12 Foot Catboat

12 Foot Catboat
Designed by Edson Schock - Circa 1940's

Building a 12 Foot Catboat

Follow me as I build a 12 foot catboat from plywood and pine. The boat was designed by Edson Schock in the 1940's. This is a project born of a desire to have another boat to sail here in Puerto Rico that will stand-up to the Trade winds. The sail plan will be changed to a gaff rigged sail. All the lumber is locally bought and pine will be substituted for oak, which is not readily available here. Marine plywood will be used.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Installing the gussets

Today marked the first day using glue to make permanent bonds. All the preparation work I did yesterday allowed me to join the side and bottom pieces if the frame permanently.

I brought together the tools and materials: hammer, 1" long silicone-bronze ring nails, Small diameter nails to help align the pilot holes, DAP Weldwood Plastic Resin Glue, a dry container to mix the glue, a glass of water for the glue mix, plastic spoons, a stick to spread the glue.

It's a messy job so the left over construction paper served as a "drop-cloth" for the excess glue.

I laid out lines on the frames at the ends of the gussets so I would know where to stop spreading the glue..

I took 10 level spoonfuls of the glue powder and 4 of water to mix the glue. It has a work time of 30 minutes.





The first thing I did was put glue on the bottom edge that comes into contact with the side piece. I then spread a quantity of the glue on each piece of the frame then placed the gusset on top, aligning it with the smaller diameter nails.



Pound in the nails, wipe the excess glue and that's it!





Did that 19 times and finished them all with 2-1/2 batches of glue.



I will let them dry overnight and install the "floors" at the center of each frame tomorrow!
Posted by Steve in PR at Tuesday, May 05, 2009

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