New Photos! Still making good progress too.

Things have still been going steady, I received word that I will not be heading out of town until the first of next week (that is if my bid gets the job) so that gives me more time to work on the boat.

I took some needed photos of my progress today, I think they turned out great!

Yesterday afternoon I coated the dagger board with one coat of epoxy, put a second coat on the inside of the dagger board trunk and glued the two pieces together. Everything went smoothly and they both looked great this morning.

(Click the photos for a larger image)



First thing this morning I started sanding the boat down. On the inside of the boat, the fiber glassed seams had two coats of epoxy on them and they were still pretty rough so I gave them a good sanding with my orbital sander (witch doesn't have as much since I knocked it off on the floor yesterday) and it is ready for another coat. I sanded the outside of the hull good also so it is ready for another coat of epoxy and then paint.

Since I put the dagger board trunk and the dagger board together I figured it was time to take the big step and cut a hole in the boat. It really wasn't that big of a deal once I trusted all of my measurements and marks. I cut it out with a jig saw with no problem and it was correct!




Since it has been cool here I have been sitting my epoxy resin and hardener in a large window in the mornings so that the sun will heat them up. Today I think I left them there a little to long and they heated up pretty good, which isn't always what you want. When I mixed the putty up I could tell the cup was already warm in my hand and since heat speeds up the curing time I knew that I didn't have long so I started applying the putty pretty fast. All went well up until the end when the putty was getting hard on me. I still slapped it all on and it didn't look to pretty.

I decided to go ahead and fiberglass it in. I cut the glass to fit and then mixed my already warm epoxy resin and started to wet out the fiberglass. I got about half way done when my cup started melting from the heat (the epoxy was getting hard!). I quickly dumped it out on the boat where I needed another coat of epoxy and spread it out. I decided not to do anymore epoxy the rest of the day, but that doesn't mean I was finished.

Throughout the day I had been gluing the strips of wood to my oar shafts that make up the wide part of the paddle. Once I had them glued on I started to shape my paddle down and I finished up one and then called it a day and went running.

Here is a photo of the paddle being glued together, I didn't think to snap one of the hand-planed oar, but I will tomorrow.

Making good progress is exciting, I can't wait until tomorrow to get back to work!

PK 87: I'm making good progress!

I have been working on the boat the past few days, waiting to go out of town to work. I have the dagerboard cut and shaped and will probably epoxy it over today sometime. The trunk for the daggerboard is cut out and I have one coat of epoxy on the inside of it and I plan on putting another coat on the inside and epoxying the two pieces together when I epoxy the daggerboard this afternoon.

Yestarday, I had the boat turned upside down and I puttied the seams, glassed the seams over, then I put fiberglass over the two bottom panels of the hull. I decided not to glass the entire hull because....... well I'm not sure why not, but I figured I only needed it on the bottom panels because they will be seeing the abuse when I beach the boat. The fiberglass sheets went on pretty easy using a squigee and pouring the resin on. I was pretty surprised how easy it was, and this morning it looked fantastic and is pretty stiff. Just a few more coats of epoxy on the outside of the hull and it will be finished except for the rubrail and paint.

The epoxy/fiberglass it that I ordered with the boat wasn't quite enough. The kit from bateau.com that was for the PK87 dinghy is for the rowing version and you need more resin for the sailing version. I oreded more epoxy Monday and it arrived just a while ago before lunch on Webnesday, and its a good thing because I am almost completely out of the first 1 gallon of resin and 1/2 gallon of hardener. I ordered the same amount and it should easily be enough, especially since I do not have to do much more puttying (if any) which is where I ended up mixing to much putty and it would harden before I could get it all on the boat.

So now I just got back from lunch and about to get back to work (on the dinghy). I have been videoing the building process but I am having a little trouble with the quality of the video so I have been discouraged and slow at putting them online. Maybe I will get off my but and do them right.

Ive Been Busy!

Well, if you are wondering why I haven't posted any progress on the dinghy its because I have been busy. I managed to get some out of town jobs (small carpentry contracts) that are paying pretty well so I have been putting my attention into them. Work is hard to find these days so you have to do whatever you can whenever you can.

Anyways, as for the dinghy I have been doing a little bit but I just haven't been posting about it or taking photos.

I have cut and shaped the daggerboard and it is ready for epoxy.

Since it has been so cold my epoxy wouldn't dry so I purchased a small heater and closed in a small portion of my shop to heat.

I need to order another batch of epoxy because I am running low. The epoxy "kit" that I bought was stated to be enough to build the dinghy but I now have found out that it is only enough to build the rowing version and not the sailing one. Oh well...

I also need to order a few pieces of hardware for the running rigging and the tiller.

Other than that I really haven't done all to much, but hopefully I will have some spare time next week to get back on it and finish it up!