Dusty Doublers

I made very little progress this weekend but I did get to break out the Douglas Fir. The Douglas is stored underneath the jig so I had to knock off the dust. I did not do a very good job as you can tell. 

I started to cut out the doublers for the Transom. I was able to get the top and bottom doublers cut but ran out of time for the sides....

 

I had been using the thinner Bosch T101AO blade up to this point but had to switch to the T101B for the thicker cuts. I was getting a lot of waviness on the cutting surface with the thinner blade. I tried changing the feed and blade speed but it did not help. I changed to the thicker T101B and the cuts were nice and smooth.

Documented Progress

It has been slow but I do have proof that a boat is being built. A few detailed assemblies after a few weeks of work...

 

A little early morning work being completed by flood light in the garage...

 

 Most of the doublers for bulkhead 2...

After a few more weeks, we have what looks to be the makings of a Welsford Navigator. I had to lay it out on my driveway to get a feel of what it is starting to look like...

Next on my list are to finish trimming the bulkhead 2 doubler, constructing the centercase (side panels shown), doublers for the transom and the scarf joint for the bottom panel. Ahh Progress....time for a beer.

That Sticky Stuff

I did a little bit of research on the different types of epoxies (west system, progressive, system three, marinepoxy, etc) mainly looking at cost. A coworker of mine suggested Progressive Epoxy (Basic No Blush Marine Epoxy) that he used on some repairs on his boat. It was relatively cheap and had a good reputation. Here is the website that has a lot of good information for those interested.

http://www.epoxyproducts.com/

I thought about it but ended up going with Marinepoxy sold by Duckworks. It turned out to be a little bit cheaper and was recommended by some previous Navigator builders. It has a 2:1 mix ratio and three different hardener speeds (slow, medium, fast). Only being a novice (at best) boat builder, I felt this was the best way to go. I ended up getting the 'Navigator Epoxy Kit' for $260. It included 3 gallons of epoxy, fiberglass tape/cloth, wood flour, and silica thickener. Here is the link:

http://www.duckworksbbs.com/supplies/kits/jw/navigator/index.htm

I also purchased some stainless steel hardware, pumps for the epoxy and 8" deck panels for Bulkhead 3. My fellow coworker was nice enough to give me some tongue depressors that he had left over from his boat repair. Here are a few pictures of all the new goodies....