Building the Expedition Wherry: Part VI - Straight and Narrow

Now the boat is encapsulated with epoxy and cloth, and I shouldn't have to worry about it getting wet from rain or the sprinklers anymore.  Whew, that' s minor relief.

First, I better put on the keel to make the boat go "straight and narrow," even if the owner can't.

Even though it's a lousy picture with the house roof in the back, at least the keel looks straight.  I sunk a couple sheet rock screws in the forward part and "blue taped" it off the hull to keep it straight while the epoxy set up.

I forgot to take a photo, but I also clamped a stick vertically in the middle of the transom to give me a "line" so that it was centered and vertical.

Looks good here, too.

 It's time to flip it over and glue in the support for the "cockpit" decks, which in turn also support the sliding seat rowing unit.

The frames were just a bit off so I used some tie-down straps to move them the 1/4 inch I needed to make the deck plywood flush.

The bricks are making sure the deck supports are sitting down on the glue.  The end of the tie down is just pulling the frame back just a bit - hopefully to make the edge and frame match perfectly!

After waiting for the deck supports to dry - and after epoxying cloth on the top of the plywood deckboards to protect them a bit better, I glued them in and piled up some old bricks to hold them down.  It's good I saved those old bricks!

The circle you see is the cutout for the deck hatch so you can store stuff in there if you want.  There's not really a lot of room under these decks.

 In the photo, you can see the stern deck without bricks and with some decent filets all around.  The forward deck looks about the same.  The cockpit will show for all viewers and myself, so I tried to take care to make the filets look good.  You'll have to judge for yourself when you come try it out after it's finished and painted.

I spent a surprising amount of time sanding the filets and the surfaces, with some re-fileting thrown in.  Even though I wanted to continue the progress, I knew that it would be a LOT easier to sand without the deck on, so I tried to take my time.

I'll leave you with this photo, which I just happen to like.  I drilled a half inch hole in each knee support, even though the plans didn't mention it.  I think I could put a line through it and be able to tie on the bailing can or other boating paraphernalia.  Don't you just love the colors of wood?  I do.