The art of epoxy entails the ability to do things that defy the laws of nature. Budgetboater's prime dictum is what he calls "the Thumb Rule". This is the characteristic of epoxy to fill a gap as wide as your thumb and still be sound. Sometimes I think that the plywood is there merely to give the epoxy something to stick to, thus providing a finished structure. Following the platitude of " I cut it twice and it was still too short", Ben said we should feature the arcane art of board stretching (avert your children's eyes). We were all over the place this week. I'll just try to do this, but not in chronological order. We'll call it non linear meanderings and leave it at that. We'll start with Budge. He pretty much finished up the hatch design. He has spent as much time fussing over them as I have on the galley and navigation station. Hatch design involves trying to keep the cabins dry when the Come-to-Jesus wave hits (high pressure) and draining it away (low pressure). Hatch stuff pictures below.
Budge made a new finger joint jig. Made the hatch.
Square! What? You want something exciting?????
One of the top panels was too short, so we glued in a strip to make it the right size. Once painted, it will never be seen. OK, OK, I know that you all want to know what Ben's been up to, Stand back, here we go! Ben was working on the washboard coamings for the starboard hull.
The bits......
The mock-up (I said "mock"!). Budge is quite pleased with himself, transferring another to-do project to the Tah Dah! list. I have to keep stepping on his enthusiasm, but it wiggles out from under my foot. One coaming piece was too short sooooo...........................
And thus!
Ben glued up the final two hatch covers.
Ben worked some more on the mast case.
That! OK, it doesn't look like much, so I'll 'splain it to you, Lucy. This is the small door that covers the area where the chain will be stored. First it must be one with the universe. The gaps in the corners are there to let the water pass through. those little gaps along the side do the same thing. you cannot keep the water out, so you must channel it. Those four little strips involved designing it to be loose, coating everything twice with epoxy, gluing it in place. It's that way with everything.
This is the hatch/cover/door that sits on those four strips. He also made a access cover for the end of the mast case to protect the windlass. Now all he has to do is coat the raw surfaces with epoxy and coat 'em again and paint the whole thing.
note the extraneous hole that somehow got drilled.,
I assisted Ben with glassing the rudders. He was an angel............
These rudders have more board stretching............
several more................................
............but we glassed them anyway;
We were very colorful with our bowelship vernacular. Sticky, gooey with time pressing on. We fought it on..............
Then Ben had to fill coat it while it was still able to take a coat without sanding. The day was fading, as was our resolve.
We couldn't move them, so we had to cover them to protect them from the heavy morning dew.
The night creeper...........
Me? This week I worked on a bit of shop organization.
A rack to hold screwdrivers- didn't work. They all fell out. Threw the damn thing in the trash. I made some tiller and gaff parts. Had to stretch a board to make it thicker and wider.
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I glued in the Nav station shelves.
I also futzed in the galley a bit.
Pat C. Dawg, official shop yard dog.
"Atsa good guuuurl. So, witticisms exhausted, we decided to make a trip back to Ohio and do absolutely nothing for a couple weeks. Maybe I'll post next week, maybe not. This is to let my friends know (they don't read this website.......).
The Music♫: James McMurtry "Choctaw Bingo"
Ah, the holidays......time for reunions and reconnecting with family.....................
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