Well, for once I was right about the rain!
The rain started while I was having my morning coffee. But looking at the weather radar, it looked like a single band of rain, with nothing following behind it. And sure enough, around 11, I was able to get the boat outside and started working. I was able to keep going until just about dark.
First off, I did do some tweaking of the side panels, still trying to get them to somehow match the shape of the severely bent plywood at the bow.
That's my "fine tuning tool." Stop laughing! The darned thing works! :lol:
The plan was to get it all lined up as closely as possible, then put on a layer of thin epoxy (slow hardener,) on the bottom of the plank sides, and another strip painted on the outer edges of the plywood. When the epoxy had kicked off and reached the seriously tacky stage, which it did, I then mixed up the thickened epoxy and applied it to the plank sides. I was lucky enough to have my wife help with this part. Once the epoxy has been mixed, you're pretty much committed to taking the next step! And once the clock starts ticking, it just runs faster and faster.
Then she was to help me place the plywood on top of the sides, so I could do the final positioning and start nailing it down. I still wasn't sure just how things would fit together at the bow, so I placed a couple of plastic-wrapped spacers near the "problem area" to make adjustments there easier.
Well, it
sounded like a good plan to me. . . If you notice in the first picture in this post, those spindley-looking jigs (or mold frames) that I was using? Not particularly substantial, mostly held in place by a single, small finishing nail. Do you think something BAD is about to happen? :shock:
YES! Another "learning moment!" As we set the bottom in place on top of the sides, the very first movement to align the ply caused the whole thing to simply collapse, like a cheap card table in a high wind at a company picnic. My wife thought I just might explode, so she was getting ready to haul, uh. . . booty out of their, thinking that she didn't want to be within 50 meters of ground zero when I detonated. (She's nobody's dummy!)
But I figured I'd have time to have a hissy fit later. All I could think of was all that epoxy giving serious though to turning rock-hard solid. I reached under the mess and removed all the excess and now useless remains of my jigs, and lifted one side of the bottom up so we could stand a side plank on edge under it and then I lined up the back corner with the mark on the end of the plank and drove in a ring nail. I moved down the length of that side, lining up the edges and putting in nails as fast as I could for about four feet. Then we lifted the other side of the ply and positioned the other plank under it, again matching the marks at the back corner, then lining up the edges again, pounding in nails as I went.
In a very short period of time, I had the sides nailed from the stern, all the way up to where the planks started their curve to meet the ply at the bow. I just kept working my way forward, nailing as fast as possible, spacing the nails twice as far apart as I would have under other circumstances, knowing that I'd be back "filling in the blanks" once I had the thing stable. As I moved into the problem area, I was surprised to find that it wasn't too hard to get the planks pushed in to meet the edge of the ply as it bent from being the bottom, to forming the bow.
The last foot got harder to do, but using one of those orange nylon straps you've seen in earlier pics, I was able to keep pulling the planks in to meet the ply. Last week, I was certain that I'd end up having to remove a couple of inches from the outside edges of the ply in order for the planks to fit at the bow. However, now all I'll have to do is a little trim here and there, just like fitting the bottom onto a pirogue.
How'd it turn out?
MUCH better than I thought it would. 8) This pic was taken right after I was ready to move it inside for the night. The transom is sticking up a little high, but that's because I cut it a little high so I could plane it down nice and even with the sides. Below, is a view looking towards the bow, of the inside. You can see where I ran the epoxy down much further than needed, thinking that side plank just might not end up where it was supposed to.
Below, two more pics of what I thought was going to be the "problem area," but I am quite pleased with how it came out:
Over all, I had a pretty good day.
Next week, (still have to work the weekend,) the seat and poling platform goes on, the rub rails, then the varnishing starts. Unless it rains the entire week, the boat will teaching me how to use it, the following week.
Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL
