That took about two hours, then it was on to the flotation tank. Renn suggests using scrap 1/4" plywood to make patterns and then use those to make the real thing. I've got something easier, faster and better; cardboard! I can cut it with scissors or a knife, it's easy to mark on with a pencil and I spend less time walking back and forth the length of the boat. :-)
I started first with the vertical piece of the tank. After several back and forths trying to get the angles right I got the right side done. As usual the left side went mighty quick.
Now that vertical piece has a section of 2x3 that stretches from the inside face forward to the bowstem, but you have to provide more support than just glue or epoxy to hold it in place. The solution is a "saddle" that is glued to the inside face to help support the 2x3.
Once that was glued in place and the 2x3 cut to length and screwed down it was on to the top piece. This is where the cardboard really shines. I ended up cutting four different pieces to be able to trace all the crazy shapes and as I finished them I just literally screwed them together.
I cut the top piece and then moved on to the vertical piece that will create space for the chain locker (or in my case rope locker). There will be a hole in the forward deck that leads down into this space and you feed your anchor line in and out for storage. Just as before, I made patterns, screwed them together, transferred the shape to the plywood and cut it out.
Tomorrow I'll work on epoxying all this together. There's a significant amount of epoxy, peanut butter, fairing and assembly work to do and I have no doubt that things are going to get adjusted on the fly. :-)
10 Hours