Gluing the Hull

After all the seems were tight and free of gaps, it was time to start gluing the panels together. My "formula" for making color matched glue fillets that are easy to apply smoothly, is to add equal parts System Three wood flour and System Three silica thickener to the West epoxy mixture. I also added a very small amount of Okoume sawdust for color. Usually I mixed 3 squirts of epoxy, 3 squirts of hardener (from the pumps on the cans), 3 spoonsfull of wood flour, and 3 spoonsfull of silica. These both contain nano particles, so I always use a good respirator when working with them.

I spread this mixture in between the stitches, just enough to hold the panels after the stitches are removed.

At the rear, I added a 3" (75 mm) radius to the lower rear corner of the hull.

I made a rear stem from a piece of 3/4 x 1 1/2" (19 x 38 mm) mahogany. I tapered it at the rear to match the angle of the hull panels, and at the bottom it was tapered to a point. This stem will give the rudder a solid mount.

View of the bow after the stitches were removed.

I used a random orbit sander to round it to a smooth curve.

The bow is designed to have good reserve buoyancy to keep it from diving into waves, while having a high forefoot to allow it to tack easily. It's a tricky trade-off.

After the initial epoxy application cured, the stitches were removed. I ground down the high spots with the sander, then added more filleting mixture to cover all of the seams.

After the seams are sanded again, they will be ready for the application of fiberglass cloth.