The Light at the End of the Road - Seatback Frames

For the first time, I felt the light at the end of the road. Or tunnel. Or rainbow, whatever it is. With the final shape coming together and the last major pieces sitting ready for the install downstairs, it's just a matter of a boatload (!) of fiberglass, sanding, painting, and fitting out. With a few good weekends, I can see this being done certainly by Labor Day and maybe even July 4. This is also the last week of the semester, which means no more 3-hour classes after work but 3-hour sessions in the garage.

I was short on lumber so headed out to get some. Wound up with 10' select pine, on sale at the local big box store. It's always interesting loading these into my convertible and driving home. Part of the reason this part of the build got delayed for so long is the weather. I can't make these kinds of runs in the rain (I mean, I can, but I choose not to). And the weather, until this weekend, has been miserable for about 10 days. So, the boatshop moved outside temporarily.

Prepping the stringers. 10' pine board cut into 8' and 2'. The 2' will become cabin deck cleats.

Making sawdust, last stringer cut. I was testing the battery charging system now that the sun's back out and the snow's gone.

Couple points on the stringers. There are basically 2 sets of 3 types. One runs along the hull, inside the notches of the seatback frames; one runs along the cockpit deck; and one runs high outboard of the other.

The one along the hull (at least on my hull) was basically straight up and down., though slightly angled in. I didn't bevel anything here and it was fine. The one along the deck gets a 72 degree bevel on the outside (per the manual) to accept the rake of the seatback itself. If you're at 70 degrees or 74 degrees you'll probably be OK. These dimensions are important for proper fitting.

The high outboard one gets a 72 degree bevel on both sides, so it looks like a parallelogram (bonus! geometry buzzword). Both ends of this outboard stringer will be beveled, as well, to accept the rakes of the aft cabin wall and the transom skirt. The hull stringer does not need a bevel on the transom end as it terminates at the transom block. It will need one on the wall, though.

 What passes for staging areas when my wife isn't home.

Dry fitting the stringers. Labeled.

Two down, one to go.

Since the outboard stringer turns 'up' a little and the hull stringer turns 'in' from the rake of the topside, there are little pointy edges that stick up. These need to be whittled back down.  Depending how high these are, they might get more than a whittle. I started with a spokeshave and switched to a power belt sander, then a spokeshave. That worked OK, but here and there, the heights were different so I was quite thin in some places. It was so thin at the high outboard on port that it broke, forcing a re-epoxy. I'll probably put blocks between these to accept the seatbacks themselves as I don't want them leaning against these without more support. Overall, though, the rake and the fair curve were good.

Fixing the inboard stringer. Had to re-epoxy it.

As they cured a bit, I realized I needed the transom skirt block (I love how these parts get such made up names). I didn't have anything resembling 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" laying around and didn't feel like buying a post so I salvaged the end of the pallet. Yes, I still have most of it still in my garage for moments like this.  I had to pry the block off - it was secured pretty well - and then used the band saw to take it down to spec. With epoxy and treatment, this will be just as good as the $10 block would've cost, though it may have wound up costing $20 as the band saw blade broke. Fare thee well, Timber Wolf 3/8" blade.

Needed blocking for the transom skirt. This is from the delivery pallet.

Transom skirt blocking screwed in place.

With the stringers curing (once again), I figured it was time to drill the hole for the electrical. The wires are all in the laz compartment, just aft of bulkhead 7.  BH7's placement is visible from the epoxy'd screw holes. I set up the 5/8" bit and went right into the back part of my speaker box. Oops.  I'll have to plug that back up. I went a couple inches out, redrilled, and went where I needed to go. As with most learning curve things, I only have one hole on the port side.

Cut holes for wires. Right hole (inward) hit the speaker box. Oops. Moved it outboard, was good. The cable clam sits at the ready.

With the cleats/stringers/inwales curing, and with the transom blocking in place, it was time for the transom skirt itself. This has been sitting in my living room behind my couch for more than a year.  I picked it up, dusted it off, and sanded off the nubs. This is also one of the few pieces that I did not pre-'glass or epoxy. It went on bare.

With a little help from my wife, in between making a pancake lunch, I secured one end, then the other. The ends went in fine but I didn't get the curve I wanted. The skirt should be rounded, not straight across. When I pulled it back a little bit, it took on the proper shape. I tried to clamp it, thought about tying something to it, and finally hung my belt sander from a clamp which itself hangs from the top of the skirt. Problem solved! This has the added benefit of weighing down the top against the epoxy on the transom.

Transom skirt epoxy'd into place. I wanted a little more arc so hung my belt sander from it.

Good fit of the transom skirt and the inward stringer.