Bob Cosler has "invented" a roller cleaner, shown above. In his words: "I am showing a device that I made yesterday to remove cured epoxy from the rollers that I am using to remove air bubbles from the epoxy resin/cloth. The 4” roller is shown in front of the soaking container. I was concerned about VOC (volatile organic compounds) emissions using acetone to clean this roller and a similar 6” wide model. I didn’t want to use an open container and allow the acetone to evaporate into the air. So I purchased an 8” pipe nipple which is 1” in diameter. In addition I purchased two end caps, (one steel, the other PVC). I used a 1 3/4” hole saw to drill about 2/3 of the way thru a 2X4 scrap about 10” long. After chiseling out the plug from the hole I attached the steel cap to the nipple (be sure to use pipe dope or Teflon tape to allow tightening the cap very tight), place the nipple (cap down) in the hole; and using a piece of scrap wood to protect the other end and threads, I drove the cap into the 2X4. This creates a stand for the soaking chamber. I chose a drill the size of the roller frame rod and drilled a hole in the side of the PVC cap about ¾ of the way to the top of the cap (see picture). Then using a hack saw I cut a slot in the cap to the hole just drilled. This creates a slot for the roller frame rod. Fill the nipple about 2/3 full and place your roller in it over night and in the morning the epoxy peels off like skin. Poor the acetone into a glass jar or airtight can and reuse it the next time. I’m having a blast (or is it the acetone fumes?)! Bob"

Bob also has made his own rudder tube and the mold for it. In his own words "The pictures above are the rudder tube in the “mold” that I fashioned from a piece of 2” PVC pipe (Yes, the very same pipe from which the propeller tube is made). I sawed the 2” pipe in half lengthwise and it turns out that it is just the right diameter for the rudder tube to cure in and cure very smoothly I might add. I used 6.5 oz fiberglass cloth that is 13” long and 38” wide. The 38” width of the cloth when wrapped around the 1” PVC pipe makes the tube almost a perfect 1½” diameter when soaked with resin. If you laid the tube on a flat surface to cure, it would of course be flat on one side. This “mold” prevents that from happening. Note the red modeling clay in the ends of the rudder tube to prevent intrusion of resin into the inside of the tube. That’s my super mold release film (waxed paper) on the workbench and in the mold."

This is the bottom of the hull of Bob's "Electra". You can see the fiberglass cloth that he has been working with. "This picture shows the boat bottom in its current state with the keel added with two aft fairing strips. The forward fairing strips are only positioned, not screwed and glued. Everything but the side keels and the fairing strips has two layers of cloth and epoxy resin."

This is the starboard section of the "Electra"...."This picture shows the outside of the starboard pieces with a good seam in the middle and all the lines lining up. In the background you can see the 5 gallon containers of epoxy resin (2 of 6) with which I am putting this little darling together. I have coated all of the side pieces (those shown plus the several aft pieces) with a thinned epoxy as a sealer and my next job is to apply cloth to those pieces."

Additional "HINTS" From Bob!

1. I suspended a lot of parts from the ceiling in my garage because I had an issue with having to move the cut parts around. I used a piece of particle board and ropes at the corners with screw eyes in the ceiling. I had the chine logs, rub rails, shelf pieces, forward deck and some other misc pieces suspended in this way and it saved me a bunch of time trying to deal with parts that don't stand up well on there own.

2. I noted the saw horses in the picture on Dan Boucher's page, and while I started out cutting out the bottom and other pieces on saw horses, it does become necessary to establish a level platform on which to build the hull. I scrounged two, 3"X10" manufactured floor joists 18' long off of a local lumber yards junk pile. I wish that I could tell you that they were free but alas good ole American entrepreneurship prevailed and I paid $60 for both. Not bad when you consider these for somewhere around $10.00 per foot.

3. I lucked into a fairing stick as well. I replaced some exterior trim around my house with a product called AZEK. It is an extruded polystyrene product. Very dense and heavy for its size. It comes in long (sort of unmanageable) lengths of 18 or 20 feet I believe. I had ripped a piece about 3/4" wide off one of the long sections of flat trim that is also about 3/4" thick. This made an excellent fairing stick. It bends uniformly throughout its length (as opposed to wood which may be affected by the grain or knots). Another thought is using the pieces that get ripped off the sides of the base of the keel, since these are about 10' long."

Tug Boat Danny's "Valentina", a Perfect 10

Danny, also known as Tugboat Danny, began building his "Valentina" in October, 2007. The above photo shows all of the parts newly coated with resin and ready to build the box keel!! In Danny's words: "Dear Mike and Susie, It is slow because of rounding up all the materisls needed, Here is a picture of all materials cut out and ready to assemble the box keel everything has 2 coats of resin you can share these pictures with the folks if you want to . Sincerely Tug Boat Danny" Danny has also had many trials and tribulations along the way! His newest trial is that he found out the hard way about having a level working surface! He is an expert, though, at tracking down ways to fix problems and share those experiences with all of us!

Danny has completed his box keel! Here is what he has to say about the box keel: "I am gluing the box together as I nail it to insure maximum bond and that each piece of wood is incased in resin, doing everything I can do to keep out water! Good tooling resin and filler costs a lot of money but for the box keel it is worth it. The box keel will take most of the abuse and will be the first to hit rocks, etc. so I think it should be built like a tank. Kurt Wolhuter (Building a 10) suggested I use a piece of white oak in place of doug fir in the nose, which I did. That 2x8x2 thick cost $26.00 so I treat it like gold. You can see it above."

The bottom of Danny's boat, shown above, is coming along!

Tugboat Danny's Helpful Hints

Danny also has some ideas to share with you:

There are several things you may like to share with the folks thinking about building a tug boat...

An assembly table on wheels is a must if one has a small shop and needs to move the boat around a lot as I do...! It wasn't until I was about through with the Box Keel that I realized and checked out the table level and sure enough it was off which made the rest of the box keel off. Now I have the choices that we all have... do I go on and build a boat crooked and live with it? Do I start all over again? Do I work with I have and adjust it to accuracy......?

For me I will make this mistake right rather than settle and then later on settle again,

There are several work stations. Tools get all jumbled up as a lot of work gets done so having several work stations like the measuring station , the hammer section, the air gun station, the fiberglass station, and the sanding station. When all of my tools get disoriented I stop and put my shop back to square one, each station ready for round two and three and so on. A saw horse behind the table saw keeps it from moving. "