Boatbuilding Blog

I finally got the bow and side decks installed last week. It took about 200 stainless deck screws, and lots of putty and resin. Here are the boards dry-fit in place.

I traced the supports while the panels were upside-down to act as a glue and screw guide. This picture is before sanding off all of the drips from gluing on the stringers when the hull was upside-down. All surfaces exposed to weather will be covered in at least one coat of 6-oz glass cloth.

I coated the underside of the boards with white-tinted epoxy, and coated the area below the panels also. I’ll paint the areas later, but this makes it bright enough to work under there in the meantime.

Then I pre-drilled lots of  screw holes, coated both surfaces with regular epoxy, and slathered on a layer of thickened epoxy as a bedding compound. After screwing down each panel I climbed below and cleaned up the joints with a gloved finger. This helped me tell if I’d used enough bedding on each area. 

At the bow,I glassed the fillets and covered them with peel-ply so I can cover the hull sides and the deck at the same time later, without a lot of scrubbing and sanding. This is my first attempt at peel-ply, and it seems to work well.  I seem to spend as much time washing epoxy as applying it!

Here’s the raised deck over the foot of the bed.  I made it 6 inches wider than the mattress to make it easier to make the bed. It makes a nice work surface for now. There will need to be a scupper on the lower side deck here, as this will trap water. I think it will be the only visible scupper - all other water will flow to the stern and run out of the motor well scuppers.

My next major job is to finish the sheer. I need to sand the tops and insides square, add inside and outside boards, and a 1/2 inch plywood top. Then sand and glass it all. The total width of the rails will be 5 inches, wide enough to step on to get in or to sit on for a while. They also strengthen the whole boat.