Trojan Boat Forum

Holy crap, I have finished everything on the dinghy project, and am ready to put the two halves back together and paint her. Imagine how it harshed my happy when I put the two halves and they do not come together. I mean they are mostly lined up right, they just won't come together in the middle. The two halves mesh at the bow and the stern, but have a 1/4 to 3/8 gap near the middle. I tried shaving off some of the original foam that is between the hulls to no avail. I have tried supporting it on saw horses, upside down and have put piles of rags to support the chines, thinking it was being deformed of it's own weight by sitting on the keel only. Is it possible it warped? Can anyone give some insight?I don't think I can even pull it together to bolt/glue the halves .

Maybe try setting the boat in a bed of sand, then filling the boat 3/4 way with sand. Might settle in a few days. Just a thought!!

Ron

I never done this before but if it was me I would brace the hull real good and fill the inside with water until the gap is closed. If you have holes, maybe put a plastic cover in first.

I think it has busted bulkheads and delaminated stringers plus blisters and herpes! LoL

Back at you FOOFER!

From one of your pics you posted up
Are you sure one of the ballast rocks haven't moved and is causing your middle to not close together properly?
Those are ballast rocks I see, aren't they?
Forgive if I am wrong, just trying to look at all the possibilities
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Silly thought : do you need to shave the foam or reshape somewhere other than where you thought you did??? If the middle won't come together you could be in contact there, OR bow or stern are a bit off. Try a 'chalk' or paint test... put a bunch of chalk line chalk, or wet paint on the inside of the 'bottom' part. Lay the top part in place, then pull it back out and see where the marks transfer. That will tell you if you have a high spot to deal with or if it is warpage.

If it is just warpage, you could try arranging support under the hull in a way to push the 'sagging' area up (ie support the middle and not so much support on the ends), and after putting the interior liner in place, fill it with water. A few days with a few hundred pounds of force pushing down, and the lower support being primarily in the area you want to 'push up', and they might get closer. Of course, that might also warp an other wise good hull all to crap just to fit a buggered liner.

Last option : LOTS of expanding foam in between, and then you just have a really fat rub rail!

No, Torcan, those are not ballast stones they are overgrown herpes bumps!!! I mean foam blobs.

Maniac, that is a great idea, checking with chalk. I will try that right after my Sunday school class and I get back from the gun range this morning.

Loading with water is an idea too, as is trying to support it differently. Thanks guys, will keep ya posted.

This may sound really crazy, but to me if there is a gap and the two sides no longer come together, the liner may have reshaped it's self while being unattached from the bottom, warped, perhaps.
Here's the crazy part, to reshape it back, I would first put it back together as shown in the photos,,,measure the size of the gap. Then take the liner, place it on horses at the very ends, (upside down) Then measure from the floor to the widest point in the center of the liner. Then place a heat blanket over the center section, then place some weight evenly on top of the liner, in the center of it.

You will have to determine the amount of weight, but then turn on the heat blanket and after a few hours, perhaps a day, measure the length again from the floor up to the point you measured before, (mark the spot perhaps the first time you do it), and see if it is less?
It is my thought that heating the liner will allow it to bend and the weight will reshape it.

If you do see movement, leave it as is, until the measured amount of the gap is gone.

This may take some time to accomplish and if it does work, I be ready to attach the two sides very quickly.

Larry

Ok here is my real suggestion...

Get some plexus and average the gap and fill the gap with plexus...they use this material in boat building to fill gaps...the stuff dries and is stronger than the glass on both sides of the gap.

PLEXUS...check it out!

SRD

Man do I feel embarrassed, you guys must be having a real chuckle
Told you I was a noob!!
(slowly backs into a dark corner and hopes this was all a dream)
Live and learn I guess, 53 and still learning
You have to admit though, they do look like smooth river rocks

That plexus should work , Also you could us west system six10 ( Great stuff IMO). That gap in between the 2 hulls could have been there from day 1 , hidden by the rub rail .

http://www.westsystem.com/ss/six10-introduction/

http://www.itwplexus.com/

How about running a couple of big straps with ratchets around the assembled hull (side to side) and tighten it.... will that pull it together? If so you can use that to hold it together as you glue it.

Torcan,

Hey man,,,,they look like rocks to me too, and I'm,,,,,,,well, older.

Larry

The reason I mentioned sand vs water is if any water gets to the foam, it might expand just a tad

Ron

Torcan wrote:Man do I feel embarrassed, you guys must be having a real chuckle
Told you I was a noob!!
(slowly backs into a dark corner and hopes this was all a dream)
Live and learn I guess, 53 and still learning
You have to admit though, they do look like smooth river rocks

Heck you shouldn't have said anything, we thought you were kidding!