These comments are in no particular order and will be put down as I think of them. I hope they will be useful to some others who follow as I have found Blogs such as Perry Burton and Rick Corless.
* Epoxy mixing: To mix small quanities (which is most of the time) I use the lids of soft drink bottles or lids of old resin containers. They are cheap and available.
* To clean your hands after a messy epoxy job I scrub them with clean sand and dishwashing detergent. Very effective.
* Making gains: Measure back 400mm from the stem and taper both the upper and lower plank with an angle grinder. Tidy up with a rabbet plane.
* As you may have noticed I have installed the planking on the frames by turning the boat upside down after the stringers were installed, this has been a real plus and I would strongly recommend it. As long as you strenghten the frames with some internal timber to prevent any distortion there should be no problems.
* I used Construction grade plywood for all of my build. In Australia see if you can get the Chilean Construction Plywood, from Bunnings, as it is a better grade than the local product. If there are some knots that have fallen out just fill them with epoxy, good as new.
This Blog has been built to track the construction of my Gaff rigged sloop Pathfinder designed by John Welsford. The vessel is 5.25m in length with a beam of 1.95m. Construction started on December 27, 2010. I have named the boat "Chinook". I hope you enjoy following my progress.
