And I don't even need the funky glasses!

I spent a little time doing a few odds and ends. First I made a little piece that fills up the space between the hull bottom and the keel. 

Dead Wood

 

 

 

They call this piece "dead wood". I thought all the wood I'm using is dead wood because wouldn't "live wood" be called a tree? Anyway, I also cut a little notch for the front of the hull bottom to slide up into.

Then I made a stringer for the top of the transom. Because the top of the transom has quite a horizontal and vertical curve to it I kerfed the stringer on two sides. Kerfs are little cuts made halfway through the wood to allow it to bend.

Kerfed Stinger

I had noticed that the keel would developed a little bit of a bow to it when the humidity level got high. To help with this I sandwiched it between a couple of 2X8's and clamped everything together tightly to help keep the keel straight until I was ready to attach the hull bottom to it.

Clamped Keel

Next I started all of the screws that will be driven through the hull bottom into the top of the keel. I want to make sure that the keel doesn't move once the two pieces are attached so I doubled up on the number of screws.  I alternated them so that one screw goes into one side of the laminated keel and next screw goes into the other side.

Hull Bottom Screws

Ok, this is a big moment. I glued and screwed the hull bottom to the top of the keel. I went 3D baby!!!

3D!!

You can see that I made a stand that I attached to the tops of a couple of saw horses to hold the keel up high so I could make sure that everything was going together straight. If it had been on the ground I would have gotten dirt in my ear. 


While I had the epoxy out I glued together the five pieces of the deck. I flipped it over after I had everything glued up so that it wouldn't stick to the plastic I had under it. You can see the stringers and the panel joiners. Hopefully, this will be the only time the deck will be upside down.

Upside Down Deck

 

 

Now that the boat is starting to go together, I needed to make a sled so that I can move it around easily. I used the stand I had made for the tops of the saw horses and some wheels I picked up at a garage sale. I'm so happy with it that I am thinking I'll just put a hitch on the front of it and use it as a boat trailer.

Boat Trailer

Finally, I put the deck on by attaching it to the transom, forward bulkhead and the stem. It's really starting to look like a boat now.

Front Deck Assembly

Rear Deck Assembly