The Hull Story

On Saturday I was able to put several more hours into Shan Skailyn's hull. Things are definitely progressing along. But it's little bits at a time. One thing I'm reminded of is just how much work goes into all the cutting, planing, and preparation for a project like this, before you start putting anything together. I've done carpentry on and off for years and I always have to be reminded of that in each project I do!

So this weekend, I continued gluing more of the gunwales and chines onto the sides. Most people think of Papua New Guinea and think 'hot and humid'. But we're up high in the mountains, about 12 miles off the coast. Our weather here is cold, down in the low 50's in the morning and evening. Maybe tipping into the low 80's on nice days. Lately though, we've been in the 70's during the day. All that to say, I've learned that epoxy is going to take a LONG time to cure in these temps. It's taking about 24 hours to harden enough where I can barely push my fingernail into it. Then another day before it's fully hardened. Apparently gluing stuff together is going to take a while since I'm limited on clamps. I think once I'm done with the chines and gunwales though (only enough clamps to glue up 2 long pieces at a time) then things will probably pick up a bit. So far, I've managed to finish both sides for the middle section and I just finished gluing up the last of the chines and gunwales on one of the end pieces this morning. Usually only takes about 20-30 minutes of work to glue up two pieces, so maybe I can piece the rest of it together sometime during the week. Time will tell. I have a busy work week planned this week.

I cut all the pieces for the bulkhead perimeters. All that's left to cut is the lengths, angles and curves for the two station 1 perimeters (see pic). All the perimeters were cut from scrap pieces of tongue and groove flooring. It all worked out really well. I also managed to get station 3 (from Gary's Wa'apa plans) all glued up (see pic). I think for gluing my bulkhead perimeters, I'm going to take the easy way and use my brad nailer to get everything solid in place. Then I'll come back around with my bronze ring nails for the real support.

Also cut my stems. However, I realized that I put the 10 degree taper the wrong way; going narrower than the planned 3/4" width at the bottom; The wrong way! Debating whether or not I should recut those. Will that small thing make a big difference? It'll make the bow and stern narrower by a little more than 1/4". Maybe that'll be a good thing. Any thoughts? Any reason that that much of a difference in the stem width (at the bottom end) would cause serious problems? All I can think of is that the wood might split when I nail it. If anyone knows better, I'd appreciate some feedback here.