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2nd Build

Tootsall

Paddler
Joined
Oct 1, 2008
Messages
657
Location
Southern Alberta
After last year's Coho build I decided that I would go for #2. For a while I really thought seriously about building the double/triple (we have a 55 lb dog who likes canoeing with us) but figured I'd save that for the 3rd build. (When you are retired you tend to have time for silly things like building too many boats).

Pygmy delivered the kit via Fedex on April 16, just after our return home from the Easter trip to Victoria; I'd already decided that shipping the boat was actually cheaper than going across on MV Coho and picking it up myself what with hotel bills and all. Besides, Mrs. could spend more time with her Mom in Cadboro Bay this way.

Long story short: it is WONDERFUL not having to deal with warped panels! In one week I've already gained a full week on the first build and that doesn't count the "redo" on the hull stitching that I had to do first time around. I've decided to build hatch holddowns similar to what Kathy did (thanks, Kathy, for the great pictures and commentary) and will likely attempt to set up the bungees using the technique she used. I'll be using webbing padeyes similar to Dan's also since I really like the super-clean deck that results. While waiting for epoxy to dry it's great to have little "fiddly bits" to work on!

I also learned A LOT about using the squeegee to properly reduce unnecessary weight when glassing out components. I think this build will come out probably 5 to 7 lb lighter than #1 (which came in around 47 lb with hatches and full rigging). Temperature is still a problem. We've been running an ambient of about 10-12 C lately although there have been a couple of days up to 22. The real problem is that an unheated garage drops temperature dramatically at night when the outside temps fall to 3-5C! I shudder to think what this month's electric bill is going to be thanks to the space heater I put in the garage to help epoxy cure.

I decided to go with Silver Tip this time around. Probably a mistake considering our temparatures but I went with the slow hardener. Given the choice today I'd have taken the Fast instead. Getting that temperature up around 22 makes one heck of a difference in cure rate. I'm using leftover GP from the #1 build for the inner "bits and pieces" and making up "glue" (aka "peanut butter and honey").

One final thing that I learned the first time around: make your assembly bench flat and level BEFORE you even open the shipping packages! That way you won't be stuck half-way through the build trying to get the hull all nicely faired and "square" when it is flopping around on the wires!

Pictures will be updated as the build progresses at http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v108/ ... %20No%202/ .
 
The build is progressing well; so much easier than the 1st time around! Last year it took me 23 days to get to the same stage as this year's 10 days.

Hull Graphic preparation: February

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Building Hatch Cover Clamps while waiting for Fedex to deliver:

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Fedex made it! April 16

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It just goes so darn much faster when the panels haven't warped! April 23

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Wired & ready for glueing seams; April 23

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Seams glued: need to do "vertical" surfaces, fill pinholes & form keel; April 24

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Waiting for epoxy to set: drilling out hatch clamp rockers for bungees. April 25

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Seams scraped down, pinholes filled & keel strip curing: Tomorrow we sand and saturate? April 26

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Wow that is fast!
Took me 5 months to do my build! :oops: :oops: But now that I sort of know what I am doing, I think my wife wants me to build her one this winter! I am sure before the summer is over we will be at Pygmy having test paddles.
 
Ed? What was the graphic laid out on, material wise? It looks really nice in photobucket, but I can't comment their unless I give them $24.95!
 
Rick, those graphics are printed on plain old tissue paper. Several people have commented that rice paper is the way to go but I found that the background did not disappear as well (go transparent) as that of tissue paper. I tape a sheet of tissue to a regular sheet of printer paper and run it through an HP deskjet printer (have often wondered how a laser printer would work but since I don't need to replace the HP..... )

Been trying to post some more photos but can't. Even though they're under 600 pixel wide I keep getting that same message that they must be no more than 600 pixels so....
more in the Photobucket today.
 
Hey Tootsall,

I get the feeling your really gung ho on working on this boat...the way it is progressing and I see your going with the cool Moby hatch closure system. You started working on those early; I suppose you need something to do while you’re waiting for your resin to dry.

I'm looking forward to watching your build since I'm contemplating building a Coho myself in the next year or so. I think I need to sell my Pygmy double first to make room in my garage.

I like the deck graphic art; it should really look cool under the glass. Are you going to center it over the deck ridge? I was thinking of doing the same thing but with an Inuit tribal dolphin image.

So I think you said that this is your second Coho...how much did your first one weigh? Do you think with more experience you'll save weight in this one using less resin? I know I would if I had to build another Pygmy. I think the Moby hatch closure system though might add some weight compared to the Pygmy strap method...what do you think?

Looking good,
Greg
 
Greg, I wish I could post photos here but for some reason it keeps telling me that they must be under 600 pixel wide... which is confusing since I've resized them all to 595! I managed to get some up the other day which you've seen but only by repetitively clicking on "Post". If you check the first post in this thread though you can go to my photobucket album where I'm putting the current pictures. The first build is here: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v108/ ... uch%20Fun/


Last year's boat weighs in at about 47 lb... a bit more than advertised but I wasn't as careful with the squeegee action as I might have been, was fighting panels that twisted a lot (stored in my garage at low humidity over the winter) and undoubtedly put more glass and resin "here and there" than strictly necessary. I'm watching that much more closely this time around.

I put the graphics on either side of the bow, where I think they will be centered between the waterline and the shear. Debated for a while about putting them on either side of the cockpit but that consideration didn't last for long.

The difference in build rate is mostly the result of my having retired at the end of last year. Got a lot more time now and it's not just in the late afternoon/evening! And there's no doubt that not having to fight the twisted panels and having a bit more experience as to what you can get done "out of sequence" (from the manual) helps too. It also helps save on epoxy since "leftovers" can be used on something else rather than getting chucked in the garbage.

The snow is moving in and the lights are flickering (!) so I'd better post and shut down.
 
Tootsall said:
Greg, I wish I could post photos here but for some reason it keeps telling me that they must be under 600 pixel wide... which is confusing since I've resized them all to 595!
We're working on correcting the problem. Sorry for any inconvenience.

*****
 
Dan_Millsip said:
Tootsall said:
Greg, I wish I could post photos here but for some reason it keeps telling me that they must be under 600 pixel wide... which is confusing since I've resized them all to 595!
We're working on correcting the problem. Sorry for any inconvenience.

*****


Thanks Dan!
Facebook automatically resizes my photos too 800 Pixel wide and I didn't think that was a unreasonable size to post. I finally have figured out how to resize on my iMac without any software and as long as I have saved then to the desktop.
 
Dan, thanks for the info. I'd been wondering if it was my PC (my wife hasn't been able to access a certain site for a couple of weeks with Explorer until I loaded FireFox for her use). The bank told her it was because we were using IE8 but when I reverted to IE7 it was still no joy.

I guess I should have realized that the website had an issue because I couldn't upload or reference pictures via the Macbook neither.

Ed
 
Moving along now:

Hull "Saturated" April 27

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Cloth applied, April 28

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Cloth "filled", April 29

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Deck underside sealed, May 3

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Hatch clamps assembled (wooden hinge dowels epoxied in place) and rotary tool guide for cutting slots for "soft" padeyes, "Soft padeye" backing "plates" (half dowels) being sealed; May 3

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Footbrace Studs being glued in, May 5

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Soft padeyes: webbing loosely basted into a loop, wrapped around half-dowel & clamped for epoxy "gluing", May 6

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Collection of soft padeyes & hatch clamps curing under bench, May 5

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Waiting for first shear gluing to cure before removing tape, May 5

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At this point I have used approx. 1-1/2 qt of GP resin + hardener and 4-1/2 qt of Silver Tip resin + hardener. I think I'm going to have some leftovers!




(I tried to "edit" previous post but started getting those "600 pixel" warnings on the edit...without changing any photos.)
 
Sweet build,

Your putting all the bells & whistles on this one. I really like the bow art work. I've tried some of that art work myself on tissue paper and a inkjet printer with not much success. My tissue paper always seems to get chewed up in the printer, or the ink gets smeared when it goes through. Do you have any special tricks you use to get it to feed through the printer nicely or does it just take multiple tries? You said you're using GP resin and Silver Tip? Did you order the kit with one of them and purchase the other separately knowing you would be short? I assume your using the GP for fillets and bonding purposes and the Silvertip for wetting out the fiberglass and hull and deck surfaces? Nice work.

Greg
 
Nothing special regarding the tissue paper: I just used what Mrs. Toots had purchased for wrapping gifts in...it comes in a package of individual sheets. I tape it to a sheet of regular (20 lb) printer paper with tape tabs at each upper and lower corner and feed it through the printer ("green side down" :D ). I set the printer for B&W (while waiting for epoxy to cure I think I might try a couple in colour to see how it works) and for "draft". Regular or high volume ink flows causes the tissue to be a bit of a mess; less is better and as you can see, one side is "ink out" and the other is "ink in" and you can't tell the difference so no worries about not getting sufficient contrast.

The tissue does tend to wrinkle a bit when you put it onto the hull or deck (it goes on during the initial saturation stage) but if you spend a few minutes after coating the rest of the hull with a squeegee and sometimes make a couple of tiny snips where necessary with a razor blade (I'm now loving those rotary cutters) you can generally let enough air and/or resin escape that it lies pretty flat. By the time you add the cloth and fill layers you'll not notice any wrinkles and the tiny slits disappear (just as they do on wallpaper!)

I built the first boat with GP and, as stated in another thread, was deathly afraid that I'd run out just before the finish line. Bought another quart of resin and half quart of hardener "just to be safe" but didn't really need it (well, didn't need 90% of it :roll: ). This boat I purchased with Silver Tip after checking that I could mix the two in a single build (as long as I didn't literally "mix" the two together!)

And "yes", the GP went into the unseen spots and the ST on the main hull and deck exterior. Except now I may have to use a bit of ST when I do the shear fillet and end pours but the end pours are going to be VERY small (I've already filled the hull portion so there's only the little cavity under the deck to do). I think there might be enough GP left to fix a broken coffee cup or two (should the need ever arise).
 
Interesting lesson learned yesterday and today: never, NEVER, EVER lay glass cloth out on a carpet so it can be measured and cut to the right length....ESPECIALLY if you have a black dog who is shedding.

Now I have these lovely "reminders" of that same dog UNDER the cloth on the rear deck from where I cannot remove them since I noticed them too late. :roll:



Ah but he will live a long time in my memories.
 

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A pretty good weekend: made quite a bit more progress than I'd anticipated.

When I took the clamps off the hatch cover clamps... they fell apart! I guess the webbing sucked up all the epoxy and "starved" the connection to the wood dowels. So, recoat. April 7

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Deck is sealed: April 7

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Cloth draped and squeegeed out: April 8

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Cloth filled with 3 thin coats (~ 6 oz per coat): April 9
Now curing and waiting for possible sanding/polishing tomorrow? or Tuesday.

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Rear bulkhead glued in with slight tilt to reduce volume of cockpit and fit panels better: April 9. Will glue and tape after hatches are cut which will be after "final sanding" (sequence and timing requires that I sand, finish the boat, then wait a week before varnish and then installation of deck rigging). April 9 With any luck at all I'll be finished (except for varnish) 30 days after starting construction.

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Tootsall said:
Will glue and tape after hatches are cut which will be after "final sanding" (sequence and timing requires that I sand, finish the boat, then wait a week before varnish and then installation of deck rigging). April 9 With any luck at all I'll be finished (except for varnish) 30 days after starting construction.

Give it plenty of time to cure before varnishing. I'm learning the hard way why. I coated my hatch dowels with epoxy, then only allowed 5 days cure time before I applied varnish. I thought it would be OK... Now the varnish in those areas just won't cure, everywhere else it's fully cured.

James
 
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