00.25 in Boat Plans, bow, bulkhead
The next step in boat construction is to add some internal structure. The three bulkheads will give the hull more of the proper shape, and ultimately provide hull strength, supports for seating, and in the case of the bow and stern bulkheads, sealed air chambers for buoyancy. However, at this point, the bulkheads are wired in place, but
not epoxied. For now, they only provide shape and rigidity while the hull is flipped over for glassing the exterior. Measuring the position of the bulkheads and getting them relatively plumb was more of a job than I expected for a solo builder. An extra pairs of hands would have helped. But I was able to position the bow bulkhead and stitch it into place. The mid and stern are only roughly placed for the photo; they will be stitched later this week. The overall layout of the boat comes a little closer into view with this internal structure in place.
Total hours 30.75.Read more
Another batch of peanut butter epoxy, another seat. The bow seat presented its own obstacles during the installation. There was a sizable gap--about 3/4" -- between the #3 and #4 strakes and the edge of the front seat about 8" aft of the bow transom. Whether this is normal, or due to a flaw in my construction, I cant be sure. But it will require a process of building up some layers of epoxy to fill the gap. The space couldnt be spanned by one fillet of epoxy, but will instead require a second fillet be applied later over the one laid down tonight. Apart from the gap that ran for about 10" on either side of the bow seat, everything else went well. There was a very slight curve in the piece of plywood that makes the seat, so I added some weight in the form of my homebrewing propane tank to maintain a tight contact between the seat and the bow bulkhead. In all the rest of the edge, a standard fillet could be applied and smoothed. Total hours 69.75.
Odds and ends tonight: I laminated the bow transom and doubler together. After learning with the stern transom, I maintained an extended watch, and kept wiping as excess epoxy seeped out of the seams. The stern transom ended up with a couple of drips, which will need extra work to deal with before the finish is applied. Things are much easier to deal with before the epoxy sets!
