I got the transoms epoxied on last night. No real drama there. Just another one of a seemingly endless number of three-handed jobs on this project.
The plans call for the transoms to be rigidly mounted to the jig somehow. I guess that makes sense...you don't want them moving as the chines and planking are installed. So I decided the easiest way to do that would be to get some tapcon screws and lag a 2x4 into my garage floor at both ends, then get some deep C-clamps, clamp some 2x4's to the transoms, and then screw them to the floor board. Worked out pretty slick:
Harbor Freight is the salvation of this project. If you want to get lots of clamps and get them cheap, that's the place to go.
The next step for tonight was to get the chines laminated. Here's a shot of me testing out my clamping strategy:
There is a pretty severe bend on those toward the bow...in both directions (in and down). I had a tough time figuring out how I was going to clamp them to the bow transom when it occurred to me that I could just screw them into the side (of the transom) with some deck screws. Worked perfectly. I've got a similar trick in mind for tomorrow when I install the chines permanently.
For now, I have them laminated and the glue is curing. That was a hot mess of a job, but they seem reasonably fair as they sit, and I'm pretty confident they can be tortured into their final position without too much drama.
I did discover my first "oops" on the project: The bow transom is level, but the lower (as the boat will sit in the water) corner on the starboard side is about 3/16" closer to the boat (as measured to the first flare form) than is the corner on the port side. I think that's why the starboard chine fought me more than the port. In any case, it doesn't seem like its worth worrying about, and I'm not sure what if anything I could do at this point anyway. So if Seven Wonders wants to always sail in circles, now you know why.
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