-Week 19 Write Up- Lots of sanding, laminating beams, and ripping lumber

With the boat now right side up, our first task is to clean up the backside of all cedar planks, stringers, and frames we installed over three months ago.  Every plank we put on was joined together with a thickened epoxy mix as were the stringers and frames.  As we built them back in October and November,we did the best we could to wipe up the backside where they would eventually show on the interior of the boat.  There was a lot of glue squeeze out and it made for a difficult job to climb around the molds as the boat was upside down and wipe behind the stringers with a rag soaked in alcohol above your head while it dripped down onto your face.  

Now, these compartments are much more accessible, but the job isn't much easier.  Getting a sheet of sand paper in between all the stringers and frames, much less a power sander, is very difficult and time consuming.  It took us nearly three days of trying new methods, different kinds of sanders (random orbit, half sheet rectangle, or even small triangle sanders), and other awkward body positions to get into those hidden areas.  Eventually, we got every visible spots, and mostly all spots that are hidden, to be smooth and beautiful.  We concentrated on the areas that will be visible, which isn't much of what you see in the photos now, except for the stringers, bilge area, and stem.

After it was all sanded, we applied three layers of a two part deep penetrating epoxy (weasel piss), which we also applied to the cedar planks when the boat was upside down.  This amazing stuff will penetrate the wood and protect it from rot and decay for long after our time.  

In between sanding and coating the interior, Drew, Oliver, and I were hard at work laminating deck beams on the jig we made last week.  We were able to glue up, and clamp a large section, which is cut into appropriate lengths later, every day and allow it to harden over night.    

On Thursday, Oliver worked on coating the bilge area with two coats of clear epoxy to really reinforce its waterproof characteristics while Drew and I ripped some rough sawn Fir into cabin sole beams and deck stringers.  The sole beams range from 7 feet down to 2 feet, while the stringers will run the length of the boat, nearly 40 feet long and will have to be scarphed together to get this length.  

Not visible in the photos I uploaded is a beautiful staircase that Brendan made for easy and quick access into the hull.  He also began cutting Angelique for the centerboard trunk.

No time lapse this week for lack of something to show, really.