Aft deck

After a bit of a struggle, I finally overcame my procrastination and planed the sheerclamps, prior to deck installation. I'm not sure why I had avoided this for so long, but on the hottest day of the season so far, I used my inadequate, cheap block plane and worked the clamps into the proper angle. Two templates are provided in the kit- the angle of the sheerclamp aft of the forward hanging knee should meet a 30" radius curve. At the bow, the angle changes to a 24" radius curve. I found that little planing was needed in the forward area, but the 30" area took a good bit of planing to meet the proper contour. I won't say my planing was skillfully done, but the final result should be reasonably acceptable.

Then before dehydration set in, I installed the aft deck section. The precut part was first coated on one side with unthickened epoxy. This side then was turned to face the interior of the aft air chamber. The endpour, sheerclamps, and bulkhead surface were then coated with mustard thickened epoxy, and the deck was clamped in place. I also applied a ratchet strap to temporarily hold the deck to the proper contour. Next, bronze ring nails were driven through the deck into the sheerclamp with the aid of a gauge that allowed them to be positioned squarely in the center of the sheerclamp. I spaced the nails along the sheerclamp every three inches, driving a couple on each side, alternating sides all the way to the stern. Once the nails were all driven, I wiped up some mustard epoxy drips, and went inside for a cool drink. I now know why boat builders tend to set up shop in Maine! Total hours 32.75

Hull Glass

After some prep work, including filling stitch holes and chine gaps with thickened epoxy, and a final overall sanding of the hull, the fiberglass could now be applied. A large bundle of 6 oz fiberglass cloth is supplied for this purpose. It is unfolded and draped over the hull, and the excess trimmed off to where only a small overhang remains beyond the edge of the sheerclamp. The loose weave of the cloth allows it to be arranged without wrinkles fairly easily. Then, in a technique detailed here, batches of unthickened epoxy were mixed and poured onto the flat surface of the hull. Using a rubber spatula, the epoxy is gently spread so as to wet down the cloth. The idea is to get the cloth just wet enough that it turns from white to clear, but so that some of the cloth texture remains after the epoxy is cured. This allows the cloth to adhere to the wood of the hull, providing strength, durability, and waterproof-ness. Adding excess epoxy also adds weight, and runs the risk of "floating" the cloth out of close contact with the wood, reducing strength. It is a slow and painstaking task, but after a couple of hours, the hull was glass coated. Then, after a couple hours, when the epoxy was semi-cured, I trimmed the excess cloth from the bow, stern, and sheerline. Additional cloth tape will be applied to the bow and stern, and additional thin layers of epoxy will fill the weave of the cloth, leaving a smooth surface. Total hours 23.45.

Cockpit tape, part I

I tackled the filleting and taping of the cockpit today. Or tried to- things went slower than I had expected, so I ended up just doing the starboard side of the boat. As previously, a fillet of thickened peanut butter epoxy was laid down on the joint between each panel. I then overlayed the fillet with glass tape I had previously cut to length. Each side required three lengths of tape to fit between the hanging knees on the upper joint between the sheer panel and the bilge panel. I cut the lower tape in one piece, and merely cut a notch to accommodate the lower edges of the hanging knees. After getting the tape in place, I wetted it down with unthickened epoxy. This took a surprisingly long time, as I worked to get all the air bubbles and wrinkles out of the tape. Total hours: 13.00.

Fillet and Tape

The construction of Dragonfly has now progressed to the "glue" portion of "stitch and glue" boatbuilding. First, a final check of the hull's alignment showed that everything was in place. Using a technique called "winding", the hull was checked for twist by placing two straight pieces of wood across the sheerclamps, and then sighting down the centerline. With the two pieces of wood superimposed, the hull showed no twist. The point of the bow and stern were plumb, and all appeared in readiness to permanently joint the parts of the hull with epoxy and fiberglass.

The first step is to apply a fillet of wood flour thickened epoxy to the joints which will provide a smooth radius for the fiberglass tape to come. The epoxy is mixed t0 peanut butter consistency, which makes it reasonably easy to apply with a wood tongue depressor, then smooth with a rubber spatula cut to the appropriate radius. The only difficulties I ran into was the fillet on the joint between the sheer panel and the bilge panel. Near the stern, this joint had almost no angle (or a 180-degree angle), which made a clean fillet more difficult.

With the fillets in place, and before they cured, I overlayed them with strips of 3" wide fiberglass tape. The tape was then wetted down with unthickened epoxy to form an integral, strong joint. At an ambient temperature of 85 degrees, the slow-cure epoxy is setting up fairly quickly, so the boat is done in sections; today I did the stern behind the aft bulkhead. Tomorrow- the bow and center compartments. Total hours: 11.75.

Hanging knees

Tonight's simple task was to wire in the hanging knees. On the Mill Creek 16.5, there are two pairs of these angle braces, which will later support the carlin and the deck. My first trial fitting was a great disappointment, until I realised the two pair of knees are shaped differently. I'm sure this is mentioned in the instruction book, but I seemed to have glossed over that. Once I fitted the correct knee in each location, they fit beautifully. I used four copper wire stitches for each knee, and made sure each was square to the hull side and to the bottom panel. After some further stitch tightening and truing of the hull, the interior will be ready for epoxy and fiberglas. Total hours: 10.50.

Sheer panel stitch

After scribing a line on the lower (opposite sheer clamp) edge of the sheer panel, stitch holes were drilled every 4" along the line. The two panels were stacked back to back to halve the number of drills. I also used my block plane to round the mating edges slightly of the two panels to reduce the tendency of the edges to slip off each other. Then the panels were loosely stitched onto the previously stitched bilge panels. This session went a little easier, since I had an assistant. As the two panels came together at the stern, I fitted in the two bulkheads just to throw the hull into rough shape. Coming next- trimming the sheer clamps at the bow and stern to a bevel, and snugging up the stitched to get the hull into close to final shape. Total hours: 8.00.

Stitching

After some prep work last night, I began stitching panels onto the bottom of the hull. The first, or bilge panel, is attached by a series of copper wire twist ties inserted through small holes running along the edge of each panel. Last night, I cut coils of copper wire into 4" lengths and folded them around a felt tip marker. Then, a line was scribed along each edge of the bottom panel 3/8" inside the edge. For that, I fashioned a pencil with a paperclip guide. Then along this line, 1/16" holes were drilled every 4" in advance of stitching. Finally, the edge of the panel was rounded slightly by a quick pass with a block plane, following a CLC tip. This will allow less shifting of the panels' corners as they are fastened together.

Stitching would have been best done with a helper, but since I was working solo tonight, I made use of some nylon straps to hold the panel in place while I got enough stitches in it to stabilize it. All the stitches are loose for now. After the sheer panel is attached and the beam properly spaced, then the stitches can be tightened and the fairness of the hull can be adjusted. Total hours: 6.25.

Scarf

Tonight begins the building process. As with almost all kits from Chesapeake Light Craft, the building process begins with the scarfing of some parts. Scarfing refers to the joining together of small parts to make larger ones. In this case, the side panels of the 16-foot-long boat must be comprised of smaller parts cut from 8-foot-long plywood sheets. The plywood can be joined with epoxy to which silica powder has been added to increase strength. In researching the building of a Mill Creek kayak, I read WoodenBoat magazine #136 (May/June 1997), the first in a two part series focusing on building the Mill Creek. By happy coincidence, the same issue contains an article by Greg Rössel on scarf joints.

I started by wrapping the area adjacent the beveled ends of the panels with clear packing tape, which will protect from epoxy spreading outside the joint. The bevelled ends come in the kit pre-cut, which is very convenient. These are cut at an 8:1 ratio, meaning the bevel surface is 8 times as long as the thickness of the plywood. This falls within the recommended range of the WoodenBoat article which suggests going even to 12:1. To epoxy the ends, I coated each surface with unthickened epoxy, allowing it to soak into the end grain. I then coated each joint with epoxy thickened with silica to mustard consistency. Using a sheet of plastic to separate each panel and prevent them sticking together, I stacked corresponding bilge and sheer panels on each other, and weighted down the joint. To get the correct alignment of the panel, a string was run from one end to the other, and the panels adjusted until the specified distance to the arch of the panel was achieved. The scarfing process was also repeated with the sheerclamps, which will form the attachment point for the joint between the deck and the hull. The epoxy will be allowed to cure overnight, in a shop that is now at about 80 degrees F. (Total hours: 2.00)

All present and accounted for

Armed with the comprehensive instruction book and component list, I unpacked and went through the kit parts for the Mill Creek 16.5 that will be known as "Dragonfly". All parts are present and accounted for, with the possible exception of the cockpit coaming nose block. This is a small piece that I suspect is within the box of seat parts, and its multitude of seat slats. I didn't unpack all of that, but will leave it for when I am ready for that step. A couple of the side panel scarf edges came uncovered while I unpacked, but the delicate bevelled edges all are intact, ready for the scarfing process.

Mill Creek 16.5 video

As the delivery date nears, here is a short video showing what my finished product should look like.