Sill, Spacers, and Welds

I cut out the hatch openings on my Shearwater 17 S & G and now am in the process of beveling the sill and spacers. I told my wife (my helper) that you need to whittle the wood a little to get a good fit. She said the instructions say nothing about that while I agrue they do. To be honest I don't know for sure and wanted to ask. Also, when I removed the deck the forward bulkhead (one side) popped loose. My weld did not hold. I assume when I attach the deck for the last time I can glue it back then or should I do it now and use some stretch wrap to hold the original shape prior to it popping loose. Do I also need to remove the old epoxy first or will fresh epoxy adhere to the old.  Thanks in advance

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RE: Sill, Spacers, and Welds

Whew! That's quite a few questions for one post, But I'll give them a shot. (Clicking on the pictures opens up larger versions.)

1. I used a bonsai knife to cut my hatch and cleaned the edges with #220 paper. That was enough to make room for the epoxy on the sides. That's all the gap you really need. I'd suggest that you try some test fits before removing any more material than that.

I didn't bevel the sill or spacer other than smoothing the inside bottom edge after the interior glass was on. The squareness of the spacer top seems to help compress the foam for a good seal. 

Eliminating the sudden transition from the sill to the underdeck is a good idea, since it acts as a force concentrator. Rather than beveling it, though, I ran a fillet around the rim. 

 

 2. I'd glue it back as soon as possible. Wouldn't want the boat to start getting used to being the wrong shape. The stretch wrap is exactly what I did when I noticed that there was a lot of stress by the forward bulkhead on my boat. In my case, I was lucky enough to spot it before I undid the wires.

 

 

3. You leave the tacks in place.

 

Have fun,

Laszlo

Building a Wood Duck 12 

 

RE: Sill, Spacers, and Welds

Lazlo, the Shearwater hatches are different. They are cut right along the sheer panel joint and beveling is required to fit against the sheer panel under deck.

I did also have a problem here as the wood is the size of a shoelace and trying to bevel them resulted in broken wood, so I cut them out (the shoelace sized wood intened for the sides along the sheer panel)completely and replaced with a fillet, which was so much easier I would do this again next time right away. The 'shoelaces' are very fragile but breaking them is not a set back, easily recitified with the fillet.

Referring to my blog goes deeper into depth than here and provides more photos as well. Hope this helps..............

http://shearwaterkayak.blogspot.com/

 

 

sill

 

RE: Sill, Spacers, and Welds

Thanks, that helps. I will continue to bevel them down and if they break I will just use a fillet (must admit I am tempted to do that now). As thin as the sides are they don' t seem to serve any structural purpose, rather just a guide to position the spacer correctly. Mark

RE: Sill, Spacers, and Welds

I face the same decision on my Shearwater Double.  The spacers on the Forward and Aft hatches have no room on the sides against the shear panel  for the spacers.  There is little room even to fit the sill. 

 

I will try the bevel and expect to fill with fillet when it breaks. I think this boat's plans need a bit more explaining and this is one example. 

No mention that the area of the hatch should not be epoxied to the shear panels.  This results in needless cutting and beveling too sharp.  No mention of the shoelace thin sill. In my opinion, the hatches should not extend to the shear panel.  They are too big for the width of the boat.

RE: Sill, Spacers, and Welds

I posted the original post. I took Fishbusters advise and did away with the sills, which ended up being paper thin by the time I discarded them. I used a fillet of epoxy and wood flour to replace the sills. I kept sanding and beveling but could never get the sills to fit properly.I cut too low on the shear panel on the forward hatch and ended up with a small gap on the finished product (hatch cover). I also feel the hatch cut outs do not need to follow the shear panel line on the Shear Water S & G. As long as you don't cut the opening too far down on the shear panel your hatches should turn out fine using fillets in place of sills. I used the Bonzi saw to cut my hatch openings but unless you are REALLY careful, and go slow, it is easy to make an error like me. Having said all this, I am still pleased with how my hatches turned out, despite my mistakes.  If you don't make mistakes you don't learn. My next boat will be perfect ( we all probaly say that !)  Mark  

RE: Sill, Spacers, and Welds

I also agree that the hatches are probably too big, even though many Shearwater S&G's have been successfully built exactly as specified.   I actually omitted the hatches altogether - problem solved!

The greatest difficulty I faced, building from plans, was the tendency of the assembled deck structure, from which the long, spear-like sheer panels hang off the sides, to want to fold up like a Japanese origami paper sculpture!   It was a nightmare when the structure was just wired together, but improved to merely nerve-wracking when the first epoxy fillets were in place!

My other minor niggle was that I thought that the instruction manual tended to be written more from the perspective of a kit builder rather than the from-plans builder, but it did not pose any huge problems, just a bit of head-scratching.

Nice craft, though - I hope to launch mine next Tuesday, June 23rd.

My next craft WILL be perfect!   

Wordsmith

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