May 1, 2024

Calliope Girl 115

Wednesday

I unclamped the sole planks from last time, and cleaned up a bit and reorganized so I could focus on the final planks remaining on the starboard side.

There were 4 pieces required:  three longer sections (full-length to the galley bulkhead), and one shorter piece at the forward end to accommodate the curvature of the hull.  I laid out, measured, and cut the various pieces required, including a thin strip along the starboard settee, and checked everything with a dry-fit.

Next, I prepared a large batch of thickened epoxy adhesive, and secured the planks with various braces as needed to press everything tightly into the adhesive.

After a while I tempted fate by removing a couple glue blocks on the outer edge of the planks where they ran by the galley, so hopefully I could finish up the final short planks to fill the small area.  Removing the glue blocks (which I’d installed to hold the planks tightly together originally) had no ill effects, so I could proceed and install the four final, short planks to fill the starboard galley space.  These required a seemingly inordinate number of vertical braces to press tightly into position.

With the sole complete for now–at least all the planks laid–I turned to the cabin side trim and milled and sanded the three pieces according to the second prototype I’d made earlier.  The piece destined for the aft end of the cabin was similar, but featured a different angle (7 degrees) since that was what I had measured at the aft bulkhead.  Once these were completely milled and sanded, I cleaned them and applied a sealer coat of varnish to all sides.

While I was at it, I sanded and varnished the bilge access grate from the head–original to the boat  (or at least to her iteration upon arrival here).  I planned just to spruce up the part and eventually varnish it to match the cabin sole.

Next, I started some prep work for the cabinet doors, which were to receive a caning insert.  To accept the caning and spline, I had to mill groves on all four sides of the backs of the frames, so after working on a sample piece to get the spacing and depth where I wanted it, I milled slots in all the doors, taking three passes on the table saw for each slot to achieve the final width.  In the past, two passes had done the trick, but the spline I had was a bit thicker, and I was using a thin blade in the saw.

I was looking forward to completing the caning, the final step before I could install the hardware and then install the doors in the boat, but that would be for another time soon as the day was done.

Total time billed on this job today: 7.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 43°, cloudy. Forecast for the day: Cloudy, 54°