What a wonderful feeling when you have completed a huge milestone in a very difficult project. These posts are spaced very close together but the actual build time from when I cut the frames out to when I got the bottom deck on was around 8 months. I work on this project part time and on the weekends so that significantly delays the completion by a long time. While I am in no hurry I do really just want to sail this boat that was the point of building it in the first place. The top deck is the next important milestone but quite a bit of prep work had to go into the boat so that it could be attached.
- Add top stringers
- Attach support blocks and mast step support
- Add breather hole supports
- Plane sides and level surface
- Attach Pintiles
- Attach and bolt chain plate
- Coat inside with epoxy to seal wood
- Mark out document and measure where all supports are so that you remember where to attach hardware once the top is on
The following images show steps (1-4) Everything needs to be sanded down and trued in order to put pintiles, chainplates, and the final epoxy coating.
Glueing stringers.
Attaching the stainless steel track support, the breatherhole supports, hiking strap supports, and chainplate supports. Note everything that is hardware needs a piece of timber for support so that the boat does not crack and so that nothing gets pulled off if you capsize.
Attaching the mast support. The mast needs something to sit on top off that can hold its weight. This particular boat has a mast support of about 18 inches, it has two pieces of marine plywood that are epoxied to both the keel and the deck plank plus has an extra support on top of the keel to keep it from moving. There are many ways to make this support, one could do a solid piece of wood, another way is to do more of a t shape with a piece of ply glued in the middle of the keel and deck. I did something in between I wanted it light but also wanted more support than a T shaped design.
Birds eye view.
Tiny Sailor 