You've got a good start there. 

I maintain that messing things up, then finding creative ways to fix your mistakes is the correct way to build a boat.  That's how I built both my boats so it must be right.

The spot that got both myself and Lazlo, was pulling the rear of the bottom panels together. lots of water, and patience. I found that by binding the panels with some cords for about a half hour, and then tightening the cords a bit, then wait a little longer, I was able to assemble my 2nd WD12 without any breakage. Good luck. JRC.   

Hello

I recently completed a Wood Duck Hybrid (with cedar strip deck) from a kit supplied by CLC's UK parrtners Fyne Boats 

I had a lot of trouble pulling both bow and stern planks into place.

As the previous contributor the bow was persuaded by wetting plus slow increase in pressure from a variety of clamps, bungee cords etc.

The stern was anopther story - in the end I threw away the thin plywood transom and substituted a  solid piece  of 25mm thick Mahogony which allowed me to use screws to pull the planks into place.

When glue was dry screws were removed and holes filled with  thickened resin - I had alreay decided to paint the outsaide of the hull so I was able to hide the evidence!

In my case part of problem I think was that mine was the  10 foot version so the planks hasd to be pulled to a smaller radius  than on the longer boats.

I have since wondered whether it might have been easier if the ends were pulled up tight BEFOREthe final tighteneing of the copper wires in the hull - might be worth a try.

Whatever you do I am sure you will succeed to produce a great boat

Nice build. I'm impressed with the quality of the stem piece. Mine was a whole lot rougher.

Looking forward to the launch pics,

Laszlo

Thanks, I'm also looking forward to taking the launch pics!

Can I ask you a question on filling? Did you fill the small gaps and dips with a wood flour mix in advance of the glassing, or did you just let the epoxy coating take care of filling over the imperfections?

cheers.

Jan

Jan,

Any holes and gaps larger than a stitch hole I filled. These were mostly along the fillets, so they were filled as part of the filleting process. The rest of them were where I'd built up the stem and stern pieces, plus where the wood had cracked while closing the stern.

I didn't really have any dips or dings, so no filling.

In general, you want the hull as smooth as possible before starting the fillet and tape process. Once that's done, give it enough time to cure to where it's no longer tacky but you can still dent it with a fingernail (the "green" stage) and use a scraper to remove the selvedge ridges from the tape. Now you'll have a glass-ready hull.

Have fun,

Laszlo

   Jan

Only addition I would make to Lazllo reply is regarding the filling mix.

For filling, especially if I want a varnished finish, I make a very stiff mix with 2:1 resin filled with woodflour  to the point where it won't  flow but has to be pushed into the gaps/holes etc.

Clean olff surplus before it cures using a gloved finger or a smooth metal implement - I use an old tea spoon

My boat wasn't launched - I donated it for charity and it raised a useful sum of money for Help The Heroes - young  soldiers badly wounded in Iraq andAfghnistan. Bought by local restruant owner who has it suspened from the ceiling as part of the nautical theme of his place

Derek Blay