November 8, 2024

PT11-11

Friday

To finish pre-installation preparations for the gunwale, I masked off beneath the rail to protect the hull, then cut and installed with small bits of hot glue three plywood supports on each side, which would help hold and align the rails once they were covered in epoxy.  Then, I removed all the screws and clamps and secured the gunwales faying side-up to the table on each side of the boat, ready for epoxy coating and glue.

I soaked the pile of drywall screws in WD-40, then blotted off the excess in a rag before partially inserting all the screws, with their plywood washers, in the holes inside the hull, staged and ready for the final installation.

Then, working on both sides at once, I epoxy-coated the inside of the gunwale assemblies and the top edge of the hull, then mixed and applied a thickened epoxy mixture to the gunwales before installing them with the screws and clamps, ensuring that the tops of the gunwales remained flush with the top edge of the hull, and tight against the cutout at the forward ends of the hull panels.  At the forward end, where the two gunwales met, I filled the gap with thickened epoxy and clamped it top and bottom with a couple plastic-covered plywood pads to secure and hold the forward joint in the proper orientation.  I cleaned up the excess glue and removed the tape, leaving the assemblies to cure overnight.

Total time billed on this job today: 2.75 hours