It’s mid-August, and it’s been far too long since my last confession. This has real consequences. Today, I selected the deck panels fore and aft. I coated the bow scarf joint (about a foot or so from the tip) with wood-thickened epoxy and clamped the two deck pieces. I’ll leave it alone until tomorrow and then deal with whatever is revealed. I used the old, slow hardener, because why not?

Uh-oh; 10-12 hours later, the left over epoxy is not set in the cup. It’s thick, not tacky, but definitely not solid. Did I mix it incorrectly? I’ll give it some time and maybe some heat.

24 hours on: the witness pot is still not set. I scrounged a small incandescent light bulb, put it in a photo reflector, and heated the joint. I was prepared to wait a few hours, but I got quicker results. The epoxy did not harden. After about ten minutes, the joint fell apart! I think my mixture must have been way off. Keep reading.

I sanded the joint down to wood and started over, this time with fast hardener and fresh resin. I used 7g resin + 7g of hardener (sic!) and a smidgen of cel thickener; the exothermic reaction of this mix obligingly melted the plastic cup in which I’d mixed it, but not before I put the glue where I wanted it. The scarf is clamped, and this time the adjacent wood is protected with cellophane tape. The joint won’t be invisible, but it might not be a terrible mess. I misremembered the ratio: it’s 2 parts resin and 1 part hardener with the MAS system, so there’s way too much hardener in that joint. The deck scarf is not really structural, so if it cures at all, I’ll be good to go.

By and by, I expect to paint or stain a “demilitarized zone” between the two very different grain patterns to take advantage of the change as a design element. Maybe it will be an opportunity to do a tiny bit of inlay work, maybe dyed epoxy, something. But first, may I please just get this damn thing built?

After just a couple of hours, the scarf joint seemed stable if not precisely permanent. I sanded and epoxy-coated the underside of the bow and stern panels using a mix of 65g of resin and 16g each of fast and slow hardener. That was just exactly enough to roll a decent coat on the underside of both decks. After coating the deck, I reclamped the scarf.

Note that a 80g, 19g, 19g mix would’ve been better; I wouldn’t have had to worry about those last few inches. Remember that when it eventually comes time to coat the top of the decks. The half fast, half slow, hardener produced a good bond in 3-4 hours; the deck was dry to the touch in 4-5 hours.

For the record, the temperature in the boatyard is now 71° – 72°F.

To review…

Next comes the much-put-off planing down of the profiles of the sheer clamps. Attach the thwart in the bow section. Attach and trim the decks. Sand like crazy. Paint the decks with epoxy (no glass, just epoxy, and in due course some varnish). I can see the end of the hull structure up ahead. Then I can get serious about the long-discussed and mostly finished mechanical bits whose mounting apparatus I still think about. That’s more than enough looking ahead. Cosmetics are still over the horizon. Only two real expenses remain: the epoxy foam for the rigger and a set of sculls. And whatever paint I use for “the stateroom.” Maybe more more varnish than I already have for the deck. So, three expenses. I’ll decide about the hull finish later — paint or varnish? OK, maybe four expenses. Look, just keep your head down and your hands busy.