1163Hrs – Picking Up Momentum

Another decent work session put in tonight. I took out all the temporary retaining screws from the panels I glued yesterday and cleaned up any excess epoxy with the surform. I then turned my attention to the two bow panels. There is quite a lot of preparation work needed before these can be glued. Firstly it’s necessary to make sure that the stem is vertical, the stringers don’t really give any rigidity without the panels and it’s easy to introduce twist into the framework. To avoid this I ran a ratchet strap from the top of the stem to a bracket on the barn wall and pulled it just tight enough to get the stem vertical and put some tension into the frame. This means that I can glue the panels in place without fear of distortion. I’ve dropped a plumb line down from the top of the stem so that I can easily check as I go. Secondly the panels need to come to a nice taper at the bow, this means that the stringers and panels have to be chamfered to achieve a nice fit. To make this easier I removed all the screws except the ones furthest away from the bow, this allowed me to pull the panels far enough away from the hull to get my grinder in and then easily push the panel back into position to check the fit. This worked really well. Lastly I key sanded all the glue areas and put a coat of epoxy on the stem in the areas that will be difficult to access when the panels are glued. I’m looking forward to really cracking on this weekend.