Deck on

Too late for a holiday themed "deck the halls" title...

Both mid-deck sections are now glued in. Starboard side went in yesterday, and port went in this morning. Feels good to cross this milestones. Or to invent new milestones to cross, depending on how you look at it...

I goofed a little on the layout of frame 110 and made the inner corner that supports the deck about 1/4" too low, so there's a bit of filler there. Oh, well. I'm going to let both sides cure a bit, enlarge the opening where the cabin will go- it's not the right shape yet obviously- and then do all the taping of the deck supports to the underside of the deck at once. Not something to look forward to.

Chainplates looking alright, poking through the deck. They need a bit of putty and sanding to look good, but I can see it already.

Here's the consequence of adding some round to my frame sides- the hull side panels don't quite reach the sheer. The continuous sheer clamps I installed are placed into the corners of the frames at the height the plans call for, so they are a bit higher than the panel and give continuous support to the deck edge. So this extra glue is no biggie, and most will get cut away as the deck edge gets radiused for glass.

Next steps on the deck will be to cut the overhangs off and rough out the radius- it's just easier to walk around the boat when it is 4" narrower and not catching your shirt all the time. Then I need to cut the cabin hole and build up the framework or mold for the cabin foam. More new tricks to learn there, can't wait!

Butt end of the tiller. I've excavated a 1/4" or so of foam out of the end, getting ready to fill it with some filler. I filled the cavities that face downward in this pic yesterday with the tiller flipped the other way- not going fighting gravity leads to less drips in this case.

The filler, tinted black with some graphite dust. I'm planning to leave the tiller "natural", so it looks better to use black goo where it will show. Last step is to sand it a little, bore the cross hole for the pivot, a little more "fitting" to make sure it can pivot upward, then a brushed on clear coat or two.