Finally got the center support glued down

Last night, I finally got the center support for the rear thwart glued to the keel with thickened epoxy.

The delay was caused by a slight change in course in the way Im trying to straighten out the bend in the plywood seat. I had removed the seat & was prepared to epoxy four 15" reinforcing pieces to the bottom, hoping that would keep the seat "flat." However, the warp seemed minor enough that the only way to keep it flat this way would be to run full-width reinforcing strips. I cant do that, due to the center support.

So, the change in course was to clamp levels to the plywood, to keep it flat. THEN, after trimming the sides to fit, Id attach the side blocking. In theory, once the blocking is in place at that "level," it should force the seat to stay flat once its attached. Thats the theory, anyway.

Center support, finally glued down.

This is my effort to keep the plywood flat until the side blocking is attached.

I used the extraneous epoxy squeezed out from the seat support to fill in imperfections like this in the plywood.

The structural part of the thwart is basic A-C grade exterior plywood from Home Depot. A little tip-of-the-hat to William Jackson here...

Heres where I had marked the sides of the hull for measuring the seat support dimensions.

Im still undecided on whether to install a drain tube, or to just use a bilge pump. If I do install a drain tube, this is where the hole will be drilled.

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The seat support turned out great

I was very pleased with how the center support for the seat went together. I wanted it to be 1/2" plywood, which I did not have on-hand. So, I cut two pieces from 1/4" marine-grade Douglas Fir plywood, with the intention of laminating them together.

Plywood parts, cut from the poster board template.

Plywood parts, cut from the poster board template.

Once I had all the parts cut, (two 1/4" plywood supports, and 4 pieces of 1" x 1" mahogany blocking), I glued them all together with thickened epoxy. The Raptor stapler I bought last year once again proved perfect for holding the plywood parts together while the epoxy cured.

The plastic Raptor staples were perfect for holding the plywood pieces together.

Seat support, prior to being sanded & planed.

After the epoxy cured overnight, I sanded the edges smooth, and snipped and sanded the Raptor staples. These staples sand away very easily, and virtually disappear. No need to pull them, and fill the holes... just leave them there.

Then I ran the top & bottom surfaces over a planer/jointer, and it was ready for the next step.

The sanded & planed seat support, sitting in its position on the keel.

The sanded & planed seat support, sitting in position n the keel.

From that point, it was time to cut the seat. According to measurements, the front edge of the seat needed to be 49" wide, and the back edge 47.5". The side edges needed to be cut at a 15° bevel to match the sides of the hull.

So, I drew and cut it from a piece of A-C exterior grade plywood I had on-hand. With a little minor fitting, it set into place just as well as Id hoped.

Seat cut from A-C exterior grade plywood.

Seat cut from A-C exterior grade plywood.

Without intending to, I cut the A-C plywood "ugly side up" (the C side). However, that wont really matter. My plan is to laminate a piece of the BS1088 Meranti plywood on top, so that the seats will match the transom and deck.

The next step, however, is still to fit the blocking on each side of the hull to support the seat at the ends.

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