Starting To See Double

The storms on Thursday were the strongest in 17 years and now the forecast is for plummeting temperatures and a week of frosts with snow possible. Today however has been fine, it even stayed light until nearly 5pm so I spent the day at the barn making the most of it. I didn’t really have a plan but I decided against coating because of the forecast temperatures. Instead I moved the first keel away from the lofting floor drawing and put the second keel pieces in place, I then scarfed and glued the three remaining hullside flanges, and then cut all  the remaining pieces for both keels – 9 x ply butt straps, 3 x skeg doublers, 3 x stern end keel doublers and 3 x bow end keel doublers. The only pieces left to cut are the bulkhead guides but they are easy to do as needed. I’m really pleased with today’s work as it involved study of the drawings,  handling full sheets of ply, marking up and lots of cutting. Now it’s done it means I can really crack on when conditions are right for the epoxy. The photos below show the process for making scarf joints using an electric plane and belt sander and a shot of both keels on the floor, for the first time I’m starting to see double!