BBIII bulkhead ???

C

charlie foulds

Well-known member
I finished stiching the sides to the hull today.(Very Exciting) I was kind of fitting the bulkheads in place(actually playing) and saw that they all seem to be about 1" taller than the sides(very uniform) is this to allow for adjustment and custom curvature of the deck??? Or is something wrong????? Thanks Guys .... I have plenty of pics but I nor my children can figure out how to make them small enough to post,Sorry
 
Charlie,

I don't recall having that problem... however, there are instances where the plans are wrong. I would stop until you hear from a bunch of guys... There are lots of guys who built the BB III, I'll post to get you back to the top.

May want to call Sam Devlin, he's responsive.

A>
 
I finished stiching the sides to the hull today.(Very Exciting) I was kind of fitting the bulkheads in place(actually playing) and saw that they all seem to be about 1" taller than the sides(very uniform) is this to allow for adjustment and custom curvature of the deck??? Or is something wrong????? Thanks Guys .... I have plenty of pics but I nor my children can figure out how to make them small enough to post,Sorry
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Charlie,

Hope some BB3 builders speak up. I'm surprised all bulkheads are off 1" as there was some deviation fit, but not that much or that consistanly in the 2 Devli'sn I built. Could you have been over zelous and planed past the line? Even that should not remove an inch. Lofted to plan (or at least my interpretation of them), the floatation bulkhead on my Broadbill was an inch or 2 too small, so I adjusted to fit at the designated station.
The other bulkheads were WELL within a 1/2" fit. I do not recall any major fit issues on my BB2, other that the boat was about 1-1/2 to 2 inches to long (can not remember exactly, now).

You can recheck the side measurements, but I suspect you are ok. If close to specs, I'd cut down the bulkheads. Did you make "try" bulkheads out of low dollar wood? If so, you can adjust the dimensions for the actual bulkheads, or just plane to fit.

I doubt anything way out of line, and you can probably make any final adjustments w/thickened epoxy and a sander.

Take care and enjoy the build!

-Bill
 
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One other thought- did you use the same measuring insturment for all measurements? If not, I'd check to see if they all give the same measurement.

-Bill
 
I checked the demensions of my side panels and they are all the exact same as the plans state. I called Joel at Devlin, He says it should be no problem. My plans were also missing a demension on the floatation bulkhead. Sam said " I was the first to ever call on this and YES they were missing " I am starting to wonder about my plans. They are hand written ( very crude) Are everyone elses plans like this?? I am going to increase the crown on the boat, similar to what Eric did on his Scaup,I think it looks great that way. So the extra height is not a proble. I am worried about the motor well and how this will effect the boat performance. I am just begining to get a little "freaked"!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for helping out
 
As long as it fits the hull snugly and is above the sides, I see no problems. Usually the way to make them is to use a piece of cheap luan and fit it..then transfer that to the good stuff and cut. All it says to me is, now you can make the decks more crowned if you wish. My plans for my BB2 looked like old blueprints that had been copied a couple hundred times...even showing the wrinkles from the ones that it was copied from. Don't freak out...it will be a great boat.
 
Charlie,

This thread reminds me of the old threads about boat building on this site, that's why I want to keep them in the limelight... you'll recieve a gajillion opinions... even privately. Nonetheless, you have to do what you believe in your gut is right.

Putting more camber in the bow sounds great, but if you ever want to walk on that bow (to get to a marsh bank or dock) solid footing suffers for the dog and you on a rainy or snowy day... plus, the bow (and deck if you have a toe rail) is a great workbench to work your decoys. With camber, the deeks spill over the side.

Sam designs boats for nuts like us who want to build boats. They are not paint-by-the-numbers. If you read the hours that it takes to build a boat on Sam's page - he's right. What isn't said is that you'll spend 2X the time "thinking" "figuring" and "strategizing". That's why Sam's boats are "fun" to build ; )

Each boat is built differently and that is what is cool about the Devlin boats and that is why it attracts groupies. I look forward to seeing how each person builds their boat and what cool design mods are made.

I am modifying my boat as we speak and I am screwing up royally in some places. I hate it, but at the end of the day, the sucker will still float and the pride will backfill all the hours of dealing with screwups and problems.

Hang in there... and post some damned pics please.
 
Charlie - I am going to be putting my sides on tomorrow (Fri). I have made templates out of luan and will dry fit them in and let you know what I get. My plans are the same as yours (missing measurement and all) so we should, in theory, get the same results. I will post pics and show progress.

Speaking of pics...ask/search about how to use Photo Bucket. I don't use it but I have read that you can upload large pics to it and link the pics to your thread somehow. Just a thought. I too would love to see some of your pics.
 
Thanks for all the input guys....Here is what I can think of.... I traced the inside as well as the outside of the batten..add 1/4 and as was suggested the thickness of the hull........add 3/8 and this is almost exactly the 3/4 that I have above the sides. One thing that is good is that the 3/4 is the same on all bulkheads.
 
One other bulkhead question. How do you come up with the demensions of the little side bulkheads? I have been drawing those 3" squares and without additional measurements cant for the life of me figure this one out. Anybody????? Thanks
 
Charlie,

Are you refering to the side deck knees? My BB2 plans have all 4 sided dimensioned, and I recall no issues. I did try several arcs to get the inside line to my liking. You could run a batton to establish the inside top corner if you are missing that dimension--

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When I built my boat I used 1/4 inch hard board to make templates to check the fit before I cut the 3/4 okoume. I don't remember being more than 1/4 inch off on any bulk head. The bow bulkhead was the hardest thing to cut and fit with all those compound angles.

The side knees were made the same way with a template and then each set was custom fitted since the hull angles change some in that distance. I did not rely on the plans for the knees except as a "thumbnail" suggestion.

The only problem with my set of plans was on the setting of the transom. I read the plans as saying 20 inches from the end of the hull when they say 2 feet (20" vs 2'0" and the ' was not visible due to copy issues). This was not discovered until I started to complete the sponsons and the pieces for the motor well were 4 inches too long.
 
Bill, I only have one demension,distance from center and 3" squares. I guess I will call Sam again for the missing demensions, Thanks
 
Charlie,

Not sure what the 3" squares are, unless you have a drawing on top of graph paper. I'm really surprised that you are having these diminsion issues as the plans for both my BB2 and Broadbill were pretty close tolerance wise and definitely complete (now the Gatorboat Bullfrog I built was a different story...)

I'm assuming you do have the deck width and stations for the knees. You could fit the knees with what you have if you know the deck width. The outside knee hight is just the hull height at station, the top knee width is deck width (so it support all the way out) or set by batton (I believe Eric P. prefers to use the batton method to set a "custom" deck width a little wider than plan). The batton would yield the top-inside corner height(careful not to let it sag, or you could go a little higher in the middle of the boat). Using a bevel you could get the angle between the side and hull bottom. Then eyeball the inside bottom corner, and you have it. A little luan and a 1x2 and you could tune to perfecton.

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Thanks for the help Bill, Ill give that a shot. My oldest boy just returned from college so we are heading up to our deer camp in the Catskill Mts to try and get his turkey tags filled. I will be back early monday with a clear head and get back after it again!!!!!
 
Charlie

Why are you adding the plywood thickness to anything? I've seen that mentioned several times and it's just flat out wrong. There is no need to compensate for hull thickenss. Did you already cut out your bulkheads? If so what technique did you use to fit them? Sounds like you are okay with the being high becuase you can trim them when the time comes.

I just pulled a set of BBIII plans and see the 3" squares you are referring to. The exact dimensions are not there. No biggie, you don't need them. I don't think Sam ever intended to provide them. Do it by inspection. Use a bevel gauge, ensure port and starboard symmetry of the side to bottom angle, and cut the things out. Draw the inside curve to your liking and if it were me I'd have them come below the floorboard and notch the floorboard at the point of interestion and glass the crap out of the joint. I've experienced failure at that joint first hand. In that instance the floor wasn't bonded and the ends of the knees was a major stress collection point causing delamination of the hull around the base of the knee. Actually if it were me I'd go with full cutout cockpit bulkheads like I showed you a few weeks ago but at the very least I'd bond the floor and overlap the knees with the floor. You get a ton more strength with almost no more materials and that is a good tradeoff any way you look at it.

Eric
 
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