Some of the bits left over after melting the wheel weights.
Lots of smoke from the charred wood.
Lead poured in the centerboard.
Poured the lead for the keel and centerboard today. Glad to say there were no mishaps and working with molten lead went smoothly. The pictures show that I wore a lot of protection based on the advise of other boat builders but thankfully it proved unnecessary (not that I wouldn't take the same precautions next time). A 20 liter pail of wheel weights from the local tire store was more than enough to pour the 128 pounds of lead needed for the keel and centerboard. It took about 7 or 8 melts and 3 hours to melt the lead in the cast iron humidifier/kettle from the local big box home hardware store. I knew the old turkey fryer would turn out to be useful some day. In fact melting the lead was less stressful than deep frying a turkey in 10 liters of hot oil; and less chance of something catching on fire.
Some of the bits left over after melting the wheel weights.
Lots of smoke from the charred wood.
Lead poured in the centerboard.
9 comments:
Parabéns! Seu trabalho é muito caprichado. Gosto também de construir barcos artesanais. Estou acompanhando aqui do Brasil.
Meu mail: cellostec@terra.com.br
Fernando Barcellos
Dave;
To level out the centerboard I used a electric wood plane. Worked well. The wood plane keeps the lead in larger bit which are easier to cleanup compared to lead dust produced by sanding. This will help keep lead from entering your living space. Please vacuum after, lead is harmful to children.
Regards,
Hendrik
I was working outside so the lead dust wasn't too much of an issue using a sander. I still vacuumed up as I always do after every day of working. I don't know about you but with all the sawing, trimming and tapering of boat parts I can create a lot of saw dust in a single day. I had to trim some lead out of the larger section of the keel behind the centerboard and ended up just using a chisel. The lead is fairly soft and a sander certainly wasn't going to fit into the narrow opening.
Dave
Dave
I used the chisel to remove excess lead in the tight spaces as well.
The amount of dust created to build a boat is incredible and the ability for the dust to enter your home equally so. I try to hand plane as must as possible to help reduce dust levels but once the glass go on you have little option but to sand.
to reduce the sanding I will glass the boat over wet fillets and keep applying epoxy while the old coat is still tacty. This will avoid some sanding but will make the sequence of applying the glass more challenging.
Regards,
Hendrik
From what I have read you can re-coat epoxy within 30 hours without having to sand between coats. I hope this reduces some of the sanding and I also plan on masking off the fillets as shown in these pictures. It looks like it is well worth the extra time required to get nice fillets that require little if any sanding.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35243545@N02/sets/72157613619831460/
Dave
When you apply the glass to wet fillets the lumps and bumps wet into the glass and no sanding is require. This procedure give a stronger joints than the other method as noted in the manual. The wet fillet method is noted in the kayak building manual.
I apply the next coat with out sanding only when tacky or I will sand.
Regards,
Hendrik
I've read a lot about the pros and cons of the wet fillets versus the dry fillets for applying the glass. As a total beginner at fiberglassing I will probably go with the dry method first and see how much sanding of the fillets is required. As my skills progress I will then give the wet method a try.
As always, thanks for your suggestions,
Dave
Dave,
How many lbs. (KG) of lead did you melt and pour at once?
I filled the cast iron kettle full with wheel weights and since it took 7 or 8 melts I must have been pouring 15-20 lbs of lead each time.
Dave
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