Mini Boat - Eight Post

Both gunwales are now attached.

The next step is to fair the hull.

Hull fairing is a game of patience. Filling and sanding and then filling some more if a smooth finish isn't achieved.

There are many epoxy products available that are all suitable for this process. Fillers of different grades, colours and mixes.

Below are a few pictures of the boat almost ready for painting. 

The gunwales will be masked off and will be picked out with varnish or stain.

The original plan that this is now loosely based on can be found here:

http://flo-mo.weebly.com/one-sheet-boats.html

Mini Boat - Seventh Post

More progress on the mini boat, 

The first Sapele gunwale is being glued in place and two buoyancy tanks have been fitted at the bow and stern. These are filled with expanding foam for added buoyancy in case the boat capsizes.

The gunwale helps give the boat rigidity and structure.

Also added breast hooks (the reinforcing triangles) at the bow and stern to help keep the shape of the boat.

Another sunny day.

The original plan that this is now loosely based on can be found here:

http://flo-mo.weebly.com/one-sheet-boats.html

The Cedar Lid in place

Yesterday we were able to place the Cedar lid in its final resting place.

Now that it is surrounded by grass the cedar colours are really showing up well.

The hills in the distance are Earl's Hill and Pontesford Hill which are marked upon the lid itself.

We currently have an idea to make another of these as a garden table. 

The customer is in the middle of re turfing and building up the ground around where the tank is as it has settled a bit, however we think it looks good already.

Why be building two boats when you can start three mini-canoe

For the last couple of  weeks we have also been working on another plywood build a bit at a time,

A plywood canoe.

The main bulk of this boat is again made from a single sheet of 4mm plywood, and was cut out on the CNC machine.

Plywood laid out on the CNC machine bed.

Starts to cut out the pieces

all pieces of the Canoe

The next step is to clean up the edges of the pieces and then epoxy and tape the panels together.

The masking tape helps to make a neater job of the epoxy.

Nearly done

These longer joined pieces are necessary to be able to make a canoe longer than 8ft.

The epoxy was left to go hard over night and then the tape was removed, then more tape was added as below

This is to make taping the seems when the canoe is all together a much easier and less messy job. In theory anyway. The masking tape is stepped in to accommodate for the epoxy and cloth tape that will be used on the seems.

The design of this canoe is from:

http://flo-mo.weebly.com/one-sheet-boats.html

And is the Little Guide. 

Misty, the Shepherd's hut, delivered

With careful consideration and by observing the social distancing guidelines, we were able to get the Shepherd's hut, Misty, to the Customer.

They will now be able to fit out Misty ready for next season if nothing else and will be able to have ample time testing out how they want to set the shepherd's hut up, install their own bed, and perhaps test it out a couple of times themselves. 

We went around the shepherd's hut with some disinfectant before leaving the site, and left them with instructions to not use the Shepherd's hut for three days. 

Mini boat - sixth post

Both the outer and inner faces of the hull has now been epoxied. Woven fibreglass cloth has been used on the plywood hull inside and out to add strength to the boat and to completely waterproof the plywood. 

The floors and other pieces are being shaped for the boat and we have a feeling that we will be able to get it to row, sail and motor. That is the plan anyway.

This will involve some more pieces than those shown. 

All the hardwood pieces are sapele, 

The original plan that this is now loosely based on can be found here:

http://flo-mo.weebly.com/one-sheet-boats.html

Update on the Cedar Lid

  Just a quick update on the cedar lid,

The Osmo Oil arrived a couple of days ago and I have just applied the second coat to the lid.

It has brought out all the colours in the cedar which is great and I cannot wait to see how it looks surrounded by grass in the customers garden.

Now I just need to wait at least 12 hours before its dry and then arrange to deliver and have it installed it in a safe, social distancing way.

Cedar Trellis

Our neighbour needed cedar trellis to keep kids and dogs from falling off of the wall.

So we obliged with the above.

All that is needed now is for the posts to be cut flush and a top rail to be added.

Thankfully jobs like this are easily done while maintaining social distancing and lets the neighbour have one less worry. 

The mini boat - the fifth post

Decided to add some plywood stem and stern shrouds to the mini boat.

These serve two very important purposes, firstly they reinforce and strengthen the stem and stern, and secondly they make the stem and stern look tidy. Improving the lines and general appearance of the boat.

Then, further removing this build from the original plan, a keel has been added. Keels improve the stability of a boat and also make it easier for the boat to be kept in a forwards direction.

And finally, the outer hull of the boat receives its first coat of epoxy.

The next step is to turn the boat over. 

The original plan that this is now loosely based on can be found here:

http://flo-mo.weebly.com/one-sheet-boats.html

Back to Shepherd's Huts

This shepherd's hut has been built for a customer who placed it earlier in the year. We had all of the materials in ready just before the start of the lock down and have found that having this hut to work on means that it almost feels normal at the moment.

Although we are running down on some materials, we have found that we had had enough to finish this hut and are now practically ready to deliver it.

Like most of our standard huts it has double glazed windows, an engineered oak floor, stable door and is fully insulated all round. It comes with a set of steps, turning axle and A-frame. This one is fitted with 12v electrics; including a leisure battery, LED down lights and an outside lamp. There is a multi fuel stove and a small kitchenette unit as well.

We're hoping that we can get the hut to its resting place sooner rather than later, however we are also aware that precautions need to be taken. We are a father and son, who are practising social distancing while also getting on with some projects to just keep going until we run out of materials. Some of our suppliers seem to be able to send some things out, which is also helping.

The Tricoya Dragon

Below is a welsh dragon silhouette cut from tricoya. It is a rather successful experiment, one which left us with no choice but to make a few more. 

The first one has been painted with primer and then sprayed with a red paint and placed as a finishing touch on the new shed. The others may yet end up in pride of place on the small and standard shepherd's huts that are currently on the drive.

The 'wood' that they are made from is very stable in water, quite strong and carves very well. It does leave a pickled onion taste in the air after sanding according to John, although this doesn't last long.

The dragons themselves would make great additions to many a shed and if you would like one please get in touch.

Another boat post

The boat is looking a lot more like it will float,

Between this and the last post on the boat there have been a few changes.
We removed a slither of plywood from each of the lower deck panels to take some of the stresses out of the plywood, and changed the shape slightly from the original plan.

As it was there was more chance of the boat cracking and causing more issues than becoming a successful build.

So things were changed after first replacing the cable ties with copper wire to see if that would help, we then had a beer, looked at the boat hard and decided altering it slightly was the better option than the box of matches.

The seems have been sealed and taped with epoxy, gluing the pieces together with epoxy tape and epoxy filler.

As the pieces are glued up the stitches are removed.

The plywood will then also pasted with epoxy to make it water tight. This is the next step.

Plans for this boat are from:

http://flo-mo.weebly.com/one-sheet-boats.html

Even more on plywood boats

Cable ties, we failed to recall, have a habit of stretching out when not being watched. Thus we resorted to copper wire for the stitching part of stitch and glue. 

The beauty of copper is that once it is tight it stays that way. 

replacing cable ties with copper wire

Between the tape, the cable ties and the copper wire the boat started to behave as it should. However it was under a lot of stresses and the plywood has threatened to crack in a few places. This is down to using 4mm plywood on a design meant for 3mm.

We had 4mm, we couldn't get hold of the thinner plywood due to the lock down situation.

Plans for this boat are from:
http://flo-mo.weebly.com/one-sheet-boats.html

The Cedar Lid

This is a cedar disc carved with the names of a few hills and the profile of a few of them. It is around 3 feet in diameter and would make a great garden table top. However that is not what it will be used for.

This cedar disc has a section of foam beneath it to help insulate (soundproof) a new septic tank that is in a customers garden. The lid will be near the ground, helping to cover the noises that occasionally come form the tank, while also acting as a pleasant talking point as opposed to the plastic lid that it will be covering.

The cedar is layered and held together by epoxy, and will be finished in Osmo oil once we receive delivery of it. Another delay due to the current situation, however for now it will sit and wait. Much like everything else seems to.

We're not sure when we can go and fit the finished lid, as the delayed delivery makes planning difficult. We're pretty sure that we're okay to deliver it in person and put it down as we do not require any contact with the customer to fit it. They, like many people, aren't in a hurry for it though. It is just one of those things.

More on the plywood boat

In the previous post we were talking about the plywood kits, and to get us back into the building of this kind of boat we selected a single sheet design which relied on a tape and glue method of putting it together.

This is basically using a load of parcel tape, or duct tape, and then once the boat is boat shaped epoxy is used to stick the boat into shape.

It is a method of construction which is meant to leave less filling todo once the boat is made, however it is quite frustrating to watch as the tape peels away and the boat shifts back to being just pieces of plywood again.

So we resorted to a different method, the method that we originally intended to use. Stitch and glue.

For this you need a drill, and cable ties or copper wire.

The below is the boat now that we are using a method of construction that doesn't shift around as much, and is easier to walk away from when things go askew.

The above boat will not be the kit that we offer, this is purely to work out the best way to produce the kit.

Plans for this boat are from:
http://flo-mo.weebly.com/one-sheet-boats.html