Last night, I finally got the center support for the rear thwart glued to the keel with thickened epoxy.
The delay was caused by a slight change in course in the way Im trying to straighten out the bend in the plywood seat. I had removed the seat & was prepared to epoxy four 15" reinforcing pieces to the bottom, hoping that would keep the seat "flat." However, the warp seemed minor enough that the only way to keep it flat this way would be to run full-width reinforcing strips. I cant do that, due to the center support.
So, the change in course was to clamp levels to the plywood, to keep it flat. THEN, after trimming the sides to fit, Id attach the side blocking. In theory, once the blocking is in place at that "level," it should force the seat to stay flat once its attached. Thats the theory, anyway.
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The delay was caused by a slight change in course in the way Im trying to straighten out the bend in the plywood seat. I had removed the seat & was prepared to epoxy four 15" reinforcing pieces to the bottom, hoping that would keep the seat "flat." However, the warp seemed minor enough that the only way to keep it flat this way would be to run full-width reinforcing strips. I cant do that, due to the center support.
So, the change in course was to clamp levels to the plywood, to keep it flat. THEN, after trimming the sides to fit, Id attach the side blocking. In theory, once the blocking is in place at that "level," it should force the seat to stay flat once its attached. Thats the theory, anyway.
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| Center support, finally glued down. |
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| This is my effort to keep the plywood flat until the side blocking is attached. |
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| I used the extraneous epoxy squeezed out from the seat support to fill in imperfections like this in the plywood. |
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| The structural part of the thwart is basic A-C grade exterior plywood from Home Depot. A little tip-of-the-hat to William Jackson here... |
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| Heres where I had marked the sides of the hull for measuring the seat support dimensions. |
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| Im still undecided on whether to install a drain tube, or to just use a bilge pump. If I do install a drain tube, this is where the hole will be drilled. |
