Blog Post #7

 5/16/22

Today, I kicked off the day by running fillets along the edges of the skids I installed last week. I used the remaining epoxy to fill the cracks that formed when I drove the wood screws in. I then sat and looked through the manual, familiarizing myself with the rubrail installation while the fillets set up. 

Once it was firmed up enough, I used the rubbing alcohol trick to smooth out the fillets before getting some help and flipping the boat. 

Because of the work that I did on the bottom of the hull, I needed to get a new saw horse that was designed to hold a boat with a skeg. This took the form of a section of ply with a V cut in the top, which was driven into the sawhorse with wood screws.

At this point it was time to install the rub rails. This process required some amount of patience, as I needed to use around 30 C clamps to affix the rub rail to the sides of the boat. 

By nature the rubrails were warped to some degree, dictating that a dry fit was in order. I affixed the rails, starting from the bow and working my way back in small increments to make sure that I kept them in line with the sides of the boat. By the time I was finished it was about noon, so I headed out to lunch.

When I got back, the rails had somewhat adhered to the shape of the hull, and I decided they were ready for gluing. To make this process easier, I removed the clamps and hooked them on the transoms of the boat in a way so when I came back with the glue, I would be able to affix them in the same way I did with the dry run.

Using the same tactic I discussed when I glued the skeg, I coated the mating surface of the rubrail with unthickened epoxy to prevent the bare wood from soaking up the adhesive and weakening the join. I then coated half of the rubrail with  my thickened epoxy, before clamping it back to the boat in the same way I did on the dry run. When I reached the end of my adhesive, I applied the rest and finished fixing the rail to the hull. 

I repeated this process on the other side, and wiped up any drips that I could find. This is where I ended out the day, deciding that I would install the seats and the second set of rails tomorrow. 


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