Fourth strake no.1 & skeg

It went smooth, no problems but it took a good amount of preparations.

As this strake spans above flotation tanks there was hardly any place I could use clamps. It took 22 bronze screws to hold it while gluing.

Holes pre-drilled and countersunk. The bottom strake will be drilled after the plank is placed on glue.

Screws ready at hand so I don’t look for them when the clock starts ticking.

All end-grain which will be covered or glued gets saturated with thin epoxy. I will never see these edges again so protecting them from humidity is a must.

And off we go!

Screws and holes bedded with epoxy, screw heads covered with putty so they will not be visible after the hull is painted. They do not penetrate plank underneath so from the inside there will be no mark that they sit there.

Gathered squeeze-out used to make watertight fillets in flotation tanks. Nothing gets wasted.

Later in the evening I came back to the shed to mount the skeg. After installing the fourth strake on the other side I would have more restrained access to it so it was time to do it now.

Plaining garboards to receive the skeg.

As always - pre-wetting exposed end-grain.

And the skeg is mounted. Squeeze-out used to make fillet around the component.