The last couple of weeks have seen lots of progress with the boat, culminating in rolling her over this afternoon so that I can fair and fibreglass the hull, and paint the bottom as well. The trailer won't arrive for another month, so I've got plenty of time...

 

With the cabin beams glued in place, I marked how much to remove from the beams to line up with the hanging knees. Then it was just a matter of planing and rasping the beams until everything looked right . Once I was sure that my planing and rasping wasn't going to get shavings and dust everywhere, I applied the third coat of epoxy to the cabin top, using fast hardener, and then brushed to remove any bubbles. Then it was back to finishing off the cabin beams, eyeballing them to make sure that everything was true. A final touchup of the edges, and then it was time to glue up the beams and knees. The thickened epoxy was poured / scraped into a ziplock sandwich bag supported in another plastic cup. A corner of the ziplock bag is snipped off, letting me squeeze out the epoxy like a piping bag. I taped up the interior with plastic to prevent any drops of epoxy landing on the already coated areas.

I had pre-drilled holes fore and aft, and left the screws through the cabin top to assist in proper placement. Kirsty helped with this, as otherwise I would have had glue everywhere. I had miscut the notch on the port side of the cabin top, so I had to insert a filler to replace the missing plywood. Weights were added, and then the sides were screwed down. I should have added weights to the centre first.

I used my router, with a flush trim bit, to cut out the companionway and most of the forward hatch before pressing the record button. The aft edge of the forward hatch doesn't line up with one of the knees, so it had to be cut with a saw rather than the router.

All of the screws that had held down the cabin top were removed.

I've dry fitted the rubrail backing stringers in the cockpit, and the lower cockpit coaming stringers. The rubrail backing stringers for the cabin have been cut and shaped. They have now been dry fitted as well, and removed. Three coats of epoxy will be applied before final fitting.

The edge of the cabin top was cut down to meet the sheer plank. On the port side I had a lucky escape, when the router's flush trim bit failed and the roller came off. Fortunately, it didn't cut into the sheer plank. The angle of the cabin roof meant that the flush trim bit didn't take off all of the excess ply in the roof, so I used a plane and a rotary sander to finish off the edges. Now that the cabin roof has been glued on, the excess lengths of the inwale spars could be cut off.

The coaming stringer was dry fitted and then glued in place. The recommendation of a kerf cut through the tight curve worked well. When gluing it in place, I filled the kerf cut with thickened epoxy, and added more from ouside when it was screwed in place.

The cockpit's rubrail backing stringers were coated in clear epoxy, and then thickened epoxy was added before gluding in place. Once they were fixed in place, I added extra screws to pull the stringers in tightly against the sheer strakes.

I decided to use smaller guage screws in the hinges of the bunk lockers. so I filled the existing holes with thickened epoxy, and drilled them again at the smaller diameter

I applied three coats of epoxy to the rubrail backing stringers before installing them. The tape stopped them being glued to the strips keeping them above the plastic.

The battery box lid has had timber strips added around the edges. This will let me screw a hinge along one edge. I used nails through the timber and slightly into the ply, stopping the timber strips from moving around. Keeping the pieces together let me cover them all with epoxy quickly and thoroughly. I labeled the back of each pieces so that I would be able to easily identify them when it was time to glue them into the boat. Once coated, the pieces were individually brushed to remove any runs in the epoxy. The timber strips for the battery box were glued with the epoxy left over from the rubrail backing stringers, thickend with adhesive filler. The nails were tapped in, and then clamps were added, to give good glue contact. The squeeze-out was removed immediately. Much simpler than having to sand it off later!

The cockpit seat edges and hatches were run over with a flush trim router bit to get rid of any rough edges.

The bottom stringers for the cockpit seats were dry fitted. The bottom stringers were then glued into place and the excess glue removed.

The seat stringers on the cabin bulkhead were also glued in to place.

While epoxying the stringers into place, the stringer had to be held in tension, to follow the curve etched into the seat top. More screws were added, to ensure a fair curve along the entire length.

A second coat was applied to the rubrail backing stringers.

The lids of the lockers under the bunks were bolted to the stainless steel hinges.

The temporary screws holding the rubrail backing stringers and the lower seat stringers were removed. I had to use my hot knife to soften the epoxy around the screws.

The eye straps for the shock cord to secure the end caps were also removed.

The seat backs are shaped and dry fitted. A few passes with a plane and file, and then another test, and then repeat until a good fit is achieved.

The epoxy-coated panels in the cabin had to be sanded where the rubrail backing stringers were going to be glued.

The rubrail backing stringers for the anchor well got one last coat of epoxy. So did the turn buttons for the hatches.

Thickened epoxy was piped onto the rubrail backing stringers prior to fitting. The backing stringers were screwed into place. Once they were all installed, the centre screws were taken out, and inserted from outside the cabin, to pull the stringers in tighter against the hull walls.

Extra scuppers were cut into the seat backs, ready for the additional bulkhead that will be installed aft of the seat back opening.

The seat backs were dry fitted, ready for installation of the top panels.

The stringers along the sheer strakes were planed to let the top panels land properly. Where a plane wouldn't work, a spokeshave was used instead.

The precut top panels didn't fit properly, so I had to cut pieces to add to the foreward end of both panels.

I taped the top edge of the sheer strakes, and the cabin panels, to ensure that they wouldn't be glued to the top seat panel.

The top edge of the seat back was coated with unthickened epoxy, as was the inside edge of the top panel. Thickened epoxy was then applied to the inside edge of the top panel, and then they were glued to the top of the seat panels. Screws held the top panel onto the stringer along the sheer strake. Nails through the top panel, into the plies of the seat back, kept the panel aligned while the epoxy cured.

Finally, the rubrail backing stringers were glued into the anchor well.

In the morning, the screws were removed from the cockpit coamings.

Before taking the coamings out of the boat, I took measurements for the bulkheads that will be installed just aft of the opening.

The temporary nails were pulled out of the coamings, and the rough spots taken off the epoxy that had squeezed out.

The ply around the joins were coated in thin epoxy, and then a bead of thickened epoxy was applied, and shaped into a fillet.

The coaming bulkheads were dry fitted, and a few tweaks made to dimensions.

A piano hinge was fitted to the battery box lid. The timber clamped across the lid prevented the hinge from being installed too high. The lid was then fitted to the box. It opens forward, as I couldn't screw the hinge into the ply behind the box, as that is the top of the water ballast tank.

The bilge pump is going to be set up in the battery box, so I've opened a drain hole into the box. It seemed to be the best place to install the pump.

Screw holes in the cockpit stringers were filled with thickened epoxy.

Once the fillets in the coaming were firm I added fibreglass tape along them.

I keep my fibreglass tape is a plastic box. As I use the tape I measure how much I've cut, and then write on the box how much is left.

The fillets and plywood were wet out with unthickened epoxy, and the tape was then fitted over the fillet. More epoxy was brushed onto the tape to wet it out fully, and to make sure that there were no bubbles. The remaining epoxy was rolled and brushed onto the inside surfaces of the coamings.

In preparation for more hole filling tomorrow, the temporary screws in the rubrail backing stringers were taken out after first heating them.

A second coat of expoxy was added to the cockpit seat coamings. Edges were rolled as well, to seal them properly.

The screw holes in the rubrail backing stringers were filled from inside as well as outside.

With some thickened epoxy left over, it was time to start filling more of the screw holes in the hull.

Once the coaming is installed, it won't be possible to epoxy coat the sheer strake or the back of the seat top panels, so this needs to be done now.

The coaming bulkheads need three coats of epoxy as well. I've rested each bulkhead on three very thin nails.

More holes in the upper chine were filled. The boat is starting to look like it has a very bad case of pimples!

Third and final coat on the coamings.

Second coat on the sheer strakes and the outer sections of the seat tops.

Final coat on the cockpit sheer strakes and outer edge of cockpit seats.

The eye straps are reinstalled. These will be the anchor points for the shock cords holding the coaming caps in place.

The aft locker hatch has been dry fitted. The hinge screws have been drilled, and temporarily installed.

I won't be adding the seal around the hatch until the cockpit has been epoxy coated.

Checking to see that the coaming bulkheads are not stopping the coamings fitting properly, prior to gluing them in place.

A little bit needs to be planed off the inside edge of both bulkheads.

The coamings are glued in place. The stringers are first coated in unthickened epoxy, and then thickened epoxy is piped along the stringers.

Tbe epoxy is mixed, and then the filler is added. The adhesive filler is supplemented with wood flour collected during the previous build.

After mixing the epoxy and adding the filler, I transfer the glue to a ziplock bag, and cut a corner off, to pipe the glue along the joins.

Once in place, the coaming is screwed to the stringers to create a good glue joint.

The squeeze-out is turned into a rounded fillet, and the excess is removed.

The remaining thickened epoxy was used to fill any gaps in the join of the coaming to the sheer strake.

The aft hatch was coated with clear epoxy, as was the battery box lid and the reinforced floor panel.

One of the pieces cut out of the cabin roof was cut down to fit as a reinforcement of the battery box lid.

The bilge pump hose was fitted through the bridge deck, and through a couple of the lockers under the starboard bunk, and then into the battery box.

All of the screws in the coaming were removed. The longer, and heavier gauge, screws all needed to be heated first.

I started sanding off the filled screw holes and the edges of the coaming and chines.

All of the screw holes in the coaming had to be filled. The holes were first coated in clear epoxy, and then filled with thickened epoxy.

The transom and the tops of the coamings and the the cabin roof edges were also sanded.

The upper section of the coaming seat backs could be sanded using the orbital sander, but the lower edge had to be done by hand.

The fillet along the bottom edge of the coaming was cleaned up.

The top inside edge was rounded over using the router, and then hand sanded.

Once the edges were rounded over and smooth, fibreglass cloth could be draped over the coaming, and epoxied.

I brushed the epoxy on, rather than using a spatula, as I wanted to limit splashes and runs.

The excess cloth was trimmed off by cutting along the wetted out cloth with a Stanley knife.

I will remove the fibreglass cloth covering the storage area and the scuppers once the epoxy has cured and the cloth has hardened.

After removing a section of cloth, I used the brush to make sure that the remaining cloth stayed in contact with the plywood.

The wetted out cloth was lightly brushed to remove any bubbles that came to the surface.

A final run along the fillet, to ensure that the cloth was in contact all the way along.

Sunday morning, before going to the Wooden Boat Association sailing day, I did a second coat of the coamings, this time with a roller and brush.

Later in the afternoon, after the sailing day, I did a third coat.

My technique for cleaning epoxy brushes has changed a bit.

I now push the brush against the bottom of each jar 100 times, starting with jar 1, which has the acetone with the most epoxy in it. Jar 2 has less epoxy in the acetone, as most has been removed in jar 1. Jar 3 has even less epoxy in the acetone, resulting in a pretty clean brush that can be used over and over again. Eventually the acetone in jar 1 gets pretty sludgy, so it gets tipped into an open acetone bottle to evaporate. Fresh acetone is added to the jar, which now becomes the new jar 3, with the old jar 2 becoming the new jar 1, and so on. Most of the remaining acetone soaks into the paper towel. I now squeeze the brush to get even more out. A double square of paper removes almost all of the acetone.

It was time to lift the boat off the cradle. Chain blocks fitted to the roof beam lifted the boat and then the cradle was rolled out of the way. The boat was lowered onto foam pads while I changed the supports on the frame to the ones needed while it is upside down. I had set up the supports in the boat while it was upright, and measured the legs up to the ceiling, cutting them to get them all to the same length, regardless of where they were in the boat. My neighbour came to give me a hand balancing the boat while turning it over. The bow eye and an eye bolt near the base of the transom balanced the boat pretty well. Turning the boat over was a very easy exercise! Once the boat was upside down I lifted it to roll the cradle back underneath. There are two supports across the cockpit seats, and another support near the forward end of the cabin.

I planed away most of the protruding parts of the gear joints. They will be sanded flatter, the edges filled, and then rounded.