Week 5: 1st hull--decks, sheer clamps, mast collars, hatch coamings

(Updated 6-17-2019)

Seems like I need to get used to interruptions. Various repair tasks and social obligations got in the way of boat building again this past week. Then there was the usual time spent deciding details like the best cabin height, whether to epoxy or just paint the interior, etc.

Still, we (me mostly, and Pearl when she's not nursing) managed to get all the deck beams and supports glued in place, sheer clamps cut and glued in, all 4 cabin tops cut down to their finished height, 2 of the cabin tops glued and ready to install, hatch coamings cut and ready for gluing, deck pieces cut and ready for gluing, mast steps glued in place and mast collars cut and glued. All in all, not a bad week's progress.

We've been using vinegar for epoxy clean-up, which works about as well as acetone, is cheaper and of course non-toxic. Also, I built a simple router table and it's been a great addition to the tool stable. Faster and easier to use than a hand-held router for rounding over, which is about all I use a router for. I did get a Bosch Colt router for work I can't get to the router table. I'm happy with it, but the router table is still my go-to.

Deck beams and beam supports glued in. Sheer clamps ready for gluing. Note that sheer clamps are short pieces between deck beams, rather than a single long piece. With thinner plywood, this would create hard spots along the sheer curve, but the 1/2" MDO hull sides are stiff enough to hold a fair curve with no hint of hard spots.	Deck beams, supports and sheer clamps glued in.
Deck pieces cut and dry fitted.	Cabin tops aligned.
Cabin tops dry fitted.	Cabin tops and deck dry fitted and ready to dismantle for gluing.