Never Mind the Plastic Problem

See my previous post about the problem of plastic polluting the oceans.
This post here, is a never mind disclaimer to that post.   Stay with me while I try to explain my reasoning.
Sure, plastic is a problem, but then so is everything else.  How about acidification of the oceans?  Seems like when it comes to degradation of the environment we have lots of contenders and the average lay person non-scientist doesnt know what to do because just about everything we do potentially messes up the environment.  I am surprised that nobody is doing rankings of which of the many environmental affronts is the worst.
Actually, it seems that people are using the market to decide.  The invisible hand will tell us which environmental affront is the worst based on which environmental groups video on youtube gets the most clicks, or whose kickstarter anti environmental affront revelation project gets the most donations.
Anyway, barring those kinds of metrics, I am here to tell you to stop worrying about plastic.  Sure, plastic is bad, but plastic is also a handy thing to have. And in spite of all the problems that plastics create when tossed in the ocean,  there are worse threats to the survival of the bio-crust on our planet.
Of late, I am reading that potentially the greatest threat to the bio-crust is anthropogenic heating of our atmosphere. For those of you that havent seen that adjective before, anthropogenic is a non-gender specific replacement for man-made. Once we get the earth hot enough, that increase in temperature will trigger all sorts of other processes that will guarantee that the earth will continue to get warmer without us doing anything further to help with the process.  Its kind of like starting a fire, for a while there you have to mess around with the wood to get it to burn.  You have to stick kindling under the logs and newspapers and stuff like that to get the logs burning, but once you get them going, they will keep burning on their own without any help from us.  Its the same with heating up the planet.  We had to burn lots of carbon to put enough carbon dioxide in the air to heat the earth up to the point where it could keep getting hotter on its own, but now were almost there or maybe were even there.

Permafrost in Siberia is melting and releasing methane into the air.  Methane is also bubbling up off the ocean floor off the coast of Siberia.  Methane is even better than carbon dioxide in keeping the heat in.  Its like going to Home depot and buying six inch thick insulation for the attic instead of just putting in the two inch stuff.  House is gonna be warm now.
Anyway, if this business about runaway heating is true, then we dont really have to worry about plastic in the ocean because getting cooked in our own juices will be way worse than having ocean critters eating little bits of plastic and dying and leaving the oceans fish-less.
Looked at from the human standpoint, not having any fish to eat will be the least of our problems in a massively overheated world.
Not my job here to give advice on how to stop global over heating.  Dmitry Orlov over at the cluborlov website advocates praying for a meteor to hit us and put an end to the oil burning that is generating all the extra carbon dioxide.  I personally advocate just using less of everything, but I see where that will never become popular for people to do on a voluntary basis, so maybe the ability of prayer to enlist the help of a higher power is not a bad way to go.

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The beginning

I was driving home from work the other afternoon, trying to think of how to start writing this blog. The story makes sense to me, but I wasnt quite sure where to start telling it to you. As my mind wandered, I turned my car westward into the afternoon sun as it shined brightly through a pollen-filled southern sky. Uh-oh... Now I know where to start.

Sneezing. Its a sudden and startling reminder that Im barely two months post-op from having triple bypass surgery. Thankfully, I can at least now withstand a couple of sneezes without screaming in pain. Still, it scares me initially and makes me feel like my upper torso is made of egg shell. It serves as a shaking reminder that my sternum is still a two-part structure, held together by stainless steel wire. What has all this to do with boats, you ask?

As Id mentioned to Gayle Brantuk the day before, Ive been recently reminded that you only live once. Gayle is the daughter of Glen L. Witt, Naval Architect and founder of Glen-L Marine Designs based in California. Glen-L has provided construction plans to do-it-yourself boatbuilders since 1953. Among the 300+ Glen-L designs is one called the "Zip," a 14-foot classically-styled runabout of the 1950s / Dolce Vita aesthetic. Gorgeous boat. Ive wanted one since the first time I saw it. So, a couple of days ago I called Glen-L and ordered the plans, because Im going to build one. Im tired of talking myself out of it. You only live once, right?

Truthfully, this is actually the third set of plans Ive bought from Glen-L. I didnt finish the first boat. Im currently building the second one. More on all that later. I wanted to write this blog, my own little boatbuilding story, in hopes that it might encourage or be of benefit to other boat builders. Other boatbuilding blogs have been of enormous help and encouragement to me.

Hows this for inspiration? Roberta & Rich Hegy in Robertas beautiful Zip "Oliver IV." Sept. 2012

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Eastern Arctic Kayak Construction more frame photos

Yesterday I set up the frame of the EA kayak and gave it a second coat of linseed oil.  With the keelson blocked in and the deck upright, it is easier to see what the boat will look like when finished.  Supposedly, the finished boat will not trim with the waterline parallel to the keelson.  The keelson will in fact sit lower in the front than in back. But we will see. 

Nose forward view accentuates the upsweep of the deck forward of the cockpit.

View from the back shows the downward slope of the deck at the steern.

And one more view from a slightly lower angle.

At this point, I find myself wondering what this boat will turn into and how it will behave.  This is of course one of the compelling things about building a boat of a kind one has never built before.  Invariably, there will be some disappointments and in time, pleasant surprises as well.  Still, if nothing else, the curved lines of a boat are delightful to look at.

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Fairing the Utility

I have been slowly and cautiously fairing the Utility. I still have a long way to go, but I am making progress.

"Fairing," in case you didnt already know, is the process of beveling all of the parts of the sub-structure of the hull (frames, stem, chines, breasthook, transom, etc...), so that the plywood planking, when added, will have properly-angled surfaces to mate to.

For the newbie amateur builder (ie: Me), its probably the most daunting and intimidating step of building a boat. However, its a necessary and extremely important step.

I started by fairing the aft bottom section of the boat. Testing with a couple of plywood pieces shows that Ive got some slight gaps between the outer floor battens and the inner surface of the bottom planking. Im planning to fill these gaps with thickened epoxy when I attach the planking.

Ive done preliminary fairing on the bottom of the chines up to the forward frame.

Over the last several weeks, (since adding the chine strips described in my last post), I have been fairing the forward bottom section. Most of this work has been on the starboard side. Ive been using the Rabl method for fairing this area. The Rabl method was developed by Sam Rabl, and is described in detail on the Glen-L website here: http://boatbuilders.glen-l.com/3820/fairing-by-the-rabl-method-2/

For me it is slow work. Ive been using a couple of sizes of hand planes and a belt sander, and checking progress frequently with straight edges and my plywood test pieces. My recommendation to the new builder beginning the fairing process would be to simply take your time. Proceed slowly, check your work frequently, and expect this stage to take a long time. Its easy to try to hurry the work along, then inadvertently create gaps or gouges that youll have to fix. (Trust me.)

Ive still got a long way to go, but I will share some photos of the progress so far.

Fairing the stem

Fairing work in progress at the stem, chines and forward sheer.

Slowly bringing everything together to a point at the bow.

More fairing work has been done on the starboard sheer than on the port side so far.

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Fiberglassing begins

Finally, the time came to start fiberglassing the hull of the Utility. Id ordered some 6oz fiberglass cloth in both 50-inch and 38-inch widths from Jamestown Distributors. After reviewing the book and DVD on How to Fiberglass Boats from Glen-L, (which I consider a must-have resource on the subject), I was ready to begin.

Edges of the hull rounded-over in preparation for fiberglassing.

The first step was to round over the edges of the hull so that the fiberglass cloth will conform fully to the edges. According to the book and DVD, fiberglass cloth cannot conform to a sharp angle. So, rounding the edges allows the fiberglass cloth to remain in contact with the wood on the edges, eliminating air pockets. Air pockets would be potential trouble spots for trapping water, resulting in rot, etc. What I quickly learned in practice is that it does not require much "rounding over" to be effective... at least not with 6oz cloth.

Since the Utilitys transom is only 44 inches wide, I decided to apply the full 3 yards of 50" cloth from the transom to 70% of the hull bottom as one continuous piece. Wetting the fiberglass cloth with epoxy was actually pretty easy, by simply following what Id learned in the Glen-L book and DVD. The only "surprise" was that it took more epoxy to do the job than Id expected. Using the thin foam rollers made the process quite simple.

Fiberglass cloth applied to the transom.

Just as I did when encapsulating the hull, I meticulously squeegied excess epoxy off of the transom. This will mean Ill have to apply more layers of epoxy to completely cover the texture of the fiberglass cloth on the transom. However, it should also result in an attractive finish.

The "rounded-over" edges after applying more epoxy and the fiberglass cloth.

Feathering the edges

After the epoxy had fully cured, the next step was to begin feathering the edges of the fiberglass cloth. This is basically just sanding down the edge so that, when the next section of cloth is added, they will overlap on the "feathered" seam. Then, after sanding the seam once again after the second layer of cloth is applied, the seam will be flush with the rest of the surface.

Here you can see the feathered edge, where the forward edge of the fiberglass cloth has been sanded. This shows in the photo as the lighter band across the bottom of the hull.

A more detailed view of the feathered (sanded) edge at the transition joint on the chine. As you see, the edge of the fiberglass on the hull side has not been sanded yet.

The next step is to round over the sharp edge of the bow, and lightly sand the epoxy surface on the forward bottom. Then Ill be able to fiberglass those areas.

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Life goes on

The end of summer brought with it a devastating personal loss. My boatbuilding work suffered in the aftermath. So did a whole lot of other things. But, as they say, life goes on. Im finally back to working on the boats, so here is a little update:

The Utility
After sanding, filling in holes and low spots, more sanding, more filling, and yet more sanding... the hull was finally ready for encapsulation. Taking advice from more experienced builders, I applied the epoxy (System Three Silvertip) with the special thin foam rollers from Glen-L. This made application much faster and easier than trying to do it with a chip brush. And if youre thinking about using the "regular" paint rollers for this... DONT. I made that mistake. I regretted it. So will you, in all likelihood.

Glen-L Utility hull, encapsulated with 1 layer of System Three Silvertip epoxy.

On the transom, after rolling on the epoxy, I squeegied it meticulously to remove all excess epoxy. This gives the transom a very attractive "stained" look, accenting the grain that I want to show.

I was very happy with how the transom turned out.

The hull is now ready to be fiberglassed.

The ZIP
Yes, I am enjoying building the Utility. I even got to drive one recently, and its a neat little boat. However, I want that Zip in the water. Theres a long, long way to go before that can happen. So, I built frame 5-1/2 over the weekend. I built it out of 4/4 African Mahogany, lapped with 1/4" Douglas Fir gussets and 3/4" Douglas Fir floor member. It is ready to be disassembled and epoxied. Hopefully, I can get that done sometime this week. 

Glen-L Zip frame # 5-1/2

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Trouble in river city

The photo above illustrates what happens when you build things in the dark and do not follow the instructions to the letter.  This is a 1/4" gap running from the plywood scarf (I did a pretty poor job on the scarf) to the stern.  The pencil line outlines the area that is the dip of 1/4"  it tapers down to normal pretty quickly outside of this area.  This is caused by the combination of the scarf being roughly done, and by the very last 2-3 inches of the stern bottom seam not being completely pulled in.  I think the dip got worse and the sides came in and I really did not see it until all had been wired up and taped and the boat flipped over outside a few weeks ago.  That said, I now need a plan to fix it.  I came up with three ideas.  

1.  ignore it and it will go away.  

2.  foam core and glass over

3.  wood core and glass over (similar to balsa core, but using 1/4" okoume.  

I went with option 3 and things are gradually improving, but it still takes a ton of filler (WEST with microballoons and a little thixotropic powder thrown in.)  

Along the keel area I have laid out a thick paste of microballoon and then cut up squares of Okoume to fill the deepest voids, just going as far as the 1/8" dip.  

another view. 

Since then, I have started to fill with the microballoon paste, and will sand with the long board to get all fair prior to glassing.  I am pretty sure that when all is said and done, no one will know it is there.  Microballoons are a boatbuilders best friend.  

I hope to get a better photo posted next weekend showing how this all blends in nicely.  If it doesnt blend in,  I will make good use of the wood eraser.  

update 6-14-14 (Flag Day)

Much better now.  The stern is starting to get flat, and dip is disappearing.  It takes lots of filler. But, It looks as if the plywood is at the right height, just slightly above the dip and is easy to fair with the long board. 

I will bring the filler out to the edges after hitting it with the long board to find the high and low spots.  

6-19-14

At this point, I am wishing I had applied foam core and shaped it.  This is taking more filler than I imagined it would. 

6-28-14

after a rough sanding with the long board, I went at this again with a thinner coat of filler.  It will take at least one more sanding and filling to get it to its final shape.  It is actually coming out well. 

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