Page 34 - Folk Boat Year Book 2021

Step 8 is to join the top and bottom halves of the shell together like a clam which is
when the fun starts. The top half is lined up with the bottom half so that all plank
edges are meeting. Keeping the two halves separated with a 50mm gap using small
blocks of wood, l stitched together the top and bottom halves using loose stitches of
copper wire again threaded at around
50mm centres. Once the top and bottom
halves are lined up precisely, the loose
copper wire stitches are gradually tightened
bringing the edges of the two halves
together whilst ensuring that the outside of
the chines are perfectly lined up and flush.
As before, the seams are spot welded with
superglue and the copper wire stitches
removed.

It is not possible to reach in far enough to wipe a fillet of thickened epoxy on the
insides of the now joined up shell.

Step 9 is to run fibreglass tape along the insides of the seams by soaking the tape in
epoxy and pushing it along the insides of the seams whilst keeping the tape running
as straight as possible. Once the wet tape has started its run it develops a mind of its
own and is very difficult to get the tape back online if it wanders offline. I found using
a stiff long lightweight push stick was the best method to tease the tape along. Time
is of the essence here as the epoxy will start going off in about 20 minutes even at a
low room temperature and even quicker if warmer.

Step 10 is to clean up the outsides of the newly formed chines between the planks
and to proceed to construct the cockpit deck, foot stretcher, coaming, breakwater
and stiffeners ready to receive the outriggers.

Step 11 is to fit the small transom and the skeg.

The whole construction is now stiff, and the final step is to wrap the whole hull in
fibreglass cloth a piece at a time by cutting the cloth to shape, laying it on a section of
the hull and wetting the cloth through thus sticking it to the ply. Using peel ply helped
give a flat surface to the epoxy. Peel ply is a thin shiny fabric which is rolled onto the
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