Back on track

The centercase is now fiberglassed on the inside and all put together. Everything is now back to normal after the mishap with the side pieces for the centercase. I took some time today and organized all the scrap pieces of wood and tidied up a bit. Now its time to move ahead on the scarf joint. There hasn't really been any point so far that I have felt hesitant about. But for some reason this scarf joint has me. Maybe it's because there are many comments online in various posts and articles about the difficulty of this cut and how it needs to be perfect and you need a jig... I don't really want to make a jig. If I thought I was going to be making a few of these boats then maybe I would make a jig. So instead I'm going to make the measurements and plane away! On another note I have to say I am quite pleased with the progress so far and how things are shaping up. It's a big project but it has been very relaxing and rewarding for me so far. Just one small step after another. With the use of the yahoo group and previous builders blogs, sites, or Flickr accounts I feel like there is a lot of support for new builders. Having those resources has been very beneficial.

What? Everyone else gets a shot of this!

I clamped some of the pieces up, to get an idea

of what it will look like.

View from the aft

Inside of the centercase fiberglassed

Getting ready to scarf

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I fixed the comments section so that anyone can comment without being a member.

Not as planned

This morning I went outside to unveil the centercase parts that had been glueing overnight. Once I had the plastic covering off and the clamps all put away, I noticed a big mistake. You might be able to see from the pictures in the last post. What happened in my frenzy to glue-up and take pictures of it I managed to make two identical pieces. With the seat supports glued on the same side of each panel instead of on the outside faces of each panel. Not sure of how to un-glue epoxy I pulled out my power hand planer and worked everything down till I was at the plywood panel, then some scraping and sanding finished the job, I cut new pieces and glued them on to the right side this time. Lesson learned. Other then that I managed to fiberglass the other inside surface of the centercase and glue the end pieces on to that one. Not a completely lost day.

Leading up to the scarf

In anticipation of loosing shop space once the jig is fully set up and the bottom panel is attached I have been trying to get as much of the bulkheads and centercase completed beforehand. I now have all the bulkheads ready for placement except the transom. The seat fronts are cut. All my 1"x 6" rough cut Douglas fir has been dressed. I borrowed a thickness planer to do this then on the table saw cut the keel batten and all stringers. I have taken a risk and glued bulkheads four and five together with their braces. The risk is that if not properly measured they will be out of alignment when fitted to the bottom panel and centercase. All of the pieces for completing the assembly of the centercase are cut. I have also decided to fiberglass the inside of the centercase, this will have to be done before the final assembly stage. Once it is put together there wont be enough room to do anything inside. The centercase is a big job, since there are many pieces that need to be attached. They all can't be attached at once, some on the inside some on the outside. Each gluing faze needs 15 hours for the epoxy to cure. Patience!!! This is all leading to the bottom panel and the joining of two full sheets of plywood with a scarf joint. -My excuse is the shop space, I think I am actually avoiding getting on with the scarf joint. An eight to one angle cut along the end of each sheet of ply then mated and glued. The result is a four foot by 16 foot sheet of plywood.

The parts pile

The Measuring pumps make it a nice product

to work with. The pumps automatically give you

the right ratio.

Clamping in the form of weight.

Keeping an eye on the tempurature while waiting

for the epoxy to cure.