Black Pearl: Stripping the fore deck
Dec 7th, 2006 | By Dan (CSFW) | Category: 06.11 Black Pearl (CT)
When I stripped the hull, I ran the strips past the sheer about an 1/8″. Now I can plane a rolling bevel on the hull at the sheer line, matching the angle that the deck meets the hull. It should provide a tight hull/deck joint line. After the inside of the hull is glassed I’ll install an internal sheer strip for additional deck to hull gluing area and to support the deck edge after it is rounded over.
When I first looked at the plans, I knew that stripping the deck in the area of the cockpit was going to be the trickiest part of the whole project. The transition from the rounded fore-deck to the dead-flat afteck. Before stripping, I added a secondary form at roughly the back edge of the cockpit. This is the point where the aft deck has to be flat. The deck was stripped by simply running the strips from the centerline out towards the sheers, letting the strips run past the sheer. They’ll be trimmed and planed flush with the hull.
The deck is being stripped in halves. This will help me keep the deck flat just aft of the cockpit. I’ll dovetail the rear deck in now that the front deck is done and the glue has cured. Any irregularities in this transition area will be faired out when I sand the strips and during the fairing process before painting. I would only do this on a bright finished boat. On a clear finished boat the strips would be installed starting along the sheer and installed toward the centerline.
