Another hot day today. When I first inspected this shed in February I must have done so on a cool day because I don’t remember it being a concern to me then, but this shed is much hotter than the last one, at least it feels that way. And it is only going to get hotter. Anyway I mustn’t complain, there are people building boats in much hotter places than I am.
Today I cut and fitted the rest of the planks on the starboard inside bow and then glued them to each other so they set overnight and perhaps tomorrow I can get them sanded smooth and glassed.
There are 2 more webs to be fitted to the foredeck to close each hull off from the foredeck and they will then become wells for sails, fenders ropes and other gear. The webs also provide the profile for the curved foredeck. They are the same profile as the other webs for about half their size then they have flat sections at the front to match the angle of the top of the chamfer panel (inside bow). The web gets in the way while planking the bows so I have not glued it in yet, I also have to run a 70mm diameter pipe along the front of the bulkhead all the way along to run plumbing and electricity to the forward ensuite and also to run uni along the front of this bulkhead so when I eventually do glue this web in I will cut a slot in the back of the inside bow planking where it hits the web. I will need to glue the webs in before I plank the forward deck turn as I need the profiles for the planks to sit on, so I will do the other bows planking, then the uni and pipe then glue the final webs in, then I can do the final planking.
Once I had all of the planks on and the gap closed I levelled the planks to each other using the mdf strips and then I glued them together using the same method I used on the side planking. I use a scraper to squeeze glue down in between the planks. I could have buttered each plank with glue and screwed the panels down with glue on, but I decided against this as it was easier for me to just squeeze the glue in. Once it has set (tomorrow) I will sand it smooth, fill the sections behind the levelling straps and then glass it wet on wet.
I was originally intending to glue the forebeam in before I planked the inside bows so I could plank around the beam but I changed my mind and I will cut holes in the panels for the beam once they are finished. I figured it to be easier to glass in one piece and then cut it out rather than trying to glass around a hole in it. Hopefully I get it glassed on the outside tomorrow. Then during the week I will take it off and glass the inside.
