Day 4: Sides of the Boat

This morning we attached the sides of the dory. We now have something that would float but only remotely looks like a boat.

The bottom of the boat was expertly shaped by Tom so the sides went on beautifully.

The bottom was tacked to the thwarts with some temporary fillets. The sides have been permantly glued to the bottom edge, bow post, transom and bulkheads.

The whole inside of the boat is glassed with one layer of 6oz...looks pretty good. Only a few small spots where we went a little thin with the epoxy but the glass is adhered to the wood well. So far the Raka epoxy is doing the trick. It was a little slow to set at 50 degrees so we increased the temp to 60 and are getting just the right cure for an overnight wait. So far the only issue with Raka was the shipping. One box showed up damaged with one gallon of the resin spilled out...quite a mess but the other 11 gallons were o kay. The shipment was also missing an item but they shipped the item out same day that I called so it should be arriving soon.

We're ahead of schedule thanks to Lonnie Hutson's master plan. Every step is forward progress.