Golden Light 5

[Roy]

A stunning boat !!!! 

You certainly are a skilled craftsman and crafts women to restore a boat like that 

[Robin]

We have been using Kingfisher for a while now and have enjoyed every minute however we have been planning a couple of upgrades. 

1. Window frames to the rear of the sliding canopy instead of the canvas sheet.

I started this last winter and and managed to make and fit the frames but didn't complete it.

2. A cutout in the transom  to make access easier when moored stern on. The current transom is a bit high and we aren't getting any younger. 

I will start with the transom, the first picture is as she was.

You can see a joint line between the two slightly different colors Mahogany boards, this will be the base line of the cutout.

I use masking tape to mark out the proposed cutout.

Happy with the size and shape, I transfer the dimensions to the workbench and make any adjustments.

I like the shape of the slopes but  don't really like the look of the angular corners top and bottom , the joints to the capping pieces will also be susceptible to water ingress. 

I add in curves to the corners and want to make the entire capping section in one piece.   

The double lines are the proposed shape of the capping approximately 30mm thick. the radius of the corners is only 170mm so steam bending a capping is impossible. 900mm would be the minimum radius for 30mm mahogany and only if you had some very straight grain timber.  The only  other option is to Laminate.

First job is to make a former, this will need to be 150mm wide to give me a wide enough capping to accommodate the slope of the transom.  

The next problem is the thickness of the laminates. To bend around the tight corners they would have to be about 3mm thick, I want to use 6mm laminates so i will steam them first to give me a fighting chance of getting them to bend round however epoxy doesn't adhere very well to wet wood. I will have to let them dry before i glue them together, they will still hold the rough shape.

Another issue is the internal corners. when bending timber around a former it is a lot easier bending timber  round an external radius ( stretching the fibers)rather  than trying to compress timber into an internal corner.

Steam box

Laminates after they have cooled and been removed from the former.

Now for some fun with glue, and cramps.

And hey presto the capping is formed.

 

 

[Robin]

With the glue on the capping set, the next operation is to cut an angle and bevel the edge to match the slope of the  transom.

 This is now offered up to the transom, which is then marked and cut out.

The capping is now clamped in position and fettled in.

 So far so good

With the cutout in the transom matched to the shape of the capping, i now have to rebuild the framing on the inside.

75mm x50mm oak at the base.

Mahogany up the side sections.

 

These will need to be beveled at the top edge to form a level base.

I know the locker tops are level when she is in the water so i use these as my datum to get the frame level.

The framework complete the capping can now be fitted. It is  installed  on a bed of none setting butyl rubber.

Screwed down and the holes plugged.

The transom has now been sanded back to bare wood  to get rid of the shading where her name was removed 

Hetty seems impressed.

The varnishing department now  starts to build up the layers.

 

 

 

 

[Jbx5]

Stunning job Robin 👍

[BroadAmbition]

none setting butyl rubber.

Oh great - I'm sure your addicted to that lovely stuff

Griff

[FairTmiddlin]

18 hours ago, Robin said:

The varnishing department now  starts to build up the layers.

Glad to see the varnishing department was not made redundant.

[craigmc67]

Looks really good 👍 

[Robin]

With the capping section complete its now time for the rubbing strake.

The strakes on the sides are 45mm high and are a half round in section, we will match this. 

To make it look uniform this will also be laminated over the same former however to match the 45mm height would require 13 strips at 3.5mm.

I don't have any photos of the laminating process probably because  it was a bit stressful, trying to hold 13 strips of timber glued on both sides,  getting them round the former and keeping them all in line took some doing.  but it came out ok in the end.

Because we needed this complicated shape to be a complete half round  section i could not use a router cutter to form the exact shape as the guide wheel would have been below the edge of the timber. the only option was to raise the router cutter and shape the remainder by hand.

I make a template of the shape required.

using a spokeshave (one of my favorite tools) i work my way along the rail until i am happy with the shape.

you can clearly see the layers in this picture.

The completed piece sanded and ready for fitting.

 

  And installed on the transom.

More varnish

The finished article

The transom will now receive at least six more coats of varnish. 

[BroadAmbition]

Oh wow well done

you were lucky there eh? 
 

Griff

[JanetAnne]

I think the real skill is in making something so complicated and labour intensive look so easy!

I reckon Robin has just condensed somewhere around 200 hours of hard graft into the above few paragraphs. He's a clever bugger....  just don't tell him 

 

[BroadAmbition]

But is he any good at removing red paint?

Griff

[Smoggy]

Nice job, I recon you are getting the hang of it now....

As JA said I dread to think of the actual hours that have gone into that, I'll stick to grp as I'm far too lazy for that sort of job and wouldn't have the skills or patience if I did have the motivation, just glad others have so I can look at them as they go by.