Paint!

You know you're nearing the end of a boatbuilding project when the paint cans come out. In this case, I'm painting whatever I didn't put resin on that will be enclosed by the benches. I'm using up some old blue-grey Tremclad that I used for some of the interior of Firefly.

The photo below shows my attempt to add more gluing area to the inside of the corner where the faces and the tops of the benches meet. The wood I wanted to use wouldn't bend enough, so I just put pieces on. That corner will be glassed on the outside, so it'll be good and strong.

And here's the blue-grey paint, looking more blue here:

I put resin on part of that area already because I was using up resin that I'd kicked that was left over from something I was doing that I didn't want to go to waste.

The two photos below show the undersides of the bench seats with the blue-grey paint on them. The unpainted areas will be resin coated in order to bond better with the resin glue.

After I glass the inside bottoms of the fore and aft storage areas, they will be painted as well, including the undersides of the decks. I'll buy some white Tremclad for those areas because they're naturally dark areas and white helps. The glass on the bottoms is in recognition that they may be subjected to anchors and chain falling on them.

Paint! Finally!

 

Seats (2)

Inboard faces with deck plates installed:

Sub-floor ply on bench tops:

(The port one has a piece scabbed on the forward end, to make up the width)

I'm happy with how it's turning out! I wasn't sure.

I needed to see the idea in three dimensions before I could really appreciate it.

Looks like it's going to work out just fine

The plans are for an empty, open cockpit, but, tabernack—the back!

This old body just doesn't sprawl the way it used to...

at least not without more discomfort than it's worth

I placed the decks back on so I could see what it's going to look like altogether.

Two dimensional images don't convey the depths properly...

It's a very low bench, and that's okay; it's something. I couldn't see myself sitting on the angled bilge plank without sliding down.

When I get the seat tops cut out of the good ply, I'll want to take the bench faces off and mark the undersides of the seat tops for gluing, since I won't be able to do that after the faces are on for good:

Seats - a beginning

I don't know what I'm doing, but I think it looks good! 😄 (Making it up as I go...)

In the photo below, I'm finding the proper outside curve of the bench tops, using cheapo sub-flooring plywood, which I bought for making templates with.

The vertical bench faces are the good plywood, in final form.

In the next photo you can more easily see that I've taken the decks off. I won't be putting them on permanently until I've got the interior done.

Today I bought some deck plates which will go on the bench faces so that the enclosed area can be aired out from time to time.

Decks & hatches

Before I glue the decks on, I'll paint the areas that will be enclosed. Seats are next, though.

Flipped

Next step is to glass tape the inside seams.

The ends will be watertight storage with hatches, and there may be seats along the sides of the cockpit. The "off-centre board" will go on the starboard side.

Wired!

(See yesterday's post for details about the wire.)

Stitching up

The "stitches" of a stitch-and-glue boat are usually wire twists. I've found copper wire to be too soft, and it sticks to the glue (resin) too well, making it hard to pull out. This annealed stainless wire works great. It's quite strong, so one can pull quite hard on it to bring the parts together; and it's smooth and slippery, so it pulls out of the glue without breaking.

I started stitching at the very tip of the bow, because it looked like it would be the most difficult to pull together properly.

Poking the wire through the tiny holes from inside the stem—sitting on the floor working overhead—was very demanding! I needed my reading glasses and a light.