There is 152 planks to be shaped and glued into place to form the round bilge on our Didi 40 Cr. After reality sank in I set a target of eight planks a day thinking that I might better it on a good day. Well by that measure there are few good days. As hard as I try one plank an hour seems to be my production rate. On the first layer a lot of time was spent fairing stringers progressively so I thought the second layer might go a bit quicker. That has not proven to be the case because there is still a lot of preparation work. I have to tidy up the 6 mm rebate where the top layer of plywood overlaps the join with the 12 mm plywood and do some fairing of the first layer.
After some experimentation I have settled for 18 mm 8 gauge metal threads to hold the two layers together while the glue cures. Smaller screws provided enough holding pressure but the larger screws have a larger diameter head which gives more driving power with the battery operated driver and it is easier to clear any glue from the slotted head.
Today I worked ten hours on the hull and managed ten planks for the regulation one per hour but it is hard to find days where the conditions are right for one to work such hours. It cannot be too hot or be wet and I must have all the materials needed and make no mistakes.
With a large part of the hull now planked with the two layers of 6 mm plywood I have tried my hand at fairing the radius chine with the torture board. What tiny bit I have done looks good but there are a lot of screws to remove and a lot of hull that will need the treatment.
Progress on the second 6 mm plywood layer on the radius chine of our Didi 40 Cr
In the photo you can see how much of the second layer is completed. Since I took this photo on Saturday afternoon I have added another 16 planks and at a rough guess the radius chine section is 70% complete.