BYYB Forums

For a good 2:1, economical goo, log onto Bateau.com and get their "Marinepoxy". The slow hardener is non-blush and it's strength is similar to System Three's regular laminating resin. It's about half the cost of West System and System Three at retail pricing.

Deep breath.... whew!  My teeth are not going to last much longer if I keep grinding them while I worry if I'm doing this right. 

Index strip in place, centered along the keel, slightly tapered-



Now I can started stripping from the keel toward the bilges.  I'm still worried about the dramatic curves at the stem, but there's just no way around those, regardless of which strip method I chose. 

After trying to fit the strips longitudinally earlier, I figured out that I needed to strip a bit more on the sides, basically down to the 6" waterline, before changing the direction of my strips.  Otherwise, the curve of the stem was too dramatic.  I've got those extra strips on now and I'm ready for stripping the bottom.  Pics of this and a few other interesting ones:



The temptation to just chop off the bottom 6 inches of forms, bend on a piece of plywood and make it a flat bottom boat is overwhelming.  :'(



Inside, note my magnificent beveling skills... 

BTW:  These pics are mirror images of the actual view.  Had to use the laptop webcam for these as the iPad that I was using is in the shop.

Yep, you're finding what all strippers find. I haven't mentioned a piece that is commonly installed, which we call a "stealer". This is a tapered strip, usually fitted in the lower sections of the bow (and stern on this boat) so you can let the other strips "run out" at a reasonable angle. These stealers are usually fairly short, often just a few feet long and taper from full strip width to a point. They're placed on the stem, so the next plank can lay down without as much twist or "sweep".

Another trick used by strippers, is to build the stealer taper into the end of a preceding plank. This means a custom width plank, so you have enough "meat" on the end to reshape it, but it eliminates a seam.

...could have been much worse.  When I thought I was ready to start stripping from the keel toward the bilges, I glued and nailed some strips down with the idea that I would make the bottom strips roughly oval/football shaped, to sort of match the rest of the boat.  Didn't work.  Pics of the repair (ongoing)--

Stripping ends on the stem-



Progress thus far--



The offending strips (and some clamping paraphernalia clutter as well)---


Keel batten removed.  It was only held on the molds by a single small nail at each station, so this was the easy part--


THIS is the hard part.  Getting these off is going to be a pain.  :'(


Oh well, could have been much worse.

Note the moaning chair in the last pic.  That got a lot of use before I got started on this.

All cleaned up.  I love my jackplane!




Strip layout for the bottom.  This should look nice.


Keel back in place.  Rare shot from the back of the shop.  I had to crawl up on the ledge to get this perspective.

Finally stripping the bottom. Ends will be allowed to run wild until the bottom is covered, then cut to roughly the shape of the opening.  A final strip is scribed in on each side, the strips in place will be trimmed to let it in, then the last strip (shutter plank) fitted.




It looks sloppy now, but this will finish out nicely (I hope!  :-[ )

I would just saw off the planks to roughly fit (within a 1/2" or so). This way the glue lines will not cause any weird "set" in the ends of the planks, when you try to hang the shutter.  Maybe a temporary "stop" block screwed to the underside of the topside planks, so the bottom strips have something to land on. For the shutter, I'd lay a cutting batten on the topside planks, the appropriate distance and plow off the ends with a laminate trimmer (like we discussed). The shutter will require some fitting, but nothing mind boggling and that thickened epoxy could fix. Another way would be to again spring a batten, for the cut line this time and use a jig saw. You're going to love the way this boat handles under oars and judging by the build so far, she'll be pretty too.