Monday, February 22: Work was held up by a short trip out of town, but I have made the bottom panel and have it ready to permanently install.
The bottom is just under four feet wide, so one plywood sheet reaches across, but the bottom is 13’ long, so I had planned to make it out of two lengths of plywood. But looking at the plans carefully I realized that the joint between two bottom pieces would be in the middle of the centerboard trunk. It would be hard to fit the centerboard trunk parts around the butt strap on the inside of the bottom, so in the end I decided to make the bottom of three pieces. One eight-footer in the middle and shorter pieces at the bow and the stern.
Last Thursday I cut out the three bottom pieces. Friday morning I laid out the pieces indoors, made 4 ½” butt straps to join the pieces, and glued them up with epoxy. After a couple of hours the epoxy was set up enough that I could clean up what squeezed out the sides, but I left weights on the butt joints while we went away for a three day weekend.
On our return home this afternoon I took the assembled bottom panel outside, put it in place, and secured it with a handful of screws. I have ordered a resupply of screws, and must wait for their delivery before I can epoxy and screw the bottom in place.
The bottom is just under four feet wide, so one plywood sheet reaches across, but the bottom is 13’ long, so I had planned to make it out of two lengths of plywood. But looking at the plans carefully I realized that the joint between two bottom pieces would be in the middle of the centerboard trunk. It would be hard to fit the centerboard trunk parts around the butt strap on the inside of the bottom, so in the end I decided to make the bottom of three pieces. One eight-footer in the middle and shorter pieces at the bow and the stern.
Last Thursday I cut out the three bottom pieces. Friday morning I laid out the pieces indoors, made 4 ½” butt straps to join the pieces, and glued them up with epoxy. After a couple of hours the epoxy was set up enough that I could clean up what squeezed out the sides, but I left weights on the butt joints while we went away for a three day weekend.
On our return home this afternoon I took the assembled bottom panel outside, put it in place, and secured it with a handful of screws. I have ordered a resupply of screws, and must wait for their delivery before I can epoxy and screw the bottom in place.
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