Almost ready for paint...finally

Over the past few days I have used thickened epoxy resin to fill in any voids in the wood. It is a maroon color in the pictures. I then sanded the entire boat with 80 grit and wiped down with acetone. This morning the first full coat of epoxy resin went on the whole boat. This will be followed up with another coat later on today or tomorrow. These layers will waterproof and strengthen the hull. next step is primer.

The bottom is on. It is 3/4" plywood. At the joints a piece of 3/8" plywood is epoxied for support. Also I started fiberglassing the seams and joints. This is very time consuming and messy. Especially when it is 96 degrees outside! I am using the West Systems 206 slow cure hardener now.

Now its time for the side plywood. What a pain in the butt. Iscrewed and epoxied these to the frames. All butt joints are backed with a 6" wide piece of 3/8" plywood epoxied to them.

Next the transom was installed. It will be layered with another piece of 3/4" plywood and reinforced with fiberglass and epoxy resin.

Next it was time to install the chine logs and sheer clamps. These go around the ribs and make nice curves. All of the ribs were notched out for these. Every joint was screwed and epoxied.

The ribs and keelson are now on the strongback. All of the ribs are put together with screws and West System epoxy resin. So far these are really strong.

This is the strongback. It is a frame used to build the boat upside down.

Week 1

Well I ordered some plans about a month ago from Spira International and started building. When done this boat will be 17 feet long. So far this is where I am at.