The past week I continued to work on the inside of the boat: seat tops and locker doors. On the left you can see all the pieces (10 of them) all fitted quite precisely: four long seat tops, three hinged flip-up locker doors, and three backing pieces (between the doors and the sheer strakes and transom). In the next photo you can see two of the brass hinges laid on for fitting. There is still some work to do before putting on the hinges: another coat of epoxy on the insides of the benches, two coats on the undersides of the seats, and reinforcements glued on the undersides of the locker doors. I just didn't feel like messing with epoxy for a change and concentrated on sawing. I also cut the sliding door for the fore locker (see photo), which will be between the fore bulkheads. It will slide on wooden runners set horizontally into the main bulkhead.
Finally, I designed, drew and cut the three distinct pieces of the rudder: the piece attached to the tiller and transom, the pivoting blade that will be in the water, and the jaws that hold them together. It was very tricky (at least to me, with this being my first effort at boat design) to make sure the moving parts pivot against each other, and I arrived at it without copying anybody else's specific design. I will need to cut another identical set to laminate all together. I will also have to decide whether to use lead or a bungee cord to keep natural buoyancy from flipping up the pivoting blade. I am inclined to give dealing with molten lead a pass! As for what comes next, you read it before: more smelly, messy epoxy coatings and gluings.
Until then, I remain your friend
boatbuilder
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