Day 187

There they are all lined up like sailors on deck! Each piece of square tubing is exactly 2" on the out side edge and varying lengths on the inside as the angle they come in at steepens towards the bow. My little protractor was never so happy measuring all those angles!

The top of each piece is 90 degrees because the 1.5" x 3" x 1/8" square tubing must stay inline with the hull shape. ( I think it might have looked goofy going straight up )
If you look closely at the above photo, you can see how each is nicked out to allow for the hull to deck weld.

These welds were smoothed off and rounded to keep the strength of the join.

Each square was welded on to the tubing equally spaced with a guess-timation of lining up with the frames under the deck. Total alignment would be impossible around such a curve due to the curve itself. The welds were then smoothed nicely ( way easier to do while upside down! ) Ready for placement, the bulkwark looks pretty good! (photo right)

Down below Gena let loose with the coal tarring of the whole front of the boat, including the bow area to well above the water line. Besides being a good seal, we believe this will reduce some condensation in exposed areas.

It looks pretty cool huh? Gena used 5 gallons of coal tar at about $40 per, including hardener. If this stuff had been around 25 years ago, most steels boats still afloat today wouldn't be needing their interior redone ( Right Scotty? )

;)

We're still not sure how we are going to go about bending and twisting this monster into place but we'll find out tomorrow!