PT boat “Endeavor” in progress
To the passers-by on Tyler Ave (in Port O’Connor), progress on The Endeavor is difficult to notice because of the slow, tedious laminating of the hull; one board at a time. Each plywood board is eight inches wide by eight feet log, 3/8” thick and cut from sheets. Six planks to a sheet, forty sheets to every layer of hull. The work is slow. The first course of plywood is complete; the second well under way. The third has begun. Solving problems is best learned while forging ahead with no timetable, knowing the work can regress to a previous stage. Each successive course goes faster, because the job of “fairing” goes faster. “Fairing” means sanding frames and stringers in order to lay planks to create the desired (boat) lines. Not so easy without plans, and accomplished with the help of a belt sander to reduce the high material and epoxy to add to lower areas. A total of four layers of plywood are planned. Total hull thickness will be 1 1/2” and will require 1,000 planks.
After ply-wooding is complete, a ten-ounce fiberglass cloth is added, saturated in epoxy resin. Some areas will need to be doubled. The final layer of saturated cloth is called “fiberglass”. A wooden skeg is fastened over the finished fiberglass, fastened into the keel. A splash rail is fastened and lifting strakes; then, marine primer is brushed on and the hull painted. The color below the waterline will be black. The enemies of epoxy are the ultra-violet rays of the sun, but actually, any paint will block UV. Lighter colors reflect ultra-violet and darker colors absorb. Marine paints protect the hull from barnacle growth.
At this point, the boat is ready to roll. Four “wheels” will be constructed as aids in the rolling process. They will also be sacrificial in nature to any damages that might occur in rolling. Each “wheel” is made using 2” x 12” boards, three thick, gusseted with 3/4” CDX plywood. After completed, the boat will need to be let down from blocking onto the wheels, the vertical pylons removed, and the boat rolled. Golly, that’s easy to say! The roll date is Christmas, 2013.
Notice the scaffolding in the photo: When fastening the first course of plywood, stringers and frames provided footholds and a place to clamp plywood planking, until the epoxy cures. Now, I stand on the first course, dubious of being able to balance, let alone work, and with no way to clamp the next course. Except for overhead scaffolding, which provides leverage to hold-down the planking, until fastened. In addition, scaffold railings provide safety to keep from falling.
