TAKING A BREAK

Sometimes old sea dogs just need to take a break.

The Starling Project - Part 19

Here I have glued and cramped in another mast support, cut to fit between the deck king plank and the keel. There is an identical support on the forward side of the bulkhead (right in the photo).

Two battens port and starboard to support joins in the plywood side panels in the stern quarters have been glued in.

Wooden reinforcing blocks have been glued port and starboard to screw the mast rigging chain plates to. This pair of reinforcing blocks are the originals that I have salvaged from the old hull plywood. 

The green tape is used to mask off the tops of the deck frames where the glue will need to adhere to when the deck plywood is put on.

Today I undercoated the whole interior of the hull. This is something that had not been done in the original build of the boat and contributed to the rotting of the plywood with the ingress of fresh water. I am pleased with the way the work is going to date. The next job is to glue and screw in four wooden cockpit reinforcing / foot grip slats.

The Starling Project - Part 18

It's not that I really needed any encouragement, but when I stumbled on this video of a Starling Dinghy sailing on Wellington Harbour I was encouraged indeed. Roll on launching day.

Starling Project - Part 17

If you look closely you will see two wood planes trying hard to hide in the cockpit - they are pretty modest and don't want a lot of applause or recognition for the sterling job they have done helping me to plane the sheerline and the cockpit panel sides - "After all," they said, "Planing is not a big deal, it's what we do."

The next job I will do is glue in the internal chainplate blocks and a couple of backing pieces each side at joins in the topside panels. I will then paint out the whole inside of the boat with undercoat paint. This will give protection from wood rot  to the plywood if for some reason fresh water gets inside the boat. I will also glue in another mast step support under the main king plank.

She looks sweet and tidy with her sheer line planed and getting very near the stage where the deck goes on.

Sitting the boat in its beach trolley is a good easy way of keeping it from moving around as I work on it. When she is upside down I use wedges and cramps to keep her stable on the saw horses. But despite these restraints the constant pressure of planing and sanding has seen the boat creep around the carport from one end to the other.

I am still undecided as to whether to fiberglass the hull. One option is to glass the keel center line and the bow and chines with fiberglass tape to protect these more vulnerable areas and then just paint the hull either with ordinary one pot paint or a two pot epoxy paint system. I shall be giving it a lot of thought as I complete the other little jobs that are required before turning her back upside down for the hull completion.

The Starling Project - Part 16

 FROM THIS ...............

 

..................... TO THIS. 

Today I glued and nailed the port plywood panel on. This gave me the illusion that I was about half way through the rebuild. Of course I am half way if I am only counting nailing and screwing the plywood on. But I am only about a third of the way through if I include fiberglassing, filling, painting, attaching hardware, varnishing etc etc. Having said that I do feel buoyed up by the fact that the bottom of the hull now has the plywood on. The next job is to fill all the screw and nail holes with 'Epifill; then fiberglass and fair the hull.