Bill Burruss
Well-known member
All,
Good evening. Continuing on with the build, right after we had the engine installed it we decided to deck the area between the motor mount and the rear bulkhead. It really took having the engine in place to make it easy to visualize. While not in the plans, decking this area should provide additional protection from rear rolling waves, environmental protection for the battery and fuel filter, make it easier to camouflage the boat, and add a lot of strength to the motor mount area. To do this right, as well as paint the boat, the engine had to come off. Before this, the biggest outboard I had wrestled with was the 106 lbs Yamaha 25hp 2-stroke on my BB2. Would not call it easy or truly ?portable? as Yamaha classified it, but I was able to manhandle it onto and off the back of the boat. For this Tohatsu 205 lbs beast that is attached to a 40 lbs break away, I pulled out the shop crane to lift as one unit. Fortunately the engine has a convenient lift bracket permanently installed. I made an engine stand out of 2x6 recycled from the boat cradle to hold the engine until we were ready to reinstall it.
When we purchased the engine, the dealer mentioned he thought we ought to reinforce the 1.5 inch thick motor mount to support the 245lbs+ motor and breakaway. The plans called for making the motor mount from 2 pieces of ? ply laminated together. I am not sure the extra wood was needed, but I went ahead and added a piece of half inch ply as it was easy to do at this point in the build and certainly does not hurt anything.
For the combing, I started with the front piece and worked back. To scribe the bottom curve, I just traced the deck. To scribe the top line, I made this high speed jig by drilling a hole in a piece of 2x4 to hold a pencil. This actually worked really well. The band saw made quick work of cutting the lines.
There have been several older boat restorations on the site lately where the combing has come loose, so I made sure the combing was screwed into solid wood at the ends so it cannot move. The screw in the first picture below goes thru the ply into a 1 inch thick Doug Fir deck beam. The font combing board has a countersunk screw inboard of and parallel to the first screw and screwed into that same deck beam. I then ran a horizontal screw from the front combing into the end of the side combing. Hopefully this will hold tight. After that it was just a matter of bending the combing to maintain the right distance from the outer edge of the boat and running screws from the underside deck countersunk up into the combing. Screws in the combing over the sponsons are countersunk and screwed all the way into the Doug Fir deck beams; again, trying to make sure they never break free. The 1 inch pine boards were easy to bend and a pleasure to work with. Thank-you Eric for the help with these. Now the boat had all its lines.
Once laid out, I took the combing back apart and reattached with epoxy and peanut butter. Fortunately my brother came over and gave me a hand with this part of the build. Bending and holding the combing precisely to the pencil line while it has slippery epoxy on the mating surfaces and trying to sink a screw is not really a 1-person job. It is an easy 2-person job, though. Once the combing was epoxied down, it was time to make sure all the holes were filled and corners/edges rounded with a round over router bit or sander. Even the SS steel screws were no match for the 7 inch polisher.
I went ahead and did the fillet/tape work on the edges of the deck over the splash well where it intersected the sponsons to make a smooth transition so it would be easier to glass the deck. If you have ever worked with glass, then you know it does not do well over sharp bends.
Up next, glassing the deck and first water.
Have a great evening!
-Bill
View attachment 3.1 IMG_4969.JPGView attachment 3.2 IMG_4968.JPGView attachment 3.3 Motor Mount x3.JPGView attachment 3.4 IMG_4981.JPGView attachment 3.5 IMG_4983.JPGView attachment 3.6 IMG_4982.JPGView attachment 3.7 IMG_4984.JPGView attachment 3.8 IMG_4998.JPGView attachment 3.9 IMG_4999.JPG
Good evening. Continuing on with the build, right after we had the engine installed it we decided to deck the area between the motor mount and the rear bulkhead. It really took having the engine in place to make it easy to visualize. While not in the plans, decking this area should provide additional protection from rear rolling waves, environmental protection for the battery and fuel filter, make it easier to camouflage the boat, and add a lot of strength to the motor mount area. To do this right, as well as paint the boat, the engine had to come off. Before this, the biggest outboard I had wrestled with was the 106 lbs Yamaha 25hp 2-stroke on my BB2. Would not call it easy or truly ?portable? as Yamaha classified it, but I was able to manhandle it onto and off the back of the boat. For this Tohatsu 205 lbs beast that is attached to a 40 lbs break away, I pulled out the shop crane to lift as one unit. Fortunately the engine has a convenient lift bracket permanently installed. I made an engine stand out of 2x6 recycled from the boat cradle to hold the engine until we were ready to reinstall it.
When we purchased the engine, the dealer mentioned he thought we ought to reinforce the 1.5 inch thick motor mount to support the 245lbs+ motor and breakaway. The plans called for making the motor mount from 2 pieces of ? ply laminated together. I am not sure the extra wood was needed, but I went ahead and added a piece of half inch ply as it was easy to do at this point in the build and certainly does not hurt anything.
For the combing, I started with the front piece and worked back. To scribe the bottom curve, I just traced the deck. To scribe the top line, I made this high speed jig by drilling a hole in a piece of 2x4 to hold a pencil. This actually worked really well. The band saw made quick work of cutting the lines.
There have been several older boat restorations on the site lately where the combing has come loose, so I made sure the combing was screwed into solid wood at the ends so it cannot move. The screw in the first picture below goes thru the ply into a 1 inch thick Doug Fir deck beam. The font combing board has a countersunk screw inboard of and parallel to the first screw and screwed into that same deck beam. I then ran a horizontal screw from the front combing into the end of the side combing. Hopefully this will hold tight. After that it was just a matter of bending the combing to maintain the right distance from the outer edge of the boat and running screws from the underside deck countersunk up into the combing. Screws in the combing over the sponsons are countersunk and screwed all the way into the Doug Fir deck beams; again, trying to make sure they never break free. The 1 inch pine boards were easy to bend and a pleasure to work with. Thank-you Eric for the help with these. Now the boat had all its lines.
Once laid out, I took the combing back apart and reattached with epoxy and peanut butter. Fortunately my brother came over and gave me a hand with this part of the build. Bending and holding the combing precisely to the pencil line while it has slippery epoxy on the mating surfaces and trying to sink a screw is not really a 1-person job. It is an easy 2-person job, though. Once the combing was epoxied down, it was time to make sure all the holes were filled and corners/edges rounded with a round over router bit or sander. Even the SS steel screws were no match for the 7 inch polisher.
I went ahead and did the fillet/tape work on the edges of the deck over the splash well where it intersected the sponsons to make a smooth transition so it would be easier to glass the deck. If you have ever worked with glass, then you know it does not do well over sharp bends.
Up next, glassing the deck and first water.
Have a great evening!
-Bill
View attachment 3.1 IMG_4969.JPGView attachment 3.2 IMG_4968.JPGView attachment 3.3 Motor Mount x3.JPGView attachment 3.4 IMG_4981.JPGView attachment 3.5 IMG_4983.JPGView attachment 3.6 IMG_4982.JPGView attachment 3.7 IMG_4984.JPGView attachment 3.8 IMG_4998.JPGView attachment 3.9 IMG_4999.JPG
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