Sanding strips and a bulkhead that doesn't touch the batten

19 March 2017 · How-to · Problem and fix

This morning Piet gave a tip that makes all the difference. Before he uses tanganyika strips, he sands them with 320 grit: fold a piece of sandpaper double, lay the strip in between and move the paper away from you, otherwise the strip snaps. That smooths the flat faces and the edges at the same time, without burrs. Another nice little job ahead, then, and after the first strips I did indeed see a big difference. I notice that every strip has a good and a bad side: on one side the sandpaper snags now and then. Folding over the corners of the sandpaper helped. Half of the deck strips are now sanded and they look great.

Henk pointed me to his site, www.henkvanluinen.com, where Klaas (Germt van Rijswijk, who has stopped building for health reasons) has put up a large knowledge base with photos.

Meanwhile, on with fairing the bulkheads. To my horror I saw that the foremost bulkhead hadn’t been pushed all the way down and was already stuck fast. Luckily I could still cut it loose with a thin Stanley knife blade and glue it again. Peter mentioned afterwards that a glued-in bulkhead can also be soaked loose with water.

At the sternpost, the next little thing. The bulkhead I first called 15 (in the numbering on the sheet, which starts at 2, it is 14) doesn’t come anywhere near the batten when I lay it along the other bulkheads. On the other side, where I haven’t filed anything yet, the same is going on.

The batten along the aftermost bulkheads: bulkhead 14 doesn't touch it

Peter advised comparing both sides with contour gauges (the laminate gauges from the DIY shop); I didn’t know those yet. Hans Groenenberg thought the solution simple: the batten has to be pressed against the bulkhead, that’s how the hull gets its shape. Piet remembered the same problem with bulkhead 15 on his own Diana: first fair the last bulkheads completely (not the square part above the sharp curve, only the lower parts) and only then measure. If you’re still short of material after that, you glue an extra strip on. He posted a photo of how far to fair.

The stern from below: there's a slight kink in the hull here

I’ve decided not to fill the gap. In Piet’s photos I can see that there is a slight kink in the hull, which I also get if I follow the bulkheads. Unfortunately one of the small bulkheads snapped off while filing; that’s now drying again. More tinkering next weekend.