12foot project. The NX-1236

[LDUBS]

- this gives me more freedom with deck height. I think for stabilities sake, I want my decking to be a little lower than the original seat height. 2 inches lower will not decrease deck space in a meaningful amount, but I think will increase stability while standing.

.

A deck two inches below the original seat height is still pretty high and might make for stability issues in a 12' boat. Floor on top of the ribs will provide the most stability.

I know, I know. This is what my kids call a buzz kill.

 

[TheGrandestPoobah]

A deck two inches below the original seat height is still pretty high and might make for stability issues in a 12' boat. Floor on top of the ribs will provide the most stability.

I know, I know. This is what my kids call a buzz kill.

There are tiny bits of open water right near me on the Mississippi right now, My thought (once I finish hull work) is to mock up something at the height I am considering and float it around a bit to see if I like it. if I hate it, then I'll only raise what I need for the trolling motor, and seating near the tiller. No matter which way I go, there will be flooring on top of the ribs. I have two designs drafted up, one with more decking and a "cockpit" for floor above ribs, one is almost all floor with minimal deck. I think I just need to play around on the water a little bit before I decide for sure. My plan right now is pink foam board between ribs and either .050 or frp for the flooring. haven't decided for sure yet.

 

[LDUBS]

That is a really good idea. It is much easier to change things in the planning stages than after installation happens. But I have a sneaky suspicion you already know that!

I was wondering. If foam board is used between the ribs, could 1/4" ply be put right on top of the foam board for the floor? Seems like I've read about that before. Save weight and probably cost too. Anyway, just blue sky stuff.

 

[TheGrandestPoobah]

I made a whole little chart with cost and lbs/ft2 of decking material to help me decide. 1/16 frp is about the lightest thing I could think of, and it's $20 a sheet. my only thought with doing .050 aluminum sheet is that I thought it might help add back some rigidity if I want a really wide open floorplan. Flooring will be secured down to the ribs with rivnuts, as I want everything underneath to be inspect-able and cleanable without cutting all my hard work apart. I'm not 100% anti-wood, but generally trying avoid it where it makes sense. By my quick math, frp saves about 7.5 lbs over 1/4 BCX, not counting weight of epoxy to seal the wood. .050 would be almost exactly the same weight as the wood.

 

[LDUBS]

X2 on making things easily removable for access. I am able to pretty easily remove my vinyl covered 1/2" ply floor in sections. Just by pulling a few screws. Had to do that when running cables for the trolling motor. Sure made life easier.

 

[TheGrandestPoobah]

Alright, been a busy week but I've gotten a good chunk done. Patching old rivet holes (and some old screw holes....why why why) was time consuming, but I got them all done. Once I have the transom done, I'm ready for the first water test. I admit I got a little bit lazy and switched to SteelStik for the last several holes that are well above waterline. I have read that people have good experience with this stuff and it seems pretty impressive so far. I will likely add a stik of it to the emergency kit that I will assemble in the future. Any-who, with the swiss cheese hull rectified, I moved on to the first step of actually ADDING something to the **** thing, instead of so much removing.




Behold the forever transom. Is this a completely uneducated byproduct of my own hubris and undeserved confidence? Yes. Will it work? Yes?

My buddy used to do finish construction and I borrowed his super nice compound mitre saw for this. Made slapping this together easy breezy and cutting the outside angles on a 5 degree offset got them sitting flush against the sidewall of the hull. I could have just cut them a little short of the sidewall, but the fit is pretty satisfying.

The flat sheet in the foreground will cover up the middle section and wrap over the top of the transom, and down the outside, past the bottom edge of the outboard clamps. I cut away a little section of the top lip so that the top of the transom will still be nice and flush after the new plate is installed. I am thinking about checking out a press brake from the MN Tool Library. (if you are in the Twin Cities and not aware of them, check out the website. They have loads of stuff that you can check out). I know you can DIY up something usable with a bunch of scrap and clamps...but I want to try to get a really nice 90 degrees on both bends. I don't know, i'll brainstorm...

Due to some pre-planning and measuring, I can use about half of the existing holes in the transom for through-bolts. Less patching and less re-drilling sounds good to me. Anything that does go through will get sealant along with it.

My water test might have to wait...some are predicting a foot and a half of snow this week. Also need to decide on what Transom wheels I am going to get. Insert recommendations below, please.

 

[SaminMass]

Behold the forever transom. Is this a completely uneducated byproduct of my own hubris and undeserved confidence? Yes. Will it work? Yes?

There is faith and then there is destiny. This, appears to be something else and I find myself inspired

 

[TheGrandestPoobah]

Incoming picture vomit:

Starting working on the sheet of aluminum that will function as a...transom saver? Decided to just go for it with tools I have on hand.

First attempt:


Scored the sheet with a flathead screwdriver. This didn't work at all. Angle stock was too flimsy and screws were too short. Pulled them right out.

Attempt 2:


Yup, that there looks like a bend.


Getting there, but we can do better.

This is where things started getting silly. Needed to devise a method that left me with a decent looking finished product, and also didn't disturb Dr. MyWife who needed to sleep all day.



Began strategically (if we are being generous with the definition of that word) moving clamps around one at a time to squeeze it closer to 90 degrees without bending it out of square or bowing another part unintentionally. Clampception (TM pending) ended up working out halfway decently.

Not enough clamps!!! Add the vise!!



Ended up spending some time making sure the score line for my second bend was a bit deeper/more defined than the first and it definitely helped. Once it was narrow enough I got it in the vice to help finish things off. Kept that little spacer in there to allow for the width of the hull, it's near enough to the same thickness that I couldn't really tell a difference between the two.


Not bad! Clampomania to the rescue. I think I can do a little dinking with it to finish it off, but we are 95% of the way there. Was this the optimum way to do this? No. Was it a particularly efficient use of my time? Probably not. Did it wake my wife up? Still no. Chalking it up as a win. Still mulling over exactly how I will secure it. Likely a combination of the through-bolts, few rivets, and probably brazing the seam along the top to attempt to keep it purty.

 

[TheGrandestPoobah]

Also, this just got delivered:

 

[LDUBS]

Can never have too many clamps! That came out really nice. If you don't mind my asking, how thick was the aluminum sheet?

 

[TheGrandestPoobah]

Can never have too many clamps! That came out really nice. If you don't mind my asking, how thick was the aluminum sheet?

Sheet was .063 5052.

 

[Stand Up]

Good job. Thanks for posting that work out.

 

[SaminMass]

I find the brevity of your prose invigorating. Have you considered a career in motivational speaking?

Oh, nice work on the metal stuff too.

 

[TheGrandestPoobah]

I find the brevity of your prose invigorating. Have you considered a career in motivational speaking?

Oh, nice work on the metal stuff too.

My motivational speaking calendar is booked up for the next several months by trying to motivate my 2.5 year old daughter to eat her dinner.

 

[LDUBS]

My motivational speaking calendar is booked up for the next several months by trying to motivate my 2.5 year old daughter to eat her dinner.

Our grandson, same age, is a picky eater. I get around it by giving him ice cream and cookies. Mrs Ldubs and my daughter might have a problem with that -- if they find out. Grandparents Rule!

 

[Tall Tiller]

Some great craftsmanShip there! Coming up with the ways and means of completing a task can be just as enjoyable as seeing the finished product.
I too took on a project similar to yours last year. The center bench had already been removed, looking at it I thought about rigidity, so I did a test facing the bow
Right hand port/left starboard, I did the twist! Don't know about yours, but mine really flexed. On mine, made a cross brace out of some aluminum channel from my work, also made for fine beverage holders.

 

[TheGrandestPoobah]

Some great craftsmanShip there! Coming up with the ways and means of completing a task can be just as enjoyable as seeing the finished product.
I too took on a project similar to yours last year. The center bench had already been removed, looking at it I thought about rigidity, so I did a test facing the bow
Right hand port/left starboard, I did the twist! Don't know about yours, but mine really flexed. On mine, made a cross brace out of some aluminum channel from my work, also made for fine beverage holders.View attachment 113732

Nice! Yeah I'm reminded of the anecdote "he who loves walking gets farther than he who loves the destination"

 

[TheGrandestPoobah]

alright, been a little haphazard this week. finished up pre-spring break school work, and heading out of town for a week next week, but still chipping away at things. I'm getting a little out of order on a couple things, mostly due to household noise ordinances (a recurring theme for a lot of my projects).

Got the center part of the transom all buttoned up, after the hardware I ordered from grainger came in. Gotta love having one of their big hubs 10 min from home.


got bolts that would let me countersink the heads so the transom looks a little smoother on the outside. worked well. There will be more through-bolts towards the sides, but they will do double duty holding on the mounts for the launching wheels. Speaking of which: sneak peek at the launching wheels that will get finished up once I can run power tools


since I hit a stand still on those for the afternoon, the helpers and I hit up the big orange box for some flooring materials, and a little bit of rattlecan to test out. Forgot to take pictures of the foam underneath the floor, but it's not rocket surgery. Cut pink foam board to size, put in boat. Started cutting the FRP to size, and to fit around the ribs while taking a few coloring breaks. Ended up using a big ol' pair of tinsnips to cut the stuff. 2/10 would not recommend. Actually, its kind of nice for small cuts or touch up, but for the long cuts it's about as fun as a kick in the plums. whatever, done now. Obviously, gloves recommended due to the "f" in frp.


Next, my NDT team (hopefully they don't forget the "N") conducted structural integrity tests on the new floor.


Honestly, Really pleased with the frp over foam. Real thin, pretty light and the walkability is great. I imagine it will only feel better once the floor is bolted down and EVA flooring put down. Exciting stuff. I know it's out of order, because I will likely cut this flooring up a little when framing goes in, so that it is removable without taking the framing out, but oh well, one circular saw cut and we're good. Just wanted to make what progress I could.

Hoping I can take a few more good bites out of this before leaving town. Dr. MyWife and I are ditching the kids with my folks and going hiking in Bryce Canyon Ntnl Park for several days. Can't wait.

 

[Stand Up]

Excellent reporting. The boat is really starting to take shape. Keep at it when you can and you'll be "gone fishing" soon.
Enjoy your hike.

 

[user 23839]

Rats. A break in the action. Got crampons for Bryce?