Finishing the Bottom of the Argie 15

My last post was about making the rudder and daggerboards for the Argie 15. While I was doing that work, Kevin Agee was making good progress on the bottom. He has glassed all of the outside seams, sanded, filled and faired them so that the chines are smooth and fair curves, cut the daggerboard slot and installed the bottom runners and skeg.

This work all needs to be nicely done because the hard chine edges are what defines a hull like this. Unfair and wavy edges with lumps and bumps catch the eye very quickly and also cast odd shadow lines, spoiling the overall look of the finished boat. It is worthwhile taking this work slowly and being very happy with your own work before moving on to the next step.

The tapes have been sanded smooth and the tape edges have been feathered. 

If this boat was to be clear-finished then sanding and feathering the tape edges is about as far as fairing can go before final epoxy coats and varnish are applied. Our boat will be painted, so fairing can be more conventional and more extensive. This photo shows epoxy fairing compound  that has been applied then sanded down to fair it into the surface, making it completely disappear.

A closer view of a chine after fairing. It fills the slight hollow alongside the tape because of the two thicknesses of glass sitting on the surface of the plywood.

Runners glued to bottom. They are being held by temporary screws, assisted by a ratchet strap at the bow.

A sliding bar clamp in the daggerboard slot helps to keep the end of the centre runner in contact while the glue cures.

Sliding bar clamps secure the aft ends of the runners and skeg at the transom. The runners will be trimmed off flush.

Junction of the centre runner with the skeg.

The final coat of epoxy resin before turning the hull back upright for deck finishing.

The next post will likely be about laminating the rubbing strakes to the gunwales and other finishing work on the decks and transom.

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Argie 15 Hull Glued together

The stitch-&-glue boatbuilding method is also known as stitch-&-tape. Our Argie 15 build being done by Kevin Agee has now reached that stage where both of these names can be seen in the process.

The hull skin has been stitched together with electrical ties, with a few copper wire ties at high-load points where the electrical ties are not strong enough to hold the panels close together. In the photo below, the bulkheads have been secured in their correct positions, changing the floppy panels into a hull shell of the proper shape. At this stage it is still somewhat flexible and can still be adjusted to remove any twist that may have occurred when tying the panels together. Get behind the boat and sight over the top of the transom, lining up the tops of the bulkheads with the top of the transom in your sight-line. Any twist will be obvious and must be pulled out before starting on the gluing process. You can see the ties holding the joints together.

The next step is to glue the outside joints of the panels between the ties. For this boat we are using MAS Epoxy products throughout and the glue that we are using is MAS Gluzilla in the 185ml cartridges, applied with a standard caulking gun. The glue comes out pre-mixed from the mixing nozzle and can be applied directly into the V-shaped joints between the panels, filling the joints flush between the ties. In the photo below the ties have been left in place to hold the joints until the epoxy has cured. Epoxy can stretch for days after it has hardened, so don't be in a rush to pull the ties out.

While the epoxy in the joints is curing you can glue the bulkheads in place. This is done with epoxy fillets, which we have chosen to also do with the MAS Gluzilla. It is applied in a large bead on each side along the perimeter of each bulkhead against the hull. They are finished smooth to a cove-shape using a tongue depressor or similar tool. In the photo below, there are two semi-circular cutouts in the bottom edge of the aft bulkhead of the middle seat. There is a matching pair in the forward bulkhead of that seat. These are to take PVC half-pipe drains that bring water from the forward compartment of the cockpit into the aft area where crew can bail it more easily or it can be drained through dinghy self-bailers.

 Next step is to pull out the ties and fibreglass the insides of the joints. The epoxy glue on the outside will hold the joint while the inside of the joint is taped. All of the seams must be taped, taking care to finish neatly against the bulkheads. When the epoxy has set and started to cure you can feather the edges with a small block plane with a very sharp blade set fine. If the epoxy has already cured then it may be better to feather the edges with a small finishing sander.

Close-up of taped seam before feathering the edges

Taped seams in the bow. The centreline seam has first been epoxy-filleted to form a good surface to receive the glass tape.

In areas where the taped seams won't be seen, like inside the seats, they don't have to be feathered but must be sanded smooth and the weave filled with epoxy to give a smooth surface. If you don't do this then there will be rough surfaces and jagged edges that will rip your knuckles when cleaning those places in the completed boat.

When that has all been done, lightly sand all of the internal surfaces of the boat and remove all dust, then apply three coats of low viscosity epoxy. The first coat will soak into the wood to create a good bond. By the third coat you should have a full coating of epoxy that can be sanded smooth to prepare for paint. Try not to leave more than 12 hours between epoxy coats, so that they can bond chemically to each other. If more than 12 hours has passed then lightly sand the epoxy before applying the next coat.

Three coats of epoxy on all inside surfaces.

To see more of this and our other designs, go to our main website, mobile website and Flickr photo albums.

Pulling the Argie 15 Hull Together

Our new Argie 15 is coming along nicely. Kevin Agee is building it in his garage, shared with the Inlet Runner prototype that he built two years ago.

The hull has a bottom panel and two side panels each side. Assembly starts by joining the lower side panels to the bottom panel and to each other at the bow. This is a stitch-&-glue boat, so the panels are joined with plastic electrical ties threaded through paired holes.

The port lower side panel has been joined to the bottom panel. The ties are left a little loose at this stage, to allow fine-tuning when all panels are together.

Both lower side panels have been fitted and the port upper side panel is going on..

Bottom and sides all connected with electrical ties. The lines that are visible along the upper side panels mark where the stringer will be that supports the side seats. At this stage the hull panels are setting the shape of the hull. When the transom and bulkheads are installed they will reshape the hull to the intended shape. The grey patches on the panels are where the panels have been joined into single lengths with jigsaw joints.

Next step is to fit the transom. There may be a bit of excess length on the side panels, some projecting aft of others. Dry-fit the transom with the bottom edge aligned with the end of the bottom panel and the sides aligned for a "best fit" situation. You will need to press the transom down into the hull so that it presses the aft end of the bottom panel into a slight V-shape locally and the corners of the transom fit into the chines (joints between the panels). The hull panels are then marked along the outer face of the transom to show where they must be trimmed to fit flush with the transom.

Dry-fitting the transom into the hull panels, tied in place for marking the panels for trimming to an exact fit, if needed.

Next the transom is removed from the hull and the panels trimmed along the lines that were drawn. Then the transom is fitted back into position and permanently tied with electrical ties. Now is a good time to check the hull, to make sure that it is straight, not twisted out of shape, comparing the two sides of the hull by sighting over the top of the transom. If out-of-true it can be adjusted now, before tightening the ties.

Panels all tied together and tightened once the hull is straight. Some of these ties are copper wire, where it was found that a bit more tension was needed than electrical ties could provide without breaking.

Installing the bulkheads is next, in positions described in the building instructions.

Bulkheads (seat fronts) secured in position. The planks are temporary stiffeners to keep the plywood straight. 

Our Argie 15 is now starting to look like a nice boat. My next update will be bonding the various panels together permanently.

To see more of this and our other designs, visit our Flickr Albums, main website or mobile website.

We are Building an Argie 15

The Argie 15 is our most popular design, with builds to date in the thousands, spread all over the world. I designed this boat 28 years ago but have only once sailed one. That was the prototype on launch day, when we did publicity photos for the Cape Argus newspaper that had commissioned the design. Sailing among the rows of moored boats at False Bay Yacht Club, I remember it as a speedy and nimble sailor that also rowed very easily.

Getting the boat to the water was an interesting experience of its own, showing us just how big this big 3-in-1 dinghy is. We didn't have a trailer to move it from the Fishoek home of the builder, journalist Dave Biggs, to the water. Our friend, single-handed sailor Kate Steward, came to our assistance with her bakkie (South African name for a pickup truck) with a fibreglass canopy. We placed the Argie 15 upside-down on the roof of the canopy. The boat was way too big to carry that way, overhanging the roof all round and obscuring much of the windscreen, with the tip of the bow not much more than a foot above the bonnet. It reminded me of a young boy scout with a brand new hat that he still has to grow into.

Argie 15 prototype on the slipway of False Bay Yacht Club.

Me at the helm and Dave Biggs as crew. The first sail of the first Argie 15, between the moorings of False Bay Yacht Club.

We have never had an Argie 15 exhibited on the Wooden Boat Show but that will soon change. We are building one now and expect to exhibit it at Mystic in June next year. The work is being done by my friend, Kevin Agee, working from one of our CNC kits. I will post progress photos over the next few months, through to launching and sailing the new boat. Here are the first few photos of Kevin's project.

Long hull panels are longer than a sheet of plywood, so two panels are glued together to make the full length. If building from a kit, they have jigsaw joints. If building from plans then scarph joints or taped butt joints are used.

Close-up of jigsaw joint after gluing. Once faired and sanded, it disappears into the finished surface.

Kevin will be showing this boat in the "I Built it Myself" section of the 2017 Wooden Boat Show at Mystic. If you have an Argie 15 or other of our boats that you have built yourself and you live on the USA East Coast, why not bring it to Mystic and show off your handiwork alongside Kevin's boat?

To see more of this and our other designs, go to our main website or mobile website.`