Having never built a boat before or done any carpentry I was a little apprehensive about starting, I had spent a lot of time looking at other builders blogs and finally decided I just needed to make a start. Like a lot of other builders I started with frame E as this looked like the simplest frame. I laid out the pieces on the work surface I had prepared and then checked and double checked the measurements. I clamped all the sections in place and then screwed the plywood gussets to the wood frames. Then I marked where the epoxy was to go and took it all apart again. The work surface was covered in plastic sheeting to stop the frame getting stuck to it.
I am using West Epoxy and for the first frame mixed up a small about at the 5-1 ratio of epoxy to hardener. As recommended by the Gougeon Brothers I wetted out the area to be bonded and then added some 406 Colloidal Silica until the consistency was like mayonnaise and then used a tongue depressor to apply it to both sides of the pieces to be glued.
Once this was complete the pieces were placed together and screwed in with 316 SS screws before going around with the tongue depressor to tidy up any epoxy that had been squeezed out when screwing together
I followed the same process for the other frames.
Frame S required a bevel along the edge of some of the pieces, I found the Bandsaw a good option for doing this.
The last frame I built was frame D, this required some Oak for the Keel support and mast posts. The Oak is not supplied as part of the CNC kit so I found a local supplier and collect three lengths, this will be enough for all the Keel timbers and the tiller and bowsprit that I will also need to make at some point. I asked a carpenter fried to help me cut the Oak down and get it to the correct thickness as I did not want to get this wrong.
A template is available for the Keel timbers, I printed this full size across multiple pages and then taped them all together and cut the templates out. I taped the template to the timbers and cut them to size, using the Bandsaw and then a chisel I took out the section that the stringers will later sit into. The next job is to tidy up all the frames and sand down any excess epoxy that has squeezed out before I mount them onto the jig.
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