Week Two

While waiting for David to come over, I sharpened the chisels and spokeshave and marked and cut out the foils (rudder and centreboard).

After a while, we had a reasonable half hull that looks an awful lot like a catboat. Checking it with the assembled template jig, it turned out a little thin in the bow, so I put a thin layer of Elmer's wood filler over it, and will sand it down to the right shape when it dries. It is coming along very nicely indeed.

After a careful study of the plans, I realized that I still have to add a 1/16" transom to the stern to bring the model to full length. I cut out the transom, I will glue it on tomorrow.

When I did the Arioso half hull, I did not cut and rout the backboard before I started painting. Once the painting started, I couldn't because of the dust it would cause. This time I shaped the backboard early. The piece of mahogany had a nail hole in it, so I mixed some of the sawdust from cutting it to size with some glue, and filled the hole with it. Once it dried, I sanded it down smooth. The hole is no longer draws your eye.

After careful remeasuring and re-scaling of the plans, It turns out that adding a transom is not required. I did however have some 1/8" teak and mahogany veneer plywood left from the Avra dashboard project that David and I did. I cut a transom out of this and then sanded it down to 1/16" thickness. This was then glued to the stern, teak side showing. While the glue was drying, I chiseled out a centreboard slot in the keel. This is a minor touch, but I am hoping that it will look better than just gluing a centreboard to the bottom of the keel.

Once the glue on the transom was dry enough, I sanded it to shape, put wood filler around the edges to make an invisible transition and put a coat of Helmsman Spar Urethane on that too, mostly to stop it from eagerly absorbing glue, filler or paint that it might come in contact with. Time will tell if It will be possible to keep it looking teak when the painting starts.

This morning, I got up early and sanded the backboard, the transom and the filler around the transom. I then applied another coat of urethane to the backboard and the transom. If i get a chance, tonight I will glue on the keel and put another coat of sealer on the model. If the backboard is dry, I will sand it and put a final coat on it as well.

This evening, I gave the backboard a good sanding with 220 and 400 grit to get it good and smooth for what I hope is the final coat of urethane. The backboard will then be finished.

I also applied another coat to the transom and the inboard surface of the model to seal it against moisture. I then mixed up some epoxy with phenolic micro-balloons and glued on the stem and keel. I used the phenolic micro balloons since I figured that some sanding would be required. I have never used them before, so we will see how it goes. I am using the hammers in the picture below to ensure that the keel is held down flat and so will glue on evenly.

Tomorrow when the glue is dry, I will coat the keel with sanding sealer, and fill and smooth all its surfaces. The model will then be ready for priming. The rudder and

The keel is now firmly attached. I have started fairing it in. I also put a coat of sealer onto the centreboard and rudder. Here is what we have so far sort of laid out.

Here with most of it sanded off, but with the hull becoming very smooth and almost ready for actual paint. The little bit of tape at the end of the keel is where I glued on a small extension. This is where the rudder is hung from. I missed it earlier, because it is not shown in the lines diagram, only the more detailed side plan.

More sanding today with 400 grit. The model was good and smooth enough that I decided to try a coat of paint. I masked off the deck and transom and applied a coat of Humbrol No. 22 Gloss White. It looks alright for a first coat, I got a number of hairs from the brush in the paint. That is alright now, since it will have to be sanded anyway, but it will not be acceptable for the final coats.

After some discussion with the members of the Catboat Association mailing list (a really friendly, helpful bunch of people). I have decided on the following colour scheme. Humbrol No. 34 Matt White topsides, Humbrol No. 30 Matt Dark Green below the waterline and Humbrol No. 103 Matt Cream (buff) for the deck. The centreboard will be deployed somewhere in the thirty to forty-five degree range. I will try and pick these up on the way home tonight.

Terry and I went out at lunch and picked up the paints. The coat of Gloss white that I put on last night did not turn out well. The paint was old and thick and did not dry well even after 24 hours. I ended up sanding or scraping most of it off. I put the first coat of mat white on tonight. It went much better and looks much more catboatish.

I put the model on the stand and supported it in the vise at angle so that there would be no vertical surfaces which would encourage running of the paint.

Tonight I sanded and put another coat of paint on. One more coat would have done it for the flat white, but as I was looking over the plans, I suddenly noticed that the stem and keel are far too thick where they meet. They stand too far out from the hull. So tomorrow when the paint id dry, I will thin them down to the right size. Hmmm.... an annoying but minor setback. In fact all of the paring down may happen below the waterline. If that turns out to be the case it is not a problem, since the bottom will be painted green anyway. No new pictures since nothing really looks any different.