I finally have a long break to work on the boat. With the keelson dried and set for three weeks, I cut the keelson to fit the curve of the fore and aft stems. I finally bought a power planer.

I started by breaking in my new power planer. I have to say it is a very nice piece of kit. I tapered the keelson and the stems using a batten to check the plane in every direction I could find and adjusted on the fly. When I got it to the state where I was satisfied, I started working out the gar boards again because I haven’t yet received the new set of plans Robert is sending. I’m working from the 1 to 1.54 scale drawing and hoping for the best. I measured and annotated the plans, then transferred the marks to the forms.

When I have the new plans, I will double check and adjust if I have to. At this point, I want to make progress, so I hope my measurements are close. I started making the garboards out of the 5mm plywood but after making them, I discovered that the plywood is too thin to hold up to the twisting forces of the hull shape. I went to the lumber yard in search of the cheap 3/8 plywood they have advertised but I haven’t been able to find. I finally realized that the store put the affordable plywood outside in the shed where it is hard to find. This way, they sell more of the expensive stuff. I got a couple of sheets to try it out and used the thin garboards as a pattern for the new plywood. It worked great and I’m quite happy with the results.

After I finished the garboards, I started making the patterns for the second strake. I decided to use the thin ply for patterns, as to not waste it, and use the 3/8 ply for the hull. I will still be coating everything with epoxy because the plywood is not marine grade and would likely not hold up. I used the patterns to cut the pieces from the thicker plywood and then I epoxied all the pieces together. While the pieces were setting, I tapered the top edge of the garboard strake in preparation for the second strake. I used thickened epoxy to glue the second strake to the first.

With the second strake installed on both sides, it is starting to look like a boat. This has to be one of the coolest things I’ve ever attempted.

I noticed a couple of problems today. First, my aft stem is too short. I added 11” to it. Now, it may be a bit long but I can cut it off after I turn the boat over. The other thing I have noticed is that the strakes don’t seem to come out on the aft right. I hope it is an incorrect measurement somewhere and I can easily fix it.