Trapper 15 in NC

[redbaron]

This is a retrospective build log for the most part. I was too busy enjoying the building process to take time away to sit at the computer. BUT everybody else's posts were so helpful to my build, that I did want to give back.

Back in February, I purchased the plans from Matt, and the fiberglass and epoxy from Raka. Delivery of both was delayed by a snowstorm, but that was OK, because I didn't have any wood to start building with.

Closer to the end of February, I borrowed my friends pickup and drove up to The Hardwood Store in Gibsonville NC. They are the only people I could find that carried 1/4" marine grade plywood, and the place was absolutely amazing.


It didn't take me long to find that the wood is imported, and that means that it wasn't actually 1/4" thick, it was actually 6mm thick. No biggie, but that also means that it is not the "normal" 96 inches long either ... it's 98.5 inches long, and that meant that we couldn't close the tailgate of the full sized American made truck.

No biggie, because my friend left some tie down straps, and it gave me the opportunity to buy a nice 12' piece of cherry for the gunwales/seats/whatever.

I'll see if this post works, and then post more in a bit.

[fransjoe]

Nice materials, can't wait to see the build.

[redbaron]

For marking out the reference lines, I found a broken piece of quarter round molding that I talked the folks at the box store into letting me have cheap. I found it easiest to use small heavy boxes of washers or decking screws to hold the molding against the finishing nails.



While I was working on these quiet parts, I listened to some seafaring adventures to keep me pumped up.


I drew and cut out half the pieces, and used those as a pattern to trace and cut out the rest. I did run into a few problems. When cutting plywood with a jigsaw, you have to know where your sawhorse is, or your blade will hit it, hop up, and come crashing back down, putting a nice big hole where you don't want a hole.

This happened twice on the same piece. I was going to patch one mistake, but not two ... luckily, I had some scrap that was big enough and got all the pieces cut out.


You can almost see what this is supposed to look like!

[redbaron]

Even though I was pretty good with the jigsaw, the pieces weren't 100% matching. I didn't have the correct bit for my router, nor did I have the confidence, so I clamped the pieces between two 2x4s and used my sander to even things up.



Then started gluing panels.



I found it best to wait at least 24 hours before trying to pick the joined panels up. I got impatient with one set, they separated, and I relearned a very important lesson about patience ...

When I finally got everything joined, I clamped the bottom two panels together, drilled holes, and started stitching.



I measured my holes from the center line of the boat, and PROBABLY could have drilled all my holes before I even started stitching, but I didn't want to risk it. I drilled panels as I went, and that might be why my stitch lines don't look as uniform as some other builds.

Anybody tried drilling all your holes before you started stitching?

[Oldsparkey]

Anybody tried drilling all your holes before you started stitching?

That is what I do and it has proven to be the best way for me. I also stack and clamp the same (sized ) designed boards together so when I drill the holes I can drill 2 or 4 sections at the same time.

Chuck.

[redbaron]

Thanks Chuck! Yes I clamped the bottom two panels, made sense to me, and in retrospect so does pre-drilling all the panels. It would have looked neater, and been faster. I probably added two weeks to my build time by "being in a hurry" ...

Stitching was fairly straight forward. I wanted relatively small holes, so I went with a smaller zip tie. Unfortunately those were only packaged with the really big zip tie at my local home improvement warehouse store. I have a lot of the big ones left for the next project, as long as I don't mind the size of the holes.





If I could do it all over, I would have used the "alignment plate" that Mick used building his Sasquatch, on my stem and stern, they still turned out OK. Mine are pretty straight, but they could have been more so.

I initially tried the ceramic tile spacers that I had laying around in the garage, but I couldn't get them to stay in place, so I went with tongue depressors. They worked very well. Then I applied painters tape between the ties and I was ready to start gluing.

[redbaron]

I got myself into a bit of trouble when I glued the seams of the panels.

1. I put too much epoxy in while the zip ties were still in place.

I was not able to smooth the epoxy close to the zip ties, which led to a lot of sanding later. I believe if I had left a few inches on either side of the zip ties, I would have been better off when the zip ties came off.

I sped up the sanding process a bit by using my rotary tool for some of the sanding, but I wound up burning out the motor.
The end result was pretty good, but I spent a lot of time sanding that might not have been necessary.

2. My second mistake was leaving the painters tape on after epoxying the seams, instead of removing it after an hour. It took me two evenings to get it all off, and it was literally a pain, using the heat gun to soften things up, and peeling it off.


I am pretty sure I read about each of these issues in other posts, but I didn't remember until AFTER I made the same mistake. Oh well, that's how I learn.

[LesForgue]

Thanks so much for posting your log; really looking forward to seeing more of it.
Like the other build logs, it will be a valuable resource.
(It already is).

[redbaron]

I had to fill any gaps in my seams from the outside as well. I also made a bit of a mess here, but the outside is a lot easier to sand than the inside, because a 5" random orbital sander wont fit between the panels on the inside, but it doesn't have that problem on a convex surface.


I spent over 4 hours putting the epoxy on the fiberglass for the outside. It was my first time doing this, and while it went OK, it didn't go great. I had to sand a few spots and put in a few patches. I also had some drips. But again, it was my first time.

I used the squeegee, and a roller, I think the roller was easier for the outside, but that may have been because I didn't know what I was doing.

I put on one coat, and then immediately put on the 2nd coat. I believe that saved me some hassle in the end.


I then cut off the excess fiberglass, and put some fiberglass on the ends and the keel ... but my pictures of that are all blurry.

[redbaron]

While I was waiting for the epoxy to dry on the boat, I made these fine seats and yoke.


The yoke is a sad story ... I originally hoped to make it from the big piece of cherry that I bought, but I mis-measured the wood for the gunwales and seats, and I didn't have a piece left over that was wide enough for the yoke. So I made this one out of 3 pieces of leftover plywood epoxied together. It looked real good, but then, in a last minute effort to make it a removable yoke, I cut it way too short and it now sits in the garage as a lesson to measure twice and cut once. I still have some leftover plywood, so I'll make another one eventually.

The seats however, were a success. I had a good plan I put together in sketchup, and I used a doweling jig to make sure everything was aligned properly.


It took two sets of hands to glue them together.


Then I rounded the edges off with a 1/4" rounding bit, sanded them a bit, and applied several coats of varnish. The cherry turned a nice golden brown, and I think they look really good.