Gluing battens and half-frames

I should know better but it always surprises me how much time small things can take when messing around with boats.

Rubrail and gunrails battens which I glued yesterday did not cure properly overnight. The glue was still a bit soft. Temperature at night was 5 degrees so not bad. It must have been hardener pump which gave too little substrate. I’ve cleaned it and tested - yep! There was a solidified clump inside which hindered proper flow. Well, that happens after winter, good that these joints are not structural.

I took them out into sunlight, to speed up curing. By the end of the day they were cured and safe to install.

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So instead I decided to glue battens and half-frames which reinforce the bilge. In my kit there are 3 of these for each side.

It took the whole day, I run out of clamps so there are still some battens to glue. I’ll do that during the week.

With these jobs done I will make fillets in the bilge and flotation chambers. Hopefully I manage during evenings so that I can glue rub- and gunrails and apply epoxy coating during the long weekend.