Corner Braces - Feb 11, 2023.
Oooh, just 4 weeks to go before our matinee gig. Yikes!
Dinghy Work
The dinghy plans give a rough sketch and dimensions for the corner braces (in boat-building lingo, they are called 'knees'). I cut them out of 1/2" fir plywood.
The forward knee is one piece that covers the whole bow.
After trimming them to a pretty good fit, we glued them in with a thin bead of thickened epoxy along the plywood edge. Clamps held everything in place while they cured overnight.
The holes are for dock lines and tow lines but they came in handy for clamping the knees in place.
After removing the clamps this morning, the boat was significantly more rigid and we were able to remove the temporary stick braces.
The next step was to fiberglass the underside of the knees to the hull. This is to give them the strength they will need when used as cleats or lifting handles.
We set the boat high and upside-down so I could work with gravity in my favour.
Yes, those are the kitchen stools holding the boat up.
With Donna mixing, we wet out the undersides, placed a good filet along the inside corners and the got the fiberglass applied.
After breaktime, while looking at the photos of yesterday's work, I saw that the fiberglass tape was going to be visible along the hull under the knees. To make them 'sandable' (therefore paintable), we got back to work. Donna mixed up a batch of putty with the right consistency and I applied it over the glass with a brush.
Good thing we had all winter to do this three-day project!
Music
Thursday night was Open Mic for the first time in a month. The crowd was smallish so we got to do two sets. We were again blessed to have Neil (Bass) and Dave (Lead Guitar) join us. Donna did a fine job with her clunky loaner flute. Hers is in for service.
First Set (Eagles Set) :
Lyin' Eyes
Peaceful Easy Feeling
Hotel California
Second Set:
Misty Blue
Mean Woman Blues
Although I forgot lyrics at one point in Hotel California, we pushed through and it went fine. All the songs went well.
Both Donna and I love these Open Mic events so much that they have become highlights of our existence. This is our fifth year participating and we have come to enjoy the camaraderie of the small but varied group of men and women who share a passion for performing live music.
Thanks for reading our blog!
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