Dec. 8th, 2002
It's been quite a while since my last update, mostly because I've been up to my ears in getting ready for arrival of my baby girl but also because I've been busy with work, chores etc. I imagine it will get even harder to work on the Jumbo and update my journal. But I'll grab every minute I can and see what I can get accomplished. Never fear I've not abandoned the Jumbo.
Since the turning of the hull
The few hours here and there that I was able to spend working on the Jumbo were fairly productive. I was able to plane down the excess of the side panels that hang over the edge of the shelves (the top frame work of the gunnel or sides). Using the power plane made short work of the plywood and the chips flew! Final trimming at the transom/shelf connection was done using my favorite Japanese pull saw and the low angle block plane. It's satisfying to whack off all that wood because suddenly I'm able to see the true lines of the boat. It looks great.
I was also able to get started on taping the inside of the chine/side joint and am now about three quarters of the way finished. This means that I've done about a 1" fillet of thickened epoxy along the chine/side joint and taped it up with fiberglass tape while it was wet. 
I did three layers of tape starting with 8", proceeding to a layer of 6" and finally a layer of 4". It will be very strong at this seam. I also have spent a few hours filling and refilling screw holes in the bottom, and countersunk screwheads that fixed the spray rails to the hull. Me thinks I still have more filling to do. Hopefully I'll finish the rest of the chine/side joint before the baby comes, but I'm not holding my breath. After I finish the chine/side joint then I get to fillet and tape up the stringer/bottom connect. This will mean a whole lot of kneeling and bending over. If only I were more flexible and had knees of steel. Arrrrrrrgh.
More to come...