Dinghy building, Part 2

The building process went very quickly up to this point.  Now things slow down with more detail work.   I also have to take breaks as glue and epoxy sets up at various stages.  But that's OK, it keeps me from getting carried away into a marathon session.  Boat building is a large number of relatively small steps that come together to produce a desired result.  The trick is to coordinate several steps at a time that will not get in the way of each other, or waste time and materials.

Taping the seams after applying fillets of thickened epoxy.  2 inch tape, followed by 3 inch tape.

The next step is adding the gunnels, the protective rub rails around the sides of the boat.  In this shot, the right side has already been installed.  I'm  putting on the left side.  A coat of waterproof glue, then lots of clamps to hold things in place.  After that, stainless steel screws from inside out to further strengthen it.

I'm using 1 x 3 red oak for the rub rails (gunnels), so pre-drilling the screw holes is a must.

With the gunnels completed,  I began framing up the supports for the seats.  I have a cardboard template to make things easier.  Everything is glued up with thickened epoxy.  The small gaps will be filled when I put the 1/4 inch plywood panels on.  The seats will add integrity to the hull, and positive floatation for safety.

While the epoxy is setting, I started on making the corner pieces for the inwales (inside rub rails).  I made them from 3/4 inch red oak glued to 3/4 inch poplar.  Nothing on a boat is ever "square".  These pieces have a lot of compound curves and tricky angles to cut.  I had to sharpen my chisels and my hand tool skills to make these pieces.  It was a slow but enjoyable job with a lot of mental gymnastics to get the angles to come out properly.  I screwed a 2 x 2 to the back of the piece to act as a third hand when clamped to my work bench.

Mistakes are fewer and slower to happen when using hand tools.

Careful use of the hand saw, and cleaning up with the chisel produced the desired results.  It was a  relaxing job without the noise of power tools running.

With the seat framing completed, it's time to cut out the seat panels.  Moving the hull forward allowed me a work space for cutting.  Maneuvering an 8 foot panel in a 12 foot wide space is a challenge.  I used the cardboard template to lay out the panels to get the maximum usage of the sheet.  More to come in the next installment.  Stay tuned and Think Spring!