Gluing Chines

I decide that if I ever want to get this boat done I had better start really working on it. No nights off for Monday Night Football! This was reaffirmed when I was mixing epoxy tonight and something just didn't feel right. It was 65F in Charleston, SC, a sure sign that fall is coming quick. Epoxy has a different consistency when it is too cold; it really liked our 80F+ summer days. I was mixing epoxy for the chines. After many hours fitting, clamping, marking, un-clamping, chiseling, rasping, fitting and clamping again (and again) I decided that enough was enough. I drilled the pilot holes (not without incident) and set to mixing the epoxy. I made up some shims so the chines sat in their notches perfectly. These got coated first and set in place. Then each of the notches and the chines got a dousing with epoxy. I wanted to make sure there was plenty to go around. Then I sunk the 2" bronze screws and removed the clamps. I fit and cut the chines from the front so the length and angles would be correct. Now that I am actually gluing them up I am starting at the back.

Looks better without the clamps. I glued the chines from the transom all the way to the front of the centerboard trunk. Since the front parts of these get really tweaked on, I will wait a few days before I do that part. In the mean time I still have my wide bottom plywood panels to get scarfed and the sheer (upright to deck joint) notches cut out. Knowing what I do know about fitting the chines, the sheers should be easier...

So you are probably wondering what this is. The picture actually doesn't do the MASSIVE hole in the chine justice. In fitting the chines I actually dry fit and screwed them in so I could make shims. Turns out that 2" #10 screws don't want to come out so easy. This one (of 4) was finally stripped so bad that there was no saving it. I drilled out the head, but still it held. I tried to drill out the shaft and broke two drill bits, and still it held. I switched to drilling out the wood around the shaft, broke another drill bit, and still it held. I used a screw driver as a chisel, mangled and enlarged the hole until I was sure that I was endangering the integrity of chine, but still it held! Finally, after about 30 minutes of work I loosened the screws dead grip on the wood enough to pry the chine away from the frame. Then I still had to get the screw out of the frame! I really need some vice grips. Since I am now confident that this particular piece of mahogany is pretty much indestructible, I drilled a new hole right next to the gaping wound and filled the gouge in with epoxy. Due to the close proximity, I also filled in the screw head. I actually thought to myself that that simple action may not have been wise, "just in case" I needed to unscrew this particular screw. I should have known that my much under developed boat building senses were picking up a problem. I didn't fill any other screw heads. As I was wiping up the excess epoxy and making each joint look good, I felt a small protrusion behind the mangled chine/ frame joint. The shim that was supposed to be underneath the chine had somehow slipped behind it. So now not only was the space underneath the chine all epoxy, but the shim was trashing my hard work to make the back side of the chine fit the frame snugly! Double whammy! Lucky for me I was way ahead of that slippery shim. I had packed that joint (all of them actually...) so full of epoxy that I am sure it won't make much difference. And while the excessive use of epoxy may have contributed to the shifty shim's quick escape, I think I still won this round.