Dale and OLD Leonards boat build ( the Double Nickel )

After setting all the frames in place,and squaring them up, it’s time to start gluing the strips of foam in place.
We used 1” DOW foam sheets ripped into 1” strips. Looking back now I would have used 1”x 2” strips instead.
That’s what we ended up using on the deck. The 2” strips are twice as fast to apply. We used hot glue, to glue them to the frames, and to each other.
It was more important for this to be strong, since we will be making two boats. The de molding is very tough on the mold.
If you were only building one boat it wouldn't mater if the mold came apart when de molding.
You can see the lines of the boat starting to take shape, with the first strips of foam applied.
You might notice the transom is tall, and squared off. This will be trimmed to it’s final shape after the layup.

If you notice the upsweep, in the stern, in this pic. This is one reason, the west coast scull boats are so easy to scull.
After you get the boat in motion, the water wants to push upwards, thus pushing on the stern and propelling the boat forward.
In a boat similar the skulldugery there is not enough upsweep, witch takes more energy to keep the boat in motion.

The next step is to put a protective film over the mold. We will be using polyester resin for the project.
Polyester resin will attack and dissolve the Styrofoam. We both work in the glass industry.
There is a product that we use to cover a broken car window. It is self adhesive plastic sheeting that comes in a roll.
Here is where we came upon our first problem....... At first it went on easy, but toward the rear of the boat there are compound curves.
That made the plastic want to pucker, and cause wrinkles. We weren’t really worried about the appearance because,
since it is a male mold, it would only show on the inside. No big deal. Well........... the next morning I pushed it outside to prep for the layup,
when it sat outside in the sun, the plastic started to separate from the mold. It would not stick back down. So........... I took it all off. I’m still not sure why it came loose. Foam off gassing in the sun? Adhesive not sticking to the oil base paint?
So, then I thought about putting a coat of carpet adhesive on the mold. That seemed to work. It stuck tight... so we thought. Same problem.
Over night it let go again. I scratched my head for a good long while. Then I remembered about a similar product. Protective plastic, for flooring.
They use it during construction, and seemed quite sticky. Now this will be our third attempt......... We got it all down, and used clear packing tape to seal off the overlaps.
By the day came to do the layup, it was stuck down tight. After the layup, we noticed several places that the resin penetrated the plastic, pinholes?
It wasn’t a real big deal, but it meant repairing the mold. We sprayed pva on the mold before the layup as a mold release.
I tell you this, to maybe save someone the same problems, if they should use this method in the future.
If I was to try this again I would cover the entire mold, with the clear packing tape only. It stuck to the mold really well, not expensive, and held up for both boats.
(that’s what we used for the deck, and worked perfect)
The next update I will go over our layup schedule, and my... if I do this again thoughts.... In the pics you see the film installed, and a couple sculling oars I was building.

Dale

Before the de molding. I thought, that I had better make a cradle to hold the boat in position. The boat will be very bendy when it has been de molded.
As you can see in the pics, I made the cradle to support the hull, and keep it strait and true, while I make the mold for the deck. I had to make another cart also.
To de mold the hull, we went all around the perimeter, pulling the hull away from the mold. I then tried using an air hose, and spraying air between the hull and the mold.
That helped a little. But it was stuck pretty good. We then used a furniture pad. I lifted the hull up in the front as high as I could, and OLD Leonard started stuffing the pad in between.
With the pad giving steady even pressure, it slowly started coming apart. I would lift, then slide the pad further back. We kept this up, then it just popped off.
There was a fair amount of friction in the keel area. We had the cradle all ready, flipped the hull over, and she laid in perfect. One hull down! The mold held up great.....

We had to do some repairs where the resin had seeped through the plastic sheeting. I’m pretty sure the plastic has small pinholes,
since it is really designed to just keep dirt off of carpeting. Also, we had to kind of massage it down, to make it stick. We could have inadvertently,
caused some holes doing that. Since this will be the last boat, this time we were not concerned if the mold gets ruined. The second layup went off without a hitch.......


More to come............

Now, it’s time to install the transom. First step was to encapsulate the plywood. Almost every Humboldt style boat that I have ever messed with has some rot in the transom.
We designed this boat to have the plywood totally encapsulated. And I figured out a way to make a collar to attach the oar boot, without screws penetrating the transom.
OLD Leonard came up with a perfect way to attach the leather to the oar hole without using having to remove and replace the screws every time.
With these new ideas we won’t have to worry about water seeping into the wood. I’ll go over these ideas later.
To encapsulate the plywood we used two layers of 1 1/2 oz. chopped strand mat. After that kicked off, we used a sheet of chopped strand mat
between the transom and the rear of the boat. this will act as a gasket between the two, so there are no air pockets, and help bond the two.
We made a filet of thickened resin along bottom three sides. Then a couple layers of mat over the filets. We then bored the oar hole. We rounded over the edges.
I ground the thickness of the hull down a little around the oar hole, to make room for additional fiberglass cloth, wrapping the inside of the oar hole.
That way the transom will be flat, and not have a bump around the oar hole......


More to come..........

Next step, is the motor well. Since I plan on moving the sculling position up a foot. I decided to make a motor well, instead of raising the transom.
I want the boat as low as possible. After figuring out the size, and angles. Time to make the mold. I decided to make it out of wood.
I made it with a flange around the sides. That way when we do the layup on the deck, it will be bonded to the deck via the flange.
I made the mold, then used bondo to fill in any imperfections. After final sanding, I gave it two coats of epoxy.
I gave it two coats of pva, then laid it up using the same layup schedule as the hull. After using the boat, I’m super happy with the motor well design.
If I ever build another scull boat design I will use the motor well again............


More to come................

Next step.......

Time to put a layer of taping mud over the deck. Then sand to the final fare shape. Then a couple coats of oil base gloss paint.
We used gloss paint, so the tape will stick. The surface has to be smooth, before the packaging tape will stick.
For the deck we used only the tape, and skipped the plastic sheeting. With the tape only, they de molded with zero problems.
We sprayed two layers of pva, then used the same layup schedule as the hull. Here again, we could have went lighter.
Next time, I would use 3/4 oz. chopped strand mat instead of the 1 1/2 oz. I really like the 7725 modified twill.
It drapes very well, over complex curves, like a boat hull. I urge you to give it a try. So both decks are laid up with no problems.

More to come...........

Before we assemble the boat, there are a few things, that we want to add to the inside of the hull. I use an electric trolling motor to get from point a to point b.
In my other boats, the battery would end up sliding to the center of the boat. Always in my way. These pics show how I made a shelf to keep it where it belongs.
The pics don’t show, that after I had it installed I realized that it was to tall. So I cut it out... cut the height down, and re installed it.
If you notice that I’m using torn pieces of chopped strand mat. That way, the torn edges, just blend in with the bottom, with no lumps to sand down. If you plan on sculling with two men, you would not want to install the battery shelf. It would be right where the 2nd man would lay.
One thing that I forgot to mention. We laid down a layer of 3/4 oz. chopped strand mat on the inside of the hull.
That gave us a nice non skid uniform surface on the inside of the hull. Since we used a male mold, the inside of the boat, was way to smooth, and slippery.......




More to come...........

This next step is to bond the deck to the hull. Unfortunately, for some reason I did not take pictures of the first step.
Probably, because we had to work fast, to get it done before it set up. Here is how we did it. First we painted the inside of the hull, and the underside of the deck.
We used Lou’s FME paint. I like dead grass green. I use his paint on all my boats. I have had scull boats, painted many different colors.
I have killed birds with every color. What I have found, in the places that I scull, the green is the most effective. Also, I have made a camo cover for my boat.
I use the cover 90 % of the time........ Next, we laid the deck on the hull, then we temporarily screwed the two together at around the edge, at three foot intervals.
Once we were satisfied with the fit, it was time to do the bonding. We took it back apart, and bonded the stern first.
We used Dyna-glass waterproof fiberglass filler with fibers, to bond the halves This material is like bondo, when it kicks off, you can no longer work it.
So we mixed enough to do the stern only. We applied the material, to the pre-marked areas, where the motor well and deck make contact with the hull.
We set the deck in place, clamped the area where the motor well makes contact with the transom. Then quickly remove the excess that oozed out.
After that was set up, we set up a set of saw horses, making sure they were nice and level with each other. This way the boat, wont get twisted.
We then, flipped the boat over.......... Now, Old Leonard started mixing the Dyna-glass in small batches, and I started at the rear of the boat.
As each batch was mixed, I would force the mixture down in the shoe box joint. That way we could, do the entire seam, in one continues operation.
When I would come to a temporary screw, I would remove it. The material was setting up behind us, so the screws were no longer necessary.
We worked our way around the boat, till we completed the job. As we went around the boat, I would take the excess material, and use it
to fare out the transition between the deck and hull. After everything was set up, we sanded, an fared out the seam..........
Next, we flipped the boat over and applied two layers of 1 1/2 oz. chopped glass mat over the joint for additional strength. Now it’s an official boat............
We still have lots of work ahead. Since we used a male mold, we have a ton of sanding and faring...........

More to come............