TolmanInAthol

Still Here, Still Working On It

2007-10-04T02:12:00.001-07:00

Progress has been really slow...ok honestly it's been hard to measure.

I lost about half of the roof on the house over the winter and as a result I spent most of my down time this summer roofing. Sucks but that's life. Good news is that I've got a little over 4 cords of wood put up and I'm getting ready to get geared up on the boat again.

What I did get done this summer was that I managed to get the keel faired out. I had a couple nasty dips and dives particularly where the forward most scarph came together. I pulled a line down the center of the boat and marked the low spots. Fill, sand, lather, rinse, repeat. At this point I'm just about ready to start glassing the bottom.

Side Project (Lund)

2007-04-13T07:50:00.000-07:00

My 14' Lund that I bought used a few years back had been fitted with a deck from the bow seat forward. The last owner had built it using 3/4 acx, and suprise suprise it didn't hold up.The other two seats were decked by the factory with 3/4 MDO, so in order to stay in the same vein I replaced the bow deck with new one made out of MDO.

At the same time I decided to move my battery back closer to the CG so I built a battery box out of some of the scraps.

Bow Deck:

Hatch Detail:

Battery Box:

Spring Sucks

2007-04-06T14:18:00.000-07:00

Well I wish I could say I had made a ton of progress recently, but I haven't.

Spring planting and other spring related duties have really killed my available shop time.

In the last couple weeks I have gotten most of my "chores" taken care of. I've got a couple remaining and then maybe I can get a whole day to work on the boat. In the mean time I'm picking at it an hour here and hour there.

Right now I'm really struggling with whether or not I should put the UHMW wear strips on that Renn calls for on the fairbody. I HATE working with that SH!T I've still got a scar on my arm from another project using UHMW last year. Nasty crap came off the back side of the table saw and the melting hot plastic stuck to my arm. I'm struggling because if I delete that component I don't have to flatten out the fairbody and add the sacraficial strips for under the UHMW. Dunno, seriously how often I'm going to be beaching this boat.

More On The BHSB

2007-04-06T14:17:00.000-07:00

http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/07/howto/bhsb/index.htm

Feeling like a rockstar...ok, not so much.

Still Sanding

2007-03-06T12:50:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't posted to this blog much but frankly there hasn't been much to show. I've got a fairing coat on the transom, and the port sides everything is smoove as smoove can be, but it's almost not worth taking a picture of. I've gotta get the starboard side faired out and then climb up on the bottom and start working on that. I don't know why, but getting on and off the bottom/top of the hull just isn't very much fun. At least when I'm working on the sides I can sand while standing comfortably, but when working on the bottom I gotta spend all my time bent over humping my sander.

I'm hoping to start glassing the bottom in the next couple of weeks, but like everything else with this project I'm sure that'll move out some. Everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING seems to take me longer than I expect.

Sidebar

2007-01-29T14:07:00.000-08:00

Ok so not really a building post, more of an explanation...

I'm building this boat so I can go fishing in the winter. I already fish pretty much when ever I want when it's warm, but I want a place to sit and stay warm when it's 10 degrees outside. There's a couple lakes around here that just light up when it gets cold.

My Step-Brother made the cover of Fishing and Hunting News

That's him on the left and his buddy Josh on the right. Look at that HAWG! It's a damn MONSTA!

http://www.fishingandhuntingnews.com/washington/

Gotta get more fairing done. As a plus I think sanding is probably pretty good winter time excercise to keep the casting arm up. Well that's my story any way.

Glaring Ommision

2007-01-18T12:47:00.000-08:00

Boy, do I feel like an asshat.

I just realized that I never posted the url for the tolman builders group at Yahoo...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tolmanskiff/

Better late than never I guess.

Any way if anyone is interested in building a Tolman it's a damn good place to hang out and ask questions. Since I'm no longer a road warrior stuck in hotel rooms every night I really don't contribute to the list much these days. Not much interest in getting on computer when I get home as I spend all day sitting in front of one.

Still Fairing

2007-01-18T07:14:00.000-08:00

No sense in posting a picture, frankly it doesn't look like I've made any progress. I'm still fairing. Tedious work but there is an advantage. I don't have to get the shop up to T-shirt temps in order to sand. In fact it's kinda nice to sand in a cold shop, less sweating. I've burned more wood this year than I ever have since the shop was built almost 10 years ago. I think it had something to do with having a whole lot more wood put up. Like money burning a whole in your pocket.

Fairing

2006-12-26T10:17:00.000-08:00

Funny thing, I've been working for two straight weeks on fairing out the port side, and there's almost no way to document my work with a photo. It's little stuff really, divot here, whoop there, dings and imperfections everywhere I look. Some of my scarphs weren't perfect, there were a couple highs and lows in my chines that needed some filling and rework. All that being said the port side is damn near as good as I'm going to get it. Another week at the most and I'm moving over to the other side. The good news is that the starboard side for what ever reason looks to be in way better shape so maybe I can get a handle on it in something less than a month? I hope so because my shoulders are killing me. In the mean time I published my method for making sanding boards here: http://www.instructables.com/id/EFVGU4E9ITEV2Z8W5Y/

Bow Fair

2006-12-13T08:15:00.000-08:00

Before:

After:

Duckworks

2006-12-13T08:07:00.000-08:00

My blog made the cut over at Duckworks...thanks Chuck. Bunch of other builders blogs as well.

http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/07/webwatch/jan/index.htm

Boat porn.

As a result I've gotten some email from a fellow builder alas not a Tolman builder not far from me. You can see his projects here: http://buildingnina.blogspot.com/

Another Perspective

2006-11-28T07:29:00.000-08:00

I had my ladder set up towards the bow for another project. Just couldn't help taking another picture.

Starboard Sides On

2006-11-28T07:13:00.000-08:00

It's a boat!

Ok so it's upside down, and hardly something that you'd want to spend a day on, but it IS a boat. I've been working on this project a little out of order from what Renn Tolman suggests in his book. Mostly because of my A.D.D. At this point all of my sub-assemblies have been used up and combined into a boat. Much sanding, shaping, and glassing remains then it's on to paint. I'm going to try and get this thing rolled over and off the jig some time before it starts warming up, and volunteers are hard to find.

Port Sides Done

2006-11-14T08:24:00.000-08:00

This last weekend I got the rear port panel on. If you are paying attention you will notice that I actually joined the scarph on the boat instead of on the floor. Something about handling a 22' long panel just makes me nervous. As it is dealing with these panels one at a time I'm sweating like a redneck learnin' how to read. After getting the panel glued and screwed into place I've been climbing under the hull and doing the fillets between panels and framing members etc. As you can see I need to take a little cleaning break and move the hull over to the other side of the shop, then it's on to the starboard panels...

One Front Panel On

2006-11-08T09:52:00.000-08:00

I took a couple days off to go deer hunting... Shot a deer 2 hours into the first day. After cutting wrapping and cleaning up, I still had a day off to burn. Soooooo I naturally worked on the boat. Not as if I'm going to go back to my day job when I can lock myself in the cave of solitude.

Anyway I got one of the front panels cut, and mounted. I deviated a bit from what I guess is considered the norm as I faired the chines back until they were on the same plane as the upper shelves (this is the way Sam Devlin recommends doing this). Since I did this I was able to bring the side panel just past the chine flat and grind it down to the same level as the chine. This whole part of the process had me a bit puzzled for a bit, and I decided to do it this way thinking that the panel would end up being easier to fair. I think it worked. The beauty of doing it this way is that side panel eats up any waves in the chine flats' outboard edge. I also avoided using any temorary blocking between the chine and side panels for the glue up. Screws in the stem, station 6 bulkhead, and along the upper shelves were more than sufficient. I did end up using a couple tie wraps aft of the station 6 bulkhead just to make sure the panel stayed tight to the chine.

On to the rear panel.

Bulking Up

2006-11-01T11:27:00.000-08:00

So after a couple months of other projects and waiting for the temps to come down a bit I'm finally back and making progress. I went ahead and put framing in at the Station 6 bulkhead, the rear bulkhead for the pilot house, the drywell, and one in the middle of the fish deck for good measure. At the very least it ought to make hanging the side panels alone a bit easier. I ran a few feet short (because of an inexusable error on my part) of 2x4 LVL, sooooooo if you look really closly at framing on the jig you'll see one of them is sistered up with a plain Jane dimensional 2x4 and the middle chunk of LVL is missing. Side panels coming up...

Cabin and Wheelhouse

2006-06-26T11:28:00.000-07:00

I've been working on this drawing for quite a while and I'm pretty happy with it at this point. So unless something comes up and I change my mind (likely) this is what I want my superstructure to look like.

I apologize for the rendering I know there are people out there who are way better at it than me. I'm pretty good at Autocad, but the rendering function escapes me. Oh well it is what it is.

As for the design itself, one of the biggest obstacles that I have to deal with is the cabin, I really want a nice rounded cuddy, and alas I think the only way I'm going to be able to pull it off is by doing a diagonal strip plank kinda thing. That's probably the one thing that is most likely to change, all comes down to how burned out I am when I get to that stage. The wheelhouse is probably also going to get shortened some too. I'm leaning towards 6' in the cuddy, and another 6' in the wheelhouse, which minus anchor well in the front and drywell in the back leaves me kinda crowded on the fish deck. I've gotta get all that worked out here pretty quick but the overall shape won't be changing much.

Front Panel Laminations

2006-06-26T11:18:00.000-07:00

Renn calls for the front of the hull to be constructed out of two layers of 1/4" plywood because there is just no way to make 1/2" bend this much. The initial layer is scarphed into the rest of the bottom panels. After everything gets glued up to the framing etc then it's time to laminate the second layer of 1/4" plywood onto the outside of the hull.

In order to make sure no air gets trapped between the two layers I drilled a boatload (dang that's fun) of "witness" holes. That a way when I screwed the panel down I got squeeze out through the holes. That is why this panel looks like a leopard.

Because the temperatures in the shop have been in the high 70's for the last several weeks I elected to do this layup one side at a time. Damn fine idea. I can't believe how much faster the epoxy goes off in these temps VS winter time when I fight for 70 degrees.

At this point I've got the holes all filled, and the bottom to chine is filleted/sanded smoove. On to the other side.

The Pay Off

2006-06-05T23:11:00.000-07:00

Bottom panels are now trimmed back and even with the transom. It's moments like this and there have been several that I've started calling pay off moments. One of those times when all that work actually results in something that non-boat people appreciate...even my wife.

More Hot Glue Up Action

2006-06-05T23:06:00.000-07:00

More pics of the bottom panel glue up, this is the stem, nice no?

The Great Glue Up

2006-06-05T22:58:00.000-07:00

Of course I would have to wait until the temperatures here were in the high 60's before I would want to tackle a glue up of this size...sigh. Oh well nothing to do but get it on. I marked the bottom panel where it rested on the stringers, and transom then lifted it and drilled holes every 8" on center. Then I soaked the stringers, transom, stem, and bottom panel with unthickened epoxy. Then came the work. I made a huge batch of thickened epoxy and started slobbering goo in a big fast way. Dropped the bottom panel down climbed on top and set screws through the holes I drilled earlier. Climbed back down and started dealing with the ooze out. In an hour I was done, and it was done. That notched 2x4 that you see screwed to the stringers was to keep the stringers from pushing out to the side when I climbed on top, and to make sure that the distance between the stringers remained consistent. Renn calls for a couple screws sent through the bottom panel to either side of the stringers for the same purpose, but I wanted something more consistent. It worked.

Limber Me Timbers

2006-06-05T22:17:00.000-07:00

I spent a solid week fairing the stem until it I was happy with the fit on the bottom panel, then I spent another solid week fairing the stringers, actually I spent hours on the port side stringer, it fit pretty dang good right off the bat, the starboard side was another matter all together. It took most of a week and 6" of the stringer's over all length before I was happy. Probably would have sufficed as it was, but it at least had to be as good as the other side.......right? All total I lost track of how many times I had the bottom panel off the frame, thank god for my hoist. Once I was happy with the way the stringers fit, I scribed the outside of the transom and cut the extra off, before I glued them in I cut the limbers. I used a 1 1/2 spade bit drilling from the low side of the stringer towards the high side and then squared them up. I'm pretty happy with the results.

Reason For The Rigging

2006-06-05T22:06:00.000-07:00

It took three of us to move the bottom panel safely and genly onto the frame/jig (thanks Chris and this time Pat as well). Knowing that I would have to remove and reset the bottom panel a bunch of times before I was happy with the stringer, stem, and transom fit I needed a smarter not harder solution. So here it is. I've had this overhead hoist in the shop for a few years, it has served me well several times. It worked perfectly for removing and reseting the bottom panel. How did the rest of you do it? Dunno, but my friends can't be relied on at midnight on a Tuesday. This way it's as easy as pushing a button.

Fast Forward

2006-06-05T21:51:00.000-07:00

I'm skipping a few steps here, again if you wan the whole story sorry, my photo documentation is a bit spotty, but there are plenty of other folks out there who have done a better job. At this point I have the upper shelves on the jig, and glued together. I also have the stem fabricated up and glued to the shelves, and the transom is also mounted. A word on the stem, don't feel bad if it takes a couple trys. It took me FOUR!. Second one would have probably done but I over thought it, same goes for number three. Before I messed up the fourth one I went and looked at Steve's page http://www.fishyfish.com/mytolman10.html saved me another bad afternoon. I guess the good news is that the first three made nice firewood and helped keep me warm through the winter. Also note the tie downs, they are my rigging. I rolled my jig underneath my overhead hoist, more on that later.

Phase 2

2006-06-05T21:38:00.000-07:00

Alright the bottom panel is pulled off the jig and it's time to start working on this thing upside down. You can see I've got the bottom panel laying up against the door out of the way and you can also see both of the "upper shelves" propped up against the end wall just to the left of my state's colors. Note to self although moving the bottom panel with one friend is doable, it's not advisable. Thanks Chris, bring Pat with yah next time.

Stringers

2006-06-05T21:30:00.000-07:00

Taking a bit of a step back in time. The very first components I made were the stringers. Not because Renn says so, but because I needed to be able to move the danged things around the shop. Started out as 14" by 1 1/2" by 24'...HEAVY. Figured cutting it in half would make it easier to move, as it turns out it makes it easier by about half. This was a VERY intimidating cut. Take a very expensive piece of wood that was special ordered and rip it in half (exactly in half) at an angle, then come back and rip the ends off at a curve with a gradually increasing angle. Sound like fun? Remember I did this with a worm drive skill saw. Felt real good to have this done.

Transom Gathering Dust

2006-06-05T21:24:00.000-07:00

Poor poor transom. Want's to be a boats back end one day when it grows up.

Bottom Panel Glasses

2006-06-05T21:14:00.000-07:00

Chines and keel taped, entire bottom panel glassed.

Rear Chines

2006-06-05T21:08:00.000-07:00

Rear chines curing. The extra 2x4 material that is clamped in place was an attempt to try and keep the chines flat and true. For the most part it worked but there were still a couple places where they weren't perfect, then again maybe I'm picky.

Chines On

2006-06-05T20:53:00.000-07:00

I'm missing some photos of the bottom panels before the chines went on, I'd apologize but it's really not that significant. If I locate them, I'll just add them out of order. So at this point the the forward halves of the chines are attached.

Empty Shop

2006-06-05T20:49:00.000-07:00

Here is my workspace, empty and as clean as it's every been or most likely ever will be.

The Idea

2006-06-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

First off, I have a boat problem. I've owned at least one boat since the age of seven. Most of my life I've owned more than one. Currently I have 2 aluminum, 1 fiberglass, and this project makes an even 4.

This particular boat is a Tolman Jumbo designed by Renn Tolman http://www.xyz.net/~mgrt/
and is the largest of the three boats he has designed.

Lots of good information here: http://www.fishyfish.com/ as well.

I started working on this boat in November of 2004. At the time I was working out of town 6 days a week and didn't have much time to dedicate to this project. A year ago I started working closer to home and have started making much better progress. Still it is slow going for me because I have to balance work, family, and this project. I end up working alot of late nights after everyone else has gone to bed. Regardless I've had a lot of fun up to this point and have learned a lot about not only wood working/fiberglass/epoxy, but boats in general.

Tolman Construction Blog

2006-06-05T13:15:00.000-07:00

I have previously been posting my progress pictures elsewhere, but because of network issues I'm moving everything over here. I can get to it from everywhere with a lot less hassle.