9. I love sanding and epoxy !!!!!

This post covers quite a lot of activity (all is relative). Having already epoxied the ribs, I have now cut in and glued the ‘keel’ which is really just two pieces of timber joining the ribs together.. I managed to use every clamp I had but it all went together easily. Now for the sanding it into shape. Actually I started by planing it with a Stanley 12″ planer and really reconnected with hand tools, the tenon saw is now king as there are all the longitudinals to cut into the ribs. I have also been using the Fein Multimaster which will do plunge cutting except that the coarse cut blades seem to shed teeth at the edges so as they do, I grind the edges of the blades down to the next available teeth, well, they are expensive. I have also some fine small blades of about 25mm that work well.

Then I started to add the end shaping timbers to the transom (see pictures), having cut the notches for the longitudinals. These slot into notches on every rib so endless joys of cutting little bits of wood, 4 on the bottom and three on the sides. I know what you are thinking, Greg, this is just how we used to make them!!!! Sorry folks, Greg is a Kiwi friend who until a year ago ran superyacht projects at Alloy Yachts in Auckland (http://www.alloyyachts.co.nz) they were just a bit bigger than the Greyfalcon and in metal the only similarity was that they both go on water! Look them up, they are fabulous.

So back to the transom, now built, shaped and ready to add to the framework. Which is what I did today, yipee. This is a real psychological moment for muggins as it completes the frame. Now for the long bits.

A word of caution with all this. I am not Mr elf and safety but I really tripped myself up last week when I was epoxying the transom. I completely forgot to wear a mask for the fumes and after an hour of work, boy did I feel it. This stuff is horrible and I still had a sore throat the next day. I have been very good up until then with opening every door and I have a big fan that I switch on the get the air circulating. Never again will I make that mistake.

Stay tuned ……..