So far the boat has been put together with PVA glue, various mixtures of epoxy and sheets of fiberglass. Today I pulled out the drill and screws!
During the week I snuck in a hour or so of filing, to trim the edges of the decking so that they are flush with the sides of the hull. On Saturday there finally was a break in the rain (got to love winter) and I took the hull on the drive to smooth the edges with the orbital sander, and prepare the hull to glue on the gunwales. To be able to access the area I needed to sand, I had to shorten the arms of the cradle she’s resting in. To do this I had to take the whole hull off and lay it on the grass. This was a special moment for me as it was kind of a proof of concept, that I could lift and maneuver the whole hull on my own. Then it was into the garage again and time to be social with friends that had come over to visit.
Later in the afternoon, I spent a quiet hour selecting and cutting the wood to use for the gunwales, then back to the kitchen to cook dinner.. Nachos!
Sunday and it’s back to gluing and clamping. I mixed up the glue and attached the port gunwale. Using clamps for the straight middle and screws in the curved bow and stern. I counter sunk the screw heads and covered them in epoxy, so that even though they are zinc coated, water won’t get to them. Also when the area is painted you won’t see them.
Since I had some glue left over, I filleted the last bulkhead and glued in the access port.
So end of week twenty and we have this:
