The ongoing diary of building Deux Chevaux

 

 Where do I start?

 This page is about building a modified Selway Fisher Lynx 14. Why that boat? Well I had read much about boat building, mostly on the internet, and decided that stich and tape would be the easyist to construct, I wanted a boat that could be slept in. I didn’t want a boat that was too big and had to be permanently moored and lifted out by crane. It had to fit my garage so that dictated size as well.

Wheeled trolley After all I have read and seen on the internet I decided that the first thing to do would be to build a trolley on which to build the boat and wheel it about. It was made out of one sheet of shuttering ply.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As advised I also made a papermodel of the boat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

31/5/07

I now have all the wood after a false start with below standard marine ply having been rejected (3 ply instead of 5 ply).

Today I marked out all the hull panels and cut them out. They need finishing with the belt sander but it was easier than I thought it would be to mark out and cut.

Hull panels and frames cut out

 

 

 8/6/07

The last few days have seen all the frames cut and then planned to size with my electric plane. I was going to use a belt sander but found the plane a much better option. Then today I mixed my first batch of epoxy and joined all the hull panels with butt straps (I didn’t fancy the idea of scarf joints on 6mm ply). We are off on hols so the epoxy will have a week to cure, I am wondering if I should put a strip of tape on the outside of the joint.

Butt straps joined

 

 

 I need not have worried as this glue is incredible in its strength and is fine as is. The next step was to stitch the hull together using cable ties. No problems with this job at the start but it gets a lot harder as you get to the bows. With the really tight bends and twists I used some water to soak the ply a little to help.

 

 

Starting the stiching

Starting to come to shape but wobbles a bit

 

 

Getting difficult to pull together

 

Soaking helps a bit

 

 

 

Two blocks of wood with nails just protruding and a clamp do the job

 

  

21/6/07

 

Frames were added

 

Frames put in place

 

  

 28/6/07

The hull was ‘tacked’ together along the inner chines with stiffened epoxy. I used a lollipop stick glued on the end of a piece of wood to reach into the boat. After it set the boat is becoming much stiffer.

Epoxy I also selotaped up the outer seams to stop glue escaping.

 

  

I inserted a curved sheet of OSB fitted by cutting the trolley in the centre braces and adding extra support at the ends.OSB boards spreading loads

 

 

 

 Next the hog was laminated into the bottom of the boat and braced from beams that I had put into place where the frames had been. Each was held by a clamp. The OSB underneath meant that I could walk in the boat to do it.

Horizontal beams at frame points used to keep hog in place for glueing

 

  

1/7/07The seams inside the boat have now been filleted and taped. It took ages to sort out how to do it. At first I didn’t put enough on, then the mix was a bit sloppy and slumped a bit. I also found it difficult to find a tool I was happy to use. Eventually I found the ideal shape was the same as a credit card and the ideal material was the plastic tops from washing liquid tabs boxes. I put a double layer of tape on the fillets to make up for any lack of strength from my inadequacies. 

 

seams taped

  

The bow was then planed down, capping strips glued on and then sanded and faired to the shape of the hull panels.

Hardwood bow cap faired

  

 7/7/07

The hull was now overturned, cable ties cut off, panel edges sanded smooth and the outside chines epoxied and taped.

Outside chines sanded and taped

  

1/8/07

 A lot of work has happened here. I made the bilge cases and marked out where they were to go. Then I planed lengths of 40 x 40 mm hardwood to fit the shape of the bottom of the boat before gluing them in place either side of their positions. After they had gone off I cut the gap between to make a slot for the cases. Then I fitted both cases and frames B and C into their places at the same time. This seemed a better method than cutting the slots in the flimsy hull and then trying to fit the extra support afterwards.

 

Underside of hull showing bilge

  

 A lot of framing has also gone in for the rear lockers and lazerette as well as frames D and E. I have changed the design here so the tops are fixed in place and you access them through waterproof hatch covers in the vertical sides. This means all the lockers are also separate bouancy tanks

Frame A has also been fitted also with a screw on access hatch so that I can get at the underside of the foredeck.

 

View of frames

 

It’s at this stage I have reacted badly to the epoxy. My eyes went red, exposed areas of skin went red and became very irritable and my face became swollen. It took a week to recover. I have since had another reaction when sanding the epoxy.

This is the boat with the bilge cases completed and a primer coat of epoxy has been put on prior to sheathing the boat.

 20/8/07

I have started the sheathing. The first bit I have done is between the bilge cases. I found the glass cloth very difficult to ‘wet out’ and am not too happy with the result. As a result I have ordered some different cloth from East Coast Supplies and some MAS epoxy from Chinawindyachts, The cloth has been discussed on the SFD forum as being a good one and the MAS epoxy causes the least epoxy reactions. I have bought masks to wear, paper protective suits, I now wear at least two pairs of vinyl gloves and although I have had some irritation it is nothing like before. I am waiting for a £400 chemical protection suit to arrive that I bought on ebay for £20. I intend to use the hood from it that has chemical filters and a blower system to ensure a constant flow of filtered air over the wearers’ face.

20/9/07 – The suit has arrived and I can now carry on with the build! I have been sheathing the hull in glassfibre cloth.

Protection upped

 

I have also mixed some of the pigments I have had from UK Epoxy into a dark grey and given the boat a protective coat of grey epoxy. This will be ‘faired’ and painted at a later date. The new cloth and low viscosity epoxy is really good to use. It wets out really easily and no air bubbles get trapped making a much better job, I wish I had used this cloth and epoxy combination from the start.

 21/09/07

Today I’ve got the boat the right way up – at last I can start on the cabin.

 

Going over

 

 

 

The right way up

 

 

 9/10/07

I’ve added frames B (mast support) and C (cabin rear) as well as some framing for the front deck. As I have added 100 mm to the cabin sides I have had to add some extra ply either side of the cabin entrance as the ply sheets were not big enough for the frame. I have also mounted frame C vertically to give more cockpit room. 

 

Dry fit for ballast weights, one at the front

Just behind frame B on the hog I have dry fitted some 12mm ply to house removable ballast. There is one 56lb scale weight that you can just see at the front. I have four that I bought at a car boot sale so I can put a total of 224 lbs (100.4 kilos) of ballast in extra to the 44kilos that the bilge plates weigh if I want.

 

Deck framing and frame B fitted

 The cabin front and deck are fitted. I knew those weights would come in use for something! The front is 9mm ply and the deck is two layers of 4mm ply.The cabin sides were also added using 6 mm ply.

 22/10/07The cockpit has been framed and fitted with 6mm ply seats and 9 mm ply floor. I have started using polyurethane glue (Gorilla Glue) in parts of the boat that should not come into frequent contact with water because of my problems with epoxy. I am going to fit a commercial hatch opening that is fully watertight so that I have a lot of added bouancy. The sole in the cabin has been raised to the datum waterline and will also provide extra bouancy

Cockpit

 

 

Deck held down with 56lb scale weights while glue sets

Now have a look at Part 2