Change of Plans and Doing a Jig
Entry on 1/18/2016:
Watching some Disney this weekend I have come up with a name. She will be called, "Tiger Lily"!
After getting some quotes from the lumber yard it occurred to me that, since I can't get 4Ă—10's, I will have to scarf more than one joint to get the planking and board lengths for the 16.5 footer. This will add significant extra cost with a lot of waste. I decided to go to the 15' version and, even though I'm losing about two feet of floor space in length, the beam doesn't change; so I will just have a bit less storage. I can deal with that in exchange for the extra change saved. Additionally it may end up better in the long run for navigating some of the tight bends on the Huron River whilst hotshotting.
My brother and I went to the store this weekend and bought the lumber for the jig. I went with 2Ă—4x16's. We dug through the pile and found two very nice and straight pieces for the top center member and bottom base member. The rest of the lumber was straight enough for the application.
I have mounted it onto a pair of 1Ă—6's that I had laying around the shop. The jig needs to be anchored down as I will be putting some serious leverage on it while I bend the longitudinal and planking into place. Since I'm not willing to drill into my beautiful shop floor, I have turned the jig into a sled. I put "Non-Slip Rug Strip" on the bottom of the 1Ă—6's for some extra traction. Now that she is together and leveled and squared I will be putting cross members on and weighting them with cement filled 5-gallon buckets; front, back, and center.
So far the jig has been pretty cut and dry. I just kept telling myself "measure twice/cut once". Even still, I made one mistake in measuring but it was not consequential. I will update this post in the next couple of days when I cut out and install the temporary braces. This is how far I am at the moment:
Entry on 1/25/2016:
I was able to get a little more work done yesterday. The templates that are given are full size but only the right half of the temporary forms and transom. There is a center line. Once you have drawn one half you must flip it and repeat. The teperary forms only have the top line and side edge so it's a little confusing. After taking some time studying the prints and instructions it came to me; so don't freak out. Once it "clicks" you'll get it.
The prints are only on the front of the paper so you may have an issue guessing when you flip it. The instructions say to transcribe over two-sided carbon paper, flip and repeat with one-sided carbon paper. I don't have any carbon paper and it sounded like a pain in the butt, however; I think I'll try it next time just to compare methods. My solution is as follows:
Flip the sheet face down on a white counter that is brightly lighted. Get a long straight edge and retrace all of the lines. Transcribe all of the front writing to the back. Flip it so the front is facing up. On the front of the sheet cut a small hole in every line intersection. I placed a piece of cardboard under while cutting the holes to save my counter.
When duplicating the lines I drew dashes at every hole connecting the missing part of the lines that once were where the holes are now. Once I removed the paper, I used a straight edge to complete the lines. I admit that I messed up a couple of times and had to sand off my lines. This was mostly due to not realizing that the instructions wanted me to do the layout B,C on one long edge and A on the opposite long edge of the 4Ă—8. (Just keep that in mind for when you do it. If you don't, all three temporary forms will not fit on one sheet.)
For form 'B' I created the origin point and center line and used the factory edge as the base line. For form 'C' I was making my own base edge so I reused the center line of 'B'. Form 'A' is made just like 'B' but uses the opposite long edge as a base and the center line is shifted left or right so the sides fit in the unused space.
I tacked down the paper with some aluminum cedar shingle nails that I had in my shop for some reason. I only drove the nails enough to hold the template while "dashing" but shallow enough to allow for hand release when finished. It worked perfectly. Take care to push the paper flat in all directions while tacking. "Push" the paper flat; don't pull it or you risk ripping where the tacks are holding it down.
I was "in the zone" so I forgot to stop and get pictures while I was using the template but it really wouldn't have been that informational.
{Insert Picture of Template}
There are two lines and a "notch" indicated in the templates that I'm not understanding at the moment and I think I'll have to call Glen-L for some instruction if it doesn't dawn on me soon. Perhaps one of you could lend me instruction here.
{Insert Picture of Instructions on Template}
This is my progress this weekend. I'm going to get a couple of studs and measure the distance from where the Transom will be and center, square, level, and mount accordingly. I sanded the edges and corners to make them "sliver free" and easy to handle. I will store them for future use, when finished, in case I decide to build another one for a friend or family member (who and is willing to pay for the labor
). Of course I will pay Glen-L their $100 royalties as is required by them.
This is about 10 hours into the project. It includes some pointless activities, such as sanding the forms for comfortable handling in the future, and also mistakes. In the future I think I could shave a good four hours but I didn't have the plywood or lumber anyway and needed the "me time". There is also some sitting around and thinking about things and clean-up included, so…