Goo yes, gap no.
Turns out that the little tiny gaps in our covering board joints won’t be filled with varnish so that they disappear. They won’t ever be filled with anything ever again in fact, because we coated every joint with 5200. It makes sense really, and I’m guilty of hubris for thinking that somehow my nice joinery would be impervious to the forces of sun and salt water with the addition of a few coats of varnish and a tight fit.
Warren gave me the sour milk face when I suggested that we didn’t need to bond those joints with that permanently adhesive and flexible stuff, and that’s all I needed to go back and coat the both sides of the joint liberally before jamming it back together and screwing everything down.
You can see a little squeeze out here. We cleaned it up and that joint is now impervious to the elements. For that advantage, we lose a bit of glamour as you can now see a tiny line of 5200 along the joint. The pragmatist in me says that’s excellent, it shows that the joint is sealed. The furniture builder in me says it looks like an open joint that someone fixed with putty.
That’s the aft joint, the one I had to get right on the first shot. There’s a thin check starting to creep in, but I think it’ll go away with moisture.
Mike cut off the excess overhang with a 5 tpi ripsaw that he’s fallen in love with. I keep telling him, it just won’t work between the two of them. She belongs to Ben, and he’s not about to let her go. But, he’s a man possessed, and the saw just keeps flashing those perfect sharp teeth. What a tease.
And here’s the aft end finally attached, needing only some planing along the aft edge to clean it all up.
And a view of the whole boat showing what all the fuss was about.
Next up: installing a couple of half beams between the mast partner and the quarter knees, and a jumper between the mast partner and the bronze strapping.
Hoo boy, I’ll bet you’re waiting with baited breath to see what in the hell that means. Well, while you wait, check out Barrett’s excellent boat project page. That might hold you until Monday. At the very least it’ll activate purpleheart lust deep in your bosom.