Trimming the sheers

It's a pivotal moment when you get the boat hull flipped over. All at once, you can visualize the completed boat; picture yourself and your family in it, riding across the lake or cruising upriver... It all just seems so close.

The reality, though, is that there is still much work to do. Much.

For me, the wondrous gazing at my righted Utility hull quickly gave way to recognizing the abundance of tasks yet to be done. They're so plentiful, I could really just start anywhere. 

So, I started on the sheers.

Out came the planer, quickly knocking down the mounds of cured epoxy, and cutting into the laminations of the sheer to level them somewhat. While a hand planer can be effective on the edges of plywood, you have to be very careful, because you can quickly cause unexpected damage. The planer is fine for roughing through the excess material, but the sander is much safer from that point on.

I found that the vertical joints in the plywood, such as where the sides meet at the bow or at the transom, were particularly susceptible to unwanted damage from the planer. Fortunately, no harm was done that wasn't going to get cut away, anyway.

It's like fairing, all over again. But this time, there's a boat to look at.

The untrimmed sheer at the transom shows just how much work there is to do. This is the starboard side.

The untrimmed sheer at the transom shows just how much work there is to do. This is the starboard side.

On the port side of the transom, things are looking much better.

Mounds of cured epoxy on the untrimmed starboard sheer.

Up forward, the sheer will have to be faired to the crown of the forward frame so that the deck will fit properly. Here, you can see that the laminated sheer has been planed just a little.

The big glob of epoxy needs to be cleaned off of the starboard sheer, where it meets frame #1.

Looking better on the port side.

Here, I've trimmed off the screw heads, where they were driven through the backing block of the port-side butt joint in the planking. They still need to be sanded flush.

The screws are still untouched on the starboard side.