March

The last of the construction projects.  

We cut out the foredeck last week and Daddy made doublers out of cypress to go under the deck where it overhangs in the boat (one for either side of the king plank).  The oak king plank is also set to go under the deck, and today we pre-drilled and dry fitted the king plank and deck.  

Today we also cut out the seats.  We had cardboard cut-outs for port and starboard seats and the deck that we traced onto the plywood.  The cardboard cut-outs being far from perfectly shaped, we then had to go back and forth from boat to saw, trimming off edges, widening notches, etc until the parts fit right.

Everything is coming together nicely.  The deck and seats are ready to be glued, although we will wait to glue the seats until we have finished the stern seat compartment that will hinge open - that is just a rectangular piece of seat with hinges at the back and a latch at the front for a little storage compartment.  This will have to fit in with the side seats, so we'll make sure it all goes together before gluing.  In the meantime, these new pieces of wood have to get their coats of liquid epoxy on surfaces that will be out of reach once glued, which we'll be working on this week as the weather is warming again after the downpour and cool air we had yesterday.