On the Trailer

Once the rubrails were glued on, it was time to trim them flush with the sheer line. Since this was going to make a large quantity of sawdust, I didn't want to do this in the shop. Instead, I put the put onto its trailer, moved it out to the driveway and did it there.

The trailer is the SUT-200-S, a wonderfully light (about 120 lbs.) aluminum boat trailer manufactured by Trailex . It comes as a kit. When it arrived, my shop was full of boats, with no room to assemble the trailer there. Fortunately, my wife was out of town, so I was able to build the trailer in the living room and get it out of the house before she returned home.

Click on any image below for a larger view

	On the trailer The trailer was the workbench and the truck stabilized the trailer. All the sawdust around the trailer did not have to be cleaned out of the shop. The rubrails were positioned such that their top 1/4 inch protruded above the sheer line. This was to allow the third layer of the lamination to overlap the deck's endgrain, helping to protect it from water intrusion. However, the first 2 layers had to support the deck so they needed to be trimmed even with the sheer line. This was done with planes, rasps and sanders.
	On the trailer, from behind The trailer and the finished boat combined should weigh about 250 lbs. This is a combination that can be hauled by almost any vehicle. The flat angle of this picture gives an idea of what the final sheer line and deck will look like.
	Inside the boat, so far It's almost ready for the deck. There'll be a bit of sanding first (of course) before the lid is put on. It's always easier to sand leaning in than to climb in and sand. The mast steps also need to be installed before the deck is finally and permanently attached.
	The keel well It's bonded and glassed to the bottom and bulkhead C. It passes through the bottom instead of sitting on top of it. That allowed the box to be trimmed and sanded to be a perfect match for the curve of the hull. It also means that when the boat is heeled, there are no shear forces trying to slide the box across the bottom of the boat. Instead, there are compressive forces pushing the box harder against the bottom. Not only is this a stronger situation, it also means that the braces Bolger had at the intersection of the bottom and keel box are unnecessary. The generous bonding area (nearly 1/3 square foot) between the box and bulkhead C means that transmitted forces are more evenly distributed and will not concentrate in one spot.
	The rudder well Same mechanical rationale as for the keel box, except that with the narrowing of the hull no additional deck supports are needed.
	Wells fitted to the bottom The drop keel and removable rudder wells after they have been trimmed and sanded to fit the bottom. The graphite/epoxy coating on the interior glass lining is clearly visible.
	Finishing the bottom A 6-oz. glass patch is used to finish the hull penetrations. It covers and seals the raw exposed end grain of the boxes and reinforces the glass that was abraded during the fitting of the boxes. Clean scrap glass that was left over from the original glassing of the bottom is used. The center area is kept mostly unglassed to prevent drips down inside the wells. 2 inch wide plastic packing tape (visible at the lower right) masks the existing glass layer to limit the size of the patch.
	Finished bottom The epoxy has cured and the patch is trimmed to size. A quick touchup of the edges with a sander and the bottom is complete and ready for the fairing compound and final finishing.