What have we epoxied this week? Well, the 2nd layer of the hull-to-deck joint, the transom-to-deck (both layers), the cabin-to-deck, then the entire deck minus the side decks, the first two western red cedar cabin beams, and a few hundred bungs that’s all.

Garrett trimmed the corners of the cabin walls

Then him and Hoffa sanded those edges smooth.

We swept the deck free of debris.

And got to it!

We used only a 6oz cloth versus the 8oz we were using on the hull-to-deck joint so it was much easier to wet out. Garrett may hate the sticky but Hoffa and I found it to be quite satisfying. Using a brush, finger, or squeegee to cover and smooth out any air bubbles in the cloth felt gratifying. Standing back and seeing an even glassed surface gave a real sense of accomplishment. Finally we are beginning to get back into the groove of things.

DCIM100GOPRO

DCIM100GOPRO

 We’ve been experimenting with the GoPro (Reid, Garrett’s brother, gave us his old one) catching time-lapse footage of our days work. Hoffa started the trend using his iphone. We’ve put them on our Patreon page, exclusive for our patrons 😉

In the evening we take the epoxy over to the house we are sitting to glue up deck beams over night. We are all really excited to have these sexy beams over our heads to stare at down below in the future. The western red cedar came from a schoolhouse in Vancouver Washington built in the 1940’s and torn down several years ago. The demolisher kept the rafters hoping to use them in the home he was building but didn’t so years later he put them on craigslist to sell and that’s where we came into their story. Now the boards that once housed landlubbing children will now shelter big kids at sea.

We will have a total of 6 cabin top beams. So the theory is with being able to glue 2 at a time it should only take 3 days! Once they are in place we’ll then have to decide whether to lay the port orford cedar down now or after we lay the plywood (which will be the main structure for the cabin top) and place the orford between the beams later… I’m thinking we’ll choose to lay the orford first then place the ply on top of that, because you know less measuring.

Garrett built this mold in a few hours and I think the mold itself is pretty special. Bracing for both the bottom and sides to keep the beams to the curve of the crown as well as perfectly square at the sides.

No sleep for these builders for the spring is near and there’s a charge in the air!