Slow but Steady Progress (Tide the Knott)

Here is a brief update on the progress made on Tide the Knott.  Lance commented working on this part of the bow was the longest and most involved work in the entire restoration project.  For my 45th birthday (in two years), we are taking Tide the Knott up the California Coast to the gorgeous Big Sur.  I can't wait, and yes, it is so I could do a race, but it's also because the California Coast is breathatkingly beautiful. 

Start of rebuild.  All rotten wood had to be removed.

After the rotten wood is removed new layers of marine plywood

must be epoxied in.  Three new layer were installed.  Fiberglass,

¼ inch plywood, fiberglass, second layer of ¼ inch plywood, fiberglass,

third layer of ¼ in plywood.  This picture is the first layer of plywood

applied.

These two pictures (above and below)  show the final third layer of plywood installed.

Notice the bow curve and the

angle.  This was very hard to produce.  No air or voids can be between the layers. 

The next step is to build the sub cap rail which supports the main cap

rail as you can see in the picture.  Because of the curve, three sections had

to be made to complete the sub rail. 

 

Here the sub rail has been completed.  This rail has

compound curves, and each section took approximately

three hours each to make perfect before they were glued

in place.  The next step will be to fiberglass everything, restore the

old cap rail and install it.