With the Outwales and decks now fixed to Peterborough 10 we can proceed with trimming
the edges of the hull down to meet them with the spoke shave.
The corners of them are then rounded over. The top corner is done with a router whilst the lower corner is done with a block plane followed by sanding to a nice radius.
Then the hull is turned over and any excess epoxy from the glueing operation can be removed I then vacuumed it off and moved it out of the way so i could begin varnishing it whilst still doing dusty work on Peterborough 11.
I went back to Peterborough 11 and after test fitting the inwales together I moved onto a final sand on the inside of the hull before the inwales are finally glued and screwed in place.
and there it is another day over. Progress seems slow at this stage as you are only working on one or two pieces of timber but these parts are important for the strength of you boat so It is good to take your time and get them right.
Next morning a coat of varnish was put on Peterborough 10.
I started with the hull in my carpet trestles and then turned her over to do the underside.
Varnishing is done with a little more care than the average paint job in fact some would call it an art and rightly so. If done badly it can look like a treacly mess but done well it will show off the beauty of the wood like looking through a clear shiny magnifying glass.
The best hint I can give if doing this yourself is to take your time. Vacuum the hull. Thin your varnish slightly just enough to help it flow and give each coat the time it needs to dry.
With Peterborough 10 at drying at the far end of the workshop I was safe to close the doors and work on the decks for Peterborough 11.
The edges are trimmed and they are dry fitted to the hull.
Then the edge is marked for shaping the top of the hull to fit the inwales.
and they are spokeshaved and scraped to the lines.
The coamings are then used to mark the curve on the decks where they will be fitted. You can't rest them directly on so this is part guesswork and then the curve is shaped with the spokeshave till the coaming fits.
Then the decks can finally be fitted and glued and screwed in place.
Then the screw holes can be marked in the outwales making sure they do not conflict with any of the screws on the decks or the inwales and are neatly spaced out. They are also counter-bored for plugging with wood plugs.
The last task for the day is to screw and glue the outwales in place. The ends have been left over length and will be trimmed once they are set.
Another day over and she is looking far more canoe like.
and so we move to part 6 for the final details.