First steps

Laying out the bulkhead parts

Doubler pieces glued to each side of bulkhead

January 23, 2011
After a lot of procrastination, I decided today was the day to start assembling the Northeaster Dory kit that I bought from Chesapeake Light Craft last spring.  With all the projects on the house, I put off working on the boat.  Clearing out space in the workshop was another problem, and I was also concerned about working with epoxy because I had never done it before. 

I went through the epoxy directions several times and finally put the pumps on the resin and hardener jugs, and started mixing little batches in a yogurt cup.   I'm glad someone had color coded the jugs and set up the pumps so that I could get the correct ratio of two parts resin to one part hardener.  I only had to pump once each pump and the correct amount came out.  I was careful to alternate and put in one squirt of resin and one squirt of hardener each time.  The directions said to mix the epoxy to a "mustard" constancy by adding Cell-O-Fill to the mixture, thick enough so that it doesn't drip off the stick but thin enough to spread easily and smoothly.  I sure hope was close enough with the mix because it didn't seem to go on the plywood all that smoothly.  I wish I had found a wider brush--Dan's Max Saver in Charlestown only had 1" disposable bristle brushes. 

I glued up the four bulkheads, the skeg, and the transom.  The bigger bulkheads took some time with just the 1" brush.  Fortunately, I was able to find enough clamps to do all these pieces.  I see why the instructions say to buy more clamps. I discovered that all 3" spring clamps are not alike.  I bought three different models, and think the ones made by "Pony" are the best.  They were the most expensive but seemed to have the most holding power and didn't leave little dents in the wood.

I was impressed with the way the parts were cut out.  The doublers on the bulkheads matched up with the notches for the limber holes nicely.  It took several tries to adjust the clamps,  but I was able to make the top of each doubler match the top edge of the bulkhead and then I could make sure that the notches lined up to get them in the right place from side to side.

Getting ready to glue transom and skeg parts