If n' When II -- Deck Prep

Click on the photos for a larger, uncropped version

It has been way too long since I updated this site. We have made progress! The position of the forms were marked in the hull before detaching the forms from the strongback just in case the forms didn't have enough glue slopped on them to keep them in place. I'm glad I marked them! All but two fell out when they were detached from the strong back. Too neat with the glue bottle, I guess. In any case, the hull was flipped into three saddles, leveled, and aligned to insure the hull wasn't twisted.

The shear strip was taped to insure the deck shear strip didn't get stuck to the hull at this point. Each form was reinstalled in the hull with spots of hot glue and then the hull was squeezed to the form with strapping tape to insure it didn't warp before the deck was completed and the inside glassed.

I wanted to be able to use the same spraydeck that I use on the Outlaw, so rather than using the cockpit outline provided with the plans, I copied the shape of the inside of the Outlaw coaming onto poster board. I then matched that shape with the shape of the cockpit relief cutout, and modified it accordingly. In addition, I allowed for an extended relief behind the cockpit to ease layback rolls ala Joe's King design.

The deck shear strip was built up on the forms from three 1/4" x 1/4" strips - poplar, redwood, and then poplar again. The first layer was cut on a 30 degree bevel which matched it to most of the forms. I had to roll the bevel at the bow & stern to a greater degree as the strip transitioned from nearly vertical along the center of the boat to nearly horizontal at the bow & stern. The first layer was hot glued to each of the forms which did a good job of holding it. The second layer was glued to the first, and held in place with grey tape until the glue dried.

The third piece of the built-up shear strip was where the fun began. This strip was a combination of the shear strip structure AND defined the curves or swirls for the pattern on the deck. I started the "swirl" from the bow, and had reasonable success in cold bending the strips - I only broke 4 before I got one to stay in place! This strip was glued to each of the forms with hot glue and held in place with plywood "u" brackets and clamps.

The strip defining the swirl at the aft end was more challenging due to the tighter curve. I ended up cobbling up a steamer from some plastic pipe, tea kettle, and camp stove. It doesn't look like much, but worked great. Ten minutes in the steamer turned kiln dried poplar into reasonably workable material.

This is another view of the steamer. The bucket was intended to catch condensate from the lower end of the contraption, but most of it flowed back towards the tea kettle instead. Note the cockpit pattern hanging in the background. The foam poster board was easy to work with while making the pattern, but it would have been nice to have more flexibility when bending the pattern to match the hull.

Enough of the swirl strips are in place to permit the first strips on the bow. With the exception of 5 strips in the center section that follow the shear, all of the other fill strips were laid from the centerline out.

Western red cedar was used as the primary wood for the deck, with the interior of the "swirl" filled with Port Orford cedar. I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a wonderful chunk of clear Port Orford cedar that had been salvaged from a buried log. This stuff smells even better than the western red!