Inwales, seat risers, and epoxy clean up...

With the boat finally right-side-up, there's now the fun job of cleaning up various goobers of dried epoxy on the inside of the boat.  Mostly that's done with a heat gun and scraper, but a fair amount of sanding is involved too.  Like the outside, the interior of the boat will be epoxy coated--boats seem more likely to rot from the inside out, from fresh rain water rather than salt water--but I'll hold off on that for now.  First there's the inwales to get in, and then on to the bulkheads.  After those items are glued/screwed in place, I'll coat the whole interior.

In the foreground, the first inwale is being glued/screwed to the boat.  In the background, you can see that the inside of the hull has been cleaned up:  epoxy goobers removed, gaps and dings puttied, and the whole thing sanded.

Another view of the inwale going on.  Lots of clamps.  Those "splotches" on the hull are putty that I've applied to fill various holes and dings.  As you can see, the port side of the hull has been sanded (the splotches look paler because of the sanding) while the starboard side will be done soon.  One thing I'm anxious to do is to cut down the transom to the final shape, but all things in their time.  Right now, the top of the uncut transom, which is dead flat, is an easy place to adjust the boat to make sure it is level side-to-side.  I leveled the boat side-to-side and fore-and-aft at this point, to make the next step easier...

With the inwales in place, I then planed down the top edge  of both the inwales and the seat risers.  I used a level to make sure the top of the riser is level athwartship and well as fore-and-aft in the cockpit area.  Actually, the seat riser has a gentle "S" shape: it slopes downward aft (the future engine well), level amidships for the cockpit area, and it has a slight upward slope forward so that if any water gets under the deck it will flow aft.

Another view.  Not shown is a deck beam mold that I used to set the angle for the top of the inwales.  Unlike the seat risers, the tops of which are level, the inwales actually angle up a bit to match the crown of the deck.  I've got a six-foot-long deck beam mold so I can easily see that angle (I'll try to get a photo of it next time).

Today's final photo shows the deck beams being glued up.  These full-width beams (laminated from Doug fir) will support the foredeck;  simple knees will support the side decks.

That's is to for now, let me know if you have any questions!

Floors and second plank (almost)

Since last time I've gotten the floors in and also installed the second plank...well almost.  I need to 'glass the bottom first, but I went ahead and spiled and cut out the second plank (one of the broadstrakes) just to take a look.

I'm kind of liking this building upside-down thing. Sanding dust and such falls right out of the boat and, except for working on the bottom itself, everything is at a convenient working height. Normally I might quickly plank the boat, flip it over, and finish it off right-side up. But I think I might try installing a few bulkheads and such while the boat is still upside-down.

To fit the floors, I first temporarily clamped them in the correct location across the boat. This makes it easy to mark them for length and the various bevels.  In addition to providing additional stiffness to the bottom, the floors help support the joint between the garboard and the bottom plus they provide convenient beams on which to place the floorboards.

Here's a completed floor, glued and screwed in place.  Note multiple limber holes.

Repeating the same spiling process as for the garboard, I got out the next plank. The plank is left long (the full length of the scarfed plywood) just in case it needs some jiggering fore-and-aft which, in this case, it did not. This is the first of the 1/4"-thick planks--recall that the garboard was 3/8"--and it bends easily into place.  The bottom edge does not have any reverse curve up forward the way the garboard has.   Since I'm happy with the fit on the boat, I go ahead and make a second plank for the other side. 

 I'm spiling the planks so that there is a 1" lap, a bit wider than the more typical 3/4" lap used with 1/4" planking.  I figure it'll add some ruggedness with just a little cost in weight and material.  This plank, which has just been cut, still needs gains cut in, fore and aft, like the garboard.  With the gains done, the lap will "fade" into the stem and transom.

The shortest plank on the boat is the garboard;  the longest is the sheer plank. Note that there's just a little bit of overhang of this plank here at the stern and at the bow.  The plywood that I used to cut out this plank is about 15'10" long:  the length of the two 8ft sheets of plywood minus the 2" scarf.   I'll be scarfing on more plywood to make some of the longer planks, for sure, but I hope the next one won't need it...we'll see.

À bientôt...