Some random work

Well, I'm not 100% sure how this blogger editor thing works but it's sure awkward putting photos in - they all seem to want to go to the top, and require moving about thereafter...
Bit frustrating. Anyway..

A few days ago I cut the patch shown in the photo below, and then cut out the damaged bits of the hull (a previous repair featured the hull being sanded through to nothing, then coated with fabric inside and out, with a part of the hull warped quite badly). Took that home intending to bend it to approximate the curve of the hull, so it would be easier to fit in. That failed when the patch split. So, I've cut a new patch (not the one in this photo) done a bit of carving and sanding, and glued it in place. Using a "gap-filling polyurethane glue" for this one, so it's gloves, masking, and some hopes...




This photo shows the patch from the inside, with the expansion of the poly-glue. The stick you see on the right is pushing outwards on the skin, (held on the other side by the boat-tie-strap that's pulling the stick against the skin) with the intent of keeping the hull shape a little better. Ugly.



This photo shows the patch being held in place from the outside. There are strips of wood holding the edges of the patch down, and good old black tape being used as a "glue clamp" The area around the patch has been masked off with a bit of plastic to keep the glue from getting too far.

Next phase is going to be to get the patch and the hull to be smooth at the edges and "fitting" the hull shape. The glue should be cured by the time I get back to it - possibly later today.


After glueing and taping the patch in place, while waiting to see if the glue would do its desired thing, a start was made on cutting the Kauri crossmembers for the stern. Numbered 1-9 from stern to cockpit, most of the old ones were there in one form or another. Where possible I used the old ones as templates. #4 had to be estimated. Eventually, they'll all have a notch cut top-centre for the deck-stringer, and they'll be carved/sanded to better shapes. For now, though, I wanted to get the sizes cut and see if they fit. The big cut-out in #9 is needed to fit over the central keel brace.

Nuf said for now. Dentist appointment calls.