Gluing support blocks for thwarts

March 27, 2011
Using thickened epoxy, I glued the blocks to the side of the hull.  To make sure they were in the right place, I sanded the side of the hull, and then drew a line around each block with the thwarts in place.  I took the thwarts off, and brushed the epoxy on both the block and the hull.  Once it was in place I held it there with tape, and double checked to make sure the thwart will still sit properly.

The blocks to support the thwarts are held in place with tape while the epoxy cures.

I also glued the pieces of both the fore and aft pieces of the supports for the sliding rowing seat. This part was a little tricky because I wasn't sure I was reading the plans correctly--this isn't in the manual and I didn't have much for instructions.  I finally took the pieces and the plans over to see Pete and see what he thought.  Fortunately, he had no problem reading the plans and I was glad I did it because I probably would have put them together wrong.

Supports for sliding seat.

After much fussing around I marked the positions for the mast step and daggerboard trunk. The manual said to make sure it was square to the center line of the boat but didn't really say how.  Finally, I stretched a string from the tip of the bow to the stern and held it in place with spring clamps.  Then, I took a piece of thread with the end weighted with an eye hook and draped it over the string near the trunk.  I also could measure along the bulkhead to find it's center.   Once I had it in position, I outlined the trunk with a pencil in order to put the screws in the right place.

Figuring out where the daggerboard trunk should go.