Almost Finished

With the first coat of epoxy on the deck it looks almost finished....but the final finishing as well as quite a few other things are left to do.

After brushing on a coat of epoxy quite a few air bubbles formed. I tried using a heat gun to lower the viscosity, but it brought out even more bubbles which didn't seem to help. So then I dragged a piece of foam roller over the surfaces and it took out a lot of bubbles. Then I left the room before I totally messed it all up. Overall, it looks pretty good and its exciting to see how the boat is going to look.

Before I invest any more time into finishing, the next items to get done are cutting out the hatch and getting the throttle/shift control mounted and trimmed. It will be mentally difficult to cut holes into what looks nice just the way it is. At some point the gaps between the planks will get caulked with white pigmented and thickened epoxy. I did a trial of that on one of my sample boards and it came out pretty good. More on that later.

Deck Staining

When we put in a patio I thought I would never have to stain a deck again.... After hand sanding all the deck surfaces with 220 grit, some vacumming, wipe down and room clean-up it was time to mask and stain. A bit of blue tape, plastic and masking paper and I was ready to have at it.
After staining everything, there were some blothy spots around one of the perimeter planking joints and a couple of sanding scratches on that same side. After letting it sit overnight, I still was not satisfied with those areas. So I hand sanded again with 220 grit one whole side, cleaned it up and restained. Its good enough now to move on. Looks pretty cool even if I say so myself.

Working On the Edge

After gluing on the molding around the cockpit and motorwell area, it was time for a bit of edging. I needed a roundover bit bigger than 1/8" and smaller than 1/4", so after returning from the Rockler store with both 5/32" and 3/16" roundover bits I was ready to proceed. I ended up with the 5/32" for rounding off the interior edges. For the outer edge of the boat planking, I used a 1/4" but since the deck slopes, the bearing guide rode off the edge so far as to do very little on the aft end of the boat past the dash. That ended up being manual file and sanding to put on the radius. The 1/2" wide stainless steel rubstrip will fit just under the radius on the planking edge and hide the edge of the plywood subdeck and protect the edge from bumps.

Then it seemed like it was time to put on the rear splash rails. I routered a 1/8" roundover on the outer edges of the splash rails on my router table, sanded the surfaces and put on two coats of epoxy. The boat was prepared for the epoxy mess by using duct tape above and below the bond line. The bonding surface was roughed up with 8o grit paper. The splash rails were also protected from excess epoxy by a liberal use of duct tape.

After the epoxy set, the duct tape was removed and a bit of clean up work remains.

I think the next task is final hand sanding of the deck before staining the perimeter planking and king (center) planks.

Faking It

In order to determine my plan for the deck planking appearance, I made up some sample boards from the scrap cut offs. I did one set in natural colors on one board. On another longer piece of plywood, I made two sample sets, one with the perimeter and king plank dyed a dark brown and another with perimeter and king plank in a vintage cherry redish dye. I put on a couple coats of epoxy and after a review with my aesthetic advisor, we agreed that the reddish dye was more interesting and seemed to bring out the grain better than the dark brown. The all natural was too much the same. To get a preview of the look of the boat, I set the selected sample on the bow and propped up a mirror behind it to give the appearance of the front of the boat. With the choice made, it was back to getting the decking ready for staining (using a water based dye product).

The first thing to do was plugging the screws for the perimeter planking and king planks. The steel screws used during glue-up were removed, holes bored deeper, silicon bronze screws installed and then wood plugs epoxied in. Plugs were made from cutoffs from the boards used in each place. After setting the plugs were cut flush and sanded.

Then I worked on the outer perimeter, getting the plywood subdeck and planking layer flush to the sides with a vertical edge about 3/4" high. This edge will allow enough surface for a 1/4" radius on the top edge and then a 1/2" stainless steel rubstrip. I had to do some epoxy fill-in at the aft end of the boat where I had previously over cut the plywood due to the tumblehome of the rear sides of the boat. The edge lays over slightly as it approaches the transom so the rub strip will twist a bit towards the transom.

The next order of business was sanding. I took my small belt sander to the whole deck and sanded down any high spots along the king plank edges and over the whole boat to fix quite a few places where the grain was running upwards causing some surface tearout. Then it was a progression with the random orbital sander through 80, 100, 120 and 150 grit paper. A rather small paragraph to explain a whole day of tedious work.

I decided to make a thin molding about 3/16" thick and 3/4" wide to go around the inside of the cockpit and motor well areas to cap the planking boards ends and edges. While simple in concept, it is a bit more involved to fit tight and get around the radiused corners. I made a couple of glue-up jigs to create the molding in the corners. I traced the radius on a piece of plywood, cut it out on the bandsaw, and screwed it down to a scrap board. On the table saw from the planking scraps, I cut about 8" long strips about 0.060" thick, ran hot water over a piece and then formed it into the corner on the boat, taped it in place and let it dry. Then laminated a couple of pieces at a time in the jig using water proof Titebond glue. After a while I had 4 corner moldings that almost fit. The molding is in seven pieces around each opening. The picture shows the epoxy and clamping of the side pieces and a center piece. Then the corners and remaining pieces. Let's hope it all looks good in the end.

All Hands on Deck

The next task in the deck planking was to fit and epoxy down all the longitudinal planks. Beginning at the center king plank, I worked my way outward fitting and "clamping" each board in place using 3/16" fender washers with #8 round head sheet metal screws 3/4" long. I used the grid lines already on the subdeck to establish hold downs every 4" along each plank. A pilot hole was drilled prior to putting in a screw. Where the leading edge of a plank mated to the perimeter cover boards, a rough angle cut was made on the chop saw or band saw. Then holding the plank in place, a final line was marked using a spacer. I sanded to the line on my 1" stationary belt sander. (Actual work took a lot longer than writing about it.)

A box of 100 washers allowed me to get two or three rows done on each side of the boat at a time. I used pieces of luan plywood as spacers which happen to measure 3/16" thick. Once I had a batch ready to go, all screws were removed and the unthickened epoxy spread on the subdeck areas to be glued and the underneath side of each plank. Then thickened epoxy was spread on each plank and the plank put in place. The washer/screws were hand started and then beginning at the forward end, spacers put in place and the screws tightened to lock the plank in place.

After a set of planks were fit and screws tightened, the spacers were removed so they wouldn't get bonded in place. I put in some 3/16" tile spacers just to make sure nothing moved, but they were not necessary. After the epoxy set overnight, the screws and washers were removed. Any washer that stuck to the wood was unstuck with a chisel. I put the rounded edge of the spacer towards the wood to reduce the chance of marking the wood and helping with removal if stuck.

The process was tedious and my shoulder hurt at times from holding the cordless screwdriver, but seeing the deck transform from boring to way cool was worth all the fuss. It took four days of work but I'm ready to move on to the next step if I can figure out what that is. On the last day of epoxy work I made some sample boards with planking scraps so I can experiment with staining, finishing, and gap filling.

However, I have a few more screws to remove first.

Stacking the Deck

The first step in the deck planking process was laying out the lines on the subdeck plywood so I could figure out what wood I needed to do the job. I drew in a 2" grid pattern on the sub-deck to ensure that the center planking would be symetrical. Using a batten, I drew in the perimeter cover board lines to follow the carlings aft of the dash and stay a "constant distance off the shear line" forward of the dash. I made the first line drawn on the forward deck (that I liked) the "master" and copied it to the other side. There is a slight difference in distance to the shear line from one side to the other, but not enough to worry about.

Then a trip to Armstong millworks to buy some African Mohoghany for the deck planking and then learn how to re-saw. The guys at Armstrong suggested that starting with 4/4 stock planed to as thick as possible (about .90") would be the best approach.

I started with laying out the boards along one side of the boat to determine joint locations to get a 12' long 10" wide board to cover the width and length. Due to the limitations of my shop, the board was cut into the pieces and angles necessary to go around the boat on one side, then each piece re-sawn to create the piece for the opposite side. With a riser kit previously installed on my bandsaw, a new 1/2" wide skip tooth blade, new Olsen "cool blocks" and a 6" tall fence, I started bandsawing the wood for the outer perimeter planking. The piece at the back of the boat was 9 3/4" wide and the re-saw went very, very, slowly, but it worked. Then a few trips through the thickness planer (new blades installed) yielded planks about .34" thick. Using countersunk screws, the first piece was located, beginning at the aft end of the boat and working forward, a joint line established, chop cut on the mitre saw, reinstalled and the next piece cut to fit up against the previous piece.

After the joints were established, the inside line location was transferred from the sub-deck to the underside of the cover boards. In the cockpit and motor opening area, tracing on the underside was straightforward. In other areas the grid pattern was used to re-create the line by tracing the inside edge of the boards onto the grid pattern and measuring to the line intersection at each grid line. Tedious, but it worked. Line was cut on the bandsaw about 1/32" proud and then sanded to the line with a small 1" stationary belt sander. Outer lines were traced, cut, and sanded in a similar manner.

The kingplank down the middle of the boat took a bit of trial and error to find a width that looked "right". I started at 6 1/2" wide, about an inch wider than the perimeter boards in the fore deck area and it seemed too dominant. At 5 1/2" it still seemed too wide, so eventually my aesthetic director concurred with a 4" wide being the "right" width.

The grid pattern helped with cyphering out the width of the longitudinal planks. Eventually settling on 1 7/8" width, and a 3/16" gap. In order to fully utilize the boards I had purchased and not have to go buy more wood, I needed to squeeze four planks from a board width of just under 7 3/4" inch. (Maybe the king plank should have been a bit wider!) This created an opportunity to buy a new tool for the shop - a micro-kerf table saw blade which only cuts a 1/16" wide kerf. After creating a new table saw zero-clearance insert with a splitter, I was all set to cut the planks. The new blade cut like butter and I got all the pieces needed to cover the deck.

The plan at the moment is to stain the perimeter and king planks a darker color to provide greater contrast. Then finish all the planks to seal all the grain and complete the deck using a white pigmented epoxy to fill the gaps.

Now Playing with a Full Deck

Installing the decking started with locating one of the forward pieces and tracing the support structure onto the underneath side. I decided to use silicon bronze nails to secure the decking as I had purchased the fastening kit from Glen-L which was all nails, but then decided to use screws for the hull. So I had 4 boxes of nails that might as well be put to use. Besides they look cool....like brass rivets. I laid out the holes every 2" per the fastening schedule. Then I applied two coats of epoxy to the underneath side. After cure, I predrilled all the holes in the decking using a 1/8" drill. All bonding surfaces were sanded and epoxy applied to decking and boat, then locating screws secured. Then I drilled 3/32" pilot holes and pounded in nails three at a time, working from the center outward. I used a small sledge as a backer where I could reach as the battens were a bit bouncy in the center of spans.

Second verse same as the first for the other front decking piece. The rear pieces were located and the butt joint cut to fit. An 8" long backer piece had been previously made to fit between the carling and shear to back up the butt joint. It was screwed and epoxied in place to the front piece of decking prior to installing the rear section.

I had a bit of a delay for installing the first rear section since I inadvertantly epoxied the top side rather than putting the second coat to the underneath side. Oops. After installing the front pieces with a few clamps along the outer edges, later I discovered the outer edges were not always tight to the shear and clamps were needed the whole distance to ensure that the plywood was in firm contact. So I rigged up a way to provide clamp pressure and put on clamps after all nailing was completed. At the back of the boat due to the slope of the deck, I used a couple of "third hand" pusher poles working from the ceiling down.

After all pieces were installed, I trimmed the outside edges with handsaw, plane and file to get them close to the sides. Trimming the inside edges will be another day. Top sides were sanded and a coat of epoxy applied to help reduce splintering when the inside edges get trimmed.

I was on the fence between appearance and weight. The lowest weight option is a plywood deck with a paint scheme to hide joints and mimic planking strips, but the best looking option is to plank over the plywood with solid wood about 1/4" thick and make it look like a big boy wood boat. The solid wood option I estimate to add about 20-25 lbs. After putting on a coat of epoxy I see that the rear half of the Okoume plywood decking is considerably darker in color than the front. The color difference was not apparent before finish, but with a coat of epoxy, the difference in color is quite noticeable on one side. So it looks like this decking will be the sub-deck and it will be time to go pick out some more african mohogany for the top side. BTW, my aesthetic director agrees that the solid wood deck is the way to go and if the boat's too heavy, she said I can lose 20 pounds.