Kit Ordered, Starting on Spars, Centerboard Trunk

I ordered the kit for the CLC PocketShip in early October, 2013. Click here to see the boat and learn more about it if you wish.  After learning that it would not arrive until late November, I decided to get started on the spars, since they are not part of the kit.  The spars include the mast, boom, bowsprit (long beam that juts out from the bow), and yard (gaff--beam that attaches to the mast and raises the peak of the sail higher than the mast).  I ordered some nice, clear pine and began laminating pieces together to create the spars.  Below is a shot of the boom and bowsprit being glued-up. All gluing is done with epoxy thickened with colloidal silica powder.

Some of the Spar Blanks Being Laminated

(My concern was trying to include everything in the photos, not getting them level.)

The mast is hollow and is made from four 16-foot staves (side pieces), and tapers as it goes up.  I don't have any pictures, but I do have the staves cut and two of them rabbeted to fit the other two.  This is a pretty complicated process, and I will probably have to re-build one of the staves.  I've done some shaping on the other spars, but they are all in storage now, because the kit has arrived.












Now that the kit has arrived, the first step is to build the centerboard trunk (a hollow, watertight box that contains the centerboard when it is up--when sailing, the centerboard is dropped down to help keep the boat from moving sideways).  It is critical to get everything just right because the trunk is integral to the keel and is part of the main structure.  If anything goes wrong it will be next to impossible to get at it for repairs.  So I'm taking my time.  Here's a shot of the two sides of the trunk after fiberglass and three coats of epoxy have been added to the inside surfaces:

Centerboard Trunk Halves with Final Graphite/Epoxy Coat

After reading some posts on the PocketShip forum, I decided to deviate a little from the manual.  I added graphite to the final epoxy coat.  That will make it super-hard and very slick for the centerboard to move up and down in it.  The centerboard will get the same treatment.