Catch up....

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Family in town for a couple of weeks so I've slacked off on updates but managed some progress still.

After the steaming pipe failed me I decided to have another go using a bag technique. Rather than purchase a proper plastic pipe I cut the end off one of my dust drapes and taped it with masking tape. This was an experiment but with some clamps to help the tape hold actually worked well enough that I used the same experiment on the four remaining pieces.


Basic approach is to inject the steam and as the wood starts to get floppy pull it into shape. Then clamp and leave steaming hot for about an hour. After that walk away and do something else for 24 hours before removing the pipe. Finally let your wood dry for a couple of days before you glue it.


One thing I should mention is it's worth cutting the front first then the aft sections after where they join the transom as these are easier cuts. I didn't do that....

For the chines and gunwhales I shaped the blocks they glue against from frame 2/3 forwards. If you don't then they have a significant gap to the ply because of the angle they make with the frames.






Starboard gunwhale with shape ready to glue


All in place and ready to start shaping


Template that will guide the bottom shaping

Template on a forward section


And that's me up to date. Looking forward to this next bit of shaping and a bit nervous about my first scarf joint in the ply sheets!

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