Dory setback- flotation blocks glued backward

June 28, 2011
Dory disaster!  When I tried to put in the center thwart, I discovered that I glued the flotation blocks on backward.  The cut out for the mast step was on the wrong side, and to make matters worse the slot between the blocks was not wide enough to fit over the bulkhead.  After thinking about the possibilities, I decided the only option that made sense was to take a saw and cut the blocks off the thwart and start again.   Once I had them off, I sanded them smooth and also had to sand the epoxy on the bottom of the thwart smooth.  In cutting them off, I scratched the thwart and decided to put a coat of unthickened epoxy on it to give it additional protection.

Two of the blocks have been cut off; one to go.

The last block goes the whole length and is more difficult to cut off.

I had to put some shims between the block and the thwart to keep the saw from binding.

Finally, the block is off.

The blocks are sanded smooth again.

I put a coat of epoxy on the thwart after sanding it.

June 29, 2011
With some trepidation, and after several test fittings, I glued the flotation blocks back on the middle thwart with thickened epoxy.  This time I also used a stick of wood to make sure the slot was wide enough to fit over the bulkhead.

Varnishing Oars

June 27, 2011
The things I ordered from CLC arrived today.  The package spent all day Friday riding around the the local area but the substitute driver couldn't find me, and of course couldn't be bothered to just call me.  It wasn't a big order, just a small container of Cell-O-Fill and another quart of varnish, but without them I couldn't finish the thwarts and oars. 

I added another coat of epoxy on the new sliding seat support.  I discovered that by putting sticks covered with plastic in the slots and then supporting the sticks on boards, I could put a coat on the the whole thing at once.

By supporting the "yoke" on sticks, I could put a coat of epoxy on both sides at once.

With the new supply of varnish, I started on the old oars that I had sanded. After a bit of a struggle, I got the oar locks over the leather collars, and then suspended the oars from the ceiling under the deck.  That way I could varnish both sides of the oars at once.  I think they may have been stained before, because I ended up with stripes in the wood when I put on the varnish--tiger oars!

The oars are hanging from the ceiling of the deck so that I can varnish both sides at once.

Sliding seat supports revised

June 21, 2011
I worked on assembling the sliding rowing seat, but I had no idea how complicated it would be to put together.  Fortunately I found some additional instructions online because those that came with the seat were rather skimpy and the company obviously had changed some parts.   The new instructions had some pictures which helped but I still had to do some parts two and three times.  At one point I had the foot supports on upside down; instead of pointing up, they pointed down.


June 22, 2011
I've been trying to figure out how to put the sliding rowing seat in the dory.  I built the supports and the stern support looks easy to install over the stern bulkhead. The thwart comes out easily and the support fits over the bulkhead in its place.  However, the support on the other end of the rowing seat is supposed to be bolted to the middle thwart.  However, I the foam is attached to the thwart and I could not see anyway to get nut on the bolt. 

When Pete was over, he suggested that I get a 2"X6" piece of cedar, cut slots in the ends and bolt it on place through the bulkheads.  That way, the end of the sliding seat could be bolted permanently to the board and the whole assembly could be easily lifted out of the boat.

I called CLC today and managed to talk to John even though he was about to pull out of the parking lot headed for the wooden boat show in Mystic. He said the the original piece he designed was bolted through the seat because they had hollowed out a space in the foam insulation to get the nut on the bolts.  When I asked about Pete's alternative, he thought it was a good solution, and said it would be very strong.

After the call, I called Hamshaws Lumber and found that they had cedar in 2"x6" size and that I could buy just the four feet I needed.  I used the thwart as a pattern and cut slots into each end.  At Pete's suggestion, I narrowed the ends down to four inches.  It looks a little better and I could use shorter bolts to attach it to the bulkheads.

Using the #2 thwart as a pattern, I cut the slot, and then narrowed the ends of the board.

The narrowed end should make it easier to put  the seat in and take it out.

My new seat support is ready for finishing.

Gluing foam blocks to thwarts

June 19, 2011
Epoxied the foam blocks to front and rear thwarts.  I held off doing the middle thwart because the support for the sliding seat is supposed to be attached to it but I don't see how I will do that with the foam attached.  Pete came over and he suggested a whole different way to attach the seat, and even drew me some plans.    I need to assemble the sliding seat to see if CLC's method will work. Otherwise, I'm going with Pete's suggestion because I think his idea will make it easier to put the seat in and take it out again.   I hadn't opened the box  with the sliding seat since I bought it over a year ago, and discovered that the instructions are just terrible.  I thought I could put it together in an hour but the instructions don't match all the parts and while there are some diagrams, there are no pictures.  I finally got so frustrated with it I had to set it aside and do something else.  Hopefully I can get a fresh start tomorrow.

Installing the stern seat

June 18, 2011
I put another coat of varnish on the thwarts and the supports for the sliding seat.  I carefully drilled in the center of the epoxy plugs I put in the transom and then put the lower gudgeon back in.  I decided to wait for now on the upper gudgeon.  With the lower one in place I put the foam insulation that I had previously shaped.  It seems like ages ago that I did that.  This is an easy step because the foam isn't attached to anything--it just sits in place under the seat.  I'd forgotten that when I spray painted the top layer of foam, the paint melted into the foam.  I think I should have put some epoxy on it first, but I figured that it was going to be sealed under the stern seat anyway.  I carefully drilled holes in the boards to keep them from splitting and was relieved that I didn't drill all the way through the bottom of the boat.  The screws in that went into the bulkhead were no problem, but the screws that went into the block of wood worried me. Anyway, all went well and the seat is finally in place.

Screws for the gudgeon are back in place.

First layer of foam in place.

Second layer of foam in place.

Top layer of foam is in place with my ugly paint job.  I didn't realize the paint would melt the foam.

First seat board is in place.

The middle board is the easiest one to put in because it's easy to see where the screws need to go.

The seat is finally done.

Another coat of varnish; sanding oars

June 17, 2011
I put another coat of epoxy on the stern seat, the thwarts, and the support pieces for the sliding seat.  Yesterday I also started sanding down a set of oars I found in Dad's barn.  Although they were not the greatest looking set, they did have leather oar collars that seemed to be in good shape.  I looked online to figure how to finish them but I still have not found a definitive answer.  Varnishing them seems to be the preferred way to finish them according to online forums, but I was wondering about whether I should put epoxy on the blades. The one area of agreement seemed to be to not put any finish on the handles.

Gudgeon do-over
Ooops.  I called CLC because I was concerned about the holes I drilled for the gudgeon.  In almost every other place in the manual, it is important that all plywood be protected with epoxy, but it didn't say anything about these holes, and they appeared to be low enough to be wet most of the time.  I was advised to drill oversize holes and fill them with epoxy thickened with the wood flour to a peanut butter consistency.  The drill holes for the gudgeon through the epoxy which means that the plywood would be protected.  So, now I've got a few more steps before assembling the stern seat.  I took out the screws, put in epoxy, waited a bit for it to set up, and then rubbed the epoxy with alcohol to smooth everything out.  Tomorrow, I'll try drilling the holes for the screws and putting the gudgeon back in place.

I also had a chance to ask about finishing my oars and was told to just put on coats of varnish.  They will get banged around a lot and it's easier to fix if it is just varnish instead of an epoxy and varnish finish.

Oversized holes are drilled and filled with thickened epoxy.

More varnishing; installing a gudeon

Thwarts are looking good with their second coat of varnish.

I needed to put in the lower gudgeon because the screws that hold it in place are underneath the stern seat.

June 16, 2011
I rubbed the boards down again the a scotchbrite pad and put another coat of varnish on the aft seat, thwarts, and started varnishing the supports for the sliding seat.  I wish I had started putting the varnish on everything at the same time.  Because I can't tell by looking how many coats are on each piece, I've started writing them down.

I also mounted the lower gudgeon on the transom because this one is under the stern seat, and I want to be able to install the seat once I have another coat of varnish on it.  I was a bit nervous about this step because it meant drilling four holes in the transom, but hopefully everything is OK.  I guess I'll find out when I try to mount the rudder.

Fourth coat of epoxy

June 13, 2011
I wet sanded the dory and then put on the fourth coat of varnish;  I also put the second coat of varnish on the stern seat, and put the first coat on the thwarts.  Fortunately, the weather cooperated and it stayed cool and cloudy but no rain or wind. The manual said that at least three coats were necessary to protect the epoxy from the sun and that more than five coats was excessive.  I've compromised with four coats.  Anyway, I'm not that obsessive, and I need to save some varnish to finish the thwarts and all the sailing components.

Third coat of varnish

June 12, 2011
Once again I rubbed down the inside of the dory with scotchbrite pad, and then I put the third coat of varnish on it.  I realized that I needed to get started varnishing the thwarts, but space is at a premium.  I don't want to varnish them inside because of the smell, but it is still raining lightly outside and I have to work under the deck.  I finally cleared enough space to be able to do the boards for the stern seat, and was able to get the first coat of varnish on them.

The third coat of varnish is done.

I sanded the epoxy and put the first coat of varnish on the stern seat.

Second coat of varnish

June 10, 2011
I vacuumed out the debris from the storm, and then went over the dory with a scotchbrite pad.  Fortunately, not much water got in and I was able to mop it up with a sponge.  According to the manual, the varnish needs a little "tooth" to hold the next coat and the scotchbrite pad does the job very well.  I've used up most of the rest of this can of varnish for the second coat.  I'm beginning to get a little worried that I'll run out.  I have two quart cans of the Interlux Schooner varnish but that was supposed to be enough for several coats, and I'll still need some for the thwarts.

Rudder fillets

June 9, 2011
I mixed up some thickened epoxy to fill in the screws in the bulkhead that is attached to the daggerboard trunk.  I also filled in the small hole where the upper plank is attached to the transom. Because I mixed up a little too much epoxy,  I decided to do the fillet on the rudder.  I had to do some sanding on the pieces first to get them to fit together again.  It's tricky to put fillets on both sides of the yoke at once.  It took some time to get them somewhat even in size.

The yoke is attached to the rudder with big fillets of thickened epoxy.

Sanding rails and inside one more time

The rails are sanded and the whole inside got another going over.

June 7, 2011
MaryAnn helped me turn the boat over yesterday.  We seem to do the most damage when we turn it, but this time we managed to do it without incident.  I had hoped to start putting on the varnish, but realized that I never sanded the rails.  I decided that I should sand the whole inside again too, trying to get an even gray all over. I took off the masking tape on the rails and transom and was pleased that there was no paint on them.

Third Coat of Paint

June 5, 2011
I wet sanded the dory again with 400 grit paper and put on the third coat of paint. Fortunately, the weather cooperated by staying around 70 degrees and calm.   I like the glossy hard finish that the Interlux Brightsides Polyurethane paint leaves.  It's not as perfect as the prize winning boats, but I'm happy with it.   Not much else to say; I"m glad to have this part done.

Second coat of paint

June 4, 2011
Life, work, and weather have interfered with boat building, but today all was right with the world and I was able to put a second coat of dark blue paint on the hull.  Yesterday was too windy to paint, but I wet sanded the dory with 400 grit paper to get it ready.  Before I could sand I used a couple of Swifer clothes to get all the pollen off the boat--it was so thick, it looked yellow. I discovered that a McDonald's plastic southwest salad bowl makes a nice paint tray for the small three inch roller that I'm using for painting.  Temperatures were cool this morning and I had to wait until around 10am for the day to warm up above 60. At least it's not windy and hopefully the paint will dry before anything falls on it.