I will not do that again

Cleaned up the scarf joint same as yesterday, scraping, sanding and planing. Then it was time to hang the plank and this is what I will not do again, not alone at least. Having a plank that is the same length as the boat makes it very difficult to handle alone, especially when covered with slippery epoxy.

The finished plank

I tried first to dry fit the plank but even without the epoxy lubricant I had some problems to get it in place. The only way I could do it was to attach one end roughly in place and then clamp the rest where it was supposed to be. Packing tape became my second hand....

I taped up the aft end ....

... then I could get a midship clamp at the right place and one at the stem. After this is should be easy to get the screws in.

So after figuring out how to get the plank in place it was time for glue. I have never had to mix so much glue, it took me three batches just to get glue on the edges of the plank, luckily it is quite cold so I had some time but still I built up quite some sweat before all the screws were in place.

Port side in place

The other side should be easier since the plank is in two pieces..... after yesterday.

I measured the plank and found I could cut back a little (most of it actually) on the scarfs and still have a long enough plank.

I put a small wedge of wood in the "scarf" gap so that the glue does not have to carry all the load.

Starboard second plank in place!

Butt block in place

So for the rest of the planks I will try to make the scarfs on the boat instead of the work bench to avoid having to juggle a full length plank. If I cannot get the scarfs to work I will just butt the planks (getting good at this....).

Time today: 3.5h