Going Sailing

I am going to teach sailing in Baja for about a month. Should be fun but sadly it means there won't be any more progress on the Enigma 460 until the Xmas holidays.

Side Deck Carlins

Fitting 'em was a little tedious but the side deck carlins are in. They look like they belong there so doesn't look like much, but noticeably strengthens the sheer.


Here what they look like from below. (Sorry photo is sideways!) (Deck beam on the left, sheer batten at top, carlin bottom.)

Laminating Deck Carlins & Filleting

I've waited to install the deck carlins because there shape is taken from the installed deck house. I made a template out of scrap plywood to get the shape and am laminating them to the curve out of 2 pieces each.


Pulled the wires and added fillets on the exterior and interior of the house. The interior corners were masked off prior to applying the fillets to keep things neat. Here is some of the exterior filleting.

Deck House is On

The deck house is aligned and tacked on with thickened epoxy. (My wife has changed her assessment of the project from "coffin" to "tug boat.") The house tapers to provide full width at the aft end and accomodation for yuloh storage at deck level forward.

Overhead view. The bracing was used to spread the house sides and the front and back to fit the deck. Still have to fit the side deck carlins now that the shape is established.

Decks Going On

The underside of the aft deck was coated with epoxy, then the sheer and framing buttered with thickened epoxy. Temporary screws into the sheer batten hold the plywood in place while the epoxy sets.


Same process for the foredeck. The underside is coated with epoxy only as far back as the bulkhead. The rest will be coated later when I am finishing up the cabin.


The sheer batten and frames are buttered with thickened epoxy.


The foredeck section is turned over, set in position and strapped down to bend it to its approximate shape. The plywood was cut oversize, so precise fit is not critical. The edges will be trimmed after the epoxy is set.


The foredeck is clamped down with temporary screws into the deck beam and the sheer batten every 6-8 inches. The aft section will be cut away up to the deck beam once the house is fitted.


The side decks are cut out oversize from the remainder of the foredeck sheet and held in place temporarily with screws and a few impromptu braces. They will also be trimmed once the house is fitted.

Bulkhead Hatches

Once the decks are on, access to the forward and aft compartments will be restricted to the hatch openings. Consequently, I am finishing up as much as possible at this point in those soon to be awkward-to-access areas. Final coat of epoxy, reinforcement for the bow eye on the stem, and the fitting of the hatches.

Matt's Enigma hatches are fashioned from cut off tops of screw-top polyethylene plastic buckets. The bucket side is epoxied to the bulkhead early in the building process. Epoxy doesn't stick to this material so the joint is mechanical. In the process of looking for screw-top buckets, I ran across a different style of screw top for a bucket called a Gamma Seal. I thought I would adapt that to the 460 instead of Matt's method. A Gamma Seal is basically a screw top adapter for the more common snap-on lid bucket. Not sure if this is going to be any better than Matt's solution, but I think it will serve.

The basic Gamma Seal lid.

A temporary template was made to hold the bolts in place while the outer ring is filled with thickened epoxy. Mold release is used to keep the template from adhering to the template.

Bolts epoxied into the outer ring. The epoxy makes the ring much more rigid, too.


Outer ring fit to the aft bulkhead.


Nylock nuts secure the ring in place. The bolt holes are very close to the edge of the cutout in the bulkhead. Less than ideal, but I'm going with it at this point. Eventually, I'll epoxy the rings in place and that should provide a secure joint. One might even leave the bolts out, fill the ring with epoxy as above and epoxy that straight to the bulkhead.

The hatch in place with screw-in cover.

Deck Framing

Compound angle cuts, all the clamps I have, and the carlins are going in. The bulkheads were a little bowed, so I am using the carlin installation to set them straight.

The blocking at the deck beam is for the mast partner, and the blocking at the bulkhead is the backing for the foredeck cleat. It's been a little weird putting all this together without permanent fastners, but I am getting the hang of it. Not a single permanent fastner in the boat so far. Temporary screws (and the wires of course) make good clamps occasionally.


Aft carlins complete. Blocking is for the stern cleat.

Working on the 460 Again!

Wow, it's good to be working on the boat again! I received several emails about the lack of progress and I really appreciate the interest and concern. Just got busy over the summer and had to put the project on hold. Anyhow, I have chased most of the spiders out and started where I left off.

Here's the deck house wired up. I took some pains in aligning the panel joints and wanted to preserve that, so I lightly tacked the joints with epoxy. The house still has to be fit to the deck, which will necessitate bending the lower edge. I am hoping I don't have to undo the tack joints to get a good fit. We'll see when we get that far.


The deck beam was sawn to shape out of cedar, then a mahogany cap was glued and clamped to the lower edge. Here is the beam under clamps. Matt suggested this method. Easy to shape, light, and forms an I- beam of sorts once laminated to the deck under the forward edge of the house.


Deck beam tacked in place. The ends will get filleted and tabbed in later. The temporary cross brace holds it in position nicely.



Here is the house set in place on the deckless hull. Pretty homely looking craft at this point, but there is going to more interior space than I thought. I can sit upright athwartship with several inches of clearance overhead (I am 6 ft.)


The blanks for the deck carlins were ripped from a 2" spruce plank.

Getting Ready to Start Deck Framing

Right side up and the cutouts for the bulkhead hatches are made. Temporary forms are back in to keep the hull tweaked to the correct shape until the deck is on.


Cutting out the house. House sides shown here. Windows will be cut out after the house is assembled and taped. I want to get the house tacked together for reference as I lay out the deck framing.

And a Little Tape on the Stem and Stern

6" tape and 3" tape at the bow. 3" tape at the stern (not shown). Also, put a second coat of epoxy on the bottom prior to turning the boat back over.

Cloth Applied to Bottom

Two layers of 10 oz cloth have been applied to the bottom. Topsides look messy at this point but it won't matter after cloth is applied and the hull is faired and finished. To reduce sanding, the drips were brushed &/or squeeged out right away. Drips were knocked down while the epoxy was still soft.


I am using West epoxy and went with 206 slow hardner even though the shop was cold. Temperature in the low 30s this weekend, so I prewarmed the hull with an electric heater from underneath and had the resin & hardner warm before mixing. (I have a heated room adjacent for mixing and use an electric heating pad under the containers.) After the 1st layer was wetted out, I turned the heater under the boat off to extend working time and avoid bubbles.

Preparing to Glass the Bottom

10 oz cloth is cut with a generous lap up the side. The large lap accomodates outside use of the other half of the 4 oz glass used for the interior. The additional strength above the chine won't hurt either. This is going to be a beach boat and needs to be able to cope with that environment with a certain amount of grace when the skipper is lacking in such. A second layer is cut with a slightly larger overlap.

Interior Glassed & Taped

The interior is glassed and taped. I elected to not apply cloth to the bow and stern compartments and instead taped those seams with 6" biaxial tape. It doesn't look as nice but I am thinking the strength will be adequate.


The tape on the interior chine joint disappears pretty well. The interior will get at least one more coat of epoxy.

Fillets & Glassing

Getting ready to apply epoxy fillets to the main cabin. The fillets are masked off since I am thinking of leaving the salon bright (natural wood). Masking the the fillets helps make a tidy job.


The fillets are in and a layer of 10 oz glass has been applied to the bottom. The bulkhead faces already have a layer of 4oz. The interior sides will each get a layer of 4 oz and the a layer of tape will finish the joints.

Stitched, Tacked & Sheered

All stitched up.



After checking alignment, chines and bulkeads are tacked in place with thickened epoxy dispensed via a large syringe. This shows the bow section with a temporary form.


Sheer battens are ripped from Sitka Spruce, then fitted. They are glued and held in place with temporary screws. It might have been better tack the chines after installing the sheer batten .

Stitching Up the Hull

Bow stitched loosely together around the bulkheads.


Stitching toward the stern.

Loosely stitching the chine.

Bending the Forefoot to Shape

Forefoot gets bent to shape.



A temporary form and bulkhead help get the shape right. Joint is tacked with epoxy between the wire stitches and will later be filleted both sides and taped before the ears are trimmed off.

Cutting

Just finished cutting the side panels. Both panels clamped together and cut out at the same time.


The bottom is cut out. The "ears" will facilitate bending the forefoot to shape.

Laying Out Bottom and Sides

Cutting lines, and bulkhead locations are laid out from the plans onto the plywood.

Laying out the foreward end of the bottom panel.

Laying out the transom.