Well, it has been a big week.
I have my first round of parts ordered from Sykes rowing, A sheet of Okoume plywood and other items have been found and others have been bought.
First the easy one. I am fortunate to live nearby to a Plywood supplier that has consistently surprised me with the quality of their products and the quality of their sales staff. If you're ever looking for plywood and you want something to be the business, I can't offer anyone else but Plywood & Panel in Darra. I've made the decision to use 12mm Okoume on all the ribs of the Racer X(L). I was offered a fair price for this sheet and I still have around 1/2 a sheet left over. At the time of writing the price was $120 per sheet of 2400 by 1200 (7.8' by 3.94'). I only hope you talk to James about it. Good person to know.
I know I will need some 6mm plywood to finish sheeting the internals of the frame but I will cross that bridge when I get to it. I know I won't need a full sheet so I will have to find somewhere that will sell a quarter sheet.
I was also able to talk with Sykes Rowing in Melbourne. I had a good conversation with Wayne and it's clearly obvious he knows his stuff and he has been kind enough to help me. I guess it's a little odd to hear about someone building their own boat. I guess that would take away a bit of their business but at the end of the day, he knows that I will be a repeat customer. I got a pair of new rails (as a kit), axels (200mm) and fittings for an existing seat bogey that I was fortunate to be offered by a member of the Commercial Rowing Club. To the Commercial Club, I am extremely humbled and was happy to be a guest at the club and to see the beautiful boats of some of your members. You have set my build standards extremely high and I will remember this. When the shell is ready to row, I hope you like what you see and how I've been able to rebirth a part that was superfluous to your needs. May your modified big boat slide suit my scull.
Other parts I was able to get from a local specialist stainless steel place here in the burbs of Brisbane. Details are in the cost of my project to date tab. I will probably have to get a few more screws from them but that's my own fault (last-minute change to plans).
I am yet to fully decide on what timber to use in the frame. Only one supplier has gotten back to me. I am being very cautious of my decision because if I use Hoop Pine that's one price and Western Red Cedar is at least double the price of Hoop. Time will reveal the answer.
Now onto what I've done this week. Well, it has been a slow few weeks. I've been fighting an invisible black dog and other external things that meant the dog became unleashed. I think I have some of its actions under control but this will take time.
I had all the jigs 95% finished and was able to move on to crafting the internal frames. This required the sheet of Okoume Plywood. I got some saw horses and traced the jigs onto the plywood. I then cut wide of the lines using a jigsaw.
The reason I took so long creating the jigs was that I'm lucky and have a very good quality router table. I made it myself with a very high-quality router lift plate and a very good AEG router to power it. This is one of my tools and I'm extremely lucky to have it. Do you need this tool to make the Racer X or any of the boats like it? No. You can avoid this entire step if your print the plans at full size and take time with a jigsaw and other tools. A router lift similar to mine is a premium quality tool and it does a rather fine job. It will make a lot of mess and you do need extraction on it. The table has had a few modifications since the below photo but you get the jist.
The router table enabled me to use a pattern bit with a bearing on the bottom(top) of the bit and that used the jig to ride around the plywood and cut it to shape. The flip side is that I spent a long time, a very long time getting the jigs right. The end result was that after all the preparation, the final trim only took an hour or so. the preparation time was much longer probably over 8 hours of work. This said, I'm slow, sometimes exaggerate and a bit of a perfectionist. This process allowed me to fully test my router and table. It means I now know I have a few things to improve in the table but I'm happy and would still use this method in the future.
To trim the plywood you have to attach the jigs to your source material. This is to make sure the pattern and the final component are the same. There are a few ways to attach your jigs. I used pin nails and a super glue method. To be honest I prefer the pin nails but can see why the superglue is a good method.
I already had a Air Compressor and a Pin Nailer. it was super easy for me to use this method and also use my tools to check their condition. I only use them a few times a year and this was one of the reasons I have these tools. The only problem is getting rid of the pin nails after the process. Take your time.
The other way is using superglue and tape.
I don't show the method very well but this trick is great.
The attached video shows it very well. Very good method, way better than double-sided tape. If i was using more expensive timber, I would do this 100% of the time.
This is what I did to cut the ribs.
I will explain a few things but the videos do more to explain.
I needed to drill a hole in the inner portions of the plywood. This was so I could route out the inners of various parts. There are still some areas that I need to cut out but I can use a hole saw next week or the jigsaw again.
a 13mm drill only just made the clearance required.
I then set the router bit to the correct height to ride the pattern and cut the plywood. Take care doing this. Fingers can turn to mince really fast using this tool. Always right to left and listen to the process. if it's not sounding right, it probably isn't right.
There is still a bit more to do to clean it up but nothing a random orbital sander can fix to make it look good prior to gluing. I also need to make the gunwales a little deeper to fit the main adjustment I will make to the overall design but I will explain that thought process later this week.
Smile and be nice to others. Show humility and help someone that needs it. Actions not words.
D
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