Saturday, December 4, 2021

A Project Named Clancy - VII. Flip and Fillet

With the exterior of the hull complete, the boat can come off the mold.  But first, the temporary screws that held the bulkheads in place have to be removed.  It is a great deal of "fun" to reach around under the jig, find the screws and remove them, especially when you are storing another boat underneath the jig!


Could not resist a test fit of the deck at this point.


This part was extra credit.  To ensure the shearline was perfectly fair, a stiff batten was clamped to it...


... and a small hand plane was then used to take off any high spots.


Two "partial bulkheads" was tacked in with superglue to port and starboard halfway between the fore and aft bulkheads.  To eventually support the deck structure, timber cleats are attached to these partial bulkheads, as well as forward face of the forward bulkhead and the aft face of the aft bulkhead. 


Forward, the deck beam is tacked into place.




Next, all of the plywood joints get big epoxy fillets, reinforced with fiberglass tape.  Epoxy is mixed and thickened with wood flour to a peanut butter consistency, and poured into a 1 gallon ziplock back.  One corner of the bag is snipped off with a pair of scissors, turning it into a makeshift "pastry bag".  Long beads of epoxy are squeezed out along all of the interior joints in the boat, and then shaped into a cove using a "fillet tool" (usually 1"-2" wide strip of 1/4" thick plywood with once end shaped into a semi circle).




Strips of fiberglass tape are laid on top of them to add strength to the joints.  I had 9oz tape handy, but 6 oz is probably more than sufficient.  

I pre-cut all of the strips of tape prior to laying down the fillets

The tape is then laid down while the fillets are still wet. 


The tape is then wet out using unthickened epoxy.



After that cures, the entire inside of the boat is sealed up with two coats of epoxy.



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