Bobbles and Opportunities

With the invaluable assistance of Kevin the port inner gunwale was fitted, glued and clamped last night. Not without some difficulty. There's a lot more tension on the inner vs the outer rails. Plus this particular piece of ash seemed much tougher and more recalcitrant than the others. Due to its attitude, I had Luigi and Guido clamp it to the sheer for two days for a little softening up, and it finally got the message.

Looking more and more like a real boat every day. 

During the inner rail assembly I noticed for the first time that the port outer rail scarf joint was about 12" aft of where it was supposed to be, next to the oarlock spacer to be eventually buried under the oar tower bracket. Not sure how that happened. Just a little bobble.

Eased the starboard gunwale edges both inside and out with a 1/8" round over bit. With a little tearout at one point which I was able to partially fix with a little climb cutting. I'm thinking I may need some more softening with a 1/4" shape but I'll prob wait until after my upcoming Arizona trip when I can take a look at some more boats at Andy's and Brad's and steal, er borrow, some more ideas. Since I've seen a total of two dories (Cottonwood & Skagit) live, in person, since my first exposure in 1978, more eyes on experience will be good.

Later, I did a final trim on the inner hatch lid laminations and attached them to the inside of the hatch lids with resin/Cabosil and some brass screws. Notice the return of my high tech clamping system? The lid without the weights is that way b/c I initially put the resin on the wrong side on that hatch lam before realizing it and turning it over. Again, nothing major. From oversight comes opportunity. Let's just call it the first flow coat for that one. We're nothing if not flexible here at the MBS.