Tuesday, October 28, 2008

It's been a while....

It's been a while.... I was doing exams, so it most of my "free" time was spent studying. Now that that's over for another few months, I've made some progress on the boat.

I have glued the CB case to the Keel. This fun, as you have to glue the cb case to the keel, and to the frames that cross the keel for and aft the CB case. It has to be strong, as the CB case must not leak, and will be one of the attachment point for the main sheet. Once the epoxy clock starts ticking, you can't hang about.

The CB case and bedlogs slot into the keel like a through tenon, just a very very big tenon. I slid the for and aft frames out a few inches, coated the CB case with thickened epoxy and slotted it into place. A few clamps brought it up snug. Then I pasted the ends where it would meet the frames with more epoxy and slid them back into place. These frames also needed epoxy where they joined the keel. It's all dry now and looks rock solid. Bronze screws will follow.

Then I glued and screwed the keel and the remaining frames, and glued and bolted the keel to the stem. (the bolts are home made from bronze bar a good quality die cuts threads in bronze without too much trouble. Don't cheap out and buy a cheapo tap and die set. Just buy the sizes you need. Life is hard enough without cheap tools)

D

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