A Steady Stream...

Progress is picking up the pace...

The gunwales have been installed. The inwales and gunwale caps have been scarphed and glued. The first set of inwale spacers will be installed tomorrow. The breasthook and knees are being worked on and should be ready to be installed late tomorrow.

My plan is to have the interior fitted out and be ready to turn the boat over by Sunday afternoon. Once the bottom is up, I can begin prepping (filling and fairing screw holes, trimming the bottom, and taping the chines) the bottom for primer. And once there is a coat or two (or three) of primer on the hull, it can be launched.

Still a lot to do...

Slow But Steady

Tonight I installed the framing and stringer to support the front seat. The installation went pretty smoothly, particularly with the "timber clamps" described in the plans. Describing them is difficult... a picture is worth a thousand words - but the computer is not cooperating.

Tomorrow I need to drive back to Ed's to mill the fourth piece for the inwale - for some reason I only milled 3 pieces to 16mm when I was up there a week ago. I could plane the fourth piece by hand - but I am not confident enough with the plane to size the thickness of a timber. Planing the edge of a plank is no big deal but planing the width of a piece - particularly one so visible as the inwale - is a bit more than I want to try right now.

Thursday I expect to get the center case center seat framing installed.

Rear Seat Framing Installed

The framing and stringers for the rear seat were installed this afternoon.

Did I say stringers (plural)? Yes, I did. I decided to install an access plate in the rear seat to be able to reach/install the rudder gudgeons so the single stringer down the center line wasn't going to work. Two stringers spaced wide enough to accommodate the access plate was a simple solution and didn't involve much work.

Installing the framing along the sides was pretty straight forward. I used the clamp and timber method of holding the framing against the hull while the epoxy sets up. Pretty clever system and it applies a good bit of pressure.

One minor concern is that the framing appears to slope down from BH-4 to the transom. Hopefully, when the seat is installed and the boat is on the water, this will prove to be an illusion. In any event, it is what it is - the framing lines up with the top edge of BH-4 and the top edge edge of the seat support frame glued to the transom - and there isn't a lot to do about it now. It'll be fine.

I took pictures but my computer is acting up and will not let me download pics from the camera to the computer.

The Bottom Glue-Up

In the excitement of having a completed hull I pretty much over-looked describing how the whole process went.

The plan was to glue the bottom on about two hours before my son was due to arrive. This was based on a misreading of the plans.

I got to the shed around 8:30, thinking I had a lot to get ready in order to glue the bottom on by 11:00. The sawhorses were rearranged to better support the hull. Using masking tape (lining up edges), I put reference marks on the hull and bottom so I could be sure to align the bottom. Rereading the plans I noted that the boat should be turned over right after gluing the bottom on which meant I had time to kill. I went home...

Back at the shed, I gathered a collection of planks and boards to use to support and prop up the bottom as the gluing progressed.

My intent was to follow the plan: glue to BH-1, then BH-2, and to each BH in succession. The reality is BH-1 and BH-2 are too close together to do two separate steps in the gluing.

I propped up the forward section of the bottom with a 1x4x6' board, mixed a batch of epoxy and went to work. I "painted" straight epoxy on the chines, stem, BH-1 and BH-2. I then added fillers to thicken the epoxy. I used my veggie-bag method of applying the thickened epoxy and was able to apply a nice uniform thread of thickened epoxy along the chines aft past BH-2. I applied "extra" epoxy on the stem. Removing the prop, I screwed the bottom to the stem and then screwed it to BH-1. I added screws along BH-1 and then screwed the bottom along the chines.

Using 2z4s to prop the bottom off the chines, mixed another batch of straight epoxy, and applied it to BH-3 and the chines back to BH-4. Thickened epoxy followed along with screws to the BH and chines.

Repeated the process back to the transom.

When screwing the bottom to the BHs I missed one screw in each of BH-2, 3 and 4. Those errors were easily fixed.

About 10 minutes after I finished the gluing process, Scoot arrived to help turn the boat over. We walked the boat out of the shed, rolled it over, and set it down.



We rearranged the sawhorses and swept up a bit, took some pics and moved the boat back into the shed.

I mixed up a couple of batches of thickened epoxy to apply fillets between the bottom and the chine logs. I did a section and handed the veggie-bag of epoxy to Scott - and he fitteted a section. Two batches later we were done. Seeing how easily Scott was able to use the veggie-bag added to my impression that the thinner bag from the produce section of the grocery store is a better applicator than the thicker Zip-Loc bags.

I'll outfit the interior and then turn the boat over. The screws need to come out, the holes filled, the hull faired and primed. Hopefully, I can get all that done by February 6.

Time will tell.

It's a BOAT!

I am really pleased to say, I have a BOAT!!!

Gluing the bottom went pretty well this morning. No mishaps or catastrophes - although I did put one screw through the hull side and I missed bulkheads with two screws. All in all, not bad.

About 10 minutes after I finished the third and final section of the bottom, my son arrived. We opened the garage doors and walked the boat out, rolled her over and walked her back inside. We did take a few minutes for the photo op...

Here she is... Karen Ann











Obviously, there is a lot to do. But, boy, oh boy, today marks another milestone and I feel GREAT!

I have a BOAT!

Almost a Boat

Well, I just enjoyed a successful evening fitting the bottom to the hull!

First I wrestled the sawhorses around to provide a more solid platform for the boat. Then I wrestled the bottom panel on top of the hull. I had to put it inside up as the center line was drawn on the outside of the panel... So I get the center line drawn and semi-wrestle the panel over and back on the boat.



I started lining things up and realized there just isn't much overlap in some spots. Then I started playing with it, pushing the bottom further aft... and before too long I have the stern line on the bottom lined up with the transom, and I've got a pretty even overlap throughout the length of the boat. I threw a screw through the bottom into the stem and crawled underneath to check the center lines. BIG grins... the center line on the bottom matched up perfectly with the center lines on the bulkheads! Pretty cool!



Sure is a good thing Mik tells ya to cut 20mm outside the bottom outline. I figured that was going to be way too much but I did draw a line 20mm outside the bottom outline - and then cut a little outside the 20mm line. Good thing.

Tomorrow or Saturday (depends on my son's schedule) I'll glue the bottom and then turn the boat over.

Almost a real boat...

The Stage Is Set

(Note: This post was written on Wednesday, January 13, 2010, and inadvertently saved rather than posted. The error was discovered Thursday, January 14, 2010, and, hopefully, properly corrected.)

Just about everything is ready for the bottom to be fit, aligned and glued to the hull - and a day earlier than I expected, too!

This evening I spent a couple of hours fairing the bulkhead shims and the chines. I could have kept going but I was splitting a pretty fine hair as it was. And I remembered Mik's comments about epoxy can fill gaps of up to 5mm. There are no gaps more than a couple of mm, and I decided to stop before I faired away the entire chine-log...

The center lines are marked on the bulkheads and the bottom.

So, the stage is set... tomorrow could be a dress rehearsal for Friday's real deal.