First I found my old tyre pressure guage..cool.. I can check the trailer tyres..then I found my sander and a packet ,or two of discs..and then I seem to have lost my marbles..again! Its like some sort of wierd therapy,
Rebel Without a Clew, 1770
cheers Roy.

Hi Roy,

Hope you find your marbles. Losing things drives me crazy.

The main problem is that the season starts kind of now and the bathroom and toilet renovations had their hand up first so the boat went on to the back burner.....working some weekends does'nt exactly help the boat program timetable either, anyway, we have undercoat/primer on and the hulls are glossed.Decks still to do. The main thing is that Billie [Golden Retreiver] is happy because we are spending quality time together...me swearing at the sanding/painting while he barks/ socialises with everyone who walks past...preferably with a dog! For the technically minded..I am using Norglass single pack Polyurethane precoat and topcoat, works well with a ply boat, and Billie is a 3 year old male golden retreiver with a talent for spilling paint trays and shaking hair onto fresh topcoat,
Cheers,
Roy,
Rebel Without a Clew 1770

Since the boat was apart I thought a "wheel alignment" was in order as there was some elongation of the beam bolt holes. The holes have been filled with epoxy and redrilled working from the centreline of the beams and centreline of the hull beam trenches. The front beam and back beam are slightly different in length as are the width of the front and back beam trenches, but when you divide the length of the beams by 2 less the half trench width the measurement is the same for both beams, which is a centreline through the beams from bow to stern. If your hulls are symmetrical you can measure "in to out" as a double check to see if your hulls are parallel, mine measure 1795 which is a centreline to centreline measurement for this boat.
Cheers,
Roy 1770 Rebel Without a Clew

Thanks for sharing your project.

I am about to repaint my Arafura Cadet with Norglass.

How did you apply the topcoats?

Hi Matthew,
I tried a couple of types of small rollers, close cell foam and a small nap 4mm "urethane" roller, results were similar and probably as good as you will get using a single pack polyurethane and roller/brush finish [spraying will give a smoother finish] I don't have spray equipment. Both Norglass/International state that prep is 90% of your painting time,yup, your undercoat/primer can't be too smooth as the topcoat will highlight any blemishes. The can states up to 5% painting thinners to help it flow, the website says 3%, I did get some tiny bubbles so maybe mine had a bit too much thinners, plus I had a warm [35C] weekend when topcoating,
Hope this helps,
Roy.

Typically, when you want a nice calm day to re assemble the platform it blows its guts out! Tied the hulls onto the beach wheels to stop them blowing away! On this setup the beam bolts go through the beams/hulls with SS washers,nuts underneath. The back ones are easy enough but I always seem to get my arm stuck in the inspection hatch while trying to get the inner beam bolt, awkward! Being on the front lawn this is the obvious moment for strollers to ask interesting questions which I try to answer without swearing too much........not overly successful!
Cheers,
Roy , 1770 Rebel Without a Clew
There must be a better method..captive nuts with Allen headed bolts?

Hi Roy,

We have two plywood boats, and on the rear beams the bolts come up from the bottom and the nuts are inside the beam. (Can't have bolt heads on the top of the rear beam because of the traveller track).

Having nuts inside the beam is problematic as the inside ones are almost impossible to hold with a spanner. So I welded nuts onto pieces of square 3mm ss so that the nuts can't turn inside the beam. I also ground the ends of the bolts to a point, so as to make it easy to locate the bolts into the nuts.

The bolts on the rear beam of 1434 had 1" square Aluminium washers under the heads of them, but years of tightening had caused the washers to crush into the timber. (No doubt the holes in the timber are also elongated, like yours.) So I replaced the 1" square Al washers with large rectangular 3mm ss washers, (about 40mm x 75mm) so as to spread the load on the timber, and did them up really tight. I suppose I should fix up the elongated holes like you did, but maybe I won't.

Regards,
Greg.

PS If you are having trouble getting you arm stuck in the hatches, try using a lubricant.

I was able to get the beam bolts to go though to the top of the beam and still having the traveller track span the width of the beam by carefully routing a small section out of the bottom of the track (harken track) so that the track can sit over the top of the bolt heads. It means that you need to remove the traveller track to tighten the bolts, but it may be a stronger way of mounting the beam. If you do it this way, a piece of SS tube for the bolts to go through between the top and bottom of the alu beam stops the alu beam being crushed when you tighten the bolts.

OK, mine has square tube between the top and bottom of the front and rear beams, the rear inners from the bottom of the beam only and is accessible with a Stanley screwdriver + ring spanner, this allows for a full width traveller plus the outer rear bolt heads+ rubber stop limit how far the traveller can run. Everyone has their own take on how the beams should be mounted, I like the idea of countersunk allen heads flush with the top beams into captive nuts in the hulls,
Cheers,
Roy

Taipans all use a cap screw on the inside bolt with a hole drilled right through the track for access. So it only bears on the lower part of the back beam.

I seem to have inadvertently added some weight to the platform, while fitting the steering gear to the transoms the 11mm socket I was using caught the lip of the inspection hatch, separated from the extension and rolled away out of sight! Bugger! Wherever it is it refuses to roll back to the transoms......I shall have to rely on a lumpy day on the water to dislodge it,
Cheers,
Roy, Rebel Without a Clew, 1770