I have this pair of camo cargo shorts, that my wife absolutely hates. It starts whenever I try to wear them with a patterned shirt, which is some kind of fashion faux pas. :-[
(Who MAKES these Rules, anyway?!?) :P
And she doesn't like any of the solid shirts I try to wear with them, since they don't match the colors.
This mystifies me. ???
"They're camo cargo shorts!! Shouldn't at least ONE of the camo colors, match ONE of the solid shirts?!?" :o
Ah, well. ::)
She also hates me wearing my good shorts to do any epoxy or painting, so the camo cargo shorts have been relegated to: Boat Builder Utility Shorts.
An epoxy drip here, a paint drip there, over 18 months I'm pretty sure by now, the front of my cargo shorts might qualify as: Foulies! ;D
Still barreling along, while the weather is mild enough for my epoxy not to set up and kick off on me, before I'm even finished stirring it!! >:(
With the deck sides glued together and three coats of epoxy applied, I was now ready to attach the fore deck to the two side deck pieces.
Same as before, coat the wood and glue the puzzle joints together. I had to rearrange my work surfaces to accommodate and support the wider side decks.
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Taking up a big chunk of the carport, all of a sudden.
What are those things in the middle? ???
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On the left side, is a doubler strip for a hinged storage locker, that is being glued to the lid.
At right, is a grate that either sits at the bottom of the footwell, or on top of the footwell for a flush deck and the grate will also become a filler board, for camping aboard.
The flat edges (top & bottom) straddle existing cleats in the floor; the sides and middle strips are doublers, to stiffen the grate when it is sitting at floor level.
You're looking at the underside of the grate.
The strips also provide spacers to drain water into the footwell and the holes make it easier to pick up the grate.
Some guys put in tons of holes to make a proper grate. I think it weakens what after all, is something meant to be walked on, so my grate has a minimal amount of holes.
This is the synthesis of several ideas stolen from at least four different SCAMP builds. 8)
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A pic of the grate (top side of grate isn't finished, yet) at the bottom of the footwell.
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And sitting on deck.
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And after third coat of epoxy on side 1.
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I decided it would be a good idea to glass the fore deck, since I tend to be rather hard on fore decks.
It is optional in the SCAMP builder's manual, so I opted to do it with some pieces and scraps I had left over, from glassing the hull.
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How it looks after a 2nd coat of epoxy.
I'm not as worried about two or three layers of glass overlap, as I used to be. I've learned that: 60 grit sandpaper, Conquers All.
And what little it misses, a high-build primer will fix.
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3rd coat after glass trimmed.
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3rd coat on underside of grate.
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While that was curing, I figured out where the ports were supposed to go on the cabin sides, from the plans.
After some thought, I leveled the hull, clamped the sides to the hull and used a level to scribe a plumb line, so the hardware will line up visually, when it gets installed.
Then I marked the hole for the Plexiglas ports I intend to use.
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Next, I over-drilled the port light mounting holes on a drill press, then clamped them (on center) over the cut out dead light hole to over-drill the sides.
They will get filled with thickened epoxy and re-drilled.
By drilling all the holes at the same time through all the layers, the hardware alignment should be fairly uniform.
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I also have the ports labeled as to the top of the port, with alignment marks and whether inside or outside the cabin side. Strongly believe in hedging my bets, wherever possible.
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Skipped a few steps for the sake of brevity; deck flipped over and after the third coat of epoxy.
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And third coat on 2nd side of the grate.
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Over-drilled holes for lid.
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And filled with epoxy, in keeping with my threat not to allow any fastener to touch wood; only epoxy.
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Same over-drilling for the holes in the cockpit.
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And also filled with epoxy; those slight bubbles are from out-gassing, during cure. Happens, when you start pushing the upper temp limits of epoxy cures. :P
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Hey! :D Remember these hand rail backing doublers, from last January? ???
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The closer you get to actually needing to install a part, the more you realize: You Didn't Think It Through.
Those hand rail doublers looked good, EXCEPT!! There's bulkhead #3 rearing it's ugly head, between bulkheads #2 and #4. :o
DOHHHH!!! :-[
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Had to cut a ½-inch chunk out of the middle, so the hand rail doublers will clear bulkhead #3 on the underside of the cabin roof.
Got the first coat of epoxy on the hand rail doublers and the third coat on the one side of the port holes.
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Up next, is figuring out how to glue the deck to the hull, without messing up anything expensive! :o
Charles Brennan
Charles, I am worn out, and going to bed. Too much work for one evening. ;)
Those hand rail doublers are the easy type of fix, cut a little out. Cutting a little bit in is the hard type of fix. Well planned series of steps. Glad the weather is holding for epoxying.
Let me know if you need a hand when it comes time to get the deck installed, looks like you're gonna need it.
Don't you LOVE sawdust? Well, at least it smells pretty good but man is it a constant chore. I'm cleaning this morning myself. Looks good CB!