Jersey Girl

Houseboat update, Thursday, January 3, 2019 – The new, lower arc is released from its jig, and I like it. At first, the sides were uneven due to variations in the thickness of the Douglas fir framing lumber I was using. Not only is a two-by-six not two inches thick, it’s not even reliably an inch and a half thick. What’s good enough for a wall stud in a house is not – at first – good enough for a project like this. Also, the sides of the arc were covered with lumpy hardened epoxy that had squeezed out as I tightened the stack of strips with my clamps. Sanding these imperfections down would have been an arduous, time-consuming task. Planing them down with a hand-held jack plane would have been a pain. But the inexpensive thickness planer I bought at Harbor Freight recently did a quick and beautiful job. At first, I was reluctant to try, thinking I might not be able to control the orientation of the piece as I fed it through the unforgiving blades of this tool. So I tried the overly high arch I had made earlier to see what would happen. It worked beautifully, keeping the flat sides perfectly flat as it fed through the machine. I also want to report something else I learned in making this arched roof beam: I knew when I bought the cheap framing lumber that some of the strips I cut from it would have knots, and that some of the knots would go all the way through and the strips would break where the knot was. I decided to try using a broken strip in this stack anyway, sandwiching it between two clear strips as I glued and clamped them together. That also worked perfectly, and the broken strip is broken no more. The thickness planer generates a huge quantity of wood chips. I’m collecting and bagging them for future use in the composting toilet I plan to use in Jersey Girl’s head.

Houseboat update, Friday, January 4, 2019 – Amping up production here, with two roof beams glued up at the same time. I’ve discovered that if I work quickly I can spread glue on all six of the seven strips that comprise one beam, then clamp them all at once before the epoxy begins to catalyze. It’s a great time saver, but I have to work efficiently to do it. If something interrupts me, it’s best to clamp up however many strips I’ve spread glue on, then let that assembly cure before going back to the remaining strips. If I return to the job and release the strips to add more before a full cure has taken place, I run the risk of having partially cured epoxy spring loose, and I am concerned that will prevent a solid cure when I clamp it all back together. I started the first of these two layups yesterday, and was interrupted after I had spread mixed epoxy on four of the six glued surfaces. So I just clamped it all tight to the jig and left it to cure overnight. When I returned to finish the job this morning, there was no springback when I released the clamps to add the two new strips. After I have everything clamped tight, I solve any high-low alignment issues in the strips by whacking them all with a rubber mallet. A few words about epoxy, for those reading this and wondering what it’s all about. Epoxy is a two-part formula consisting of resin and a catalyzing hardener. When it’s mixed in a ratio of two parts resin to one part hardener, a chemical reaction starts, generating heat. If left alone in the mixing cup, it will turn into a hard plastic puck that will have taken on the form of the inside of the cup. If it gets on hands or clothing, it’s just about impossible to remove once it’s cured, so I always use disposable nitrile gloves and wear old work clothing. To prevent the workpiece from sticking permanently to the jig, I cover the contact surface of the jig with transparent package sealing tape – which epoxy won’t stick to. The containers of resin and hardener are equipped with metering pumps that assure an approximation of the correct ratio. I do five pumps of each for one batch, then add enough pulverized wood flour to thicken the mix to a consistency about the same as a creamy salad dressing, which I smear with a disposable brush on the surface to be glued. One of these beams takes a total of 27 pumps each of resin and hardener. I’ve run into some folks who insist that the only way to mix epoxy properly is to measure it out in a graduated plastic cup to assure a two-to-one ratio; others say with great authority that it has to be measured out by weight. While that certainly adds to the mystique of boat building and the impression that mere mortals had best leave this craft to the true experts, it just isn’t true. The supplied pumps are accurate enough to mix epoxy that will cure just fine. The only variable that trips people up is temperature. Epoxy won’t cure at all in temperatures much below 60 degrees F, which is why I have to put the boat into storage for the winter and work on smaller parts inside my heated garage.

Houseboat update, Monday, January 7, 2019 -- Starting to laminate a fresh stack of quarter-inch strips into an arched roof support. Thinking a few steps ahead, it occurs to me that the inside curve of these arches will be a visible design element of the cabin ceiling, constantly on display as evidence of how much I care about aesthetic considerations. I think I care a lot, so that surface will be sanded and finished to a warm amber glow. So it occurs to me that it's easier to sand now, while it's flat, then later, when it's the inside curve of a glued-up laminate. The sanded surface will be stacked against the taped face of the jig with no glue, so it should be quite clean when I release the clamps after the lay-up hardens into its form. I should have thought of this before I produced the first four such arches, but I have nine to go, and "better late than never."

Houseboat update, Thursday, January 10, 2019 – It’s just too cold today to saw quarter-inch strips for Jersey Girl’s roof supports, so I retreated indoors for a little art work. Here's my hot-off-the-easel watercolor, Bass Rocks 2 (14x20 inches), followed by my just-started, third in a series of Hubble-inspired spacescapes, also a 14x20 watercolor.

Houseboat update, Sunday, January 13, 2019 -- Ten more-or-less identical roof supports for Jersey Girl, with one to go. Next step after I laminate the last one will be to coat all their stacked edges with a slightly thickened epoxy mixture, to fill any voids between the glued-up strips of wood. That will be especially important where a loose knot may have caused deformation of the assembly, leaving a large opening. In such cases, I will apply a heavily thickened mixture of epoxy, using wood flour to closely match the color of the surrounding wood. Then, I will sand everything smooth and brush it all with at least two coats of unthickened epoxy, sanding between coats. Finally, I will varnish all but the top surfaces, leaving the epoxy on them exposed so as not to interfere with gluing the roofing planks down later.