Fiberglassing sole joints and adding roof with cable-ties

Today we tried to add the cabin roof to the boat. It was a nice fit and required only minor adjustments. We decided to glue it in place and then make the final corrections.

Mum n dad both had the opportunity to sit in the boat's cabin for the first time.

 

Then we set about fiberglassing the joints  of the cabin sole in order to give it more strength. We had to slightly sand it down first before adding the glass.

Trying cabin Sides and glueing cabin sole

Today we added the sides of the cabin to the boat and held them in place with cable-ties. Then we spent a lot of time gluing the cabin sole in place and adding the filleting. There were a few minor gaps that we filled with thick glue and leveled down.

Top part of cabin entrance added and lots of paint jobs

Today we started by adding the second coat of paint to the underside of the cabin sole. Then we set about adding the top arch of the cabin entrance. It is made of 1/2 inch marine grade plywood and we held it in place by bolting it to two big pieces of wood.

Then we painted other pieces of plywood what would be the parts of the cockpit sole (to be glued together this week).

Glued decking on both sides of cabin sole

Today we glued the two deckings on both sides of the cabin. They will be walked on later when the boat is on the water.

We intend to add our hand rails by sliding them into a gap between our decking wood and our gunwales. Hence, when gluing of the decking we must at all cost prevent glue from getting onto the piece of exposed wood in the middle gap.

In order to achieve this we devised a simple trick. The decking was put in place ensuring that there was a proper gap where required. We put masking tape into the small gap and then made sure it was perfectly fitted to the curves of the boat. Then we cut it with a paper cutter and removed the decking.

The decking was glued to the sides of the boat onto the inwales. Then a fillet of glue and filler was added to the underside of the decking for extra strength.

Both decking added for the sides.

Glued cabin sole into one piece and glassed cockpit sole

The sole of the cabin were cut from two different sheets of 3/8th inch marine plywood almost a year ago. Today we added tape to them at the places where they would be glued later on and then fiberglassed the two together. Once glued together, the whole surface was glassed.



Then we proceeded to fiberglass the two sections of cockpit sole that we had glued to the boat last time we worked on the boat for some time(almost 8 months ago).

Prepared decking at sides of cabin

The curves of the boat have been slightly changed as we set about adding the bulkheads and other wooden reinforcements. Hence, we had to modify the shapes of the decking for them to fit. We used cardboard to cut out the new shapes and then transferred the drawing to plywood and cut it up.

Bolted gunwale and painted underneath cabin sole

The port side gunwale was bolted in place. We had to leave a gap between the decking wood and the gunwales, so we put some of that blue masking tape on the piece of wood to prevent it from sticking together with epoxy.

Then we painted the part that will later be underneath the cabin sole. The tape was put in place to prevent paint from getting to places where glue will be later applied.

Second Gunwale glued

We started off removing the c-clamps holding the starboard gunwale in place. Then we drilled through the wood and added bolts to hold the inwale and gunwale together to the boat's side.

Tightening bolts

Adding glue to hide bolt head

Not very unconspicuous

The port side gunwale was then glued and clamped in place.

First Gunwale glued

We glued the starboard side gunwale today.

Applying the glue to the balao gunwale.

We had to sand the wood first and then apply the glue before clamping it onto the boat. We used about two dozen c-clamps.(You just CAN'T clamp enough when installing a gunwale)

BACK to work: Adding reinforcement underneath cabin sole

Today we finally got back to work. This is the first day of holiday that we have when both dad and I are at home since the start of the year.

Mum and dad are on holidays and have expressed the wish to "go camping" in the boat before my university resumes. This leaves me and dad exactly two weeks to finish with the cabin of the boat.

We had a nasty surprise when removing the covers from the boat in the morning. Rain had somehow got in and the cockpit sole had collected water and the wood had changed color since we had not yet added the fiberglass on the top face.

Far Right: Wood changed color due to water accumulation

We started off by cutting a piece of plywood for reinforcing underneath the cabin sole. Then we glued it in place and glassed the joint.

Dad adding the fiberglass to the new reinforcement

We also added this piece of wood as we intend to add hatches in the cabin sole to use as storage of some small items that we can keep in the boat itself. Also, the hatches will make it easier to do maintenance on the boat in case of cracks by hitting a rock.

Then we proceeded to glue the reinforcement underneath the triangle of wood at the bow of the boat.

All glued in place

 Finally we used our electric block plane to make the inwales perfectly flat for the decking of the boat to come onto it.

Plane flat