Flow Coat and Frames

After more thought, I decided to bag the router table option for making the hatch lid frames, and went back to my original idea of using my table saw, with rip and dado blades.

Worked great.  Now I wish I hadn't wasted all that time with the router table.

Shop smelled great with wonderful Port Orford cedar smell.


Frames are glued and ready for resin coat and installation.  After a little prep work under each hatch deck to remove the rough spots.

  Numbers written on bulkhead are reminders of the angle of each end cut, which I'll use again for the final wood frame bulkheads.  Range was from 5 - 20 degrees.

Flow coat was added to newly faired areas.

The Dory Dog shows no interest in going outside after the latest snowstorm, or helping with the boat in the garage.

Second Final Sanding and Flow Coat 😄

It was inevitable after the last post. Looking at the interior, while the top decking now looks good, I wasn't happy with the interior sides, which I hadn't faired.

So spent a nice sunny day fairing the interior walls and resanding. Got to make the insides look good for my passengers!

Meanwhile, I've been trying to get my router table working so I can shape the water drainage channel and recess for the weatherstrip in the frames and then get them installed. Had to build a new on/off switch but I think it's a go.

Vivi back for a quick visit and Dory Tour! 

Final (Ha!) Sanding & First Flow Coat

Yet more sanding.  Oh boy.

Spent most of Saturday afternoon with the dory outside catching some rays, doing a hopefully final rough sand. Cleaned up the newly faired areas plus some more I missed the first time. Not my idea of fun but a necessary evil. It would be easy at this point to just say, good enough, but I'm going to try to keep pushing for "best possible" since the final paint coats depend a lot on this.

Sunday AM up bright and early for the first thin flow coat on the deck and lids. Used some Cabosil (remember "thixotropic" for you earlier readers) to keep the sags and runs down.  Can't seem to keep all of the bubbles out, even with foam rollers.

Looks like some more finish sanding (much better than rough sanding) between coats.

Sex Nuts & Thunderdome

The dory has been getting some new jewelry over the past few days. Little bits of progress here and there after work each day.

Gunwale rails rounded over and hand sanded. Next time I'm going to finish the edge profiles before I attach the rails to the boat.

Added the spacer brass bolts with sex nuts.  Using a clamped piece of wood to help with hole alignment.

Decided to go with the finish washers despite others saying they are a bad idea b/c they cut the wood and lead to rot, because they look good. Fashion trumps function.

I may leave the protruding bolts untrimmed - as defense from invading rubber-raft pirates.

Maybe something from Mad Max?

Finally, drilled out the recess for the oar tower shaft.

Looking good. Now I need to decide if stainless steel bolts are good enough or maybe go with something like silicon bronze which would match better.

On the Road

A brief interlude from the MBS. Skiing in Taos, now in Arizona. Visited Brad's shop yesterday and enjoyed seeing some more dories and learning some new things. Thanks Brad. A few days of dirt biking and bicycling then hope to drop by Andy's shop again on the way home.

Down Time

Another down time. Too tired or getting home too late to do much in the garage before or after work. Post adrenaline rush blahs from last weekend's Super Bowl.  Plus getting everything ready for our trip to Taos, Flagstaff, and Phoenix.  This means somehow packing one truck for skiing, bicycle for Cheryl, and taking my two dirt bikes and gear.  Plus any stuff I may take to give to Andy or Brad.

 Doesn't mean I haven't been "working" on the dory.  Doing lots of thinking (see "Contemplation") about how to do the hatch frames and hatch lids and where I want the hinges mounted. Plus I received my order for Minicell foam from Davey at Sweet Composites so I'm working out how I want to laminate and shape it for the boat seat.  Plus how to attach it to the deck.

Other items in consideration.  Teak hand rails for the front and rear passengers.  So I don't eject them when we hit a big wave or hole.  Hopefully.

Wood rails which attach next to the seat and help hold it in place.  Footbrace and toe rod - possibly considering an adjustable one.  Hardware mounting for all of the above. Oarlock stands - looking at how to bore, and hide, an extra set of holes so I can move each unit forward or back and make the geometry work for smaller rowers. Antiskid options for the decks.

This list seems endless.  Might want to rethink the "Horse to the barn" post.

I've been talking to Jason at Flagstaff River Equip (aka Wet Dreams) about a boat cover and seat cushions for the passenger compartments.

Gonna stop by and visit him on the Arizona trip.

Then there's painting. Turns out I have a family member of a friend who owns a paint shop and empty spray booth.  Hmmm.  He has offered to help me paint the boat, using his spray and safety equipment, if I get the paint.  He'll even help with his wholesale paint discount.  Two part polyurethanes are great for beautiful, hard, durable finishes but are difficult for an amateur and there's also the isocyanates issue to consider.  I stopped using nitrocellulose lacquer finishes in my wood shop for the same reason.  Very tempting.

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.