Building ‘Sharpy’ Part 55

Checking that the hole is at right angles

Notice the masking tape

Perseverance is the name of the game. I’m still bashing on with making the keel. I managed to drill another hole through the port keel weight. This time I took greater care to make the hole at right angles to the outer surfaces. Firstly I made the Black and Decker workbench absolutely level. Then I clamped the weight and keel onto the bench making sure they were level. As I drilled the second hole, I frequently checked that the bit was vertical. During the drilling process oil was splattering out of the hole; therefore I protected the wood with masking tape.


My next job was to scrape and sand the epoxy fillets in preparation for epoxying the fore and aft edges. Before I could apply the epoxy I had to protect the edges of the aluminium side pieces with masking tape. I’m glad I did, because when I came to brush the epoxy onto the wood, some of it went on the masking tape. I removed the tape two hours after applying the epoxy, before it had hardened. I had learnt never to leave masking tape until epoxy hardens, because getting it off becomes a difficult task.