I flipped the boat and allowed barely thickened epoxy (the consistency of melted vanilla ice cream on an 80 degree day, not a 90 degree day) to seep into whatever gaps remain between the deck and the hull. The oversized, upside-down deck panels form funnels and guides to put the goop where I want it. This fellow shows how, fairly late in the video:

I used all fast hardener and a moderate sprinkle of wood flour and gave it 2.5 hours before proceeding. Not long enough.

With the boat in this position, I could plainly see where the deck needed to be trimmed — none of that draw a line with a jig and follow it with a power saw nonsense. With admirable and slightly alarming confidence, I got out the finishing saw and cut along the joint between the hull and the deck panel. Sure, there’ll be some smoothing and rounding and recoating to do, but there would be anyway. It went surprisingly fast, at least at first.

The incompletely cured epoxy gummed up the saw teeth before I got one side of the foredeck trimmed. It still cut, but by the time I closed in on the bow, things were getting pretty slow and messy.

I tried picking at the teeth which worked for one side of the blade but not for the other. Alcohol soak? Might work for me, but it didn’t impress this mess. I used a torch to heat the saw blade (gently at first) to see if the epoxy would melt and release. It hardened faster. Then I used the torch directly on the epoxy deposits, roasting them as if they were a poblano. They smoked a bit then flamed yellow and receded. Where black char remained, it came off easily with a wire brush. This probably did nothing for the temper of the blade or the much-touted coating that supposedly keeps it from jamming in wood cuts, but it’s ready for more trimming this evening.

One side of the bow has an ugly gap. The deck there is slightly bowed, and in that area there is a quarter inch or more between hull and deck. I can fill it, fix it, smooth it, but I should’ve prevented it by releasing the bow screw, putting in a pair well back of that area and then replacing the last, most forward screw. If it’s not one thing… the pass throughs will need a little attention (a few drops of epoxy from the outside to seal the joint between the steel and the wood).

So next: have some coffee, write up these notes, go sit at Los Compadres with Amy, and let the epoxy cure hard. Then finish trimming the decks back to the cut line. (Done as of 6:30, about nine hours after filling the gaps.)

That cabinetry saw melts through 3mm okoume — 2, 3, sometimes almost 4 inches per stroke — but it cuts epoxy-coated wood much more slowly, about 1/4 – 1/8 inch at a whack. After 30-40 minutes of steady sawing, the boat emerged from its chrysalis.

80 grit sanding pads will make quick work of smoothing the cuts and rounding all the rough edges. I have 120 pads to prepare the surface for a recoat. The extreme stern will need some extra attention because the last couple of inches of the deck cracked and departed the show. I’m bugged by the prow’s final form, too. I will probably just insure that it’s watertight and deal with it in my own good time. Or I’ll get over it.

Looking the project over tonight, I’ve decided to pull all the screws, drill out the holes and install dowels to be trimmed and sanded and polished with the deck. Far from “elegant,” the brass screw heads look “temporary” and ad hoc. 1/4-inch dowels, wood glue, drill stops, and stain (MinWax Espresso) are on the way.

Much is too far out to see clearly, but I anticipate lots of sanding, some polishing, filling, and reattaching a few bits here and there. There’s a lot of finishing to go; the fun continues.

Day 59

The far bow and stern decks are extremely fragile. I’ve already cracked the last inch or two of the stern deck (look at the photo above). I went ahead and squared off the first and last bits of the decks. I was sure to damage them sooner or later, and thought I might as well make some changes now rather than in the context of repairs later. So I aim to produce a smooth plane in each location and do something –maybe a wood panel, maybe shaped epoxy, or some alternative (threaded inserts for whatever later?) to be decided soon. I need to tack down another fragile area near one interior edge of the aft deck before getting swept up in finishing work.

I removed all the brass screws in preparation for filling the holes using stained dowels (the current plan, at least). Glue and dowels arrive tomorrow; stain midweek. [If you’re reading this for perspective on your own project: the stain was oil-based and That Was A Mistake!]