I began gluing and screwing parts of the centerboard box today. I went slowly to get it right. I piloted holes for some 16 or so silicone bronze wood screws tro hold the side panels and bedlogs together.

I understand tat you should no countersink plywood but there are times when it cannot be avoided and this is one of those times.

I love power planers! What a time saver it was. In a half hour, I trimmed her down to the lines that I took off the keel curvature.
 

I had about 1-1/2" to remove in the forward part and 3/4" of wood to removed in the back and what would have taken me at least 4 hours was accomplished in 30 minutes!

Gotta love it!

I cut 2 pieces of marine plywood and cut 2 pieces of 2 x 6 and added two 1 x 2-1/2" pieces of pine to form the centerboard box. The 1 x 2-1/2" pine go on either end to provide a space to fit the pivoting centerboard in.

The plywood panels assembled with the pine end pieces.

Cutting the 2 x 6's

After checking for the initial fit of the pine board to the plywood, I added the 2 x 6's to the form to complete the mock up for fitting into the slot I had cut into the keel.

I had already removed frames 5, 6 & 7 in order to be able to lift and place the keel box. I had chiseled and rasped the openings to widen and square them a little more to get the right fit.

Placing my hydraulic lift under the center of the box, I lifted it into position, plumb with the face of frame #4.

This is not the final position but serves to illustrate the concept about how I will now transfer a parallel curved line of the keel to the sides of the 2 x 6's to allow a nice watertight fit against the keel. I will shave that down with the power planer.

More on that in the next installment!

I have finally decided on what I will use for flotation.   In photos 167-170 you will see that I decided to use milk jugs and various plastic containers (obviously with the lids still on). 

I also changed my mind about the storage beneath the seats of the boat. As you can see in  a couple of the photos, I decided to eliminate the two front storage hatches and I epoxied them closed.  This allowed me to place the plastic containers in 4 of the sections below the seats.  Even though I coated the interior framing and sidewalls under the seats, the elimination of the 2 forward hatches will minimize the likelihood of additional water getting below the seats, not to mention increase the flotation.  As you can see, the hatches were cut fairly large & I will have sufficient room to store life jackets, lines, etc. underneath the seats.

Also during the last week I installed the first 1/2" X 3/4" strip of wood trim on the top of the side walls.  On the outside of the sidewall I have initially placed a 1/4" X 1" piece of trim.  Eventually I will place a piece of molding on top of that piece of trim to serve as a rub rail. Inside of the sidewall I will laminate at least four strips of 1/2" X 3/4" wood trim.  I can't remmber what that part of the boat is called but it should be of sufficient width for any block & hardware installation.  I have clamped a few of the pices in place and I think I will be pleased with the final look.  Those photos will come in a later post.

 This weekend I will attempt to complete the daggerboard box / case.  My goal is to get this boat in the water by the first weekend in October!

It has been a couple of weeks since my last post and unfortunately I haven't made as much progress as I had hoped.  I have spent considerable time trying to decide whether to build the mast or buy one. I have also been looking for hardware such as the gudgeons and pintles and other things.  I found a nice little consignment shop in Oriental, NC and they have all kinds of used hardware, sails, etc.  Howver they did not have sails to fit my boat, the Corsair 13.  But as luck would have it, my trip to Oriental turned out to be very productive when I found an old boat yard near New Bern.  In the boat yard was 2 day sailers and the owner has told me to "help myself" on any hardware, etc.  He also has a mast that I think will work perfect for my boat....I am going to pick it up this weekend so we will see what happens.

I have bounced around on the construction of my boat---mainly because I have spent a lot of time thinking about storage issues and my floatation.  The attached photos depict the construction of the dagger board which is made from 3 pieces of 1/2" marine plywood laminated with epoxy.  I use 80-grit sandpaper on a belt sander to shape the daggerboard. Photo # 152 shows the daggerboard approximately 80% finished & prior to the application of epoxy and glass tape on the front and rear edges.  Photo #160 depicts the daggerboard just prior to epoxy and glass.  I am currently waiting to apply the final coat of epoxy and will finish the sanding soon. 

The centerboard is lowered when the sail is raised. It is a piece of wood that project 2-3 feet below the bottom of the boat and is there to resist the force of the wind from pushing the boat sideways. Sort of like the tail on an airplane, it helps track the boat forward.

I have made a 3/4" wide opening along the center line of the keel. This will be the first step in the construction of a "box" to contain it when it is in an upright position.

It was a fairly easy operation. Drawing the limits out in pencil, I plunged my circular saw into the wood and cut it from one end to the other.

I finished the cut with my hand saw then used my saber saw to cut the ends.

As you can see in photos 130 & 131, I changed my mind and decided to have 2 storage areas under each of the seats.  I have now secured the seat side panels to the support frames and they are now permanent.  I still haven't completely decided what I will do for flotation but right now I am considering using a bunch of empty 20 oz. water bottles and several empty 1/2 gallon milk jugs.  I will most likely secure these in place with water resistant spray foam ("great stuff") which is sold at Walmart or Lowe's.

I have also begun to construct the deck plate that will form the bow of the boat.  As you may recall in an earlier post, I had to add about 3.5" to the width of frame "B".  This caused a drastic change in the way the deck plate would fit the hull of the boat.  Therefore, I decided to cut a 3.5" inch strip of marine plywood (which is what I am using for the rest of the boat) and laminate it between the two deck plate halves. See photos 125 & 132.  I still have to laminate / secure the the point of the deck plate and will probably do that this weekend. 

In photos 127, 128, & 129 you can see where I have attached cleats on frames "A" & "B".  This is obviously where the deck will be secured to the frames.  I still have to secure cleats along the inside edge of the hull.  Right now my plan is to seal the most forward area of the bow.  I was considering more dry storage, but I've almost determined that I should have sufficient storage under the seats and between frames "A" & "B".  I will be using some flotation in the front compartment but not sure how much at this point.. 

We're finally getting closer to having the fuselage finished. I'm cutting the pieces slightly wider than the actual fuselage.

After finalizing the position of the panels, I rigged up an offset jig to space the screw holes at three inches apart. Screw the panel into place, then sand the outside edges flush with the sides. Take it all apart and route the outside edge with a rounded profile, then reassemble with glue.

 This is a boat, after all, and it needs to float. So, I'm filling the torsion box with Styrofoam (tm). :-)

Here's the skinning of the torsion box top. I used a router to put a nice round profile on the edges of the mast pocket cutout. I needed some weight on the panel, so yes, that is an anvil...

Hmmm. I had no idea glue was so messy.

Alignment is critical in this step, so I had my fingers crossed.