, I'll be placing patio stones under the legs to help prevent them from sinking in over time as I add more weight on the table. The top 2x4's will be shimmed between the tops of the sawhorses to get the table level in all directions. The 1/2" ply top will be screwed down to the top 2x4's after I'm happy with how level it is. The width of the tunnel between the inner sponson sides will be just a bit under 53", so I plan to make the table top 48" wide. Two full 4x8 sheets of 1/2" ply, with 1' lopped off the end of one sheet should do the trick.

Eventually I'd like to put a concrete floor in and build a 10'x20' shop addition onto the side of the barn, but that's a long ways off before I'm ready to tackle that job. Sure would make it a lot more comfortable and easier to work out of the cold and wet weather.

I do know what you are talking about. I waited years before I built my shop. But I wanted it to be exactly like I wanted it and the cost made me wait until I could afford to do that. My shop is 24' x 36'. Sounds large, but even that size seems to get stuffy when I have multiple projects going on at one time. And that seems like always.

But your tackling your project with a good plan anyways. I am watching. Keep up the posting and pictures.

 

[gomopar440]

Today I got those temporarily attached bulkheads removed, glued (W/ Titebond III) and re-screwed back in place. I made sure to recheck the alignment with a square before cinching each of them down. The screws pretty much just all went down the same holes I made yesterday. I don't remember if I mentioned it on the other side, but I laid down a fillet of Titebond III along the edge of the bulkhead cleats and the bulkhead itself where they met the sponson side. I used my finger tip to squeeze off any excess glue so it won't look messy once it dries. That glue is tough stuff when cured so I made sure to keep it out of the slots the sponson keel and deck stringers will rest in. It all still looks identical to the last pic, so I didn't bother to take another one today.

After that I made a copy of the butt block for the tip extension and a mirrored copy of the extension for the other sponson. I made the copy 1/4" oversized along the top, bottom and tip, but cut it to size along the actual butt joint. I'll mark the actual outline after I have the butt block permanently attached to the port sponson. After the measurements were taken, I glued the port side butt block to the tip extension and screwed it together to dry. Once it's cured the screws will come out and it will be glued and screwed to the port sponson. I'm going to wait to glue the other one together until I can get the starboard sponson side back up onto the work table.

 

[gomopar440]

Honey-do's took most of my time today. I did manage to sneak out and get the butt joint backing block glued and screwed to the starboard sponson tip extension though. Not much, but it's something at least.

 

[mickyryan]

way to rebel against the machine man! "honeydo's", carry on brotha!

 

[gomopar440]

Mickryan, Thanks for thevote of confidence. I'm going to keep doing my best to MAKE the time I need to work on this boat as much as possible. Getting ready for winter up here takes quite a bit of prep work, but it's all necessary to help the house and the animals deal with the coming nasty weather. The coldest I've seen it up here was -44*F for the low, and about -30*F for the high during the day, and those temps stayed like that for about a week. That was when we were staying on a cattle ranch in Wisdom, MT for a while right after we moved to MT in 2010. I had ICE on the wall behind the headboard INSIDE my bedroom for that whole week.:faint2: Where we're at now is about 1,300' lower in elevation (6,300' vs 5,000' ASL) so the coldest we've seen at this house is only about -25*F. It's going to be interesting trying to work with the winter temps in that tent for sure. I'm still going to try my best to keep making progress throughout the winter, but I know some days it just won't be possible in the tent. On those days I'll try to find smaller boat stuff I can work on in the barn, In there I have a good wood stove that puts out a decent amount of heat.

Remember that 5mm ply I picked up from Lowe's to skin the boat with a while back? That guy working there swore to me it was made with waterproof adhesive, which was why I went ahead and picked it up. Well, on a hunch, I looked up the manufacturer's specs for it on Lowe's website (Revolution ply was the name of it). Well, right there in black and white it clearly states that the Revolution ply they sold me does NOT have waterproof glue between the layers. I had an appointment at the VA Hospital today (yesterday?), which is in the same city as the Lowes I got the ply from, so I brought it back and got a refund for it. I used that refund money to pick up enough material to build two more sawhorses as well as the work table that goes on top of them. I'll be assembling and leveling the work table for the boat this weekend. I didn't lose out anything in the long run because I hadn't touched the ply yet and it was still returnable. If I had used it to build the boat with, it could take a while before I would realize the problem. The fact they lied to me could have very well put me and my passengers at great risk if that plywood fell apart while we were underway. I was NOT a happy camper today...

On the upside, I checked at the local lumber yard near my house and they have some 5mm ply with waterproof adhesive. It's about $4 more a sheet than the junk Lowes sold me, but it's worth it to me. At least I'll know that the ply layers won't come unglued after the boat has been built and is getting used on the water. I don't live on the water (20-25 min away), so I'll have to trailer this boat to and from the lake whenever I want to use it. The rest of the time it will be sitting at home, nice and dry on the trailer. I don't really plan to keep the boat moored out on the lake for any length of time. An exception might be if I take it out camping for a weekend, or an extended boating trip, so maybe a 3-4 days out on the water at most. If I build it right, and use the right materials, I would think it should last a pretty long time.

 

[archbuilder]

That would have sucked if you had used that plywood! Good catch!

 

[Patfromny]

I don't know if they lied to you. They probably just didn't know so they told you what you wanted to hear. splitting hairs but I doubt they would lie to you. they don't make commission on sales I don't think and there would be no reason to lie in that aspect. You probably got the kid that was just in gardening the last 2 yrs and doesn't know his stuff yet. good catch on the specs before you cut it up though. I would be happy finding the water proof stuff for only 4 bucks more too. if you seal the wood well enough and use fiberglass matte, I've heard that you could use foam or even cardboard to build the structure...not that I would either. I'd be using the best stuff that I could get my hands on too. couldn't you build each sponsoon in he barn and then put them together in the tent? just thinking that you could do the Lions share of work in the warm and put it together out in the tent. I guess each sponsoon will be pretty heavy to move once glassed and assembled.

 

[gm280]

I understand your feelings about the non-water proof glue on the plywood. But I will say this, if you used it and coated it as you are doing, it probably would have never been an issue, but why take the chance. Glad you got things moving along. If you try working in subzero temps, you better have some great heat. Otherwise I can't see any gluing or polyestering (not a real word) going on. I don't think either one would come out of the containers I know what -35 degrees feels like in Anchorage Alaska. It only got up to 10 degrees when I was there. So hard to do much work in those conditions. My hands stop work in those temps. Not good. But hang in there and work safe.

 

[gomopar440]

You're probably correct that the guy that sold me on that Revolution ply just wasn't sure about the specs. My dad used to work at Lowes in Pueblo, CO, so I'm aware they don't work on commission. However, it wasn't a new kid on the job that said that to me. I was originally getting help from a 20-something kid there for other stuff, but when I asked him about the adhesive used to make the ply, he called over his manager. The lumber section manager was the one that mis-informed me about the properties of that Revolution ply. In either case, I was able to catch it before I started using that inferior stuff to build my boat. Crisis averted.

My wife is willing to help me move the sponsons out to the barn today. With those out of the way I can start putting together my other two saw horses and the work table. After everything is all leveled out and screwed together, I can bring the sponsons back out to the tent. The saw horses will be tall enough I should be able to store most of my materials under them inside the tent. I'll probably stack a few pallets down there first to keep everything off the floor though.

 

[Patfromny]

Good idea on the pallets. the manager should have known. I hate shopping at the big box stores sometimes. I always do my research before hand because I'm not a trusting soul. I'm also pretty good at smelling bullsh@# and will walk away from anyone who I think knows less than I do about something. it is a shame really. when these stores first started opening they were staffed with much more knowledgable people. former tradesman and the like. now it seems even the managers are just there to climb the corporate ladder and could just as easily be a manager at IHOP or fabric bonanza.

 

[gomopar440]

When I was putting together the saw horses today, there was a wedge shaped piece missing from one bracket. I took the identical part from the other side of the bracket and traced it onto a piece of scrap AC ply. I zipped the scrap through the band saw to get the rough shape cut out first. A small piece of the excess ply got wedged between the blade and the slot in the table. I tried to flick it out of the way, but it stuck fast and deflected the tip of my finger through the moving blade. :faint2:At least it didn't hurt, at first. It's throbbing like crazy right now though. The blade took a diagonal dime sized chunk of flesh with most of my finger print off of my left hand index finger. At least it missed the finger nail. The wife was out running errands in town at the time so I had to doctor it up myself with my one good hand. Thank god I'm not a lefty or that would have been near impossible. It was hard enough using just my dominant right hand.

Anyway, I didn't let that stop me from completing the task at hand:facepalm:. I still managed to finish building and leveling the table today. I was thinking of doing some work on the boat itself afterwards, but I had to cut it short (pun intended) today. About 1/4" short actually... :lol:

I'll get pics of the table tomorrow. And before anyone asks, I'm not taking a pic of my finger. I might just get the wrong one in the frame.

 

[mickyryan]

must post pics of electrical tape and napkin field dressing for man points!
the bloodier the higher the points ... just saying.
glad you are ok could have been worse we'd had to change ya name on forums to 9fingers.