The middle Thwart and side seat supports

Today we were treated to a day off together where Virginia and the skies above treated us to a sampling of the sweet early Fall weather that makes this such a wonderful place to live. Sunny. 78 degrees. A breeze with air like candy. Boat building weather.

For the past few weeks I had been laboring over  getting a good fit for the middle thwart which involved shaping the ends of the thwart so it closely matched both the fore/aft and up/down curves of the inner hull. The back of the centerboard case was prepared to act as a brace for the middle of the thwart and the side risers shaped and leveled and installed, to support the sides of the thwart. Finally, the cleats that run the length of the side seats had to be fitted to the undersides of the middle thwart and to notches in support blocks attached to the rear bulkhead. After everything was shaped just right(which took a long time and many fine adjustments) the assembly of the thwart and cleats was dry fitted to the boat with 1.5" screws. A great fit and everything level!

So today, on this beautiful September day which is September 9th,2010, the day of my father's 79th birthday, I mixed up the epoxy, a good amount of 12 ounces and applied the thick, tenacious, incredibly
strong epoxy to all of the faying surfaces, screwed and glued the cleats to the underside of the thwart and then laid the entire assembly into the boat, everything then screwed and glued together. It went well, and with that, reall the last difficult step in building this boat that has now taken nearly 3 years to build. All that is left are the rear side seats, the outer rub rail and then the rail cap, which will be of ash wood. Then multiple coats of varnish inside, paint on the outside(colors not yet decided), then the boat will fitted out with cleats, oarlocks, rudder and tiller, mast and rigging. More on all of that later.

And now for some pics of today's activities in the boatyard.

The center thwart installed, the ends on risers , the middle glued and screwed to the back of the centerboard case. Some sawdust at the edges to fill the edge gaps which have glue in them. All of theis will be sanded extensively later.

The center thwart sitting on the back of the centerboard case, looking forward towards the front thwart and front bulkhead and stem.

The starboard side of the center thwart, shwing exposed part of riser that will serve to support front of side seat.

The port side support block with support cleat instaled in notch, all of which will support port  side seat.