The Minutes of a Dory Build

3/12/10

Day 93: Hatch Latches

Installed the Southco latches today. Only one was a little tough to get in... nothing a rubber mallet couldn't handle.

Also faired the inside edges of the hatch gutter lips to safeguard against moisture getting into the seam.

Used glazing putty to fill the small seams at the corners of the gutter lips.

Another look at the gutters.

The table pieces got a coat of paint.

The footbrace, wine rack and handrails got round 7 of varnish.

A gunwale block went missing so Tom made up a new one.

The oars got round 3 of varnish.

Before hand I sanded the oars and gunwale to knock down some of the raised grain.

The gunwale also got round 3 of varnish. I tried using a brush this time. It took a lot longer, went on thicker, but has some curtains in it. I think I'll try going back to the rag method.

The gunwales are time consuming!

3/11/10

Day 92: Hatch Lids

Tom came up the island again to help fit the hatch lids. All the holes were pre-drilled and treated with epoxy so it was mostly a matter of setting the screws and barrel nuts.

4 out of 7 hatch lids fit perfectly. 3 need some minor adjusting.

The stern cross was a little off. (A little tight on the right and just the opposite on the left)

Also the back lip of the hatch lid was getting hung up on the gutter lip. Tom narrowed the gutter lip using a saw.

Here is a pic of the bow hatch. The hinges have been installed on the deck and are awaiting the hatch lid.

Close up of the hinge and the lip of the gutter.

Pic of a finished hinge on the hatch lid. I think this is the port side hatch.

After the hatch lids went on I rolled out primer onto the other side of the table pieces and went on to round 2 of varnish on the oars.

The footbrace and wine rack got round 6 of varnish. The hand rails look pretty good at 6 coats.

The gunwales also got their 2nd coat of varnish. The wood is looking a little more golden and shiny.

3/10/10

Day 91: Varnish

I came home smelling like turpentine... much better than the isocyanates of the hull paint!

Cleaned up the shop in the AM then went to it with the varnish.

Turns out I had been using the wrong thinner. So now that I have the right combo, things are looking really good.

The oars and gunwale got a highly thinned rub with the varnish/turpentine mixture. Used a rag to apply it and it worked great. Goes on real fast too.

The other ash pieces got a very lightly thinned mix applied and they are looking nice. The varnish brushes on 100% better thinned with turpentine compared to the laquer thinner mix.

Its tough getting the inside of the gunwale varnished! Havn't figured it out yet.

The camp table got a coat of primer on one side.

Hx: Here is a pic of the deck texture I used. I eventually ran out of this product so "Trex" was used in the footwells.

3/9/10

Day 90: Hatch Gutters

When first installing the hatch gutters I talked about the "gutter lips"; well, here they are. Finally making their debut.

Their design came from the Alumaweld style gutters.

Its a bit hard to tell whats going on here, but, the wood blocks on the top left of the pic are directly on top of the "lip" which is being glued to the inner gutter wall.

So here is a cross section-like view.
On pic right is the outer gutter wall, then pic left is the inner gutter wall, then directly on top of the inner wall is the lip.

It over hangs to (in theory) help keep the water from splashing into the hatch when the mega waves start crashing onto the deck.

Tom came up the the island today and we blasted together all 7 hatch gutters.

Got the gunwale sanded and ready for varnish.

In the foreground of this pic is the block for the oarlock. The notch in the inwale is where the post of the oarlock will nestle. The outer gunwale was going to get carved into as well but I had a bad feeling about it after seeing the inwale so I called for a redesign. (Opting for longer bolts instead of carving into the gunwale)