The Gougeon Brothers on Boat Construction - WEST SYSTEM Epoxy

320 Later Production Steps
Figure 26-5 Interior of the IOR 1 ⁄2 ton after righting, before
completion of interior details and installation of hardware and
the engine.
Figure 26-6 <strong>The</strong> transom is left open for easy access to the
interior. Structural bunks are also airtight buoyancy tanks for
this lightweight laminated sloop.
out of it. If a hull is large enough, you can set up a
workshop in the boat and do a lot of machining right at
the job site rather than outside of it.
Proper planning of your work limits the number of
trips you have to make in and out of the hull. By
carefully organizing the job immediately ahead, you can
gather the exact tools and the materials you will need.
It’s aggravating to have to crawl up and out of the hull
because you forgot your pencil or don’t have quite
enough clamps to complete a bonding operation.
Careful planning will help you avoid this. Pre-manufacture
materials to the greatest extent possible before you
carry them up inside the hull.
General Approach—Joinery
We rely on joints bonded with WEST SYSTEM ® epoxy for
interior construction because they are often stronger
and easier to make than fastened joints. All interior
bonded joints must have adequate area for maximum
strength, so we engineer them with this in mind.
Although we often use clamps and weights to hold
parts in place as epoxy cures, we also use staple guns
with fine wire brads or narrow-crown staples. We inset
Figure 26-7 Rogue Wave’s galley, pilot berth, navigation
area, and daggerboard case. All interior joinery was installed
before the deck was built. Circular pads on the bulkhead
are reinforcing gussets. Note the lift-out access ports in the
cabin sole. <strong>The</strong> unfinished teak cockpit sole is visible at the
lower left.
Figure 26-8 Rogue Wave’s galley area after the deck was
installed. Sandwich construction of the deck in this area
required a headliner skin. This smooth plywood panel was
painted white to lighten the naturally finished interior.