Should have paid better attention

Should have paid better attention in those engineering classes. Doh! The more I work on this whole 'rolling the boat over' challenge the more I realize I know absolutely nothing about what I'm doing. Trying to wrap my head around the forces that'll be applied to the whole structure and how to design/build it to meet those demands is a bit of a noodle bender.

So I've increased the size of the longitudinal beams (for lack of a better term) that'll I'll actually be tugging on to 2X6's. Screwed & bolted to the lifting frames.

Three of the four corners will have force applied to them at some point in the whole procedure so they'll all be built the same.

1/2' plywood backers on both sides of the beam. U-bolt is 1/2" 316 Stainless Steel with a SWL of over 17,000 lbs.

And on the other side. This is the beam that'll actually do most of the lifting.

I did a test pull with the electric winch just to take a strain on it so I could see how it would react. I noticed a lot of twisting in the 2X6 so I used the ratchet strap to connect it to the beam on the other side of the boat.

I need this beam to lift without twisting. Once I tightened up the ratchet strap it was fine. Originally I was thinking of diagonal bracing from the center of this beam to the rolling frames but the hull sticks out too far. I don't have a Plan B yet if this won't work.

The other side will definitely get some diagonal braces to help keep this beam from bending. It'll have a lot of force applied to it during the whole turning process. This beam will also be the primary point of lift on the second pull to bring the hull upright.

I'll have to climb up on top of the boat day after tomorrow and rig the third beam. Tomorrow is the run to Princess Auto and their 'End of Summer Sale'!  :-)

Standby...

Inching ever closer

More roller frame assembly today. Almost there! I have to buy some more material tomorrow and it'll be done except for the cable rigging etc. That'll require a trip to Princess Auto (Dammit!) :-)....

Overview looking forward. You can see how tight it is in here. There's some stuff I can move but a lot of it has to stay where it is.

I thought I had more bolts but came up just two short. I screwed the crap outta the forward brace as best I could. The boat won't sit long on these so it should be Ok.

Diagonal bracing on the forward frame.

Aft looking forward again. Not a whole lot of room to work with here.

Forward looking aft.

On the inside looking forward. I've started to disassemble some of the strongback framing which we put together just over 3 years ago. That's a nice feeling! :-)

And looking aft.

I was going to use 2X4 plus a 2X2 laminated to it for the longitudinal braces but I don't think they'll be strong enough so I'm going to get some 2X6's for that tomorrow. All of this lumber will be re-purposed once the boat is flipped into a set of stairs up and into the boat! :-)

I'm hoping my friend Peter will be available the first or second week of September for the flip. I can rig the GoPro camera up in one corner with the same angle as the first picture above and record the whole operation as a video. Success or failure, crash & burn or fall down and go boom, I promise I'll publish it without any editing or CGI special effects!

Standby....

Rolling frames continued...

More work on the rolling frames today. The forward frame is coming together now. I used the laser level to mark the vertical 2X6's and trimmed those then added the cross piece.

The backside of the same section.

And the opposite side without the half circle. I think I have 'nuff bolts in it! :-)

Here you can see a 2X4 running horizontally from the aft turning frame to the forward frame. This is just to control the spacing of the frames and keep them from wandering out of position during the lift. There won't be any lifting force applied to this section.

The two parts of the lifting frame that will be lifted on will be made with 2X6's and braced diagonally to the rolling frames to distribute the load. It looks like I'll be using automotive style u-bolts again for the pulling points. They're extremely strong and inexpensive.

It was 95 F in the shed when I quit at about 1:30 this afternoon and probably another 10 F higher up on top of the boat! Where's this Polar Vortex I hear everyone talking about?  ;-)

Standby...

Cat Emergency

Sorry for the delay in posting. We had a cat (four legged furry kind) emergency that had to be dealt with. The Princess (aka Shadow) decided all of a sudden to quit eating. She squirreled herself away in the basement and barfed up pretty much everything she ate or drank for the last three days so it was off to the Vet. Two days later, X-Rays, blood tests & $850 later still no idea what's up. Anyhow that's what I've been dealing with.

Back to the boat. Started to assemble the forward rolling frame. Stbd side

Port side.

Trying to figure out how to tie the two frames together. I have to keep in mind that I'll be pulling the weight of the boat over with these cross bars (for lack of a better term).

Think I'll laminate a 2X2 to a 2X4 as shown and screw them into the frame at the end. I'll cross brace to take the load and transfer it to the middle of the frame.

Think I got 'nuff bolts in it! :-)

All the corners without the half circles are bolted the same. That old bucket of bolts I bought all those years ago are certainly coming in handy. With the price of hardware now a days that'd likely be another $100 just to bolt this thing together.

In order to get the boat as close to level as possible when I flip it I have to keep the bottom (currently on top) of the frames (fore & aft) level with each other. I set my handy dandy laser level on the aft frame and it shows me where I need to trim the forward frames. I'll get to that tomorrow.

Other than nursing a sick cat that's about all the updates I have. Progress is slow but it's still progress none the less.

Thanks for looking in.

Lotta Ponderin' and a lil' workin'

Today was one of those days I pretty much had no idea what I was gonna do first when I walked in the shed. Just picked up a 2X6 and started at it.

First I laid out the two 2X6's that will form the top (right now they're on the bottom) of the rolling frames 12' apart. This gives me a decent starting point on one of the frames near the stern. I'll tie that form into the rolling frame.

You can see the 2X6 on the bottom and one rigged vertically up the side of the hull. I've wrapped part of a felt moving blanked around the edge of the 2X6 to cushion the hull. The plywood half circle is part of the rolling frame. There's one on each side. This is what joins the two 2x6'S together. I won't be gluing them as I eventually have to take them apart to remove the frame later.

A closer look at the corner of the rolling frame with the half circle in place.

And after the 2X6 was trimmed to the radius of the circle.

This should allow the frames to roll nice and easy during the flip. There won't be any sudden transition from one side of the frame to the other so hopefully it'll go over as one fluid motion.

The other side won't roll so it doesn't need a radius. I'll replace the plywood seen here with a chunk of 2X6 screwed securely on both sides.

The forward most rolling frame will be a bit more involved. It doesn't fall on a form so I'll have to build one as part of the frame. It will also get the radius'd corners like the other side. The two frames will be tied together with 2X4's. That'll come later.

This whole thing has been a bit of a puzzle. I can picture it in my head and it's pretty much coming out as I thought it would. Based on some good advice from a fella on the Woodenboat forum I'm going to upgrade the size of the wire on the main lifting winch and increase the capacity of the main pulley block. Thanks Jim.

Afternoon Update:

Managed to get the rest of the aft turning frame pretty much figured out. Port side.

Stbd side.

I've still got some drilling & bolting to do. The plywood brace on the port side will get replaced with 2X6, drilled & bolted. It was 95 degs on the floor of the shed and about 100 on top of the boat! I was melting even with the fans going full blast! I've got enough materials to finish the aft frame and not enough to do the forward one. I'll have to wait about a week & a bit for the ole' pension cheque to arrive before I buy more materials. :-(


Standby....