Finally I feel like I made some progress. I have been spending the (relatively) cooler nights prepping the bottom planking for install. That includes fitting the two sides together and aligning them at the center of the keel, and pre-drilling 200 plus holes for screws.I know it's not nice to complain but it has been 90F+ with matching humidity for the last few days. A thunderstorm rolled through at about 4:30 in the afternoon yesterday and dropped the temp to 80F so it was a race to get the epoxy on. I coated the bottom planking first with an encapsulating coat on the inside. Then I waited about two hours (epoxy still tacky in the thick spots, but not cured in the thin) and mixed up the epoxy for gluing the planking to the frames. I cut out some notches along the outboard (uphill) side of the frames for drainage. I made sure these got a coating of epoxy to keep water from finding the wood.
The long leg is setting all the screws. I was happy that my cordless screwdriver had the juice to make it through all the screws without the second battery. I always try to make sure they are both ready when I start. The plans don't call for any fillets of epoxy on the inside of the frames but I will probably do them when I flip the hull anyway. Speaking of flipping the hull, this is the first notice that "Y'all" are invited. When a date is set i will let you know...
I didn't do fillets, now I've paint in place & its too late. You hardly need them for strength, but they will stop water pooling if you fillet along the top of the chines.
ReplyDeleteI just pre-drilled a few locating screws. Then drilled the holes and put in the screws during the glueup.
ReplyDeleteHaveing 2 cordless drills, one for drilling, one for screwing helps.
Also fuller stepped bits rock. http://davesboat.blogspot.com/2006/12/fuller-stepped-drill-bits.html
Sorry for the multiple comments. Just to let you know, we managed to flip my hull by hand with 5 or 6 guys. No frame / block & tackle, nothing but a half a dozen guys.
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