After letting the epoxy set up overnight, my next step was to trim the fiberglass close to the plywood with a sharp knife, separating all the panels and removing the excess.  I also trimmed all the various bulkhead-alignment holes in the panels.  I kept the knife close to the plywood, but didn’t worry about a perfect cut as during later steps I’d sand or use a router to trim the overhangs perfectly flush.

With minimal time available, the final task I wanted to complete was to install the curved transom form to the transom panel.  This form would hold the transom in its appropriate curve during eventual hull assembly, and the manual suggested that it was best to install the form when the fiberglass was not completely cured (it takes several days for epoxy and fiberglass to reach its ultimate and final cure state).  As directed, I secured form to the panel with screws and plywood washers through the four slots in the transom, forcing it into the designed curve.

After lightly scraping and sanding flush the epoxy leftover from filling the nail holes in the panels, I laid out as necessary the 4 oz. fiberglass cloth for sheathing.  The five panels on the main bench were covered with a single width of cloth across the entire area, ending at the forward end of the panels where they extended past the bench (eight feet from the stern).  The last several feet of the tips of these panels did not require sheathing.

For the two remaining panels, located on another bench, I cut three pieces of cloth wide enough to cover both panels at once (16-1/2″) and laid these out with slight overlaps, all in accordance with the build manual.  Then, I used some of the excess scrap length off the end to create two triangular pieces for the sides of the aft bulkhead, and two 5-/2″ strips to cover the top edge and center portion f the inside transom face.

With all the cloth laid out dry, I prepared a batch of epoxy to wet out the cloth, working over all the panels as needed to install the cloth.  I also epoxy-coated the plywood tips of the hull panels, except for the two panels closest to the bottom panel, which the manual indicated were best left bare to make bending them into shape for assembly later a bit easier.  I also epoxy-coated the two plywood inwhales, and applied a layer of the sheathing to a small wedge-shaped piece eventually intended for the inside of the stem once the boat was assembled.  These smaller pieces didn’t have to be dealt with right now, but were suggested in the manual to be done now if time and epoxy allowed.  I tried always to read ahead a few pages in the manual beyond the current steps to see what was upcoming and make suitable preparations that might save time later.

I left the epoxied panels to cure for a while before I could come back and apply a second, fill coat of epoxy once the first coat had cured enough.

This took several hours, since the shop was cool and I was using West System’s 207 special clear hardener–which was what the dinghy kit provided–for this job, which apparently didn’t kick as fast as the usual 205 hardener that I normally used.    This was the first time I’d done anything time-sensitive with this particular hardener, but I’d not be taken by surprise by this again.  In any event, by mid-afternoon, the first installation of epoxy had cured sufficiently to allow me to continue with the fill coat, which was just another coat rolled on to fill the weave of the cloth.  With the first application cured a bit past the point of tackiness, but still highly green, I had no issues applying the fill coat; I’d wanted to be sure the first coat was cured enough that rolling on the second wouldn’t tend to pull up the fiberglass.

Now I left the second coat to cure overnight.

Continuing to follow the comprehensive manual, my next step was to remove the nailing strips and nails from the glued-up hull panels.  With a chisel, I broke apart the plywood enough that I could grab the nail heads with a hammer and pull out the nails.  The puzzle joints had ended up nicely flush and with only a gloss of excess epoxy that had (as expected) spread out from the joints from the clamping pressure.

Next, I lightly block-sanded the outside faces of the joints to scuff the epoxy and make the joints smooth.  Fortunately, they were already smooth and the sanding exercise was minimal.  Then, I sanded the entire interior faces of all the hull panels with 120 grit on a vibrating sander, just to lightly smooth the factory plywood texture and prepare the inner surfaces of the glued joints.  From there, I set up five of the panels (the most that would fit on the dedicated build table) in the orientation as directed, and marked the table at the edges of each panel so I could drill pilot holes through the table, which would give me a place to drive screws from beneath to secure the panels for the sheathing step to come.

With that complete, I covered the table with plastic sheeting and replaced the five panels, aligning them with the marks and with the after edges flush with the edge of the table, and secured them all with one screw at each end for each panel.  The panels rested flat and flush on the table, and the screws would help hold the panels securely while rolling out fiberglass in the next step.

Since I had additional table space in the shop, I set up an auxiliary station to prepare the final two hull panels for sheathing as well, so I could do all the fiberglassing in one session rather than spread out over two different days had I been limited to the single build table.  I also prepared as needed the transom, the after bulkhead, and the two transom inwhales and a dagger-like stem piece, all of which the manual indicated I could work on in the same session, using offcuts of fiberglass from the main panels.

My final step for now was to fill all the nail holes leftover from the clamping with epoxy.  Before installing the panels on the bench, I’d prepared the bottom sides with tape over the nail holes, and now I used a syringe to fill all the holes with an epoxy mixture, leaving this to cure before continuing.

I located and collected all the plywood hull panels from my storage area, and laid them out on the work table:  two panels to make up the bottom, and three sets of matched panels to make up each side of the hull.  I was briefly confused with one of the starboard bow panels, which didn’t seem to fit with its after counterpart, but soon determined that the panel was simply mislabeled from the kit, as #3 rather than #2, so I corrected the label as needed.  As shown in the manual, I laid out the panels on the table and stacked the mirror-image port and starboard panels atop one another in the layout below.

Next, and in accordance with the manual, I located and pencil-darkened all the lightly-scribed alignment marks on the panels; presumably this would help keep these visible through the next steps coming up.

All the panels had some small tabs on their edges, leftover from when the panels were cut on the CNC machine.  My next step was to remove these tabs with a knife and sandpaper, bringing each panel to its intended shape.  This was a simple, if somewhat tedious, process, but didn’t take long.

Next on the agenda was to make some final preparations and dry-fit the puzzle joints for each panel.  I lightly scuffed the milled joints with a Scotchbrite pad to remove any loose fibers or splinters, then tested each joint for fit.  I found the machined joints to be an appropriately-tight fit, easily fitted together with a deadblow hammer and with no need for any adjustments.  I assembled all seven joints as seen below.

After carefully disassembling the joints and moving the panels out of the way, I prepared some nailing strips from 1/4″ plywood, and some plastic sheeting cut to fit beneath each seam as I assembled the panels flat on the table.  Then, I set up some clamps at the end of the work table to hold the hull panels vertically for epoxy application on the puzzle joints, all this as directed in the build manual.

I glued all the joints as described in the manual.  Other than the large bottom panel, of which there was just the one, there were two of each of the side panels–one each for port and starboard.  The mirror image panels were to be glued one atop the other, so to begin I set up the port and starboard #1 panels (2 pieces per side) in my clamping setup and applied epoxy to the joints–2 coats on all bonding surfaces of the milled joints.  Then, I assembled the joints on the flat table, with plastic sheeting beneath the joints and between the two panels, as well as on the top joint, with the inside faces of each panel facing one another.  I removed excess epoxy from the accessible side of each joint once I’d assembled them.  Finally, I aligned together and secured the two identical–but mirrored–panels to the table top with three small nails (one at each end and one near the joint), and finally secured the joint with a plywood nailing strip on each side.

I repeated the process with the single bottom panel, then the pairs of #2 and #3 side panels, leaving the glued assemblies to cure overnight or longer.

The first step towards building the dinghy was to construct a large, flat working surface, on which much of the preparation and assembly would take place.  While existing countertops and work spaces might have been made to work as is, I chose to follow the manual and build a large surface that would be particularly useful during initial panel layout, gluing, and sheathing.  With space at a premium in the shop, with two other boats inside, I decided to use an existing work table in the woodshop as the basis for the new worktop built from a full sheet of plywood supported with a framework of 2x4s beneath to support it throughout and maintain its flatness.  This didn’t take long, but it was something I’d been intending to get done for a while, and on which the rest of the project depended.  With the other existing work surfaces in the shop, I’d have additional room for subassemblies and such as needed, all of which I hoped would help streamline the project.

In 2023, I was asked by a previous customer if I’d be interested in building a PT-11 nesting dinghy kit for him, to be available before summer 2025.  After discussions and taking the time to pre-order and read the entire build manual, we agreed to go ahead with the project during the 2024-2025 shop season.

As the time approached, and planning to be absent from the shop for much of the summer, and anticipating a bit of lead time awaiting delivery of the dinghy kit, I asked the owner to order the kit in the spring so we could ensure it was on hand in plenty of time, and in case I had some available time during the summer to start work.  As it happened, the kit arrived in short order, within a few days of ordering, so I spent some time carefully unpacking the kit pieces and storing them on purpose-built shelves that I erected in the shop to ensure all the plywood panels would be fully supported and flat while they awaited assembly starting later in the fall.