ECDuck - The Build Continues 4
By Scott Widmier
Hi Shorty,
As always, things slow down a bit once you get the boat 3D and have to mess with all of the fiddelybits. The hull and deck are all glassed and an additional coat of thickened epoxy put on for later sanding. I know from experience that I need to wait at least a week before sanding if I don't want the epoxy gumming up the sandpaper.
Meanwhile, I have glued up the leeboards butcher block fashion out of wood I had around the shop. The alternating types of wood has more to do with available scraps than looking pretty but they should finish out nicely. I also built the mast step which is more demanding than traditional due to the collar design on the rotating mast. A pin in the bottom of the step holds the bottom of the mast while the ball bearing collar locks into the upper mast step requiring three unique layers of wood nestled together. I added a water deflector angling back from the mast step that will help divert splashes. I should be able to launch the boat in the beginning of December for sea trials on my local lake. I plan on a trip down to the coast sometime during Christmas break to test her on coastal waters.
I am going back and forth on the design for the cockpit/cabin cover. My drawings show a sliding raised hatch but I find myself thinking again about a cloth dodger. I also climbed into the duck, much to my wife's amusement, to try out the fit and decided I may need a bit more headroom than an 8" tall cabin cover will give me. However, I do worry about the impact of windage on the boat so will seek to minimize the size of whatever I build.
The hardtop has the merit of simplicity and ruggedness. It will be easier for me to build than a cloth dodger and I already have all of the material. The dodger has the advantage of being able to fold up to reduce windage when not needed. I have most of the parts I need to build one with the exception of the cloth. This would be my third dodger to build.
I am attaching some recent build pictures.
Scott