Centerboard Shaping

Although the high today was 40 degrees higher than last week's, it's still just over freezing. I briefly entertained the idea of cranking up the heat to warm the garage, but it would just go towards the utility company's holiday party as the nighttime temps will be in the teens. It was back to the basement shop then, which hadn't seen a spring cleaning since the spring 1994. The first thing I had to do was clean the place up, including the spillover area of the family room. This took quite a bit of time but it's nice to work in a clean space again.

Neighbor got a coffee bean roaster for Christmas. We were beneficiaries.

Rudder, tiller, and boom gallows sit ready for next steps.

Decking behind the couch got moved elsewhere so we can see things now.

Suffice to say, this did NOT look like this a couple hours earlier.

I was ready (and so was the room) for the centerboard. This is one of those things I was sort of looking forward to, sort of not. Sort of not because I knew this would be a winter project when I put it aside after the lead pour. Sort of not because I've never shaped a board before and was afraid I'd muck it up. Sort of because a centerboard is so lovingly a part of sailing I would not be building a sailboat if there weren't a centerboard. Like everything else, it needed quite a bit of prep work: getting all the edges cleaned up, filling in yet more thickened epoxy for the leading and trailing edges, and fixing the table saw disaster from what seems like a really long time ago.

Table saw trough needed filler. Couple divots filled in from lead pour, too.

Filler applied and allowed to dry.

Finally, it was ready to shape. Of course, just when I was about to begin, I ran out of 60 grit paper for my random orbital.

Just getting started. Right about here I ran out of 60 grit. Note the 4" curve.

One of the benefits of cleaning is that I found a lot of partly used sandpaper. I figured that'd be better than nothing. It was better than nothing, but not much better than nothing. After a trip to the Big Box store - and I impressed myself with my control because I walked out of there with exactly one set of 60 grit paper and another set of 40 for my belt sander - I was back in the shop again. This was enough to tide me over until my Amazon order comes in. I did check with the lumberyard to see if they'd be able to order 16' clear pine. Some flunky said they could but the lumberyard master was not available. I tucked that bit of information away with all the other random assorted crap I need to follow up on whenever I remember it.

When I got home, I geared up, started Pandora (Tricia Yearwood station) and sanded away. I haven't seen a lot of detail on this process on other blogs, but it was a good four hours worth of sanding. Okoume marine plywood is really good plywood. It's tough to sand, though, but when sanded it's even, without any voids, visible glue, or any of the usual bad things that come out of plywood. I've worked with Baltic Birch before and that stuff is pretty good, but not as good as this. Of course, that meant it took twice the amount of time I thought it would.

Good progress. Each "side" took about an hour.

When I got tired of using the random orbital, I used the belt sander. Slowly, the plywood gave way. Each layer became a mark I could use for the next. Pretty quickly, there was a good rhythm between me, the sander, and Tricia Yearwood. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, and in fact quite pleasant to see the shape come to life.

This sat in my garage behind a pile of scrap wood for the better part of six months. To see this rescued from a veritable trash bin and now formed on my table was a bit of a thrill. As I was shaping, I could imagine this slicing through Lake Superior while on a reach; or, the top bit of it tucked into its trunk as I settled in for the night. This is one of those parts that really needs loving care, something I may have forgotten during my obsession with the wiring a few weeks back. A bad connection with a cabin light, and a $4 light strip doesn't work. A poor job of my centerboard and I'll be drifting in circles, or worse.

Still, there was so much work to do. A surprisingly large void showed itself around the bend. I can see how this happened: for this to sit level, I would've had to prop the other, awkward end up. As it was, epoxy flowed away from this corner the way I let it sit, hence the void.

Epoxy voids from the original pour. This is partly due to the haphazard way the rabbet got filled. Any time I had extra epoxy, I dumped it in here. There was bound to be some mucking up.

Filler epoxy applied and allowed to dry.

More voids to fill in. Expected some but maybe not this much.

About 85% done. Stopped to fill in the voids to sand later.

One of the trickiest bits is to ensure there's a foil shape to the centerboard. The leading edge (the long, flat edge) gets a "bullet" shape and some 'glass wrapped around it. The trailing edge (the curve) gets a really fine taper to 1/16". I left mine about 1/4" but will take it down the rest of the way as I get the voids at the same time.

"Bullet" leading edge gets 'glass wrapped around it.

Top view of the leading edge.

Hopefully, I'll have time to finish the shaping and get to the 'glassing. I plan to paint this white, figuring any little bit helps fight moisture. After that, I'm not sure what to start next (ideas in the comments appreciated). I'd really like to do the tabernacle and/or the companionway, but both make me nervous as I'd rather have the boat ready to ensure I get the right sizes and angles. We'll see.