Garboard no.1
After a few days of fine-tuning stem bevel and learning how to clamp the garboard to evenly press it along the whole keelson I finally glued it tonight.
The day was very hot so I waited till late evening for temperature to drop.
Masking tape along all sensitive areas, especially in centerboard case opening. This will be pulled out once epoxy squeeze is maintained.
Still warm and steamy, epoxy was kicking very fast so I divided it into three smaller batches and spread thickened glue as fast as I could.
While dry-fitting and tuning the stem bevel I could never got the front part of the garboard to fully cover the stem. There always becomes a gap so that the stem is visible. Frustrated with this I checked on the net that all other builders have the same configuration.
Well, then there is nothing wrong with my setup - the plank sits spot-on on all molds and bulkhead landings which means it is on its place. Without applying “plywood torture” techniques it will just not cover the stem’s crown.
That’s absolutely no problem as it will have to be trimmed anyway, to receive false stem once planking is finished. It will cover the whole stem, creating the same beveled structure as in traditional boat building but with two parts glued together instead of one piece of timber with carved landing bevel.
It took me a good few hours to finish the job and clean all epoxy excess.
Mosquitos, these bastards, were waiting until I got my hands gloved and wet with glue so I could no longer kill them. They were sucking my blood unpunished.
As always - you can never have too many clamps!