4-4.

After a hiatus for Daddy to go on a sailing trip, we're back to work. Today we worked on the centerboard, centerboard case, and spine. We finished sanding the leading and trailing edges of the centerboard, making a wide rounded curve on the leading edge and a sharper tapered shape on the trailing edge. Then we cut a hole and a couple groves in the "nose" - where a rope will come through to raise and lower the centerboard. We also cut a square out of the bottom of the centerboard, which will be filled with molten lead! The Pb is available tomorrow at an engineering equipment supply store and comes in 5 lb ingots. I wonder how many Pb ingots equal an Au ingot. Not that we have any gold bars laying around to trade with.



Next we worked on the spine. We mixed up some liquid epoxy and some glue and attached the seat supports and bottom rails (20x20mm lumber) onto the centerboard case, attached the king plank (I think it's called that) across the top of the spine where the fore deck will be, the bottom cleat that the bottom plywood plank will attach to, and the three doublers onto the bow of the boat. Now the bow is very thick, so it will be shaved down to a nice taper that will cut through the water and will look like a normal boat.
All of the 20x20 pieces were attached with screws, which were countersunk and subsequently covered over with epoxy - so there's no unscrewing anything! The doublers we attached with nails.



A note - I cut through a nail today with the jigsaw - that was fun. I wondered why the saw was putting up so much resistance, and when putrid smoke started streaming up from the wood I knew something was wrong. I had already made it halfway through the nail, so coming from the other direction I plowed through and the nail was no match for the saw any longer. Although I think we need a new blade now...