Well, the keel arrived on Monday, tracking said the hull and parts would be here Wednesday, but our local P.O. decided to let her have a sleepover in their office until today. At least all arrived safe and sound. Hans does a great job of packing and everything looks top notch. Have to work Saturday, but it's supposed to be a rainy weekend so maybe I'll "dive in" on Sunday.

I'm sure I won't be able to match the quality that Ed achieved on #529 (both the boat or the build log), but I'll try and cover the how and why of how I tackle #551.

A few obligatory unpacking pics...

Kevin

What website did you order from? Thanks Mike g.

http://www.pmycsail.com/catalog_1.html

Kevin,

Congratulations on your new "CJ". Is that a rudder arm I see on the rudder shaft?

Ed

Ed,

No it's the lower bracket. Hans just shipped it slipped over the top of the rudder post.

Kevin

Watching with great interest and anticipation. This one is on my wish list.

Congratulations Poltergeist,

I'll be watching how you finish your boat.

Randy

Randy,

Any progress on yours?

Kevin

Well, I'd hoped to get a little more accomplished today, but laundry and chores took up more of my one-day weekend than I thought. I did get a stand built. Nothing fancy, but I think it will work OK as a construction stand, and then hopefully I can clean it up and use it for storage/transport. It needs some fine tuning and padding still.

Kevin,

I am looking forward to your build and seeing it on the water.

I went back and looked at my build to see when I started and finished. It was started on Dec 12th 2010 and on the water June 26th 2011. I didn't realize it took that long. I guess time goes buy when you have fun.

Ed

Mixed up a batch of West Systems with 410 fairing compound additive. Mounted the ballast to the hull with a thin coat of the epoxy mix in the joint and did some initial fairing between the ballast/hull. Mounted the trim weight inside and used some sealer on the bolts and under the trim weight, just to keep any water that gets inside the boat from migrating into the wood insert that Hans glasses into the hull.

Also got the sheer strips epoxied to the hull today. I used some thin aluminum strips on the outside of the hull to spread the clamping force and keep the top edge of the hull as fair as possible. I wouldn't have thought this necessary until reading Ed Crowell's experience with #529.

Got the rudder post tube fabricated and hope to get the rudder mounted tomorrow. Then onto the deck beams and king plank.

Kevin,

The boat is looking good. I have never used the west system 410 filler, I will have to remember to try it.

Ed

poltergeist
it's said there "are no stupid questions" , lets test that statement.......
in post #9 here, you show the cradle you made.
a) does Hans provide some sort of template of the hull shape, or
b)was that all made from scratch by you ?, and how ?

I tried to make a similar shape cradle for a EC-12, and pretty much made a
hash of it - even AFTER finding a pattern on the EC-12 website !
(in my defense, the old hull I have may not exactly match the newer class legal
profiles and standards ) but still I found the process trying.
I would cut a rough shape out of a bit of cardboard then try to "trace" the hull
shape using a kids divider, or circle maker. couldn't seem to get it very exact.
So, how did YOU do it ?

Allan

Allan,

Hans provides templates in his build booklet, although in my case, they don't seem to perfectly match the hull contour. Maybe I wasn't careful enough cutting them out. I think by the time you add padding/carpet etc the exact shape isn't really all that critical.

I think the easiest way is to use some thin carboard and cut with scissors by trial and error, then transfer to your wood. I may use this approach if I decide to make a nicer display stand when the boat is done.

Kevin

Originally Posted by Ed Crowell

Kevin,

The boat is looking good. I have never used the west system 410 filler, I will have to remember to try it.

Ed

Ed,

The "Microlight" probably isn't as convienient to use as Bondo, but it smells better. I'm not a huge fan of polyester based "stuff", so if nothing else, I don't have to deal with the Bondo smell.

You do have to mix quite a lot of the 410 additive in with the resin/hardner mix to make a good thick fairing compound. If you don't get enough in, it sags and is VERY hard to sand after it cures (ask me how I know this!!!)

Do you remember what type of screws you used to attach the lower rudder bracket to the ballast?. My bracket is drilled and countersunk for #2 flat head screws. I figured sheet metal screws might work best, because I'm leery of trying to tap tiny 2-56 machine screw threads into the lead. Having a hard time finding #2 sheet metal or wood screws in stainless locally. I may end up going with brass.

Kevin