As I was away for most of February and March no progress to report for those months but now back home I am trying to spend time every day in the boat shop.
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| Three days into backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon - about as far away from boat shop as one can get! |
The theme seems to be lots of little jobs...
Drilled the pivot holes in the centreboard trunk (with doublers) after careful alignment epoxied in the 3/4" OD X 1/2" ID bronze bushings. Fabricated pivot bolt covers - port to be permanent and starboard to be removable for access to the bolt.
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| My drill press not deep enough for the trunk but neighours just fit |
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| Same for centreboard |
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| Bushings trimmed to length and sides scuffed for grabbing epoxy |
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| 1/2" SS bolt cut to length and inserted |
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| Pivot bolt cover - still needs epoxy sealing |
The centreboard case glued up and after much dry fitting and tab trimming bulkheads four to seven and the cockpit longitudinals were glued into place.
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| A little weigh required to hold parts tight while epoxy sets up |
Mast trunk sealed, assembled, 2" fibreglass cloth added to edges for strength and epoxy fillets applied to inside and base.
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| Big enough clamps? |
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| Inside fillets |
Epoxy fillets applied to bulkheads and longitudinals. Duckworks fillet mixture worked great in conjunction with my modified (1/2" radius and angled) plastic spreader. I just glopped it on with a mixing stick and spread it in on motion.
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| Reenactment on dried fillet |
Cleats glued and screwed to bulkheads.
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| Cleats fitted, counter sinks drilled, glued, clamped and screwed |
Bow bulkhead and transom edges beveled for plank attachment
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| Block plane and sanding block work |
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| Checking the bevel |
Decided to glass the bow and transom while these pieces are horizontal
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| To be knife trimmed when semi set |
Epoxied the mast trunk to bulkhead three
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| such a snug fit, no clamps required |
Dry fit then ;permanent fit stem and bulkhead two and three. Fillets all around.
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| Camera angle makes bulkheads look out of plumb but they are not |
Dry fit the water tank doublers and marked out the drain location. Bronze fitting flange fits perfectly into a 2" holesaw hole and the neck fits perfectly into a 1" one. First drill pilot hole through both doubler and hull with doubler in place. Drill the 2" and 1" with hole saws using the pilot hole so everything lines up.
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| Drilling pilot hole |
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| 2" doubler hole using drill press |
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| Nice |
Glued and filleted the ballast tank doublers.
Beams - cabin and deck. I had some lovely fir 1 x 2 that was intended for rub rails on my last boat and has been in the corner of my garage for the past 15 years. Re-purposed for study beams. Dry fit only because I realized the veranda floor will not fit in with beams in place.
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| Glued a 9 mm plywood spacer for added strength to deck beams |
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| Cabin beams notched to fit |
Foot well dilemma - the plans call for an 18" long foot well and a bulkhead is supplied for this. If the floor is extended back to the bulkhead six the foot well becomes 26". I am leaning towards the longer version for comfort (captain and crew 6'1 and 6'2" respectively) and I think it looks more natural also. I installed the seat and climbed aboard with both versions and confirmed larger seems better for me.
Decided to go with the longer foot well so ripped a bit off the bulkhead so it could be doubled onto bulkhead six. For access and ventilation of this chamber I will be installing a 4" 'pry out' style hatch onto the forward fall of bulkhead.
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| Dry fit |
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| Two sealing coats of epoxy |
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| Installing doubler - what an eclectic clamp collection |
Gluing up the transom doubler (after routing a radius on edges).
