Seat blocking epoxys love affair with tape

It has been a busy week with band rehearsals & back-to-school shopping, but last night I did manage to get the blocking for the rear seat attached.

I had covered the ends of the seat with blue painters tape in an effort to keep from gluing the seat down just yet. In short, it worked. But, after I had pried the seat off of the blocking, I was reminded that epoxy really likes blue tape. Epoxy likes blue tape a lot.

Thats a mess to clean up another day.

16 clamps to install 2 pieces of seat blocking? Yep. Some to clamp the seat to two levels; some to clamp the seat to the center support; some to clamp the blocking to the seat; and two used as spreaders to push the blocking upward & outward.

The larger Irwin bar clamps are great, because you can switch them around & use them as spreader bars.

Port side blocking attached.

Starboard side blocking attached.

No, I wont win any prizes for fit and finish. (Im not trying to.) Even with the imperfect fit, the thickened epoxy is tenaciously holding the little mahogany block to the side of the boat.

I can fill in the remaining gaps with epoxy when I encapsulate the inner surfaces of the hull.

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A little touch up Pull the tape

There was a spot on the transom where I hadnt taped it accurately, and that left a little unpainted notch in my "waterline." So, I touched it up the same as Id painted it... 2 coats of primer, 2 coats of paint... just with a small brush instead of a foam roller.

After it all dried, I pulled the tape off. Soon it will be time to tape off the bottom and the transom, and paint the sides of the hull.

First, Ive got to drill a hole for the bow eye.

Oops.

2 coats of primer.

2 coats of paint.

The un-taped transom.

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Waxed paper works better than painters tape

Last night, I attached the blocking that will support the sides of the forward thwart. I used the same procedure as I did for the rear thwart, with one exception: This time, I taped waxed paper to the ends of the seat in order to keep from gluing the seat down just yet. Last time, I used the blue painters tape. 

Waxed paper works much, much better.

2 bar clamps hold the level to the plywood, keeping it straight; 4 bar clamps hold the plywood to the center support; four 4-1/2" deep C clamps hold the 2 pieces of blocking in place against the underside of the seat & the sides of the hull; 2 bar clamps reversed as spreader bars push the blocking against the sides of the hull.

The waxed paper made it MUCH easier to remove the seat once the epoxy had cured, and left no mess to clean up or sand off.

Due to the variety of angled lines inside the boat, the seat blocking appears to angle downward. However, I checked, and they are indeed parallel to the keel.

Angle measurement on the rear thwart.

Angle measurement at the aft end of the keel.

Angle measurement at midship on the keel.

Angle measurement on the center support for the front seat...

...and finally, the angle measurement on the forward seat blocking. Thats consistent enough for me.

Heres the topside view of the forward chine that I had to add more material to 2 years ago. (I cant believe it has been that long ago!)

Next, before I begin encapsulating the inside of the hull, I plan to add false battens to the outermost sections of the floor, just to keep from standing directly on the plywood.

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