I really wanted to install the forward bow eye and deck hatch when they arrived, but in a typical case of "one thing leads to another" I realized I needed to install and finish the nose deck surface first. I couldn't do that until the lips to the big deck hatches were installed. So I bit the bullet and installed them. They were much more complicated than I thought they'd be. After ripping 3" wide strips of luan wood and cutting sections for the side-to-side pieces of the correct length with 90 degree end cuts, I realized the end cuts needed to be angled due to the sidewalls and chine logs being in a "V" shape. And, the angle varied for each piece of wood since the sidewalls were closer to a "V" at the middle, yet vertical at the bow. After re-cutting new strips, I installed the far forward one first, then the rear one, and then stretched strings from the top of one to the top of the other. That way I could line up the two middle ones so both the front and back deck hatches would be in the same plane. After installing the side-to-side lips, I installed the side ones. Lots of epoxy, screws to hold them together while the epoxy cured, and thickened epoxy fillets at corners and around the edges where they meet the deck surface. Will make the hatches "real soon now".
The bow. I epoxied the luan wood top on and weighted it down with various high density items. Sanded, then laminated on the glass. Two layers at the tip of the nose, and an extra patch where the bow eye will go. Have since painted with another layer of resin for the first filler coat. Will be fun to cut the hole for the deck hatch, drill the holes for the bow eye and install it.
Here's the mast base. An earlier post showed the framework below with fiberglass reinforcing. This is one layer of luan, then a patch of fiberglass, then a piece of 1/2" beveled plywood, another layer of fiberglass and then one more piece of beveled 1/2" plywood. The idea is to have a strong surface where I can screw in whatever I want for any mast that I choose. The screws shown in the picture are only to hold things tight together while the epoxy cures. They'll come out tomorrow.
The daggerboard box again. I added a wedge of 2x4" lumber with some fiberglass on top to help brace it. I keep envisioning a catastrophic crash into a log at 20 knots. I know the daggerboard won't break, and now I don't think the daggerboard box and hull bottom will break. I wonder what will? I mean might?
A close up of the reinforcing wedge.
A view into the cockpit. If you look carefully, you can see what I call the "crash bone", which is the beveled piece of cedar laminated to the bottom of the hull that goes from the back of the daggerboard box to the bulkhead at the back of the cockpit. This picture also shows the two luan bulkheads I'm laminating in to help support the cockpit floor. I'm using 3/8" douglas fir plywood laminated with fiberglass cloth on both sides for the cockpit floor. I tested 1/4" fir plywood at the lumber store for this, but it was pretty obvious after stomping on a piece held up by a couple of blocks of wood that it wouldn't be strong enough for the floor.
A view of the cockpit floor panel with freshly laminated fiberglass cloth, tented and curing with a heater.
Here's the top of the daggerboard with the 1 1/4" wood dowel epoxied in. The dowel is stabilized with rubber bands while the epoxy cures. Note the curvaceous handle.
A close up of the wood dowel stop set up for curing.
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