Main hull bottom planking (4)

Just one hour today to give the second resin coat to the bottom panels. I used for the first time a roller which was MUCH better than the brush or the squeegee!

Total work time to date: 337 hours

Main hull bottom planking (3)

Three hours of work today. We first faired the two bottom butt blocks to follow the curvature of the hull. Then, using the cardboard copy of the central bottom panel, we cut the centerboard slot on the plywood panel. This operation is not trivial as it may seem. Here's a pic of the panel

We then gave a first coat of resin to the inner faces of the bottom panels, to the centerboard trunk logs and to the floor stiffeners. Tomorrow we'll give the second coat.

Total work time to date: 336 hours

Main hull bottom planking (2)

Just one hour this morning to check how the glue set overnight. Here's a view of the first (forward) bottom butt block

We then cut the two remaining bottom panels along the scribed lines. Here are all three panels on the hull, not yet glued

Finally, we scribed the central bottom panel outline on a cardboard sheet. We plan to use this to correctly locate the position of the centerboard trunk to properly cut the centerboard hole through the bottom.

Tota work time to date: 333 hours

Main hull bottom planking (1)

Five hours of work today. We first faired the daggerboard trunk logs to match the bottom curvature. Here's the result after several passes of power plane, surform and sanding board and frequent checkings with a straightedge

We then roughly cut three pieces of 12 mm plywood for the bottom. Here they are in place to scribe the bottom outline

and here we are ready to cut the central bottom panel

In the picture above you can also see the two butt blocks to join the three pieces of the bottom planking. The final photo shows the two butt blocks being glued to the central bottom panel.

Total work time to date: 332 hours

Daggerboard trunk bottom framing

Two more hours between last sunday and monday to complete the glueing of the remaining framing blocks around the bottom side of the daggerboard trunk. This is going to be the strongest part of the boat. To be honest, seems a bit overkill to me...

Here are the filling blocks between the two trunk logs

Here's the second log being glued

and here's the finished job as it looked this morning.

We'll have now to fair everything flush with the bottom stringers, and then we'll be able to put the bottom on.

Total work time to date: 327 hours

Here we go again

At last Cinzia came back from her endless vacations so today we spent 3 hours on the boat.
We first cut the protruding part of the daggerboard trunk. The two posts were cut with the handsaw, while for the walls we succeeded in using the jigsaw.

We then first faired the hull bottom stringers, and then the trunk to be flush with them

Finally, we glued one of the two heavy logs (to which the bottom will be screwed later).

Today we started using the new epoxy resin: we'll see how it goes.

Total work time to date: 325 hours