Turned and Sealed

Talk about light: two of us could have balanced her on our heads. And now she's upright it's a chance to admire Mr Gartside's lines.

The Collano excess that I could not reach to remove when wet was easier than I thought to scrape off using a chisel along the lands, followed by block and paper. I believe the result is infinitely nicer than the mess you find when you turn over an okume ply/epoxy boat. What you see in these photos is pretty much what I saw when the boat was turned. After which five hours or so of cleaning up and sealing with International two part clear sealer.

The stems are laminated oak, glued side to side with staggered scarphs. Because the inner stem (apron) was made from a template which precisely matched the outer stem template, with careful bandsawing the stem pieces fitted near perfectly with minimal fairing. But it's a tricky business fitting a curve to a curve and you can see why laminating is often preferred.

As to the shape, in clinker some of the extreme flare has been smoothed out, which is why I like the method: it just does what it wants to, departing ever so slightly from the moulds where it really cannot be bothered to conform to the moulds. And it will take over even more if you don't keep a firm grip. There was, for instance, a little more flare just forward of the sternpost.

The laminated Vendia frames, three ply, 3/4 x 1 1/8in, at stations 3, 6 and 9 will hold her shape until the gunwales go in later. For now it's a case of sealing and making a start on the interior, starting with the frames and gunwales.

The hull is very flexible at this stage and will need supporting. One coat of clear sealer