Foredeck and seats are glued. We just have the final aft seat compartment left to attach - it will be hinged to make a little storage compartment for a bailer, sponge, extra gear, etc.
Daddy and I screwed the deck down and nailed the starboard seat down last week, and then this weekend while he was out on a sailing adventure, I nailed down the port seat. I learned from our mistakes on the first seat and the port seat is superb - only one small gap in epoxy between the seat and seat supports. (On the starboard side we ended up with lots of little gaps and cracks - the seat wasn't held down well enough by the nails as the glue dried - so we'll have to go back and fill those in.)
Making use of left over glue as usual, I also filled all the screw holes and covered all the countersunk nail heads. Then I also put fillets in on the starboard seat, and of course I made too much glue, so I quickly sanded along a frame inside the cockpit and put some fillets there before the glue was getting too tacky to maneuver. Filleting is tedious and takes a lot of patience because you are trying to get the glue to form a perfect curve with the tip of a plastic stick, while also not leaving behind a huge mess on either side which would require more hours of sanding to clean up later. I am finally perfecting my filleting technique, learning how to use the curved end of the stick to evenly spread and smooth the glue and the square end of the stick to scrape up edges, while keeping a rag at hand to constantly wipe the stick clean and then finish cleaning the edges of the fillet.
Daddy and I screwed the deck down and nailed the starboard seat down last week, and then this weekend while he was out on a sailing adventure, I nailed down the port seat. I learned from our mistakes on the first seat and the port seat is superb - only one small gap in epoxy between the seat and seat supports. (On the starboard side we ended up with lots of little gaps and cracks - the seat wasn't held down well enough by the nails as the glue dried - so we'll have to go back and fill those in.)
Making use of left over glue as usual, I also filled all the screw holes and covered all the countersunk nail heads. Then I also put fillets in on the starboard seat, and of course I made too much glue, so I quickly sanded along a frame inside the cockpit and put some fillets there before the glue was getting too tacky to maneuver. Filleting is tedious and takes a lot of patience because you are trying to get the glue to form a perfect curve with the tip of a plastic stick, while also not leaving behind a huge mess on either side which would require more hours of sanding to clean up later. I am finally perfecting my filleting technique, learning how to use the curved end of the stick to evenly spread and smooth the glue and the square end of the stick to scrape up edges, while keeping a rag at hand to constantly wipe the stick clean and then finish cleaning the edges of the fillet.
Now there is lots of sanding happening. Started this weekend and will continue through the week until there are no more apparent spots of epoxy showing. Only then can we proceed and put the next coat of liquid down, followed by another sanding, another coat of epoxy, until we have 3 coats applied.
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