Saving Old Seagulls

What does that make Bruce then?

H-A

The driver of a Ford! which is about as reliable as a Seagull.

Crikey H.A. that girl singing the Seagull song is definitely disconcerting, you should have put a safety sticker warning on it/her for those of a nervous disposition. Where on earth do you get crew like that these days? Is she cheap to run and does she do any other tricks? Am definitely discomforted and will take a drink directly to regain my composure.

Robin

Not only does it float but it also flies

Had a phone call from my neighbour today, asking me if I wanted him to "put my grey boat back".

As I left this morning I did look at it and wonder if it needed a strap on it to hold it down, decided it would be OK.

It blew off the top of the yellow boat which is on its trailer, did a flip and landed on the concrete path.

Now I have got to mend it, it has popped a short length of tape on one of the chines and cracked the fillet.

It is still water tight, so I have proved by destructive testing that it will take a few knocks.

H-A

Next project a seaplane?

Have repaired it no problems, could do with the sun being out.

Did find that the fillet in the impact area had popped off the ply.

Also the fillet is brittle, so may try alternative filler to mix with the resin.

I have also been looking at this,

http://www.cfsnet.co.uk/acatalog/G4_Primer_Sealer.html

I have used G4 when applying fibre glass over concrete, but have not used the timber version.

I could use it before filleting the chines and before taping.

H-A

Make a petrol viscosity mix of resin by thinning with acetone or a suitable thinner & soak all your ply, especially the end grain before glueing with polyester, try on a piece of scrap ply first, just to make sure it still cures.

I was allways told to keep the fillets very small in very light hulls, unless in a bulkhead type joint, so as to permit the chines to flex, if they flex there is less stress on the joint.

I saw a v/light hull in NZ that had lost it's tie down straps, slid off the trailer still attached to the winch cable that unwound to the end of the cable & had bounced down the road till noticed.

It had nearly worn through the 6mm 5 ply by the transom but no seams had popped, seams were only taped no fillets.

It took a lot of filler & matt to cover the external gravel rash, I know I fixed it, but I didn't load or tow it.

Tested it with a crew member, trim looks good.
Will need a longer tiller extension when flat out.

Transom height will need to be raised as I am getting water over the transom at max speed.

Also the rubbing strakes 1/3rd of the way back from the bow could do with being a bit wider to deflect the spray.

It can do well over hull speed.

H-A

I should hope so hull speed is less than 6 Knots!

Raised the transom today, by about 5 inches.

This should put the anti ventilation plate about 2 inches below the water.
Hope this will stop the water from spraying over the transom when flatout.

Changed to wood dust for the filleting filler, is much less brittle.

H-A

I always start with the transom HA that is the only dimension that is fixed, the rest of the hull only has to look right.

If you want to make a joint flexible don't fillet, just tape.

The knee & transom joints are the only ones on the hull that shouldn't flex.

Have a look, where the load will go on to your extended transom, you might need two vertical tile battens edge mounted, either side of the transom screw pressure pads, right from the bottom up to the top. lose the knee & fit a 75 x 6mm bookshelf.

Have just ordered the vinyl name stickers for this boat.

It is called "Qapla"

At least Pizey should get it.

I hope that I can get to the race, weather does not look good.

H-A

testing not going well. engine is floodimg, not sure it liked the ride down in the boat. No internet access, wind gusting 45mph. But there is still tomorrow to sort it. Wish i had brought a spare carb.
Happy christmas
H A

Sorry about the last post, quality was bad as I was using my phone whilst outside Asda.

Now back on laptop running off mobile phone, much easier.

Have taken carb off engine and checked it through.

Could not find any problems, checked that the float valve is shutting correctly.

Will try engine on bigger boat tomorrow am, yellow boat is more stable and I hope to be able to find out what is wrong.

Have spoken to Charles L and he has said that he will kindly bring down replacement carb with him.

Could it be the cold weather that is causing the problem?

The engine would run well on dry land, but get it on the boat in the cold wind and no joy.

I hope that tomorrow brings better results.

Will try and post some pictures.


H-A

Best of luck!