All frames finished!

All frames!

To finish frame D’, there was still one important task left: cutting and gluing the plywood panel on the opposite side to form the watertight bulkhead. While looking at photos from other builders, I had noticed two different approaches. Some used a single plywood sheet, while others—mostly CNC kit builders—used two sheets joined with a butt block. I asked about this on the Facebook builders’ group but didn’t get a definitive explanation. The reason became obvious as soon as I tried it myself: my plywood sheets simply weren’t large enough to cut the bulkhead from a single piece. Two pieces it was. Mystery solved.

Drawing bulkhead from two plywood pieces

From that point on, the work followed a familiar pattern, very similar to the aft panels on frames A and P. I drew the outline directly from the frame, cut the panels slightly oversize with the jigsaw, and then carefully fine-tuned the fit using the rasp and file. This time, I added a small but effective improvement to the process: I applied masking tape along the areas where thickened epoxy was likely to squeeze out. It made a noticeable difference, keeping everything much cleaner and reducing the amount of sanding later on.

Masking tape where epoxy squeeze is expected

I was ready for the final glue-up, but nature had other plans. Winter was in full force, and the temperature at the yard dropped to around 6 °C—definitely not suitable for epoxy work. Rather than rush it, I decided to postpone the glueing and start thinking ahead about the strongback, which will be the next major step. I’ll write about that separately.

Ready, but it was too cold...

A few days later, I caught a lucky break. Heavy rain arrived, and here in Portugal that usually means warmer southerly winds. The temperature climbed to about 15 °C, just enough to safely work with epoxy. By now, the process was well rehearsed: sanding and cleaning all contact surfaces, unthickened epoxy as a sealer, thickened epoxy for bonding and fastening. Everything went smoothly.

Glue up in process

With that, frame D’ was finally complete—and so were all the frames. This is a major milestone in the build. Lining them all up gave me a real sense of how much ground has been covered, and how the boat is steadily moving from drawings and materials toward something tangible.

Gluing the middle butt block

Next up is the strongback and placing all the frames in their correct positions. Exciting times ahead!