In the beginning...

Yesterday was day one of construction. Mostly we worked on clearing out the space, going through the parts, and generally figuring out how 5 guys who all have slightly different ideas on the best way to do things are going to build 5 boats together.

We even managed to do a little boat building - we glued the panels of the first boat together. For this we cut 4" wide strips of the scrap ply that Tim shipped along with the parts, butted the panels together and stuck on the strips with epoxy thickened with colloidal silica and a few tacks to hold them together tightly. We didn't bother with lightening holes, but we were clever enough to leave room along the deck edge for a sheer clamp and room along the chine edge so there won't be any interference when the panels are stitched together. The plan is to glass over the strips for extra strength, and so for this we put a 45º bevel along the edges of the strips to make a smooth transition.

Next comes a cradle and then the stitching fun begins...