While there were still small jobs to do, I allowed myself an hour or two first thing in the morning to accomplish what I could before shifting focus to my other ongoing project.  To begin, I flipped the foils over and applied a gloss coat of epoxy to the second side, same as the first.

Next, I worked on the rowing foot braces.  The kit came with a paper template to locate the braces, which I used quickly to locate four large patches of masking tape on each side, then replaced the template so I could accurately mark the locations with little marks at the four corners of each slot.  I repeated this process on both sides of the boat.  I held each of the eight braces in place and cut around the base with a knife, so that I could remove the tape from the footprint.  I labeled each foot brace and location accordingly.

I masked each brace completely for protection, then installed them in a thickened epoxy mixture, cleaning up the excess glue but leaving all the tape in place for the moment.

After a few hours, I carefully removed the tape from the hull, but left the tape in place on the braces themselves as I didn’t want to jar the still-curing epoxy.  I left the braces to cure overnight, and would remove the remaining tape in the morning.

 

Now that both sides of the foils were fill coated and cured, I could trim the excess fiberglass from the second side, and finalize the sanding and shaping of both pieces.  I sanded the glossy epoxy flat and smooth with a sanding block and finessed the edges by hand (especially the leading edge) to achieve the final shape.

Before continuing, I checked the daggerboard to ensure it fit in the slot.  There was as yet nothing to hold it in place, so I had to hold it while doing the check, but the board fit through both ends of the slot with no issued whatever.

Now, I applied a final gloss coat of epoxy to the first side; I’d do the second side on a different day.

I lightly sanded the outboard mounting area to smooth the epoxy fill coat and complete the construction work there.

The rudder and daggerboard required some preparation before I could install the fiberglass on the second side.  To begin, I used a knife trimmed the excess cloth from the first side.

The leading edge required some sanding and shaping to finalize the profile and bevel and slightly round the epoxy bead I’d installed from the first side.  This wasn’t difficult and didn’t take long, but one could see how it might easily be done incorrectly, as the job required a certain sense of what the shape should be and how to create it.  I masked the plywood to help gauge where the sanding was occurring, and used a small sanding block to bevel and shape the epoxy leading edge, sweetening it by hand thereafter.  Around the remainder of both foils, I lightly sanded flush the remnants after I’d cut away the excess cloth, and sanded the top edge of the cloth where it wrapped onto the plywood edges at the 18mm thick top sections of each foil.

I sheathed the second side of the foils the same way as the first, with one layer of 4 oz. cloth and, on the daggerboard, a second layer at the top, which extended an inch or two down onto the hydrofoil.  The cloth wrapped over the edges of the full-thickness portion of each foil, extending well past the seam from the first side.  As before, I let the excess cloth on the leading edge side drape well past the curve to help the fiberglass cling to the newly-shaped area as required.

In other works, I trimmed and lightly sanded the sheathing I’d installed over the outboard modification at the transom, and then fill-coated the area to fill the weave of the cloth, essentially finishing up the work on this area.

The bulk of the small parts now had enough varnish for installation, but the top, visible side of the aft seat still required a few sprayed coats, which I finished up during the day.

Later in the day, when the fiberglass on the foils had had about 5 hours’ cure time, I returned to apply the epoxy fill coat to both parts, rolling on a thick coat of epoxy to fill the weave of the cloth and prepare the second side for eventual sanding and final fairing.

Starting first thing, and throughout the morning, I applied a few more coats of varnish to the small parts using a small sprayer; this time around, I flipped the seat blank so the final exposed side was now facing up to get some varnish, as the underside was sufficiently coated for now.

Fifth coat (first on seat blank):

Sixth coat (second on seat blank):

Seventh coat (third on seat blank):

The next step for the daggerboard and rudder was to inject a bead of epoxy into the little void along the leading edges of both foils.  The shape of the leading edge, and the way the fiberglass draped over the edge (with no attempts made to wrap it beneath the rounded edge) left an small open space that was visible with the foils turned over onto their recently-glassed sides.

With a syringe, I injected a bead of thickened epoxy mixture into this void, including along the tips of the foils.  This bead filled the small space till it was flush with the top edge of the curved leading edge.  I lightly smoothed the bead with a finger to avoid leaving too much epoxy, as I’d have to sand and shape this area later, before installing fiberglass on the second side.

With the foils turned back over to the working side (glass side up), the purpose of the filling was made more clear.

Next, I rolled on a nice fill coat on the new fiberglass, heavily enough that there’d be no problem to sand and fair the foils smooth when all was said and done.

I trimmed the overhanging fiberglass from the rudder case spacer piece, and sanded flush the four filled holes in the two case sides (one hole leaked out around the tape at the bottom, so I added some extra filler now).  Then, I installed a layer of 4-oz fiberglass over each plywood panel; the fiberglass as cut to the prescribed size didn’t cover the lowest parts of the case, and the book made it clear it was not necessary.  I also installed a 2″ wide strip of 4 oz. cloth over the curvy edge of the spacer; this wrapped under and onto the straight edge by under an inch on each end..

I sanded flush the newly-glued plywood outboard mounting reinforcement, and cleaned up the fillets and around the part as needed to bring things to a more finished appearance.

Next, I installed a layer of 4 oz. fiberglass over the vertical face, which replicated a similar piece I’d installed on the original inwale and would also help toughen and reinforce the outboard mounting area.  With leftover epoxy, which I turned into a fairing mix, I cleaned up the fillets a bit to improve appearance.  I let the fiberglass run over the various edges for later trimming.

Most of the remaining parts of the boat were now in play and under some form of construction or finishing at this point, and there was literally nothing left to do while waiting for fiberglass or epoxy to cure, or varnish to dry.   I planned to come in on the weekend to continue the varnish buildup as necessary, and to glass and coat the second side of the daggerboard and rudder, but there was no further project advancement possible at the moment–and I looked through both manuals for anything at all that I might be able to do right now.

I’d enjoyed being able to dedicate full-time to the building of this dinghy till now, without too many forced early departures, but the construction was now at a stage where there simply wasn’t enough left to do in order to justify full shop days’ attention.  Plus, other scheduled projects in the shop loomed ahead and needed to get started, so this would be the last week dedicated entirely to the dinghy.  From here on out, I’d divide my time between this and other projects as needed in order to finish the boat.  This is a rough list of what remains to be done, construction-wise, vaguely in order of operation:

1. Install rowing foot cleats and rowlock risers
2. Final work on the outboard modification
3. Finish glasswork and prep on the daggerboard and rudder, and associated parts
4. Interior prep, primer, and paint
5. Exterior prep, primer, and paint
6. Rubrail
7. Final details like rudder hardware, fitting the aft seat and daggerboard slot cover, protective pads for nesting, and fitting the forward hatch

I like to start the day with any routine sanding work, to get it out of the way and be able to continue whatever next steps there might be, so with the 17 small parts (plus the aft seat) now heavily epoxy-coated, it was time to lightly sand the epoxy to prepare it for the final finish. These were nice mahogany parts, and I elected to go with a varnish finish for these small bits as an offset to the rest of the boat.  I lightly sanded the epoxy with 220 grit paper to remove gloss and any surface interruptions.

These parts were perfect candidates for spray varnish, which would be quick and easy to apply for many coats over a relatively short timeframe.  I happened to have a spray version of Captain’s Varnish, a relatively new offering that I’d had on hand for a while, but had only rarely used.  Unfortunately, the spray mechanism failed as I tried to use it, which was disappointing since the product had worked well during my earlier uses, so instead I mixed some varnish with enough thinner (no more than needed) to allow me to use a small DIY spray bottle instead, and this worked well throughout the day.  I returned several times during the day to spray on additional varnish, a quick process each time.

First coat:

Second coat:

Third coat:

Fourth coat:

After the 4th coat, I decided that was enough for one day, to avoid excess coating thickness that might not cure properly, but planned to apply additional coats next time.

The day’s main focus was the daggerboard and rudder.  A couple days had elapsed since I’d created the epoxy trailing edges on the foils, and now I could sand and shape these properly to finish off the foils.   There were several different sanding and milling steps required; the photos show  the finished results.

To start, I made a few marks 3/16″ out (onto the epoxy) from the edge of the plywood on the trailing edges, then sanded the epoxy edges back to these lines, as the epoxy portions were specified to be this width.  Then, with a small block sander I sanded the new epoxy smooth on both sides, using the shaped plywood as the guide for the shape and contours, and also shaped the over-epoxied tips by hand and eye to match the adjacent areas.

At the top part of each foil, where the plywood was full thickness, I used a router to round over the edges on both sides, then sanded everything smooth through 12o grit, including the foil tops, and over the milled/shaped portions of the foils and their leading and trailing edges.  This finished off the shaping work on the new epoxied areas, and also removed any milling marks.

I cut pieces of 4 oz fiberglass (the foils kit came with its own small roll of fabric) as required for both foils, and set up the bench to sheathe the parts.  With protective plastic laid down, I first traced the shape of the parts so I’d have an easy reference to drive four nails per foil, and cut off their heads, which would support the pieces above the bench for fiberglassing.  The book called for sheathing one side at a time.

I installed the light cloth in epoxy and as directed, with an additional reinforcing layer on the top part of the daggerboard.  The excess cloth extended well past the leading edges of the foils by design, as this helped keep the saturated fabric tight against the curve, and on the unshaped upper portions of each part I wrapped the cloth over the rounded edges and down; the cloth on the second side would later do the same, and thus overlap slightly the first layer.  This would become more clear once it actually happened.

I’d cut a few small pieces of cloth for some subassemblies that I could do now as well.  The so-called rudder case, which would support the top of the rudder and connect it with the tiller, would be formed from two small pieces of 1/4″, which I prepared now by masking over the four holes on one side and filling the holes with a thickened epoxy mixture.  I also prepared an 18mm plywood spacer for eventual assembly with the side panels.  Because the rudder was formed from 18mm plywood, but would have two layers of fiberglass to thicken it slightly, the spacer required additional thickness to prevent the rudder from binding, so the book suggested two layers of 6oz. cloth and one layer of 4 oz. cloth, applied to one side of the spacer.

These small steps would prepare these parts for additional pre-assembly steps next time.

Next, I continued work on the transom modifications for outboard use.  To ease access to the area for the next steps, I set up the stern half of the boat with the transom down on the floor and the boat resting against the bench.  The laminated plywood block I’d made up last time was ready for use now, and after slightly shaping the aft edge to fit against the transom and existing fillet, I traced the rough cutout I’d made on the inwale and cut the block accordingly, then glued it to the inwale and transom with a thickened epoxy mixture, securing it with clamps while the epoxy cured,  I cleaned up the excess gluing squeezeout, and then finished off the installation with a 3/4″ radius fillet around the lower corners, to match and tie in with the existing inwale fillets.

Once this assembly cured overnight, I could continue with final shaping and sanding to clean up the end result.

The epoxy forming the new trailing edges and tips on the rudder and daggerboard was not yet ready for sanding and shaping, but I removed the masking tape now to make it easier.  I used a scraper to help remove the tape till I found it was chipping the fresh and as-yet unreinforced epoxy, so I stopped; the remaining tape could be sanded away. Eventually, the epoxy trailing edge would be sanded back so it was 3/16″ wide, so much of the chipped area would be removed anyway.  Still, I decided to fill in a few chipped areas with new epoxy now.

I block-sanded flat the slightly overhanging edges of the fiberglass shims at the aft bulkhead, so the shims were completely flush on both sides of the bulkhead.  Then, I assembled the boat halves once more so I could finish the initial installation steps required for the clips.  I started by sanding the shims–which now stood a bit proud of the foredeck, as the originals should have done–so they were completely flush with the foredeck.

As directed, I fitted the two carbon fiber alignment clips with temporary stick-on spacers (about 1/16″ thick) and, holding each tightly in position firm against the corner of the bulkhead and tight against the spacer on the bulkhead face, drilled shallow pilot holes through the two fastener locations on each clip.  Then, I enlarged and deepened these holes with a 3/8″ bit marked at 7/8″ depth and, coated the holes in unthickened epoxy, which I let sit for a while before filling the holes overfull with a thickened but pourable mixture of epoxy near the end of the day.

Next, I worked on the modifications at the transom to accommodate the owner’s electric outboard.  Following the non-specific guidelines in the book, I marked and cut the inwale to reduce the depth the outboard mounting clamps would have to span, and glued up a 1″ thick reinforcement and clamping pad from two layers of 12mm plywood scrap, which pad I’d later cut to fit and install beneath the new cutout once the lamination was cured, and after that I’d sweeten and finish off the opening.

There wasn’t a lot else I could work on at the moment, but I did take the opportunity to cut with a jigsaw the tiller  along the scribed marks on the rectangular blank, after which I rounded the edges and sanded the tiller smooth; I also sanded the tiller extension, which came pre-shaped.

Finally, I applied a second coat of epoxy to all the small parts.

Earlier, thinking I was done with assembling the boat halves for a while, I’d removed the knobs and pins from the connecting hardware, anticipating interior finish work and masking.  But I realized while glancing ahead in the book that I’d have to assemble the hull to do the initial layout for the alignment clips.  So, over the holiday break and taking advantage of the fact that the knobs were already off, I went ahead and applied finish to the knobs, which would save having to do it later.  I thought the knobs as machined looked pretty cool, so I chose to finish them with spar varnish, which I happened to have in a handy spray can.  I masked off the pins and held the knobs in a vise so I could apply several coats of varnish over a day or two.

Moving on with real work, I started out by sanding all the filled screw holes and other areas from last time, working only by hand and with a small sanding block with 12o grit.  This included the fairing on the inwale, and the filled screw hole on the forward bottom edge of the skeg, along with the small fillet surrounding the mast tube.  A few areas still had some low spots that would require some spot filling later.

I block-sanded flush the edges of the small fiberglass shims I’d epoxied at the aft bulkhead corners for the alignment clips, then reassembled the connecting pin hardware so I could conjoin the boat halves again to continue the initial layout of the alignment clips.   The shims were intended to bring the aft bulkhead up to or just higher than the level of the foredeck, so I was unprepared to find that in fact the shims were still below foredeck level once the boat was assembled, as determined by holding a straightedge tight to the foredeck and observing how it passed over the shims on both sides.  This was mildly frustrating and wholly unexpected.

I cut some additional shims from prefab fiberglass stock on hand, and ensured that they’d be thick enough to stand proud of the foredeck once installed.

I disassembled the boat once more and, after final preparations, glued in the extra shims with thickened epoxy.

Without any additional work required for now on the hulls, I applied some fairing epoxy over some of the screw holes, the inwale, and previously-filled nail holes in the foredeck to bring everything up flush as needed.

A few days earlier, while pulling out various small parts left in the inventory and which would require some epoxy steps before final installation, I discovered that there were no rowing foot support cleats amongst them.  I found this odd since an installation template was included, and the book covered in some detail their installation, but it turned out that for reasons beyond comprehension these cleats were an optional add-on and not part of the stock kit.  Given the otherwise completeness of the kit, and the necessity of these foot supports for efficient rowing, this was surprising.   Fortunately, I had teak stock on hand from which I could easily (if unnecessarily) make up the cleats in the shop.  From a teak leftover, I milled a 3/4″ square piece that was long enough to build the eight 5-1/2″ long cleats the manual suggested were necessary, and I shaped them according to photos in the book, with angled ends and rounded corners.

(Note:  It took 30 minutes to mill and sand the cleats, and $8.37 worth of teak, so the total cost of the shop made cleats was about $45, versus $55 for the add-on kit.)

Now with all the required small parts at hand, I turned to some epoxy pre-finishing as detailed in the book.  Along with the foot cleats, I had to address four rowlock risers, two aft seat support cleats, a daggerboard filler piece cleat, and the two carbon fiber alignment clips, plus the aft seat itself.

To thoroughly epoxy-coat all these tiny parts, I followed the teachings of the manual, and attached all the parts to small plywood bits with nails and hot glue.  The oversized plywood strips–quickly milled from scraps–provided a way to easily secure the parts with standoffs, in this case either nails or screws glued to the plywood, and this arrangement allowed for easy coating and handling of the 18 parts, including–at the book’s suggestion–clamping the parts upside down off the bench while the epoxy cured.  I coated all sides of the aft seat by holding it off the table with nails driven into the table surface, and their heads cut off (as I’d done throughout the project for various parts).  These parts would receive two more coats in the coming days.

These small parts were the last components of the boat itself requiring work for now, so I turned to the sailing foils kit–rudder and daggerboard–that this owner also chose to purchase, and which came with its own separate manual and collection of parts.  The foils as delivered were pre-milled to shape from 3/4″ plywood.

The first task required with the foils was to build up trailing edges of solid epoxy, much as I’d done with the skeg a few days earlier.  The milled parts included a built-in space for this extension on their trailing edges and tips.

To form these new trailing edges, I proceeded in accordance with the manual, and applied three layers of masking tape (pre-laminated on a long metal ruler) to the trailing edges on both sides of each part, pressing the tape tightly against the plywood edges and leaving a small gap, or quasi-mold, formed by the tape.

I propped the parts up so the trailing edges faced upwards, and filled the “molds” with a thickened epoxy mixture, piped in by syringe.

Then, I laid the parts on their sides and applied more thickened epoxy to the tips, which were only masked on one side, meaning the epoxy had to be abundant so I could shape it down to the required profile later.  I also filled the holes at the top of each part with the thickened epoxy; I’d masked over these from the underside previously.

Finally,  the owner requested that I make provisions for the possible (and hopefully minimal) use of a small electric outboard on the dinghy.  The manual didn’t hold back much on the designers’ opinions vis a vis the use of an outboard, but nonetheless did offer some basic guidance.  I started by locating a measured drawing of the owner’s outboard online, so I could determine whether or what modifications I might need to do at the transom.  The second two photos here are pirated from the manual to show what they suggest to accommodate various small outboards:  A small relief cut to narrow the inwale in the center of the boat, reinforced with an additional plywood block beneath the inwale.

I measured the inwale width, which at between 2-1/4″ and 2-3/8″ was almost or exactly at the maximum opening of the outboard mounting clamps, so it looked like it’d be a good idea to make the relief cut and install the extra thickness beneath the inwale.  This would be a project for another day.

 

The various newly-epoxied areas, including the skeg fillets and several miscellaneous patches on both hulls, required a light sanding to finish off.

This pretty much brought the exteriors of the hulls up to the point required before primer and paint, other than a need to fill the screw hole at the forward end of the skeg.

Next, I turned the hulls over so I could finish off several interior details, starting with hole-filling:  the slots where the skeg attached, and the screw holes from installing the foredeck.  Respectively, I masked off the slots, and used a countersink to make small divots at all the screw locations before also masking around them.  On the bulkheads, I chamfered the edges of the alignment pin holes, which would require epoxy coating within, and also sanded around the holes located at each corner of the inwale and in the breasthook, also to prepare for coating.

I sanded the protruding mast tube down so roughly 1/16″ remained above the deck, using a sanding block with a couple tongue depressors glued to the surface as guides.

I filled all the screw holes and skeg slots with a thickened epoxy mixture, and used more of the same to fillet around the mast tube.  I applied some of the fairing filler to the inwale to ease the transition where the transom fiberglass wrapped over the edge.  Then, with some unthickened epoxy, I coated the various holes I’d prepared earlier, and also coated the inside of the bulkhead gasket slot one more time.

Finally, I prepared two slim fiberglass shims that I had to install on the aft hull bulkhead for the eventual alignment clips.  I shaped the shims to fit into the corners of the bulkhead, and installed them with epoxy adhesive and tape to clamp.

These small details were some of the few remaining before the interior of the hull was also brought up to readiness for primer and paint.  A few other small tasks lay ahead, but those would be for after the holiday break.