Filling stem gap w a fillet

Yesterday I glued the boat together and was stymied at the end with a gap that had appeared between the sides of the ply and the stem. See picture in previous post. My wife came in and suggested using an icing pipe thing-a-ma-jig, much like many people use ziploc bags. Ive used ziploc bags in the past and found them somewhat cumbersome to use, but most importantly, I really wanted to get epoxy deep into the crevasse to maximize bonding.

So she jigged up a icing pipe and lined it with packing tape so we could re-use it, and then, using the patient steady hand of a culinary expert, she filled in the voids around the stem and made a nice fillet. Damn! What a woman!


In other news, I crawled underneath the stem to cut away some epoxy and saw this:


When I was dry-fitting the boat last week for the first time I heard some ***crack***ing noises, and since I didnt see anything, I figured it was some epoxy somewhere settling or what-have-you. NOPE it was the chine logs right where they abut the stem. Youll notice the taper I put in to give them some room to fit together, and youll also notice where the wood actually separated from itself. The glued face stayed firm to the plywood, which makes me feel like my gluing jobs are satisfactory. Im bummed the wood split, but again, this whole area will be filled with epoxy and all will be good with the world again.

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On the road

Ive been at work, on the road for a bit now, with only minimal time (36 hrs or so) at home... just enough to catch up on chores, errands, do laundry, sleep, eat my one healthy meal of the week, and go back out the door again.

Its teeth grindingly frustrating. The clock ticks and still so much to do...

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Back in action

OK ALL

Been on a bit of hiatus. Ive been working like its going out of style, my back has been totally thrown out (getting better slowly), and I havent been feeling motivated. Thats changing. Im running out of wood. There are things to do. Im hoping to pick back up the momentum and get this project back on track!

The past month hasnt seen much project. Ive been piecemealing it together bit by bit, but essentially, the seats are cut out and the seat cleats are cut and beveled. No gluing because the temps have been hovering around 34F 2C in the garage. All easy and self explanatory, except for one thing (bow seat) which I will get to next. Bevels were marked, by the way, by lining up the cleats to the BHs and taking a pencil and marking my boats angle... Storer recommends 11 mm on all cleats, I do not recommend that it would be too much on some portions of my boat. A custom and accurate bevel is just as easy as a pencil mark!!!

Some obligatory GIS pics:

First: Framing for the bow seat. Notice the shim on BH1... If you remember, dear intrepid reader, BH1 is the only BH that sat correctly on the chinelogs, every other BH sat too high and I had to shim the bottoms to meet the bottom panel. Hence, on BH1 I had to shim the top to meet the bow seat. This will necessitate a shim underneath the ply that will back the center cleat on BH1 as well.


Bow seat almost in place:


Detail of the cleats meeting at the stem. Notice rudimentary notches cut to accomodate the fillets around the stem:


The seat slowly moving forward. My experience with the bow seat thus far will differ from the plans. I would strongly suggest marking out the bow seat on the ply per the plans in the manual, (remember the 15mm extra!!!) THEN take measurements from your boat itself and map them out on top of the lofting youve already taken for comparison. My boat has a slightly different shape in the bow than the plans are expecting, and my seat will fit, its just going to take lots of shaping and a little luck to make it fit without any significant gaps. Dont sweat it like me, just back up your measurements with what you have on the ground in your workshop.


Stern framing, note my space heater for when I decide to glue. The transom center cleat support had to be notched to fit around the backing I glued on for the rudder bolts. Woops, I didnt leave 6mm to squeeze the support in. Also, the angles are all off. Something doesnt add up, either the height of the transom cleat, BH4, or the angle of the transom itself. OH WELL!


Rear seat is fit. This one went smoothly, just a little annoying. A little gap on the port side, but no big deal, it will be covered by the epoxy fillet. This seat fits better than the bow.


No vertical supports have been cut yet, Ill do that when I glue everything else in place, that way Ill get a nice solid measurement and they will custom fit without things moving out of the place.

Im struggling with scarfing the "real" gunwales, they are not going as easy as the chinelogs did. Next up, mast step and partner. Maybe after that a marathon gluing session and then I can work on blades, mast, spars, etc. etc. Onwards into the new year with my GIS!

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