Modifying Outer Wall ? - Steve Frederick's Method

[Watercamper]

I've been reading thru the manual. As of page 55, the wall frames have been built and the edges have been routed using the outer wall pattern as a guide. No problem so far. Next, the outer wall pattern is modified by trimming it by the amount of the spar thickness, headliner and any other offsets. This is the part where you are cutting out the blocking that you will use later. Did you guys use a typical router edge guide to do this? I've never used my Porter Cable edge guide on a curve. I played with it a little in the shop and it looks doable - with care. At least if I mess up, the error is in the cast off. If you used another method, I'd like to hear about it.

There is a photo on page 56 that shows a very shallow groove, about 1/8" wide as a guess cut into what I believe to be the pattern. The only way I can figure to do this is using an edge guide. Correct?

Oh - and has anyone thought of just cutting a rabbet in the sandwich wall thereby creating a ledge? You would have to use the edge guide to do it and it would be narrow. It would save from having to create the blocking. Just a thought. Not sure if it would be doable.

Ken

[junocustomteardrops]

It sounds like you are going about it the right way to me, but if I was to offer any advice it would be to not go overboard in your routing. Remember, its better to cut off too little than too much. We use a router on our wall templates the whole way thru, (template on top of your chosen wall wood) by plunging downward with the first bit and letting that bearing ride along the template, allowing the blade to cut the wall out underneath. Usually we do not use th routers again until we perfect the tail-end wall curves to sit flush with the curve of the galley hatch. To do this we stand facing the teardrop wall and come in with our router and second bit sideways, thus causing the router bit blade to span the width of the wall and still be long enough to make bearing contact with the outside of the hatch. when trimming off the excess wood in the tail-end of the teardrop wall you just hold on tight, go slow, and ride that curve as far down toward the floor as desired. You will be surprised how a perfect cut from the 'template stage' starts to steadily drift toward non-perfection with the addition of bulkheads/internal ribs/shelves/and other items as you progress through your build. And as these little hurdles present themselves, you will be glad to have that extra 1/4 inch of wood on your walls because you didn't route it off completely in the beginning.

Hope this helps some, and gl on your build!

The Juno's

[tony.latham]

Ken:

I'm a big fan of Fredrick's build method. I used his manual to construct my 5x10 last summer. You can take a look at my build video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I8uM_U54p4

I'm a big believer with his wall shelf and hatch construction. I think I probably spent more time worrying about the hatch build than I did making it.

Anywho, as usual, I didn't follow his instructions on how he cut out the top ledge of his wall. I "gang cut" four clamped-up 4x10 sheets of 1/4" plywood (that I'd lengthened) I then cut the inner lip off the two interior pieces. After I had the internal framework glued up and attached to the exterior skins, I glued on the interior skins and used them to route off the excess framing to form the ledge. Of course when it came to blocking, I had to cut new stuff -but at least I'd saved the curve I'd cut off my interior walls to use as a pattern.

Right now I'm building a 4x8 for my sis. Again, I'm using Steve's build methods. The exception with this one is that I'm using skeltonized 1/2" plywood for the internal framework instead of 3/4" pine. When I gang-cut the two internal sheets, I cut the top outline twice. The first cut was using my full sized pattern and the second cut was to remove the ledge material and that of course left me with the material I later used for blocking. And of course, having blocking ready to lop off and install went a lot quicker.

I haven't answered your question, have I? But you seem to be a tad bit sharper than me, and are actually reading the manual instead of just staring at the pictures! There were a couple of times I had to ask Steve via email on what to do and he was very helpful with those points. If you don't get the answer fairly quickly on this thread, I'd bump him an email on the subject. He's a helpful guy.

Enjoy your build.

Tony

[kayakdlk]

I bought the Zip bits and collar Steve suggests for the router cuts, but in the end I decided I wasn't confident enough with the router and decided to use my Jig Saw to cut out my headliner shelf. It worked very well, but you have to use new bladed and go slow and stay on the line. After the ledge was cut out I I belt sanded the frame with a finer paper to make it smooth where it needed it. The inside is where you want it smooth as that is where the headliner mates up ideally flush.

When I installed the cut out pieces during my dry fit (no glue, just screws) they were a little too thick since the jig saw is less than the 1/8 spiral bit he suggested with the router, and stuck up above the sides after I installed by headliner. All that meant was I screwed them in place and used a belt sander to make them flush, them removed them, then glued them in place after I glued in the headliner and then mounted my roof 1/8" sheets of Baltic Birch

I had a very small gap between headliner and headliner shelf and I filled it with a matching caulk once my inside was all done.

Good Luck

Dan