Day 12: Trailering the Hull back to Seattle

The boat is home safe on Whidbey Island. We loaded it on the trailer this morning for the 6 hour drive from Idaho. The fillets and glass were well cured and hopefully kept out the water from the rainy drive.

View from bow to stern of the gunwale after the clamps came off.

Here are some pics of the epoxy/wood powder caps on the transom and bow post.

Transom closeup

Bowpost cap

Closeup

The boat emerging from the shop.

Also a couple pics of out morning routine at Gail & Lonnie's; morning tea, great breakfast and the Lewiston paper.

Leaving the shop.

Leaving Lonnie & Gail's and pointing it to Seattle.

Day 11: Glueing the Gunwale (Outwale)

Today was the final long day in Deary. We got the outside gunwale on and cleaned up our mess in Lonnie & Gail's shop. It was a treat to get to work in their shop, use the big saws and have their support! We also had some fine dinning and excellent wines thanks to Dee. We had a great time building the hull, having delicious dinners, playing with the dogs Copper and Tundra, eating fresh veggies right out of Gail's garden, watching old-school dory videos and getting really dusty in the shop. My only regret was that I didn't bring enough chocolate. I've put it on the materials list for the next boat. Tomorrow we will load the hull on the trailer and take off for seattle and whidbey island and say farewell to Gail, Lonnie and the dogs. It was a fun trip!

Day 10: Fillets2

Photos are about the same as yesterday. Here is a little pic of the Sundog Expedition's oar rack.

We finished the last fillets in the hull today...whew! A long job but they look great. The fillets we glassed yesterday look, strong  and even.  It will be great to have the boat somewhat protected from water for the drive back to Seattle.

Day 9: Hull/Mold Separation and Fillets

Today was a good day. We popped the hull off the mold. It came off immediately -no problem....well, after I found that last screw holding it in place.

Then we cut the excess wood from the sides with a jigsaw and then fine tunned with a plane.

After sanding we began the process of filleting the inside of the hull.

Pic of Lonnie showing us how its done.  He had some perfectly cut fillet spreaders for the job.  We copied him and went right to it.  Definitely a tiring job, especially in the bow and stern.

We laid in a special fillet blend then immediately glassed with 6", 4" and 2" tape along the bottom and just one layer of appropriate tape for the verticals.  (Bow and Transom got all the layers)

With my Dad wetting out the tape and myself pulling the fillets it still took all day.

Tom cleans up the wounds in the glass from where the screws held the scarf joint together.

Day 8: Hull Fairing

Today we sanded the fiberglass and put the first coat of fairing compound. We tested out the Raka phenolic microspheres on the bottom and hit the sides with West System microlight.

The glass looked pretty good after last night. Just a couple bubbles and some curtains where we went a little heavy on the epoxy.

Our routine for the fairing was for Tom and Lonnie to spread on the fairing while I served as the mixologist.  With 3 people it went pretty quickly.

Pic of the red microballoons on the bottom and the white microlight on the sides.

Now all we have to do it wait.

The wood pile is slowly increasing.  Hopefully by the time we are done with the hull, Lonnie and Gail will have enough wood for the winter.

Halloween is coming so we carved pumpkins tonight.  I was pretty excited when Gail arrived home from work with these big orange surprises.

Guess who doesn't have an MFA.

Day 7: Hull fiberglassing

Dad and I sport our fabulous glassing outfits.

We all had a long day wearing a respirator but it was worth it. With 3 people the glassing of the hull went smoothly.

First thing this morning we cut the glass this morning and went straight to it.

We wetted out the 17oz biaxial cloth on the bottom.

Next was the 6oz on the sides.

Then 9oz on the bottom.

Then 6oz halfway up the sides.

A final 6oz on the bottom.

Next came the 6oz tape; 6", 3", 2" on the chine, transom and bowpost.

Now the waiting game until a good cure. Next step will be to pop it off the mold. We have our fingers crossed!!

Day 6: Gunwale Blocks

Just got back from Seattle and headed straight to the shop. Dad and I set a metal batton to lay down a pencil line for the gunwale.

Tom set up a jig for drilling the center hole in the gunwale blocks that were cut yesterday.

While I was in Seattle, Tom, Lonnie and Gail walked the property in search of edible mushrooms but didn't have much luck. Hopefully we'll get a chance to hunt again.

Lots of firewood was cut as well.

Day 5: Gunwale Scarfs

My Dad eased the edges of the side panels using a plane and then sanded.

He also glued up the gunwale scarf joints.

And cut the ash blocks for the gunwales.

Day 4 1/2

Just hours ago I was covered in sawdust and epoxy in Deary, ID. and in two hours I've set foot down in Seattle -sawdust free and loving the epoxy free marine air. I'm here for 48 hours to celebrate with the rest of my family the beautiful life of my Aunt Carol. She passed away suddenly October 1st and we are all getting together tomorrow for the memorial service. She was one spectaccular woman! I got to go out rowing on useless bay with her this summer and it was really magical. At slack tide, we went out on the "Scum Bum I" and she rowed me from one spit to the other on just perfect glass. She was really haulin' on the oars and lovin' it. Just a real special memory. "I could do this forever. I can't believe I'm this strong. We're flying arn't we!", she said. I feel blessed to have been able to spend so many wonderful moments with her. Fly on Aunt Carol.

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.

Day 3: Boat Bottom, Transom, Bow

Today things are looking boat-like.   We attached the 1/2" ply transom and luan mahogany bow stem to the boat mold using wood screws.  The glassed thwarts were also screwed onto the mold.

This is me with the excess bow post.

The most important thing we did today was to attach the battons to the boat mold.  This took some time to really line everything up and get the mold true.  Lonnie has build a lot of boats with this mold but it is still holding up pretty well.

We also prepped the mold with plastic and wax in areas.

Tom and Lonnie work to get the bow post lined up.  My job, nag them about millimeter increments.  This boat will be no ambi-turner.

Presto.  Center.

Thats the shape.

Prepping the bowpost for the bottom 1/2" ply.

Tom fine tunes.

Ready to glue the bottom.

3 person job to get the bottom glued.  A little tricky to get the ply to bend.  Lonnie would stand on the bottom and screw things down while I snaked through the mold to glue and Tom would hold the ply off the mold for me to sneak the glue in.

This is a pick of lonnie showing me the gluing technique.

The bow was the last to be fastened.  Lonnie was barely heavy enough to weigh it down.  Luckily Tom had some monster wood screws and heavyduty washers to keep things put.

Tom cleaned up the edge of the 1/2" bottom and cut the perfect angle to accept the sides.

Last thing we did today was glass the interior surface of the 1/4" sides. The thermostat is set to 60.