Jersey Girl

June 28, 2017. One day closer to the big splash! Today's progress on the houseboat project -- the layout and dry fit of the parts that go into the bulkhead closest to the bow. I screw everything together temporarily with sheetrock screws, drilling pilot holes as I go. (Try screwing into cedar without pilot holes and you wind up with expensive kindling.) This bulkhead is representative of the cross section of the outside deck areas of the boat. The recessed area in the center at the right of the picture will support the deck; hence all the extra cedar bits. The two "ears" at the ends show the height of the deck as originally designed. I left them as wide as they are to serve as comfortable seating. Tomorrow, I'll unscrew everything, slather on a gooey epoxy mixture and refasten it all. Then, when the glue hardens, I'll remove all the sheetrock screws, and replace them with non-corroding silicon-bronze screws. After that, I will seal it all with two coats of unthickened epoxy. There are six of these bulkheads, four more than the original design called for. (Plus eight partial bulkheads, four on each side.)

July 18, 2017. The hull frame setup begins, with the long frames being taken out of storage (finally), and placed on sawhorses that will be the temporary support of the entire hull as it grows, piece by piece. One temporary spacer is screwed into place on one side. Next, I will do a second, then raise both sides into approximate position and make adjustments for equal length.

July 21, 2017. Now, moving forward to the bow, I'm fitting foremost full width bulkhead. This begins the creation of the slotted "egg crate" construction method used for this boat.You can see that when the bulkhead is in place along the curve of the bow, it will need some planing to make its bottom timber conform so that the plywood bottom panel can be bent to the proper shape, when it's time to do that. The third picture shows what it looks like after I have planed an angle matching the curve of the bow. And the fourth picture gives you and idea of the placement of the bulkhead joining the two long frames. (In the background, you can see a trailer loaded with some of the family kayaks that I've built.)

July 25, 2017. The mid-bow bulkhead went in today. Tomorrow, I will make some adjustments and put in the forward cabin bulkhead. I find I have to keep checking for square as I go along, and I have devised a great way to do that reliably and easily. The sheet of cheap quarter-inch plywood sitting on top of the work (actually, the bottom, but it's upside-down) is my squaring tool. I just line it up parallel with both of the longitudinal side frames and put the short edge where I want to install a lateral bulkhead. I mark on both sides and enjoy the confidence that it will be square.

July 26, 2017. I am preparing for the dry fit of the stern bulkhead, the one just forward of the transom. Actually, it's the second dry fit for this component. The first time around I found I had to trim a bit here and there to make it fit. I think I cut and ground and chiseled away all the offending bits, but am I certain? No, it doesn't fit until I see it fits. Can you imagine spreading epoxy with a working life of about a half-hour, and then discovering the piece doesn't fit? What a mess. So, I have to dry fit every piece, screw it together, and if any adjustments are necessary dry fit it again. Essentially, I am building this boat twice. In some places, three times!