Bonding the Coaming and Deck

The first rainy day in several weeks kept me indoors yesterday; I used the time to plan the best sequence of remaining jobs.

Today, Saturday, I glued and screwed together the four pieces of each side of the coaming- an awkward and messy job I'm glad to have done. After the epoxy set up, I removed the screws.They aren't necessary for strength and, speaking from hard experience, it is much easier to fill screw holes than to grind off the protruding ends of screws.

While I was at it, I glued and screwed the butt straps into the side panels on both sides of the deck. The forward deck piece needs to be attached later.

Those jobs took longer than I expected, but I did have time left to sand the rudder and round its edges with the router in preparation for fabric and epoxy coating. The centerboard has already had that treatment, but I find that it is binding a little in the centerboard trunk so I ground down the high spots on each of its sides. That did the trick: it now slides freely in the trunk. One last finish coat of epoxy resin and it will be ready to paint.

Tomorrow's main goal is the final fit of the coaming. If it works out, it might be worth a photo.