Wednesday 31 March 2010

Building Simbo - going 3D

Duct tape, the bodger's friend, got the hull together after a considerable struggle getting long woggly planks to stay in the right position long enough to get the tape firmly fixed. Two pairs of hands are definitely better than one here, and taking some time getting the joints exactly correct is well worth while - Simbo is ever so slightly corkscrew shaped.
The gunwales have a natural tendency to move inboard, so they were held out with a batten secured by more duct tape.
Once assembled, the bottom was secured to what I laughingly call a workbench (a sheet of plywood on a pair of workmates) by a couple of deck screws and a length of wood.
Now all was set for securing the seams, first with a dribble of pure resin, then with a fillet of resin+microfibres mixed in to the consistency of yoghurt. I found it pays to return to the work every half hour or so as it hardens to clean up runs and push the fillet back into shape to stop it sagging. The result was fairly neat.
Then it had to be put under cover again to avoid yet another frontal system sweeping up the Channel. The outside would have to be left for the morrow.

2 comments:

Richard said...

A Bodger.... The more I read your blog. The more I learn of a very desciptive and susinct Vocabulary.
I have been a Bodger all my life and didn't know it

Chris Partridge said...

Glad you enjoy it. My ultimate aim is for this blog to be the set text for English exams in Japanese schools. Then I might finally make some money out of it.