In the last installment, I showed my neat setup for hanging the centerboard (yeah, I know this post is about the First Assembly - be patient...), so I could work on both sides at once. Well, that didn't work out too well. The 2nd fill coat with thickened epoxy ran badly, as one might expect in retrospect.
Took no small amount of scraping and sanding to clean this up.
Took no small amount of scraping and sanding to clean this up.
But, after that, and some filling of low spots (one side at a time, laying horizontal on the bench this time), and then a final couple coats of epoxy mixed with graphite powder, and the board is nearly done. The umbrella is an attempt to keep ceiling dust from floating down onto the wet epoxy. Helped some, but I think more important is to clean up stray sawdust, especially around the space heater if I am using it.
ToDo: drill the pivot pin hole, and holes for the uphaul (the edge uncoated in this pix has since been done).
ToDo: drill the pivot pin hole, and holes for the uphaul (the edge uncoated in this pix has since been done).
SO, finally we can start on assembly. But, first we need to make the building jig. Fortunately, the parts for this are included in the kit. Here they are.
And here is the assembled jig, sitting on legs to make it easier to work on the boat and to provide some much needed long storage space. The legs are screwed to the concrete floor to maintain alignment of the jig during the building process.
After some filing, and a little planing, all the pieces fit pretty well. Next up is to screw together the centerboard trunk (the area in black), and do a little more prep work on the pieces before gluing them in.
The first such prep work was to cut hatch openings into bulkhead 4. These will give access to the underseat area between BH4 and the bulkhead aft of it (BH5). These will be accessed from inside the cabin, bulkhead 4 being the aft end of it. I am using the smallest Armstrong hatches, which don't require a backing plate, otherwise they probably would not clear cleats and the centerboard trunk (on starboard side).