It was designed by Tracy O'Brien. It is O'Brien's V20 design.
Scarphing Plywood
The project begins by joining 8-foot sheets of plywood into longer sheets. The sheets are joined by scarphing and gluing, to form sheets up to 23 feet long. I used a John Henry scarphing jig attached to my Makita 4-3/8-inch power planer. This jig is available at a very fair price from:
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| John Henry Scarphing Jig on Makita Planer |
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| John Henry Scarphing Jig on Makita Planer |
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| Scarphs cut in marine plywood |
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| Marine plywood panels glued with epoxy and clamped |
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| Completed scarph in cheap CDX plywood |
Cutting, Coating and Sanding the Panels
The panels are cut to the proper shape. The plans provide a table of offsets for each panel. The offset points in the tables are marked on the panels and a smooth curve is drawn to connect the offset points. I used a long supple batten strip to trace the smooth curves.
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| Bottom panels cut to shape |
After cutting the panels to shape, each panel is coated with fiberglass set in marine epoxy.
In 1994, non-blushing epoxies were not available. Therefore, after curing, the epoxy surfaces of the panels are sanded to assure good bond during future gluing.
Stitching
Temporary stitches are used to stitch the joints together before gluing. I was amazed as I stitched the panels together, according to the directions, and the boat magically took shape.
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| Bottom V entry |
The wires used for stitching are coated with floor wax. Epoxy does not stick to wax and the wires will be easily pulled later. Use the was-coated wires to stitch 'er up! What was yesterday a bunch of flat panels, is today a 3D boat!!!
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| Chine |
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| Chine and V entry |
Turn the boat over and install a few spreaders to get the hull final shape.
After stitching, the insides of the joints are glued using thickened epoxy to form a fillet that is covered with fiberglass tape set in epoxy.
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| Fillet in V entry |
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| Taping chine and transom |
Those old blushing epoxies required the extra step of sanding after the joints were completed.
Hull Exterior
After the interior joints are complete, exterior hull stuff can be installed, such as, rub-rail, transom cut-out and sheer deck.
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| Installing the rubrail |
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| Sheer deck |
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| Bow point |
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| Original bow eye in Lacy C |
Finishing the Bottom
Turn 'er over again, and install the bottom doubler layer and strip planking.
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| Strip planing the V entry |
Radius and tape the exterior joints.
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| Heavy duty biaxial fiberglass tape on transom and chine exterior joints |
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| Heavy duty biaxial fiberglass tape on keel and chine exterior joints |
Install the sole battens then graphite coat the bottom.
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| Sole battens |
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| Graphite coating |
See my post Put Some Lead in Your Pencil for what I have since learned about adding graphite powder to epoxy.
Final coat of paint on the bottom and flip the boat again.
Interior Work
Fore and aft flotation chambers.
Fuel tanks
Inwhales
Painting and Finish Work
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| System 3 Primer |
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| System 3 LPU topcoat |
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| Handrails |
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| Original 2stroke Johnson outboards have been replaced with 4stroke Hondas |
Cuddy, Helm and Outboards
Some photos...
In the fall of 1996, I converted the
Lady C from a pilothouse to a cuddy cabin with ample dry storage and protection
from the weather. The cuddy cabin was built so that the seat backs could be
rearranged to create space for two people to spend the night comfortably.
