Starting the Finish

Last night we began seeing light at the end of the tunnel. For two consecutive sessions, we have performed tasks other than the mind (and hand) numbing tasks of sanding and fairing. As I mentioned in my last post, we mounted the spray rails. Last night we rolled out a coat of pigmented epoxy.

Painting the hull with pigmented epoxy will serve two main purposes. One purpose is to get the hull a uniform color, which will make any remaining flaws more visible, and if the paint gets scratched, the pigmented epoxy will help hide the scratches. (Thats the second purpose.)

As you look at the pictures below, you will likely notice a couple of things...

- The area thats painted doesnt cover the entire bottom. This is because the painted area follows the approximate water line of the boat according to the plans. The area that hasnt been painted red will not be in the water.

-The spray rails do not follow the water line. We decided to have the spray rails follow the hull (from the top), not the water line.

-If you look really close, you may be able to see that the spray rails extend past the transoms. This is also intentional. It gave us room for error when mounting the rails to the boat; we will trim to the correct size and shape before we lay pigmented epoxy on the rest of the boat.

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The Frame is Finished

Yesterday Greg and I put the finishing touches on the frame -- unless he decides to re-tweak, which he often does. We shimmed all of the areas where there were loose joints on the temporary frame. Were now ready to lay the hull. Next week, we will be in Northeastern Wisconsin, for our annual canoe/whitewater kayak trip, so there wont be any working on the boat. Instead, well be playing in the canoes we made last year and paddling our kayaks.

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Its starting to look like a boat

BoatFrame
Originally uploaded by OzzyC.

This week, we set the rest of the sacrificial frame pieces in place, using the same process described in last weeks entry. This photo shows the full skeleton of the boat, and based on the shape of the skeleton, you should now be able to mentally picture the shape of the hull.

At this point, the stringers and sacrificial frame pieces are not precisely set in their final position, but theyre pretty close. Some of the notches are too wide, too deep (or too shallow), or some combination thereof. But again, its pretty close.

Next week we will do more precise adjustments of the frame by cutting the too-shallow notches a little deeper, and shimming the areas where theres too much slop. That process will likely take a couple of sessions, because were picky on precision.

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