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Showing posts from January, 2019

Corbie 5 IOM Planking, Part 1

Well after a couple months of considering, 3D modeling, and pondering, I've finally started to plank my Corbie 5 IOM. I'm using western red cedar that I milled myself to 8mm x 3mm x 1100mm. There's an accent strip just below the gunwale of Alaskan yellow cedar. My biggest unknown is how I'm going to taper the planks. The manual suggests that I use a small plane, but I've never had much luck with them. My go-to has usually been my stationary sander. So for these first three planks, I simply ran each set of two planks over the sander many times until I had what felt to be a decent taper. To be sure, I'll have to monitor and adjust how it's going, so fingers crossed! The manual also suggests that I use carpenter's glue. While I like Titebond, it's working time isn't long enough, and it's not as waterproof as I'd like, so I'm using epoxy (WEST System 105/205) instead. Epoxy has a much longer working time, it's completely waterpr

Corbie 5 Deck Experiments

I've been involved in doing some 3D modeling of another boat lately, and haven't been as attentive to the Corbie 5 IOM as I should be. However, I've also been doing some thinking and some designing for the Corbie 5 deck . An idea was given to my by Ian Dundas of Scotland... he suggested that I 3D model a frame for the deck of the Corbie so that I could use it to plank the foredeck. It was a great idea and I did it. See previous post for 3D drawing. It's an exact copy of what the planked hull curves and bulkheads will form, so a deck built on this frame will perfectly fit the actual hull. Here's how the deck frame looks: (I just used a scrap piece of MDF, so please excuse the wonky cutting job!) This picture is looking at the bow... And this one from the back side of the main bulkhead... However, right now, I'm considering not planking the deck and instead using some laminations of either 1/64" (.4mm) and/or 1/32" (.8mm) ply that h

Corbie 5 Deck Mold Frame

While I'm starting the frames and planking process on the Corbie 5 hull, I also wanted to experiment with some foredeck ideas that I have spinning around in my head. It was suggested by Ian Dundas that I should do this, and it's a great idea. To get a head start on the foredeck, I've 3D modeled an exact replica of just what the foredeck frames would be. I'll laser cut these parts, put them together, epoxy on two gunwales, and then start working out some of these ideas. Should be fun! Aloha!

Corbie 5 IOM Build Has Begun!

Started the Corbie 5 IOM build today! For real, as opposed to in 3D on my computer. This week I made the strongback out of 3/4" MDF. It's about 8" wide (exact width doesn't matter too much as long as it is as wide as the boat) with sides about 3" tall that have been screwed to the top. To that I aligned and glued the base alignment jig pieces. I used weights and pins to hold the pieces flat while they dried. Just used Titebond II for this process. The alignment jig is designed to hold the frames in exact position relative to each other. The spacing between the stations is exact, as is the horizontal and vertical alignment. You can also see that the slots for the frames are all different lengths. This is so ensure that each frame will only fit in a very specific slot. Frames that must be faced a specific direction so that port and starboard are correct, have two different sized slots and can only fit the correct way. Pretty cool, huh?! This is the inte

Corbie 5 IOM Laser Cut Frames and Alignment Jig

Finally started to laser cut the Corbie 5 IOM frames and alignment jig today! So far, they look great. I was only able to cut the 1/8" (3mm) Lite Ply parts, and will need to cut the remaining 1/16" (1.5mm) parts later. But these Lite Ply parts make up the bulk of the formers. They also make the alignment jig which you can see the frames sitting into. Next I will need to complete the laser cutting of the remaining parts, and then build an MDF strongback. After that, I can start building! Aloha!

Corbie 5 IOM frames... final version?

Well I might actually be done with the Corbie 5 IOM laser cut frames! It's been two months of tinkering, but I think it's now finally time to get off my butt and actually laser cut this thing to see how well it comes together in the real world! Here's how it looks now... Building jig and both temporary and permanent frames: Here is just the hull frames without the bases, building/alignment jig, appendages, etc... Here is everything that will be built into the hull: Here is the rudder frame, tube, mainsheet return block, and transom frames. This is a big improvement from my first design. The laser cut frame file includes several other rudder tube "holder" pieces that you can opt to use if you wish a different spacing from the transom. It's strong, lightweight, and perfectly aligns the rudder tube.   Here is the new, pared-down mainsheet post support frame and the deck support cross-member. Here are the sheets that will be c