I tackled trunk/bow stringer assembly. This is a slight departure from the build notes which would have me lay out the deck next. As you can see from the photos my garage shop doesn’t have a lot of extra room, so I’m doing as much as I can before erecting a big 4’x16’ worktable.
Here I’ve cut cleats for the mast step and daggerboard from cypress and added lightening holes to the big plywood parts. The lightening holes are partly to save weight but also to allow some air circulation during the months the boat will be in storage. The build plans say “Respect minimum 2” offset” for lightening holes in the frames. That seems like a good guideline. In addition I’m keeping 2” between holes.
Kindly ignore the limber holes some idiot cut on the deck side of the stringers. Thank you. The working limber holes are on the hull sides of these pieces.
Next is a dry fit of the assembly. It took a while to get everything square and clamped into position. Then I drilled through at each of the cleats and pegged the assembly with 1/4” red oak dowels. That holds it square and let me put each component exactly where it belonged when epoxying.
This photo is the way the whole structural frame gets built - upside down on a flat deck.
The epoxy step was a bit of a mess, in part because the last time I fooled with marine epoxy was about 20 years ago. I’m trying out SilverTip because the manufacturer says you can let it sit for 72 hours before needing to sand when putting more epoxy over it. Everyone else says 12 hours - even the same manufacturer’s other brand of marine epoxy.
Before assembling everything I coated the inside of the trunk sides with epoxy so I wouldn’t have to get into that slot later. Then came a small frenzy of epoxy gluing and fiberglassing. There was enough play in the structure that the final piece, the starboard trunk side, might not line up with the dowels if the epoxy set firm. Fortunately, using slow hardener, there was enough flexibility after 1.5 hours to get that piece in place and then clamp everything:
In this photo the deck side is up.
The Build Notes say to fiberglass inside of the mast step and inside the daggerboard slot. I used the method recommended in Gougeon Bros. book: Lay a piece of fiberglass around three sides of the hole. Apply a second piece to the fourth side, then close up the assembly. In retrospect it would have been much easier applying the glass as four pieces - one for each side of the hole. Except for the bow side of the mast step, all the glass could have been applied to its appropriate component the day before. Live and learn.