Pram build Phase 4

 Well, I did it!! The Pram is together and now awaits sanding (which I already hate) but must wait for spring as the basement is "off limits" for sanding so I have been advised. I did choose to bond in the seat and the thwart per the plans. I also made a modification I think will help the rowing ability of the boat. The first picture shown is simply the seat(s) bonded in, the second is the boat with a 1x2 piece of wood trim clamped to the sides to stiffen the side of the boat especially where the oar locks sit.
 After bonding the boat together, it seemed the sides were still a little flimsy and since my target use for this boat is rowing, I decided to beef up the side bumpers! A 1x2 in Aspen is a pretty stiff piece of wood so I borrowed a steam bending fixture from one of my buddies and it worked like magic. It basically is a simple heating element that boils water then directs the steam into a PVC tube that the wood is inside of. In my case it was a compound bend so I steamed it for 2 hours. With some clamps and bolts, I formed the wood onto the sides of the boat and let the wood dry. Voila! The wood now can be removed from the boat and holds it shape perfectly. The last photo is the fixture laying on my driveway. Enjoy the photos and I am sure the boat sanding will only take two weeks!

Pram Tender Build Phase 3

Another Phase, more lessons learned!! Did I mention I have never done something like this before? If not, it will be apparent when you see the photos. I can honestly say that this is a lot of fun and I am really enjoying myself.
Let's start with what was this phase was--fiber glassing the bottom and sides of the pram. I ordered 6 oz. fiber cloth from www.jgreer.com. I initially bought the 1.5 gallon epoxy resin kit which will actually finish all of the corner taping and ALL of the bottom side fiber glassing! I was completely unsure of how much resin I needed so consequently I have a complete second resin kit that is still unopened! If you buy the 50 inch wide 6 oz cloth, you need 18 feet of it to complete the boat. I used scissors to cut out the fiber cloth in shapes to fit the sides, bow, stern and bottom. I talked one of my pilot buddies into coming over and we did a dry run  laying the cloth on the boat and fitting all the pieces. I mixed resin while he spread it onto the bare wood. We placed the fiber cloth over the entire bottom and wet it in. We then moved to the sides, bow and stern. As a test we used the recommended procedure of laying wax paper on top of the layup to make the resin cure with a smooth finish. It mostly worked but probably needed someone who had done it a few times to realize the entire benefit.  The entire process took 2 hours! Next is lots of sanding--enjoy the photos!

Pram Tender build Phase 2

Well, it's coming together! After ordering $180 worth of resin, hardener and tape (including shipping) from www.jgreer.com, I spent some time reading up on how to fiberglass something. Keep in mind I had never so much as mixed up resin of any sort so I wanted to gather any information that would help me not screw this up too badly. The resin came with specific instructions which I followed. The gist of it is make sure the resin and hardener are mixed in the correct ratio and thoroughly. I will say I used cabosil as the thickening agent and it was messy and nasty--wood flour next time. Per instructions, I made a fillet of epoxy in all of the interior corners then laid fiberglass tape in the corners and used a brush and some un-thickened epoxy to "wet out" the tape. Three inch wide tape was called for in the plans but the supplier only sold 2 or 4 inch tape. I hope the 2 inch will be okay. The process went fairly quickly and it was far more trouble to pull out the stitching afterwards then glass the corners on either the inside or outside of the boat. I will say that all sharp corners should at least be slightly rounded as tape does not like square edges and doesn't always adhere to them. After I cut out the stitching (zip ties), I spent a short time trimming up the outside edges and sanding them with my electric sander. I then filled the outside just like the inside and taped all of the corners as well. Plan on 6 hours to complete the inside and outside corners. At this point, I am waiting for more resin, hardener and 6 oz cloth to show up, so I can complete the bottom of the boat. Below are two photos of the progress.

Pram Tender Build Phase 1

Happy New Year!!

 I hope all of you had a great Christmas and New Years! I spent mine with my family in Arizona and it was great to see everyone again. On the boating front I have also made some progress on the Pram plans I bought from Jeff at www.spirainternational.com.

  I downloaded the plans from the Spira international website and it was an easy and simple process. I spent about an hour studying the plans. Prior to being a Professional Pilot, I spent 20 years running our families Aerospace Manufacturing Facilities, both in the USA and Mexico. I fully understand blueprints and manufacturing although I have never done any work with wood, fiberglass or the like in my life. With this in mind I gave myself at least 50/50 chance of being able to complete the pram.

 The first item on the agenda was material purchase. I drove down to my local Home depot and purchased two sheets of 1/4 birch and then my first hiccup-only 1/2 inch sheets were available in hardwood. I had decided to go hardwood even though Jeff says it isn't absolutely necessary. I went with the 1/2 even though the plans call for 3/8. I spent $60 for all the wood.

The second item on the agenda was layout. I spent about 2 hours drawing out all the parts on the sheets of wood, which was kind of fun. I will say it isn't very clear on Jeff's site how to draw the various radii called out on his blueprints, but I was able to use an old thin piece of wood trim to bend over the various locations called out and used the trim as a guide to draw the radii. It seemed like a satisfactory way to do it. One of the blueprints was missing a dimension so I emailed Jeff and he responded promptly with the answer-nice!

The third item was cutting out the pieces! I had never so much as used an electric jigsaw but it was pretty simple and made very clean cuts. I purchased a Ryobi jigsaw from Home depot for $29 and some 20 pitch Bosch blades for $10. One blade did the job for all of it (and still is very sharp)!! I spent almost 2 hours carefully cutting out all the parts.

 Jeff's instructions were simple- drill holes about every 4 inches 1/2 from the side and loosely tie the boat together. Okay, but do the sides go on top of the bottom or next to it? What about the transom? The key here is tie it LOOSELY!! Don't stress about it, just start drilling the holes and it will become obvious how the pieces fit together. Remember not to make more trimming work for your self than absolutely necessary, that will help too. Once you  have it together and the pieces line up, start tightening the ties. By the way, I used the plastic zip ties you can buy anywhere about $4 for 100. This is where the boat starts taking shape and your wife all of a sudden doesn't think you pissed away 5 hours and another $65! Also this was a fine time to see if the boat was going to fit out the narrow stairwell that joins my basement to the great outdoors! To my relief, it fit easily.

The end of Phase #1!! As you can see from the pictures, the bulkheads both fit in exactly the spot called for on the blueprint--nice!! As per the instructions, I clipped off the zip tie ends and taped over all of the outside edges in hopes of containing the resin I am going to be smearing in all of the interior corners. Give yourself 2 hours for the zip tying and taping, it's not a fast process. I will say the blue prints must be good as I really was impressed at how well everything fit together. The gluing will begin next week-- wish me luck!