So I recently bought a decade-old wooden Alaska hull from a guy out of Minneapolis. The hull was very well made, but one of the drawbacks is that the builder basically customized it to run triple sterns and nothing else. the biggest challenge I'm currently facing are the deck plates in the forward end, and later this week, the stern. the forward section of the hull is for all intents and purposes, closed off with a small tunnel through the ribs acting as a cubbyhole for the CO2 tank and regulator. I'm planning to mount forward sidemounts, as well as make the cubbyhole for the CO2 tank open on the top to facilitate access, mounting, etc. The boat does NOT have a subdeck. he built it with a single 3/8" piece of plywood as the subdeck and deck. the original removable deck plates were held in place by friction and the superstructure. So, my current plan is to open up the deck, and using a router, put about a 3/8" to 1/2" wide by 1/8" deep lip into the current deck to allow me to replace the old deck system with a 1/8" removable deck. Attachment will be made using neodymium magnets. Has anyone done such a project before? Any tips on technique, etc? I'll post pics once my internet gets unthrottled at the end of the week.
beat me to it. also, what router? I have a bit of a tight quarters issue in some spots due to AA platforms and such
Here's some pics of the refit so far. I've used a dremel to cut out the outline of the openings I will be making in the deck, and am working on measuring and lining out the outer perimeter of the router track. I plan to do a 3/8" wide lip 1/8" deep around the deck opening to seat some neodymium magnets. Here's the bow portion. I played with a router a bit ago, so part of the "to be removed" portion has been taken away. Here's the stern. it's super cramped back there right now, and the triple sterns this boat had were integral to the old removable deck so it only had half of a barbette built into the hull. pretty neat technique that I may duplicate at a later time on another hull. Now here's the part where I need some input. the stern wing DP 5" mounts are integral to the hull. like, I'm pretty sure part of the rib below it is in that structure. I don't want to cut it off and then have to do a ton of extra work to put those DP guns back in place. the micrometer's a little jacked in this crappy photo, but the gap between the edge of the hull opening and the side of the DP base is 17/32" Obviously, I can't use a router on that tight spot. So, does anybody have any ideas as to how to put a 3/8" wide by 1/8" deep lip into that spot? the space *can* fit a cutting bit, and it can fit a sanding drum. I am considering using a combination of those two to do the work, but would love to hear your ideas.
The Dude who built that hull believed in strength. Forget the routing. If it was me, I'd do a full overlay deck in 1/16" FG sheet and call it a day.
this was his first build, and he's an engineer for Caterpillar. I think he just looked at it as just another bulldozer, but made out of wood. He gave me copies of his CAD layout and such when I got the hull, as well as some build pics. the hull is almost 90% Baltic Birch, including the fill between the ribs. I had to repair a few cracks in the bow last week, and this is what I found when I sanded them down This thing, if taken care of, could probably keep fighting long after my future children retired. I intend to duplicate this level of sturdiness in future builds--but with more internal space.
Deck work pics. I have the outline of the lip dremeled in, and am going to start routing it out either this weekend or next. I think this will open the deck up enough to allow me to make this boat slightly more annoying than usual for the opposition's main combatants and anyone not paying attention to the giant billboard trying to sneak up on them.
@Beaver and @Kevin P. , do either of you have input on how I should do the deck lip under those 5" DP mounts? I checked the schematic and it does look like they're integral to the rib below them. I'm thinking of doing all of the routing elsewhere on the hull and then hitting those spots with a dremel sanding drum to bring them to spec with the rest. Also, this is the first hull I've messed with that has a curve in the deck. when I go in and install the 1/8 inch deck plates on the bow, should I kerf the deck plate to help it flex to meet the contour of the subdeck lip? I'll eventually move this discussion over to the build page, but figured that these two topics were related and that I might want to knock them out at once to help as a future reference.
I'd say a dremel with sanding drum and use a chisel to clean up the outside edge, or just use a chisel for all of it if you feel confident. It would be faster.
Oh good, I was looking at a nice chisel a bit ago for that. routing is coming along well, the 1/4" bit for the dremel is rock-solid and the passes are coming in really clean
work's going pretty okay so far. I finished taking out the old sections of deck on the bow last night, and will continue work on cleaning it up today. Those aft DP mounts ended up popping off when I was working, so I have a relatively clear deck in the back. I'm going to keep the deck edge under those DP mounts and extend a subdeck lip inwards there because if I went with a full-width deck in that spot, it would be a pain getting it out from under those DP mounts. later, I am going to need to clear out the extra material on those ribs. though I don't really know how. the dremel wand may work with a cutter wheel, but it's a pain to get in there and I would rather not have the cutter hiccup in tight quarters.
So I figured out how to address the aft wing 5" DP mounts with regard to deck clearance: The mounts overhang what I intend to use as a deck width, so if I left them as-is, they would make taking off the aft deck plate a real pain. So I will mount them using a hinge on the outboard side, with rare earth magnets to keep them in place on the inboard side. I figure if I'm going with the most ridiculous hull in the hobby, I might as well add a DeLorean-style mod. I've mocked up the join between the two deck plates and will be taking care of that this weekend once I get the deck lip sanded to tolerance. Sorry about being skimpy on pictures, the internet will be throttled until next saturday, so the one photo I can upload took half hour to do so. Moving on from the deck, I'm trying to find something similar to how Jason had the motors mounted. As you can see, the whole shooting match is blocked in. those four screw holes were for the mount he used, which was basically just a pair of metal straps that screwed in. Not having much luck. I do NOT intend to modify the current setup. Does anyone know where I might acquire such motor retention straps?
