The Swamper- new design

[jdupre']

Well, maybe not COMPLETELY new. I borrowed heavily from Tx River Rat's heavily modified builds and JEM's Laker and Okwata. It will have a plumb stern, faceted decks, large cockpit and a swoopy bow. I downloaded the free plans for the Laker 13 to get an idea of the build sequence. I expected the plans to be a few paragraphs and a few pics of the build sequence. I was impressed at the amount of information Matt gives away for nothing. Not many businesses give away that much information. Thanks Matt.

I got off of work 30 minutes early and went to Home Depot for a couple of sheets of luan. Pretty nice looking stuff. Color and grain pattern is very consistent.

I opened my build plans from Roll The Dice Fabricators and was a little disappointed. This is what I got.

Step 1: Draw panels

Step 2: Cut out panels

Step 3: Build boat

:mrgreen:

This build will be a little different. I set the table saw to the rough width , grabbed a panel and cut out four pieces a quarter inch oversize. Mixed a little thickened epoxy and glued the butt splices. Later, after the glass patches are cured, I'll draw and cut the full sized panels to shape.

I was able to match up the grain pretty well.

I'm stuck building under my carport, so I rigged up a lamp to warm the epoxy to speed up the cure.

Joey

 

[Kayak Jack]

You are an inventive guy.

 

[john the pom]

I rigged up a lamp to warm the epoxy to speed up the cure.

Good idea Joey. :idea:
Ummmm. P'raps you might try turning the lamp on.
Seriously though am looking forward to this build.
Regards John.

 

[Kayak Jack]

John, electricity hasn't been invented in Louisiana yet. They still use kerosene powered TV's.

 

[jdupre']

John, electricity hasn't been invented in Louisiana yet. They still use kerosene powered TV's.

Jack, we've long since moved away from that antiquated kerosene. We have updated to the state of the art fuel for powering the TV - PROPANE! :mrgreen:

 

[jdupre']

Been thinking. I'll probably have the side panels on and off the forms several times fine-tuning the shape and was thinking about putting a saturation coat of epoxy on the outside of them to protect from scratches, grime and such. Pro's and Con's?

 

[oldsparkey]

I rigged up a lamp to warm the epoxy to speed up the cure.

Good idea Joey. :idea:
Ummmm. P'raps you might try turning the lamp on.
Seriously though am looking forward to this build.
Regards John.

Remember he is building this outside and if the lamp was on he would have a decent collection of the Louisiana Night Bugs on his epoxy since it was already on the panels. Should I say the epoxy was workable and working when that picture was taken. No I will not say that , this picture proves it. :roll:

Sure looks dark out to me.

A saturation coat would protect the wood from the elements like it does when the boat is made...... just keep the bugs away from it till it sets up.

Chuck.

 

[john the pom]

Been thinking. I'll probably have the side panels on and off the forms several times fine-tuning the shape and was thinking about putting a saturation coat of epoxy on the outside of them to protect from scratches, grime and such. Pro's and Con's?

Have to admit I thought that would be a good idea, after the fact 8) Not so much scratches and grime, moreso when you come to using the icky glue. The icky glue on bare ply tends to be hard to get off without either sanding or damage to the surface of the ply, or both. Glue stains also tend to be darker, or lighter depending on filler used, than the epoxy coated ply, and tend to go subsurface.
Once you have a coat of poxy on the panel keeping it "clean" is a lot easier and any superfluous (I waited ages to use that word) glue is easily removed before it has a chance to cure. I would also think that if you're gonna have to re-trim any panels then a coat of poxy would/should make it easier to work with. There might well be chemical reasons not to apply a coat a good while before re-coating, but I left a few time gaps in between coats with no problems. If/when I do another I will coat all panels before stitching, even before cutting out mebbe.
Regards John.

 

[jdupre']

I sanded the butt joints and and added fiberglass splices to one side of the panels. That cheap luan really is some nice looking stuff under that epoxy.

Used the extra epoxy to coat what will become part of the shear strips.

I was amazed that the freezer bag plastic that I used over the epoxy butt joints just fell away with no peeling or pulling. It's hard to believe with everything that epoxy will weld itself to, that it will not even leave a film on the plastic.

Joey

 

[tx river rat]

JD
Looking forward to this build,you are really entering the darkside now. Before long they will think you are crazy as I am.
Ron

 

[jdupre']

I'm really looking forward to it to, Ron. Maybe by this weekend I'll have it on the forms starting to look like a boat. Looking forward to tweaking all those lines 'til they're just right.

On your Cuda build you said that the seating position was a little too far forward. Did you adjust the cockpit, or do you just add a little ballast to the rear? I think I'll build the hull and put it in the water to check for balance before I commit to a cockpit location. Two or three inches either way makes a difference. Hard to change that once the bulkheads go in.

Joey

 

[tx river rat]

Swede form you need a little farther back in the seating arrangement.
Ron

 

[jdupre']

Got off of work at 3:00 this evening. Checked the fiberglass patches- everything OK there. Drew out the bow and the reverse chine curves. I cut them both out and faired them in about 95%. I used the same offset as my pirogue. That ought to be close.

The item next to the plane in the last picture is my fairing board. Just a strip off of a 36 grit 6x48 sanding belt. Perfect for fairing inside and outside curves.

I'll start fitting the bottom tomorrow .

Joey

 

[jdupre']

Did some re-arranging in my tiny shop. Got to thinking about all the rainy, cold weather we have this time of year and figured I need to move the build inside if at all possible. My shop is 10'x16' with a 2' workbench on one side and a row of cabinets on the other. Building a 16' boat in a 16' shop adds a new meaning to the word "tight fit". I think I can manage it by pulling the boat out a bit in fair weather and putting it back in at night. We'll see.

Joey

 

[Wannabe]

Joey,
You need to get you one of those new fangled shop streachers. i hear they help in a pinch. :wink:
Bob

 

[jdupre']

Joey,
You need to get you one of those new fangled shop streachers. i hear they help in a pinch. :wink:
Bob

Bob, I found one of them stretchers but the store didn't have the adapters for my particular shop. :wink:

 

[jdupre']

She's looking sort of like a boat. Put her up on the temp. center frame to get an idea of the shape. I knew the sides were going to be way high. I ran a few lines and cut 2 1/2" off the rear deck height and about an inch off of the bow. Looking pretty good.

I need to lower the shear line from the bow to about 4' back and measure for a couple more station panels. Probably have to come down some with the center section of the shear line too. Having fun!

Joey

 

[jdupre']

Put the "eye" on it and it wasn't quite right. Marked a line 1/2" at stern, going to 3/4" at the center gradually curving to nothing at the bow. Much more "kayak-like".

Looking like I pictured it so far.

Joey

 

[tx river rat]

Jd
Before I cut anymore I would cut the bottom and the stations, the lean out on the stations will affect the rocker and you can also pick about a 1 inch or better in rocker up from slopping the v bottom.
Ron
Shes looking good

 

[jdupre']

Thanks, Ron. I was just working on the stations. Do you add 1/4" to the edge of the stations so the deck can sit a little above the sides? The Laker plans call for that and setting the shear clamps a 1/4" proud of the sides for the deck/side panel fillet.