January / February 2005 Update

The big news this time is that the engine and both fuel tanks are installed. These milestones were reached some months ago, but as usual, I'm just slow to update the pages, and the work itself has gone slower still.

Before we get to the specifics on Puffin, you regular and faithful fans know this website has become a sort of boat-talk blog, so let's get that stuff out of the way. One distraction from building Puffin has been a new acquisition, a Columbia 5.5 Meter boat, Hagar, US 6. This boat was offered for free on the WoodenBoat Forum by a guy who "had too many boats", if you can imagine that! I talked my friend Mort (partner in the ill-fated TOAD adventure) into stepping up for it with me. We made the long trek from Arizona out to Mobile Bay, Alabama in early January with Mort's Dodge dually one-ton pickup and my heavy duty flatbed trailer, which has doubled as a boat hauler several times before. The relocation was uneventful and successful and the boat is currently resting under my boat hoist (picture above) awaiting years worth of 'deferred maintenance' and repairs, altho basically sound, and with new sails, deck gear, etc. The 5.5 is an International Meter class, still active; the boat measures 32'-5" with a beam of 6'-3". Strictly for racing or daysailing. We plan to fix it up and stick it down in Mexico for the International Regattas held twice a year in San Carlos.

While we're talking free boats, the yellow object under the silver tarp (on the small trailer) is a unique boat, a prototype Patrick Ellam design that has never been launched. Pat is a noted sailor, boat designer and author, one of the old British crowd, perhaps best known for his voyage in, and subsequent book on same called Sopranino. This boat is an 18-foot one-person high performance planing craft; as Pat expressed it to me, the concept is a hybrid combining the stand-up sailing of a sailboard (but with a trapeze and harness) and a regular sloop-rigged sailboat--get up on plane, out on the wire, and go like hell. He conceded it would be 'athletic sailing'. The hull is vaguely similar to a Sunfish in proportions but deeper, with a tiny footwell. The boat was designed and built back in 1987, and has been waiting all this time for someone to come along and finish the minor details needed for launching. Pat is getting on in years, and just wanted to find a good home for the boat. Unfortunately, when I got it home I discovered that the 'sealed and watertight' hull had been holding some rain water for many years, and there was extensive rot in the plywood deck and hull in one area. None of this was visible except as some peeling paint and minor delamination of the deck ply until I poked a finger right thru the hull and very foul water came out. I believe it can be repaired without too much fuss and bother, but it's now joined the long list of others crying for help from eight to thirty-three feet. I'll update on these other projects as time goes on--it's all boats!

Another distraction from boat building was the rude intrusion of some 'billable work' into my schedule. Hey, we gotta pay the bills and support the habit somehow! In case I haven't mentioned it previously, I make custom furniture and other odd wooden items of interest (to me anyway) like carved signs. I've been working on a small webpage to cover that aspect of my life, but so far, it's waaaayyyy in the background. Or possibly buried under seven or eight project boats.

On to Puff! In re-reading my last installment, I see I hadn't even painted the hull yet. That is done, three coats of a satin finish 100% acrylic latex house paint above the waterline, a light buff color. No waterline or bootstripe yet. The cabin structure is painted with gloss enamel, in a similar almond or buff color. The sheer strake, rub and toe rails are painted dark green acrylic semi-gloss. The decks remain unfinished of their final coat of epoxy or paint, or both probably. A very good cleaning, some sanding, then a coat of googe rolled on, then paint is 'all' that's needed.

As anticipated, fitting the two fuel tanks was quite a job. Well, the first one took many days, the second only a few hours, once all the figgerin' was done for the first. The first step in the installation was to research and gather all the info I could on 'proper' installation. The manufactureer was little help, other than to confirm what my own investigation turned up, that the primary killer of aluminum tanks is corrosion, and that is brought on by water, under or around the tank, or on top. The tanks need to be installed so that water doesn't sit or collect under them. Since according to the manufacturer the tanks must sit on a shelf of some sort for support (like plywood), the trick is to get them raised up enough for some ventilation. I came across a website by a marine surveyor, and he had a nifty system detailed that involves gluing plastic strips to the tank bottom, effectively making slats for drainage and ventilation. The strips are about 2" wide and 1/4" thick, spaced a few inches apart on the bottom of the tank.

I had some stuff around, polyethelene or similar, and experimented with various goops and glues to stick the plastic to some scrap aluminum. There's not much under the sun that will reliably glue these Tupperware-type plastics. One method mentioned is to 'flame' the plastic lightly 'just so' with a torch and use epoxy. In the end I settled on belt sanding the plastic with 24 grit, cleaning both tanks and strips very well, and using PL Premuim construction adhesive. One tank with strips attached is shown (standing on end) at right. As an aside, I found fiber-reinforced roofing cement, the thick stuff (Henry's), stuck very well; but I was concerned about any fuel spills (or heat) softening the stuff, and it's messy. The tar stuck the plastic to the aluminum as well as the PL tho. I'm sure the strips could be pried off the tanks with great effort, but the tanks themselves are bolted down and there's no real movement to loosen the strips. They are not glued to the plywood shelf the tank sits on, to allow any minute movement due to tank expansion and contraction.

The rest was just cut 'n' fit, cut 'n' fit, in and out of the boat a gazillion times, first to install some stringers to support the ply shelves, then the shelves, then the tanks. To start at the beginning, in the pic (left) we're looking at the area where the tank will go. For reference, we're looking toward the starboard side, under the cockpit sole. Aft is to the right, forward is left; I'm standing on top of the engine area mid-cockpit. The bulkhead being cut was to be the aft end of the built-in fuel tank when I was contemplating that. In other words, the Makita recip saw is 'inside' the proposed integral tank. The aluminum tanks are longer than this space, so I had to cut the bulkhead away, leaving enough to act as a cradle for the tank and support for the shelf. Note the glossy gray bilge paint. The chine log is clearly visible above the saw running left and right--this works out to be about 2" x 4" as we see it.

The shelves are 3/4" marine ply, the same 13-ply BS 1088 Okoume used elsewhere in the boat. Of course they got at least three coats of epoxy all over, with special attention to the edges. Ventilation and drainage between the shelf and hull are provided for. The shelves have a series of 1" holes (seen at right, looking forward) drilled such that they are between the strips to provide ventilation and drainage between the tank and shelf as well. Each little hole's edges were sealed with epoxy--all very fussy, but I don't ever want to have to tear any of this out due to rot.

The cut-away bulkhead can be seen mid-picture, now supporting the shelf, plus it provides lateral support against tank movement. The white pipe on the upper right is PVC conduit for wiring to the stern of the boat. The oval hole in the portion of bulkhead below the pipe is for ventilation. At the top of the pic, the 4" round hole in the main bulkhead provides access from the cabin to tighten the two fasteners that hold the forward end of the tank to the shelf. The cleat supporting the forward end of the shelf to the main bulkhead is visible. At the bottom of the pic, the aft two studs are visible and under the aft studs is a hard-to-see shelf support epoxied to the shelf. The studs are 1/4" stainless bolts epoxied in from the underside of the shelf. The tank has two welded flanges for mounting, and they drop over the four fixed studs, then washers and stainless Nylocks complete the tie-down. At this point, the tank was ready to drop in. As I mentioned before, the tanks barely fit in the available space. There's about 1/2" of space between the tank top and cockpit sole. So the tanks themselves fit, it's the plumbing fittings on the top that don't. The plumbing required that I cut about a foot-square hole in the sole over that area of the tanks, as the pic to the left shows (sole is lifted to show tank). I'll build a box over each and it will serve as a step and seat, probably even allow some storage.