Fillets, hatch and beautiful lumber
I’m finally done with all fillets in bilge and flotation tanks. That was an unpleasant work, with all the interior structures in the way. Should I do it again I would at least wait with mounting additional sole supports, to have better access to the bilge.
To push this job further away from me I was working on the deck these last evenings. Drilling and mounting planks.
I decided to divert from plans and make the hatch hinged, like most other builders. I appreciate clean and basic concept shown in plans - with no hinges and simple locking eye-bolts - but I already have hinges and decided to mimic a bit the way Roger Barnes has his Avel Dro organized in this area.
Finding position for hatch rear end.
To maintain alignment and spacing between planks I screwed them in place and clamped cross members in situ.
With clamps holding tight I then unscrewed the whole assembly and moved to mounting bench.
The rest of planks screwed in place.
Hinges are left-overs from my rebuilding of Meritaten. They are a bit on the heavy side for this boat but… nothing too strong ever broke.
Last dry-fit before cutting. Looking good.
And cut! I wanted to maintain matching planks behind the hatch. I left this space wider than needed, to make compartment for small gear I want to have at hand when sailing.
I needed to find a nice timber for thwarts. I managed one day to leave work early enough to visit my local lumber yard. They usually have some nice wood and they kindly allow me to browse through the whole pile in search for boat-building timber.
I was prepared to find a knotty plank from which I can cut relatively clean piece for each thwart so I had saw with me but no roof rack. To my joy, at the very bottom of a pile I found two magnificent, 4,5m long planks of Northern pine with absolutely no knots! Tight grown, beautiful timber!
Of course I bought both of them! Just my car was not long enough but luckily there were no cyclists on my way!
Magnificent wood! Flat-sawn but still!
One plank yielded both thwarts - nice to have them matching in grain and color.
Finally it was high time I make these fillets. All the deck unscrewed and I went ahead with epoxy work.
It took a few evenings. It was so hot during the day that I had to work late during evenings, otherwise epoxy was setting too early, literally in my hands.
Sanding and top-coats comes next.