Skin layout & Installation

The skinning process begains with installing the side skins first. I rough cut the plywood about a inch wider than needed.

The bungee cords work great for holding the plywood in place to check the final cut.

The four outside stringers have to be shaved at an angle so the top and bottom skins will  butt to the sides skins correctly. I thought that it would be a good idea to predrill pilot holes for the nails in order not to split the outside stringers.

The nails that I'm using are #14 X 3/4" silicon coated bronze ring shank boat nails.

The outside stringers had a tendency to bow a little after I installed them. The scrap peice of wood is used to keep the stringers in alignment during the installation of the side skins. After the skin is installed the scrap wood will be removed.

The first saturation coat of epoxy resin has been applied. Just before installation of the side skins, another coat of epoxy resin will be applied. This will ensure complete protection of the skins and frame from water damage, and its makes it easy to get all the "hard to reach" spots on the frame.

After applying the second coat of epoxy resin to the side skins and frame, I installed the plywood to the structure.

The remaining skins are laying on the floor of my garage. Epoxy has been applied, waiting for it to dry.

Ditto!

More images of the  bottoms skins.

With the bottom skins temporarily in place, I wanted to verify the bevel that needed to be cut into the main stringers. The bottom side skins attach to the ribs and main stringers. After calculating the correct angle, I used scrap wood to test my figures. A couple of adjustments on the table saw, perfect fit!

The 20" main stringers are very flexible. Everyone that has seen my craft ask "did ya have to wet those boards to get them to bend like that ?"  nope,  the clear fir is easy to work with.

This is a side view of the fwd brace. I fitted it between the main stringers and attached the other end to the nose plate. This support will require a double bevel so that the skin will lay flat on it.  For those of you building this craft I would recommend installing this support.

This image shows one of the items that may have been left off the plans. I'm really not sure what you would call it, I call it the fwd brace. Again, this brace is not shown anywhere on the plans, however, on page 28 of the construction booklet there is a 19P with it installed.  Just thought I would mention it!

1/4" exterior grade plywood is used for the bottom side skins. Here the skins have been rough cut.

After the skins are rough cut, I clamped them to the craft, and sanded the skin edges to fit.

The bottom side skins are laying in opposite positions allowing the epoxy resin to dry.  After the epoxy cures, a second coat will be applied to the skins and frame work.

Yep, the mug  you see here is me! I'm applying epoxy resin to the edges of the bottom skins.

TADA! The bottom side skins installed!

In this image all the skin seams have been sealed with fiberglass tape. Epoxy resin has been applied over the entire bottom of the craft.

This is a close up view of  a fiberglass covered seam.

For some reason there isn't many images of the bottom skins being installed. I guess I was carried away with the construction  and simply forgot to shoot those pic's. The construction booklet states that you should install the plywood with the grain going fwd to aft of the craft for best strenght. In which I do not disagree with. The plenum chamber is wider than 48" on the 19P. So, to install the skin per the construction booklet, one would have to splice the plywood skin where it wouldn't reach a main stringer. This didn't set well with me, so I decided to span the skins from main stringer to main stringer. This would allow for less seams, and less chances for leaks because all the seams would be on sollid ribs.

A few more images after the top skins have been installed. I thought that I would roll the craft outside to get some better shots.  The last two images are after the first coat of epoxy has been applied. Also, you can see the fillet, and fiberglass tape on the seams.

Skin Installation Page 2

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