Prior to assembling the panels, I carved the cutwater for the bow (and a skeg for the stern for the new 19 footer.) I used a nice piece of 1" thick mahogany. I carved "rabbets" which mate with the plywood panels and roughly formed the rest of shape before installing it.

First I assembled the hull by stitching the panels together, starting at the keel. I added the two temporary and two permanent bulkheads to hold the hull in shape as I worked. The dark lines are epoxy used to tack-weld the panels in place to facilitate further work.

At the same time the carved mahogany cutwater was glued into the hull. Next I stitched the deck panels together, tack-welded them with epoxy and temporarily stitched the deck onto the hull. This helped to assure a proper shape for the hull.

When the epoxy cured the wires were cut, the deck lifted off and the bulkheads removed. The tack-welding epoxy held the hull and deck in proper shape.

Thickened epoxy was spread into the joints.

Fiberglass was laid into the hull, smoothed and saturated with epoxy. I chose to use 4oz. fiberglass instead of 9oz. glass tape because it is easier and lighter. I did, however, use glass tape on the deck seam.

More photos to come as I get them back from the photo lab

Updated on January 14, 2011

by Shearwater Boats
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