PocketShip Build

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I did a bunch of filleting, and applied fiberglass tape to the side seams. I also started installing the parts for the seatbacks.

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Below is a shot of the centerboard pendant sheave, safely tucked away in the trunk. I 3D-printed the spacers on either side of the sheave.

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Actually, I still need to finish the removable sections, but that will happen much later. Now I have to cover them up to continue working on the hull.

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I have been finishing the floorboards with Danish Oil. It is slow work. Because the stuff is stinky I have to work in the cold garage, so the Oil needs a long time to dry. So far about half of the floorboards are installed, and the rest need one more coat of Danish Oil.

I also finished the centerboard trunk with several coats of clear water-based polyurethane. People will be able to look at it and know for sure that this is a wooden boat!

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To avoid poisoning everybody in the house, I used water-based paints from System Three: their epoxy primer and polyurethane topcoat.

The primer was nice to use: it goes on smoothly, and is easy to sand if you do it within 12 hours after application. Your tools clean up easily with water, and it doesn’t smell bad.

The top coat was much trickier, and there was a learning curve – I did reduce it the first coat, which ended up blotchy and lumpy. For the subsequent coats I reduced it about 12% with water, and the job went more smoothly. But it took 4 coats to get full coverage in the important areas of the cabin. The bilges are still blotchy, but nobody will ever see them. At least the stuff is mostly odorless (about the same as household latex paint) and it dries quickly – you can recoat after 4 hours, and it’s quite hard after 8 hours.

I’m glad to finally be done with all the fiberglass, epoxy, and paint work for the cabin and bilges.

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This is getting tiresome…

But notice how I can keep working in ideal conditions, despite the blizzard outside.

I have to sand all the edges and bumps out of the fiberglass on the bottom of the hull. After that, it will get one more coat of epoxy, and it will have to be sanded again!

I put the cleats on the footwell sides, and coated them and the footwell floor with epoxy. Then I glued the two halves of the bowsprit together, even though I won’t be doing anything else with it for months.

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I marked and cut one side, then used each cut piece as a pattern to cut the other side.

Some trivia for other builders: I needed 134 screws: all 1-1/2″, except for two in the outside rear corners that are 1-1/4″. I used flat-head Frearson bronze screws, with the heads slightly countersunk below the surface.

As soon as all the floorboards fit nicely and the screw holes were drilled, I removed them and set them aside to start work on finishing the interior.

Lots of cutting, planing, and drilling screw holes. I 3d-printed some handy jigs to get the floorboards properly spaced and the screw holes nicely aligned.

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The last portion to be glassed was the bow compartment, which is a hassle to reach.

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Notice that for the forward compartments, I marked up the fiberglass cloth with a Sharpie to help me cut it out and position it. Nobody will ever see it after the boat is finished.

This is tedious work (probably the most tedious part of the build), and I am about two-thirds done.

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I finished all the interior filleting. Then I sanded the fillets in the rearmost section and applied fiberglass cloth to it.

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This is a time-consuming step. First, I pulled out all the wires. Then I started applying nice rounded fillets of epoxy paste to all the joints. I am about 2/3 done, and it will probably take about 30 batches of epoxy (one patch mostly fills a 12-ounce plastic cup).

I also added a few cleats to the floors and bulkheads that I hadn’t glued in place before assembly.

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I have been applying epoxy to all the joints in the hull. When it cures, I can remove the wire stitches that were temporarily holding them together. It has taken three sessions of gluing to do this. The bow was tricky, because the joints are hard to reach, and the sharp bends in the plywood mean that the gluing has to be strong.

This is traditionally the beginning of the actual construction. We added a couple of coins for good luck, an old tradition. Then I attached the keelson on top of the keel.

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