Hull Panels

Got the first set of hull panels joined up. I'm going to glue up the next set in a few hours. Today will also see the planing and gluing of sheerstringers. I will post some more pictures later on tonight.

Progressing Still

So now I have all of the bunk braces installed on the bulkheads. We are now shifting focus to the hull panels, sheerstringers, keel, stem, and skegs. Now that I have listed it, it sounds like a lot of work! Anyways, we built a box on which to assemble the hull panels, because our garage isn't a flat, level surface. In the morning I will be gluing up the first hull panel. My father-in-law is coming into town on Friday, so we really want to have the hulls stitched up for him to check out. Hopefully if we crack down and work hard we can get the hulls to that point. Grace also bought me the Gill OS2 Smock for my birthday, which I'm pretty stoked about.

         The seal factor on this jacket is insane. Sealable neck, cuffs, and waist. It's basically

a paddling dry-top but much more burly.

Bunks and Stuff

Today we are getting the bunk bearers glued onto the bulkheads. We are about to go climb, but afterwards we will be picking up a bunch more clamps and some good masks. It is impossible to have too many clamps in this business. IMPOSSIBLE. Anyways, here are some pictures of the work done today.

                                                                   Ready to be Glued

  This is Grace Showcasing a Finished Bunk Bearer

More Coating

Today I got all of the bunkbearers measured out and cut. Then, we epoxy coated each middle hull panel with two coats. We ended up spending a lot of time at the climbing gym, so we didn't do as much as we thought. Tomorrow I will start gluing the bunkbearers to the bulkheads, and pictures will follow.

Working Again

Today we went and picked up all of the lumber for the bunkbearers, deckstringers, sheerstringers, and keel. I will begin getting it all down to size tomorrow and fitting these parts to the bulkheads. Today we got all of the bulkhead lines marked on all of the hull panels. Then we sanded the panels down and used a brush to wipe off all of the shavings. We then brought the panels inside to the nice climate controlled "epoxy room" and got two coats on most of the panels. We ran out of room on the middle section panels, so they will get coated tomorrow. It feels good to be working again, and it feels really good to actually have some help! We watched Thomas Nielsen's video on spreading epoxy, and we followed his tactics. I spread the epoxy out with a window squeegee (we are going to get a smaller one; the big one didn't bend very well) while Grace followed behind with a foam roller, smoothing everything out. Once we got our system down, it went really quickly.

Getting ready to sand. Don't worry, the OSB is NOT for the tiki!

Epoxy really makes the wood look good. It will be interesting to see how some varnish adds to it later on. 

Update

For anyone following the blog, my wife gets back tomorrow from Afghanistan. Work will start back up on Friday/Saturday on the boat, and the work will be consistent from then on. I'm eager to get back to work, for sure.