It is late, so this may be a shorter post, but filled to the absolute brim with information and excitement! OK, that is probably an exaggeration, but let's begin anyway...
The next step in the Duck Punt build was to sand the inner chines in preparation for installing the frames. As you probably remember if you have been following the previous posts, my last experience sanding epoxy was less than fun. No, it absolutely sucked! So, this time I was prepared. I bought the oh so fashionable suit that you see part of below (it was way too embarrassing looking to show you a full length shot,) donned my full-face respirator and in 80 degree weather went to work on sanding the interior chines. To be honest, I didn't go all out on this process, and went to the most important of boat builder's criteria..."Good Enough." It was really hot, hard work and I was totally exhausted by the end of it.
Thank goodness for "Good Enough."
Once I had rested my poor back it was time to tackle that bow piece. I dug out my trusted Dozuki and removed the bulk of the material and then used hand planes to take it down flush before giving it a good sanding. I wish I could leave it sharp like this! Unfortunately, I need to round it off a bit more to allow room to mount a bronze skid plate to take the majority of frontal impacts from rocks and beaching of the Punt.
OK, now for the exciting part! Time to mount the frames in the boat! Since I am working by myself I had to figure out a way to hold the frames in place while I crawled below the boat and drove the bronze screws in to hold everything secure while the epoxy cures. A couple of pipe clamps and a piece of 2X4 held down by a really heavy rock as a brace did the trick as you can see by this test run.
Ta-Da! The frames are installed! The squeeze out from the epoxy is turned into a small fillet using the time tested "Finger Technique." This is nothing more than running your finger down the bead of epoxy (with gloves on, of course) to give a nice, smooth fillet. Everything went exactly as planned, and it is so cool to see the Punt become a functional, stiff hull!
A close-up of the "finger fillets" prior to cleaning up, and the newly sanded chine with its fillet.
And another view of the hull with all the frames epoxied and screwed in place.
As soon as I have a free day I will install the half frames and then proceed to attaching the sheer plank. Fun times! So far I am really loving boat building. This is such a cool experience!
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