Upside Down T-Nuts

My insistence on using t-nuts is really making my life difficult. I think they are the right piece of hardware for the job (due to large surface area for bonding and load distribution), but they are a pain. For instance, I planned to install the t-nuts for the bow cleat and anchor chock from underneath the buttstrap. But I could not hammer them in from that angle and I didn't want to rely on tape to hold them up (if I used the non-hammer using variety). So I installed them upside down and put shallow counterbores on the bottom of the deck to allow for a flush fit. Here is a pic of the counterbores.

And then a picture of the t-nut "tops" that will fit in the counterbores.

This is only one of the little annoyances. For the 1/2" bolts that hold the beam, I originally drilled out 5/8" holes. The bummer is that I need the hole that big just to accommodate the t-nut (if left like that I would not have an epoxy barrier inside the hole). So I redrilled those to 3/4" and re-filled with filled epoxy. This way I can re-drill the structure part to 5/8" and the deck clearance hole at 1/2". I think I will install the deck and the beam holder t-nuts at the same time so I can insure it is all lining up correctly at the same time.  The last hassle is the cleat for fenders. I had drilled out holes at a location only to figure out I had the fasteners are sitting on the chine. So I fiddled with that (tracing superstructure from the inside) until I found a spot where it made sense to put it, and where I could fit a plywood backing piece on the inside of the deck. The picture below shows the piece of aluminum stock being used to keep this seated as the epoxy cures.

With all this said the good news is that I bought all the flotation jugs today. The main difficulty here is that the warehouse is 45 minutes away. I have a little more fooling around with the deck, and I need to get some wires in that boat. Then I can stat buttoning this up.  Slow going, but as long as I don't think about how long this is taking, it's a good time.

Life Is More Than Boats (A Difficult Truth)

I try not to clutter this blog with too much off topic stuff, but the name of the blog is boats AND life. And life sometimes has nothing to do with boats. I am captain of an adult kickball team which is comprised of only fellow 2nd grade parents. Below is the after action report from our first outing.

"We had a stellar opening game and set the right tone for the season with the "W". We ended the first inning down 4-1 but it was clear from the outset that there was no quit in our team. We quickly took the lead 5-4 and then extended our lead to 8-4. The other team fought back to tie the game at 8 runs in the 5th inning. What they didn't see coming was the can of Whoop-Ass we opened on them at the top of the 6th, where we opened a 14-8 lead. As it turned out we needed that lead, as we had to hold on by our fingernails for a 14-13 win.

Accolades:

Honorable Mention: Charles "Big Daddy" Thill caught 3 outs in an inning including teaching class on how to catch the ball using his face. Not sure we all got the lesson but it was impressive.

Play of the Day: Bob "Cupcake" Burt showed no humanity as he viciously tagged out a cowering 20-something girl as she attempted to round 3rd base. This was the final out of the game and we really needed it. Nice to see that Bob can shed his morals when it counts.

M.V.P: Paul "Hell Boy" Riley earned the nom de guerre with catching all three outs in an inning and being the only player to leave blood on the field. Also he was pushing the limits of decorum with his aggressive style on the pitcher's mound."

Decking!

I actually worked on the boat today. There has just been a lot going on in the household, so much so that working on the boat wasn't even a remote possibility. In a weird way, the impossibility of spending time on the boat made it easier to accept. At no point did I hope to work on the boat only to have those hopes crushed as reality made itself known, again.

I started working the forward deck. And now that I have spent some time thinking about this, I'm happy I started this now, while I still have some in-the-bow tasks yet to complete.  This is what I mean. Today I finished epoxy coating the lazarette floor which means the only things left inside the bow are wiring and flotation. Those things will take a few days, running around buying stuff, installation, epoxy coating etc. That is ok since the deck will take a few days too. I rough cut the outside today (before picture below).

But still have a few days, since there is two sides of epoxy coating to do, hole putty filling, and re-drilling to get done. To do the rough trim I made a little scribe tool as shown below.

In the past I would have just chewed my way to the hull by taking progressively smaller bites out of it using the Fein tool.  The problem is that this is time consuming, and the more time something takes, the more likely I am to take a shortcut (in this case the short cut is taking too-big blind bites), and any short cut inevitably leads to mistakes.  With the scribe lines in place I could use the jig saw with confidence.  I drilled the locations for all this stuff.

Next will be to add backers and/or t-nuts as appropriate to to the deck superstructure, while adding epoxy coats the the deck.  The hope now is that I can finish the wiring and installing flotation without unduly delaying the deck installation.

I know the concept of schedule doesn't mean much for this project.  I think it is just my need to be time-efficient that I am addressing by trying to parallel path different aspects of this build

Lazarette floor, Actually

I finally did some work on the forward lazarette floor. It wasn't nearly as awful as I imagined, everything actually went smoothly. Here is a picture of what it should look like when done.

Not done now because the other side of the boards need epoxy coat and some doublers to stiffen the floor. I'm going to use a similar approach to the floor here as I did for the ama sole but lighter since it will not need to carry nearly the weight.

Not sure how much, if any boat time I will get this weekend, I will at least try to finish all the epoxy coating. Next stop, flotation, then forward deck!

Cold Rolled 316 Stainless Is Mean Stuff

I was supposed to work on the forward lazarette floor. but as soon as I got outside I started looking for something else to do. And of course the mast step was sitting right in front of me. So I cut down the 316 drift into two pins and drilled the cotter pin holes. Sounds simple right?

I knew that this material would be difficult to cut, and I was right. It took me awhile to remember my milling skills, which consist of lubricate things and go slow.  After many tool changes and some consideration of alternatives, I eventually got through it with an 1/8" carbide mill. 1/8" is a little bigger than I was trying for but it will serve.

Tomorrow: lazarette floor, no really.

More Mast Steppin

I am starting to feel my schedule slip away from me. As summer approaches there seems to be more and more interruptions and one time event kind of things that conspire to keep me out of my boat shed. Today I rebelled a bit and went out to the boat shed when I shouldn't have. I made some progress on the mast step. I'm happy with how this is looking.

After a couple of epoxy coats this will be ready to install. Also need to cut down the pin and drill in some holes for cotter pins. If I can keep the distractions away I will be working on the lazarett floor tomorrow.

Don't Do This

Got back out to the boat shed today. All I got done was installing the forward trampoline t-nuts.

This took much longer than it should have because of this.

Really hard to get a drill in there to put in the counterbore for the T-nut. I eventually cut the counterbores by robbing a drill chuck off the mill and turning the drill bit by hand. Next time I will install the T-nuts before putting in any of the deck superstructure parts.  Also today I got two 1/4" drifts (cold rolled 316 stainless) to make the mast pins. So tomorrow I can do some mast step work, and start making the "sole" for the forward fender lazarette.  I have been putting the lazarette floor off because it seems like it is going to be tedious, but now it just really needs to get done.  

Mast Cleat

I probably should have drilled out the trampoline pad-eye holes, or built up the forward flotation sole but instead I spent almost all my time today working on the mast step. Specifically I machined the aluminum cleat that will mount, via a 5/16" bolt to a the plywood plug that will hold the mast.  I used my mini-milling machine to locate the holes, drill the clevis pin hole and the tap drill. I just couldn't resist putting a chamfer on the bottom corners. While they are not explicitly required, it makes sense to have them and it was fun to do on the mill.

Not sure how much boat time I will get this weekend. Today is my daughters birthday so we are busy throwing a party.

Mast Steppin

The ongoing saga. I laid out an extension cord the way I expect the halyard and reefing lines to lay and I did over-shrink the main hull opening. So I cut out the cross-member that shrunk it and re-installed a new one in a position that should look better.

Also continued work on the mast step. I had some aluminum stock left over from an obsession a few obsessions ago. I'm going to use the 1"x1" square stock as the cleat to engage the pinned connection to the step and the plate stock as backers on the outboard sides of the step.

Also in the picture you can see the sole pieces, this time with a coat of epoxy.  If all goes well tomorrow I will start making the "sole" for BH2-BH3 section above the floatation compartment. The idea here is that with the forward deck hatch there will be a place to store fenders, and an anchor. The general approach is to try to focus on all those things that need to be done to install the deck on the bow.

Many Random Tasks

The only way to make progress on anything around here is to ignore some responsibilities to free up enough time to actually focus on a task. This works for awhile but the bill eventually comes due. All the things I was ignoring to work on my boat became urgent this week, so (sadly) I had to spend some time away from my boat shed.

At various times, mostly while the little one is in Karate practice, I try to organize my boat activities. Hope is to minimize the time spent staring at the hull trying to decide what to do next. I mention this because my last session ended with a daunting list of small items that need done. I won't re-create it here because it is depressing. That said like all long journeys the only way to finish is to start. So today I made, and used two small jigs to locate the holes for the forward trampoline pad-eyes. I like jigs since they don't take very long to make and allow me to be more accurate than my skills would normally allow. I then filled the holes with filled epoxy.

The painters tape only covers half the hole to allow air to escape, hold the epoxy in the hole, and let me know when the hole is filled.  I started making the sole for the section of hull between bulkheads 4 and 5. For these I am using 6mm plywood cut into 4" strips and cut to proper length.  Each will have a section of 1x2 that overhangs one long edge by stacking edge to edge these will interlock so I should have a well supported sole. There is a bit more to this but it should become clear from pictures as progress is made. The picture below shows these as I left them with the 1x2 sections being glued to the plywood. I'm going a bit out of my way to make these removable, as a general concept I don't like cutting off my access to any part of the hull. 

Finally Bernd's plan shows a main hatch maximum opening of 500mm. So I figured that was square and proceeded to build the structure accordingly. However I am diverging a bit from Bernd's plan as I plan to fix the mast, so I can lead halyard and reefing lines aft to the cockpit. I had to compress the hatch opening to allow deck space to run the lines aft. Here a picture is worthwhile.

The rub here is that I still need to get around the aft cabin beam. I found some double cheek blocks that look promising, but now I think I may have cut down my hatch opening too much. I will spend some time staring at the hull tomorrow and see if I can visualize how the the lines might run. If I'm really good I'll lay out some ropes to mimic the lines in question to help the process along. 

Updated Schematic

It hit 90 degrees today. Which for Seattle is saying a lot, bear in mind that most houses here (us included) do not have air conditioning, so you actually live in the heat. It is going to cool down as the week goes on and soon we will be back to comfortable 65 degree temperatures.  The heat came on suddenly and so most people including us were out trying to enjoy the warm and dry. Pablo and I got in a quick sail on green lake (small lake within city limits 3 miles around). We were in a little sun-fish sailboat, fun sail but very uncomfortable for a grown adult. Pablo had a great time. Needless to say not much happened on the ama and the only reason I'm writing this post at all is for this.

I updated the schematic and changed it a bit to allow for a more conventional approach to the wiring of parallel batteries. If I discover later that this conservatism is unneeded it will be easy to undo. The update does mean that I'm now using all the pins in the connector. Also I updated the schematic with estimated wire run lengths and amperage loads (meters/amps). Looks like for most of the wiring I will be using 12 gauge wire except for the ground and power bus wires which will be 8 gauge. I used the 3% loss side of the wire sizing table and conservative length and amperage estimates.

There Is Bad News And Good News

This past week was rough for a couple of reasons. Monday was a holiday and on Wednesday the Seattle public schools pulled another one of their patented "Its a random Wednesday so only a half day of school today" tricks.  I've ranted about the school district before so I will try to limit myself to random mocking comments from now on.

I always like to get the bad news first. That way you can process how miserable things have become and then be relatively happy when you hear good news.  The bad news is that while I've ordered all the bits and pieces of hardware needed, it's going to be awhile before it arrives. The good news is that I have plenty of work to do besides. I can separate these into two categories, electrical, and carpentry (still). On the subject of electrical, I now appreciate the amazing technology known as a wire nut. For home wiring it is simple, fast, universal and can joint quite a few wires at once.  No such technology exists for boat wiring.  I'm not sure why not, probably has to do with salt, water, and tinned wires. With that said I think I'm finally zeroing in on a decent plan. When I say plan, take that to mean that I know what to buy, which only sounds simple. For the carpentry part there is no shortage of work there either. I need to put a sole (floor) in the center two sections of the boat (between bulkheads 3 and 5). Also some sort of step is needed for getting in and out of the ama. Then there is the boat related stuff like the antivortex panels and backers, and the trampoline rails.

I did manage to do some stuff that wasn't just planning. Below are a couple of pics of the rudder gudgeon T-nut installation. This one shows my liberal application of filled epoxy.

As expected I did get a bit of epoxy on the threads, but it was quick work to chase those out with a tap.

Also spent a bit of time cleaning the inside of the ama of all the wood cuttings, and sawdust that had fallen in there. This is made much easier when you have a 7 year old that fits in some of the tighter spaces.

In a fit of just wanting to get something done I installed some netting in the bulkhead 2 opening. This is because the positive flotation devices (empty milk jugs) are to go in this section (between bulkhead 2 and 3). I put up the net to keep them from rolling around in there. Once the deck is on this will be a tough place to get to, even with the access hatch.

Giving Myself A Headache

I know that I'm overthinking this electrical stuff, but the simple awareness of that fact does not actually help me get any closer to a solution. I have been through several tribulations in my electrical approach.  Turns out that the bulkhead connector I was planning to use could only carry 5 amps. Not good when the marine VHF radio uses 5 amps by itself.  A more exhaustive internet search turned up a 5 pin connector that while more expensive can carry 16 amps. Newly confident I started looking at marine digital receivers, but came away disappointed since I would have to dedicate 15 amps of capacity for a small one. 15 amps not only loads down the connector but would also be a quick way to drain the batteries. Also being a mechanical engineer, I've never really learned to trust batteries. So I was hoping to have 2 batteries that I would use one at a time. Basically to give myself a built in warning when one died.  It looks like I will have to give up on that and wire the batteries in parallel so I can insure I'm running a common ground throughout the system (it was looking like I would need a 6 pin connector to do this in the one battery at a time way while keeping the nav. light switch in the cabin). . Finally I thought I would just run down to Radio Shack and buy some wire to get started, Ha. In my perusal of internet wisdom I found a PDF file on boat wiring (added to my links section) and learned not only about sizing DC wire runs, but also that the wire should be tinned copper.  With all this churn I was surprised to find that the schematic at the ama level didn't change. I will have one open pin in the connector but I kind of like that since it leaves some capacity for later additions. What I'm planning for wiring in the cabin is greatly affected, but I will worry about that when working on the cabin.