Seams like Taping. With Fiberglass.

It's a beautiful hull.  Once we finished the tabbing, we were able to remove the stitches (that was the painful part, by the way), and fill in the gaps with epoxy.  After that it was a sanding game - the word for this is "fairing the hull." Making it beautiful.  Making the lines 'fair' so that the boat will move easily through the water.

The seam taping involves some 4-in strips of fiberglass tape.  To tape the seam, you first need to round it (sanding) and smooth it, then lay the tape carefully and soak it with epoxy to cement it to the wood.

You can see a photo of the transom, all taped up, and Jay (that's my Dad) finishing up the taping of the starboard joint.

Where to next?  We have to apply more peanut butter (less thick, more Jif and less Adams) to smooth out the junction between the fiberglass tape and the rest of the hull.  Then we can sheathe the hull completely in fiberglass.

Tabbing the hull

This might hurt a bit -- if you're a boat.  At least, I think it would hurt.  :)

We start with Frankenboat...

Then we mix up some delicious peanut butter... that's thickened epoxy.

Then you duck underneath the hull and paint epoxy into the seams between the stitches.  You have to make it thick or it drips down once you paint it in there.  And sometimes it still drips.  

Look out!  Epoxy + skin is an unfortunate combination.  The last photo is from the cockpit area, between the cabin and the stern.  At the right side of the picture, you're looking at the transom, which is the back of the boat.

Frankenboat

It's been a while since we had time to look at the boat, although we did occasionally go out to re-measure, scratch our heads and mutter about whether our little mess-ups were going to be molehills or mountains. But, today we got some real work done and have new pictures to show for it!

 

This shows the stitching process. Basically, short pieces of baling wire are stuck through pre-drilled holes, and are twisted around from the outside. With enough ties, it holds the panels together well - at least until you start the epoxy/fiberglass process.

 

See how pleased I look? Notice that I took the pictures at the END of the process. :)

 

You can see Dad (foreground) and friend Chuck finishing off the stitches on the port side. Big thanks to Chuck for coming to help hold the panels in place while we stitched.

 

This last photo is the one I think deserves the name "Frankenboat" and no, that will not be the name of our boat! The stitches come out. Next task? Figure out how the heck to pull those panels together to stitch them at the bow! Turns out that 1/2-inch marine plywood doesn't really like to bend. :)

Putting the Bottom on Top

I realize I skipped a big step of the progress.  I posted the side panel completion before I even showed the bottom panels.  So for completion's sake, and because I'm a perfectionist, let me fill in the gap... these were taken this past winter!  (I can tell it's winter because of my crazy long hair).  Many thanks to our friends for their strong, helping hands!

Measurement Paradise

After a long hiatus, otherwise known as school, Dad and I managed a return to boat-building. While I was working, he worked on the frame and got a couple of the bulkheads in place. Over the last couple of days we arranged the rest of the bulkheads. Then we measured and adjusted. Then re-measured and re-adjusted. Then quit for a while. :) Voila - the aerial view. Once the bulkheads are placed on the building frame, we can stitch the hull pieces together and drape them over the top, gluing them in place. The line is to make sure the deep water line is the same on each bulkhead, and the bulkheads are centered. Here is Dad, peeking out from between the forward and aft bulkheads, and below, there is me. And yes, that is my calculator. I was rather pleased to have to do some trigonometry in the measuring process. :) But what a pain to get all these measurements right!

Waiting for Epoxy

With any luck, when we pull the 2x6 boards off, our 8-foot sheets of plywood will have been transformed into beautiful and seamless 18-foot sheets of plywood! The point of scarfing was to taper the ends just right, and now they're epoxied together, but they take a couple of days to dry. So Thursday or Friday we can check to see that we did it right. Oh boy.

Starting off Strong. Right?

First my back went out from too much leaning over plywood with a heavy power planer. So that was a week. Then I was in Tacoma, taking care of some school business. Dad's hand still wasn't up to much work during that time. Then we decided that the planer was a piece of junk (explaining why we'd had to spend hours leaning over the damn plywood to see any progress), and ordered a new planer. But after all those trials, the scarfing is done -- at least, the planing part of it. Voila, the pieces all scarfed and ready to be glued next week.

To explain a little more, we are making a 17' boat, and plywood only comes in 8' long sheets. So, you need to taper the ends of two sheets, lay them end-to-end, then glue them together to make a longer piece. That was the point of, oh, the last month. The next stage was 'lofting.' Well, that's what I call it, even though it isn't TRUE lofting. Basically, we drew bulkheads on large pieces of plywood very carefully and cut them out. That second part is known as 'cutting.' At least I think it is.

And finally, you can see the bulkheads leaning up against the wall. The bulkheads are those pieces that go side-to-side. They will help form the hull to the right shape, and will also support the floor boards. So I hope we got the measurements right!