Boatbuilder

Footwell fiberglassing and storage locker work.

STARTING AGAIN! First time since March break last year. Fiberglassing the footwell and looking at what to do next with the companion way hood.

Sanded down by hand the mahogany trim piece to get the glue off. Put a second coat of epoxy on the entire hatch cover and had lots left over so put coats on the cabin top and seatbacks where they were sanded.

Slowly getting back into it as my back heals. Just doing easy jobs. Did the last fiberglassing of the back outside wall of cabin and the last on the rudder. I also glued down the mahogany trim piece on the sliding hatch cover. Went and got the 4 pieces of rough 1" x 4" x 16 ft for the mast. Got this from Ridge Cedar in Keswick Ridge. He only charged me 34.00 even though he milled them out of a 2 x 6 x 16 piece and two pieces of them had cracks that made them no good for a mast so he replaced them with two more. Great service.

Saturday, Feb 4th, I went out to Francis Levangie's and we used his big table saw to rip two lengths of mahagony 3/4" x 1 1/4" x 9' to be scarfed for the first length of rubrail for the starboard side. Notice the two pieces are already curved some. I chose a piece of board that was warped or curved already. When it was ripped on the table saw it seemed to curve more. This should help with the bending to the curve of the boat.  I also got a loan of his oscillating jig saw that cuts my mahagony well so I could cut the curves out for the trim pieces for the companionway hood and also for the hatch cover. Using a block plane to get these two pieces angles as the picture shows. Now I have thrown out my back and am taking some days off!!

Last week, Feb 2 and 3rd, I removed the screws and trimmed the starboard side toe rail. I also glued down the port side toe rail.

Friday evening, Feb 3, I glassed the companionway hatch cover. Also did 2 hours of sanding the cockpit area glass that is already laid to get ready to lay the last piece which is in the cockpit footwell. Also have to lay two pieces on the outside wall of the back bulkhead of the cabin. Then all the fiberglassing of topsides is done. It will be hours then of sanding and recoating with epoxy to get a good even dull gray sanded finish ready for painting.

Also ordered the wood for the mast yesterday. Only going to be 30$. Getting it from Ridge Cedar here in Keswick Ridge NB. Will get all 4 sides from one piece of rough lumber 2 x 8 x 16ft. He will rip it into 4 pieces of 1 x 4 x 16ft.

Spent 3 hours tonight figuring out I should have started at the bow end of the toerail and screwed it down first and then bent the toerail as I screwed it on working aft. Mixed up thickened epoxy and glued it down. Also measured and cut the holes for the cowl vents tonight. From my reading of different blogs and the CLC plans it seems they are 4" back from the bow end of the dorade box but in slightly different positions for different builders. I put mine 4" back, and 3" from the outside edge, 2 5?8" from inside edge. Also sanded the starboard cockpit seat, and cut the fiberglass for it. Will wet it out another day!

Spent last night bending the starboard side toerail. Started from the stern end and worked forward. All went ok but the last 8 inches had too much curve to bend. Made it wet, used ratchet straps, and clamped it. Left it overnight.

Had to add this link to YouTube videos of pocketship perfecto for future reference. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=giYUtFamjcU https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=giYUtFamjcU

Yesterday, Sunday, Jan 29th Jim Snow and I ripped a strip for the boat's toe rails. This took a bit of figuring and thanks to Frank Camm who suggested cutting a trial piece out of pine first to get the look right before cutting the expensive mahagony. It worked great. The day before I had spent an hour or so planing the mahagony down from rough lumber to about 7/8th". Thanks to Francis Levangie again for use of his jointer to finish the piece. Now to sand the strip for the toe rails and figure out how to bend and fasten it in place for glueing.

Laid another sheet of fiberglass in the cockpit a couple evenings ago. Now just have to do the other seat, the back of the cabin bulkhead, and the footwell.

Trial fit of bowsprit and tabernacle. Bowsprit is just laid on top of the breasthook so it is not in the proper position. A hole will have to be cut in the bow above the rubrails for its final installation.

Cut out pieces for tabernacle and glued it up. Used 6 of the last 8 brass screws I had for the floors. Used 2" x 6" x 8 ft lumber (spruce) for the bowsprit. Cut it 85" long. Then ripped it 2.5" wide. Glued the two 1.5" x 2.5" pieces together to give one block 2.5" x 3" x 85".

Nice to have Jim Stackhouse here to help lay a piece of fiberglass on the side of the bow.

Used brass screws to fasten together the sides on the hatch cover and then glued down the plywood top with thickened epoxy. Its finished Cut out the groves in the sides of the Hood for these rails to run in.

Spent 4 hours screwing together the companionway hatch cover and gluing the plywood top down. Had to sand the edges of the pine sides to get a good perpendicular flush fit. Pictures to follow.

Here's the pictures for the companionway hatch cover and hood work.