Putting the centerboard trunk together

For some reason I've been really dreading this part of the build. I guess I'm afraid that if I don't get it perfectly right, then the whole project will end up badly.

Centerboard trunk sides. Inside glassed. Outside not.

Layers of epoxy to fill in the 'glass weave. Wood grain looks so pretty. Shame nobody will ever see it again!

Anyway...I cut the side pieces and 'glassed the inside faces of the trunk and milled some stout pieces of white oak for the end and top logs.

As usual, lots of clamps are needed to hold this all together. I'm favoring the blue Irwin clamps, which have a cool feature that allows you to flip the head around to create a spreader instead of a clamp. In this picture you can see that I'm pushing against the seat stringer so that the structure sits perfectly astride the keelson.

View from the stern. I know it doesn't look vertical. But it is. Checked. Checked again. Checked a third time. It's straight up and down. Just a bad cameraman I guess!

 I cut all the cheek pieces and bored oversize holes through them for the centerboard pin. These holes were then epoxied to make a nice hard-wearing bushing. I attached the seat stringers.

Here you can see the oversize hole drilled for what will ultimately be 1/2" stainless pivot pin. 

Before installing, I inserted the still-in-progress centerboard to make sure it all fit together and moved freely. So far so good.

Going on faith that nothing was going to change dramatically I then dropped the entire unit into the centerboard slot on the bottom plank, epoxied it all into place, and then glued the cheek pieces on.

Using Diettrich's method, I created both an epoxy fillet AND decorative moulding pieces to both lend strength and style to the trunk. Once the boat gets flipped over, I'll work on the bottom side of this structure. I will reinforce the entire union with stainless screws and fiberglass tape.

What's different from the picture above? The maple moulding at the base of the cheeks and on top of the cheek. Not the best picture, but I'll take more when the clamps come off. I planed the backside of the moldings to create about a 3/8" triangular hollow. I laid a "peanut butter" fillet down and then clamped/screwed the moldings on top of it. I think this will prove to be an attractive and strong joint.