Day 6 Epoxy Stringers and Sides

Graham is pledging his allegiance to the class

We walked into Classroom 103 this morning to be greeted with two boxes of Dunkin Donuts goodies. Graham debriefed us on the plan for this morning, which included gluing the ends of the boat onto the stringers with epoxy, and flattening out the frame of one of the boats by adding more weight. The torque from the stringers was twisting the jig, so more weight was needed to counter the force. We grabbed a few cinderblocks before beginning the epoxy work. Willie and Ryan mixed a solution that was pasted on to the ends of the stringers before Tyler and I screwed the end boards on to make the epoxy stick. Matthew Thomas (The Man, The Myth, The Legend) was a vital member of the team. Before lunch, we began to craft the sideboards of the Opti out of marine plywood. Ryan used a circular saw with a laser guide to make sure he was cutting along the rounded edges of the board. At the same time, Theo began making the rudder. In the afternoon, we applied more epoxy to the rails and glued the sideboard onto the boat. It required a ton of clamps, but the job was completed. It is finally beginning to look like a boat! Tomorrow we will put on more of the sideboards and finish the rudder. 

Ryan mixes the epoxy carefully.

Jory Makin

Meet Russ Fox, a new friend to Brooks boat building. Thanks, Russ, for the help

Safety first!

Theo and Mr. Grant designing the tiller. A bad hair day for Mr. Grant

The first glued piece

Ryan uses the laser guided circular saw with great care as the marine plywood is thin and costly.

Theo and Mr.Grant continue the tiller saga.

Because the marine plywood is so thinRuss helps steady it as Ryan carefully cuts out the side piece.

Theo and the tiller

Ravi style

Jory style

Mr. Saunders and his jig saw make fast work of this this marine plywood.

Epoxy is messy work and can cause your hand to turn blue

Many clamps, then some more clamps.

A boat with a side!

Todays Bloggers Andrew and Jory

This morning I stumbled into the room to a fantastic surprise of donuts that Mr. Grant had very generously brought in. We were also joined by a new addition to the crew. Russ Fox works with Graham on Fridays and he is around today to be an extra guiding presence. Today’s focus has been on the actual assembly of our boat that will float in the water rather than a jig. Abby and I cut out the bow and stern pieces that we attached to the stringers. This completed the boat shape and everyone is very excited to see the boats taking form. We have to take precautions using the epoxy that creates a very strong bond between the pieces of wood. We wore breathers and had to very careful to only have the epoxy on either the wood that will eventually be part of the boat or the tape which epoxy does not stick to. After the epoxy is applied we used a thickener and finally set the bow and stern in place. In the afternoon we fared the side stringers to level off where we would eventually epoxy into place the side panels. To fare something is a new term for me that means to shave the wood so it is flat. To ensure that the side panels stayed in place we attached more clamps than I have ever seen before. There must be close to thirty.  

Andrew Kimball

Willie working on rounding the rudder using a belt sander clamped to a sawhorse.

Russ and Ravi put the final cuts on the stern plywood.

Eliot glues on the bow of the first boat on the right.