Rubstrake-y-ness

I got back to work on the rubstrake and caprail this week.  I started out by turning most of a big, expensive board into sawdust by planing it down from it's initial 1" x 13" into 6 - 1/2"  by 2" strips with the help of my son.  The cats now have some very fancy Sapelle shavings for their cat litter.  I'm sure they appreciate it.

The plan for the rubstrake was to screw each of the 6 pieces into the side of the caprail (see July 25th post) and plane down the top of each so they are flush with the caprail.  First I had to work out the bow section which needed to have an 'end cap' put on so the rubstrake boards could fit into.  I guess I didn't pay attention when I originally cut the caprail boards, but the bow section didn't quite reach the forward most part of the bow.  Because of this, the
'end caps' became more complicated than I would have liked.  To solve this for each side of the bow (separated by the headstay chainplate), I laminated 2 - 1" pieces of Sapelle to form a 2" x 2" square.  When they had cured I shaped them down to account for the short part of the caprail and wrap around the bow so it could be shaped once epoxied and screwed into place.  I also notched each block to accommodate the 1/2" rubstrake coming in on the side (see photos above).   In hindsight, I should have oriented the grain of the blocks to run fore and aft, but now that it's done I'll just have to live with it.

Next, with the exception of the bow and stern pieces (which I left at full length to cut off later once the transom rubstrake was fitted) I cut 45 degree angles longitudinally on each of the 6 rubstrake strips so when they were installed, the strip aft would notch into the forward piece snugly.  I did a rough fit by tapping and countersinking screws 8" on center while I had my kids hold the strip to the curve of the caprail.  At this point the strips were anywhere from 1/8" to 1/4" proud of the caprail depending on where they were mounted (the forward sections along the bow curve inward more than midships), so I took a block plane and cut them down so each strip was roughly flush with the caprail.

 Being just a rough fitting, I still had to pull all the strips off and clean them up by running a roundover bit with the router along the bottom edge and sand them to 150 grit.  As with many things on this job, you get to a point where you build things up and then you have to tear it all down again to prepare for the final installation. The weather has been about perfect the past week or so (mid 70s and dry) so I clamped a big board to the tailgate of my truck and did the routing and sanding outside.

Before I could proceed further on the side pieces I had to get the transom piece in place so I could determine where to cut off the aftermost strip on the stern.  I channeled my inner cheapskate and coupled that with a healthy fear of trying to bend a board around my decidedly round transom and decided to laminate a bunch of strips together to form the transom rubstrake.  I just could see wasting a 10" board for this section when I had a lot of narrow pieces that would form a nice curve and would do the job just as well.  So I rummaged around the floor of shed and found the original  transom rubstrake and screwed it onto a flat piece of plywood to use as a form.  From my narrow stock I cut a bunch of 1/2" strips about 65" long and mixed up a batch of unthickened epoxy and laminated them all together and clamped them to the form.  The one mistake I made was using a piece of really thin plastic to put down on the plywood so the laminated piece would stick.  It bunched up like crazy and I subjected my wife and kids to special words normally reserved for conversations on the dock with commercial fisherman.  I should have used a piece of thicker plastic (7 mil shrink wrap has worked well for me in the past), but I eventually flattened it out well enough to get the lamination set.  After it cured I planed it down to 3/8" and brought it over to the boat and got it properly fit and the top planed flush with the caprail.  I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

For the final installation, I decided that I would run a bead of epoxy along the caprail to glue the rubstrake on (along with the screws) and then run a bigger bead of SikaFlex just below that along the hull-deck joint to prevent water intrusion.  This is where the epoxy cartridges with the static mixers pay for themselves.  They are very neat and allow you to really target specific areas for epoxy and you don't have to worry about batches kicking too early or that the mix you prepared will drip and run over everything.  Your guaranteed of a consistent mayo like consistency that will stay put until your ready.

With that said, once I ran the epoxy and SikaFlex beads, I enlisted my whole family to help because I didn't want any sticky mistakes and having several extra hands always comes in handy.  I stared at the bow with my wife or one of the kids holding the aft end of the strip and  mushed the forward end onto the caprail and got a screw in before seating the rest of the strip.  I slowly worked aft seating and screwing the strip onto the caprail and allowing a generous squeezeout of epoxy on the top to fill and mask any gaps between the strip and caprail.

With all the preparation beforehand (pre-tapping and getting everything properly fitted prior to epoxy), the whole process was uneventful and just took time and care.  We did the starboard side one day and the port the next.  Now I'll let it all cure up and then start cleaning up the glue lines and do the final roundover on the top of the rubstrake.  I was overly curious and decided to do a little shaping on the starboard side bow to see how the blocks I added forward will look.  It's not perfect; there's a bit of a gap where the rubstrake meets the caprail on that section, but I'm pretty pleased given the fact that that area turns hard under to accommodate the sweep of the bow and the initial planing of the caprail was not easy.

Slight Change of Plans

New caprail plan

In the last post I talked about how the caprail and rubstrake would fit together differently than the original design (see here).  I had planned on nesting the rubstrake underneath the caprail and screw it in from the top.  Joel (A35 #52 out in Washington state) had originally turned me on to the idea and I thought it was a better solution than the original layout. Well, as it turns out, I will be installing the caprail using the same design as the original despite my plan.

The problem I ran into was that I just didn't have enough width on the top board to allow for the rubstrake to be nested underneath and screwed from the top.  I cut the top board slightly too narrow and my plan for a 5/8" width rubstrake just wasn't going to work.  I think I may have been able to pull it off, but I only had enough width for a 3/16" rubstrake and that would have been pretty tough to screw into.  I knew that this was a possibility as soon as I cut the top boards for the caprail, but it wasn't until I had everything in place that I was able to come to terms with it.  Oh well, not the best solution, but since the original had lasted 45 years, I can make it work again.

Unfortunately, this change necessitates a lot of planing along the outboard edge of the caprail at a continuously changing angle so it is slow going.  I setup some staging so I could work at eye level and take most of the excess wood off with a power planer and then finish it up with a jack followed by a block plane.  I'm sure OSHA would have a field day with my rickety setup, but I haven't fallen yet.  After about 1.5 hours of work I've finished up about half of the port side and the first 4 feet or so of the starboard bow where the angle is the greatest.  With any luck (and some minor familial neglect), I can have both sides prepped and ready for the rubstrake by weeks end.

Rough Fit for the Caprail Complete

Time has never been on my side and this weekend was no different.  March is my favorite time of year for many reasons, but there is never enough time to fit it all in.  The warm sun brings everyone out to enjoy the last days of winter instead of simply trying to survive without losing fingers and toes to frostbite.  The sugaring parties are in full swing and are usually accompanied by strong homebrewed concoctions; the downhill skiing is as good as it's been all year, and I feel obligated to get out with the family for what may be the last cross country skiing of the year.

Sadly, Magic is most often the brunt of my time constraints, but I'm out of epoxy and need to get more before I begin the next step, so I didn't feel too guilty straying from the job at hand.  With that said, I was able to finish cutting the caprail (except for the transom) and got all the scarf joints fitted and tight.  I'm really happy with the result so far, I'm amazed what pretty wood does to the look; it makes Magic start to look downright 'yachty' again.  I'm also pleased to report that I had exactly zero 'oh shit' moments and made no expensive kindling for the woodstove (except for the pieces that I actually planned for).

I have to get another 1.5 gallon epoxy kit this week and I swear this will be the last (I have told myself this many times before).  Once I pick that up, I'm going to glue up the scarfs and then begin tapping the caprail to fix it to the bulkwarks.  Then I'll start fitting the rubrail using method A (see last post).  I decided on this method because I think it will have a better look overall and there will be no vertical seams.  My reasoning that I could replace the rubrail should I bump into something hard if I installed it using the original method (method B in last post) just didn't hold up.  I'm pretty sure that the rubrail on the boat was original and there is no reason to think that this new installation won't hold up for a long time to come.

I Haven't Screwed up the Caprail Yet!

I keep reminding myself that I am just one errant cut away from a very expensive mistake so I have been taking it very slowly.  So far, I've successfully rough cut 5 of the 6 pieces to cover the port and starboard bulkwarks (the stern is another piece, but I'm not counting that one yet).  I haven't had much time this week to do much else, but I didn't manage to carefully whittle and fit the stem section to a good fit.  Now I just need to cut the final scarf to get the starboard side completely roughed in.


This weekend I plan on getting the port side roughed in as well and then things get tricky.  I still haven't decided exactly how I am going to attach the trim piece that covers the hull/deck joint.  The original method was to have the trim piece flush with the top of the cap rail (labeled 'B' in diagram).  The problem with this is that there is a vertical seam that opens up over time.  The advantage is that if you bang into something hard enough you can replace the trim piece instead of the whole caprail (or part of it).

Method A was implemented nicely by the owner of A-35 Quickbeam out on the west coast.  I think it's a better design overall but there are 2 things keeping me from pulling the trigger on this method.  1 - if/when I bump into things hard, the repair cost/effort will be more difficult, and 2 - The angles up toward the bow section make for some pretty tricky cuts.  I've gone back and forth over the past few days, and I need to spend some quality time on the boat doing some test pieces before I make a final decision.  In any event, things are progressing and I hope to have a solution in the next few days.  Stay tuned.

Houston We Have A Problem

Not too bad but yet another thing that has to get put on the list of 'to-dos'.  After getting the first primer coat on the cabintop I moved onto getting the decks ready for primer.  I sanded the side decks back to the cockpit and then decided that it was time to remove the port caprail.  I had been putting it off because until now it wasn't in the way, but I'm actually getting close to painting this beast so I got to it.

Like the starboard side, I had to use a hacksaw to cut the 5 inch bolts holding on the genoa track.  Time consuming and mind numbing, but not difficult.  After that I needed to do the same to the for and aft chocks; again, not hard, just tedious.  Finally I moved onto the 50 or so screws holding the caprail onto the bulwark. For some reason, I actually enjoyed this task.  I have to use a chisel to split the wood bung covering the screw, and then use my big screwdriver to back it out.  Not one gave me a problem and even though it took over an hour, I felt like progress is progress.  Every screw I remove is one less I'll need to do later.

Finally it came time to get the caprail off.  Using my japenese pull saw, I cut it into 3 sections and started to pry it up.  On the starboard side, it took a little bit of force to loosen it up, but once it broke free it was a breeze.  Unfortunately, the forward 10 feet wouldn't budge on the port side.  I tried chisels, screwdrivers, hammers, etc... but the only thing I succeeded in doing was actually pulling the gelcoat off the bulwark where it did finally give way.

Upon closer inspection from the outboard side, I could see some mahogany colored 5200 (or something of that ilk) under the rail and extending down over the hull-deck joint.  Not good.  It looked as if there was some previous damage done to the boat that necessitated a goopy patch over the hull-deck joint and under the caprail.

I couldn't tell the extent of damage until I got the caprail off but I couldn't get it off... what to do?  I finally resorted to using my power planer and decided to just turn the whole section into wood chips.   It only took about 10 minutes to buzz the whole section off and I made the whole boat shed smell like fresh cut wood. Mmmmm!

Messy, Messy!

What I found underneath was a bit perplexing.  It's hard to tell if there was previous damage to the area.  The top of the bulwark is a bit banged up but that could have been caused by me trying to pull the caprail off  and the tenacity of the 5200 pulled up the glass in that area.  However, the laminate thickness of the bulwark in that section is really thin (~3/16" instead of 1/2" on rest of bulwark).  It may be that the original layup was not good in that section and the builders 'fixed' it by putting a few stainless sheet metal screws into the bulwark and injecting a crap load of 5200 into the area to keep the joint intact.  Or maybe it's a combination of the 2; the thinner laminate was weaker and if the boat was in some sort of collision it popped the hull-deck joint and somebody repaired it.

In any event, it's not anything I can't fix, but it will take time.  My plan is to clean up the joint as well as I can and inject epoxy into the bulwark void to tie the joint together.  Another thing to do; Oh well.

Once I got past that let down, I sanded the top of the entire bulwark around the boat and filled all the screw holes with thickened epoxy. Once it cures, I'll sand it down and it should be ready for a coat of primer (after I do the epoxy injection of course).

Bulwark sanded and holes filled

Just about ready for primer