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Bending half round or half oval is tricky. Hollow is even trickier. It wants to kink. I bend my pieces over a mold before drilling holes. This helps a lot!! I bet a 3/4" flat stock would work well too. Just file the exposed corners a little after installing. https://www.mcmaster.com/bronze/easy-to-machine-architectural-385-brass-bars/

I have set the rope in thickened epoxy with a few small wire brad or tack thru the rope on the edge to temporarily hold it in place. Dry fit the length of the rope before starting the job of course. While wet just cover the rope with more thickened epoxy and then work a layer of biaxal glass covered by a layer of finish cloth or a couple or three layers of finish cloth tape over the edge and shape the round using the uncured thickened epoxy and glass. With the glass overlaying onto the board, you will not have a problem with the edge, or moisture in the end grain even if you rub the glass over sandy or oyster bottoms. Just keep tabs on the edge from time to time. If you use a good primer over the glass work that will be hidden like Interprotect 2000, this further creates a bullet proof arrangement.

I wont argue that, except I had a terrible time with my lightweight brass keel strip buckling as applied so wish I'd put something heavier on.

I saw this in your facebook post on the cat ketch group this morning, and it sent me googling about this organization. How awesome!

Good point about the contrasting colors inside/outside. I have the reverse issue on mine. The light teal interior of the aft section mars the white exterior of the fore.

I bet it does work, but I still wouldn't do it. A SS, Brass or Bronze chafe strip is even more durable and easy to replace waaaaaaaaay down the road when needed.

When considering paint type and color schemes, you might want to keep my experience in mind. I painted the exterior a dark blue, and the interior a light gray. I used Interlux Brightsides, a one-part polyurethane. When I have nested the two parts, the dark wiped of onto the light paint. There are also places on the rear seat tanks where the light gray has worn through to primer. Here are my lessons learned: 1. Use only two-part polyurethane for this application. The boat takes a beating when nested and while nesting. Use the hard stuff! 2. Always place old terrycloth towels between the two nested parts. 3. When building the aft seat tanks, make doubly sure that there is at least 3/4” clearance between them and the forward half of the nested hull (after the installation of the keel strip). 4. Consider a lighter exterior color. (Never use a dark color for the interior, as it makes the surfaces very hot, when exposed to the sunlight.)

I dont see how it matters, before or after in regards to wear and repair. What ever you wear away does not expose wood, and you can fill it back in after the damage. Wraping glass around a nice round leading edge would be a lot easier to get fair. I would do the glass after.

thanks for the replies - seems to make more sense to me to put rope on top of the fiberglass ,cuz it is sacrificial

Regarding fiberglass sheathing. I rarely use it on canoes, dinghies, small boats unless they will be dragged on the ground. It adds little strength over plywood, only some protection from "wear and tear". I did use it on my 15 ft. Old Codger cruising boat as it often gets pulled up on beaches. I usually do sheath bigger boats. My method is to use 6 oz. cloth on the sides and 10 oz. on the bottoms, both overlapping at the chines. I eliminate the strip of cloth taping there.

Awww, c'mon Thrillsbe, "Chick Ludwig’s and B&B’s paint jobs." HA! B&B's, yes, but you forgot your glasses when you looked at mine! YOU on the other hand do great paint jobs. You even sand and do multiple coats!

Way to go, Ted!

@Hirilonde— I hadn’t thought about that, because that’s not how I use her. But you are right, although as a tender, it would be less comfortable to row from the forward position.

This past May, I joined the Dinghy Cruising Association (United Kingdom — Roger Barnes, President.) Part of the membership includes a quarterly journal, available in print and digital. Also available through the association membership is access to their forum and digital access to over ten years of their journal. I’ve read through a few of the previous journals, but I received my first print copy last week. I think it is a high quality production in terms of writing, photography, amount of material, and things of interest to a small-sailboat enthusiast. And so, I am sitting here in my screen tent at 10:30 pm in a Minnesota State Park campsite, paging through for the first time my copy of the 100+ page journal… …when I spot a familiar looking Core Sound 15… familiar, because I built it last year. How fun to see this. I had already spotted my name among the 86 new members from around the world listed on pages 6 and 7… but seeing the Norma T pop out at me from page 73 of this delightful magazine was a real surprise. I hope the boat presents itself reasonably well here. It’s just a snapshot that I took while walking back from parking my car/trailer after launching it the first time this year. I had posted it on the DCA Facebook page… and my post was placed into their magazine. AND, it should be recognized that this forum is also “International.” My LINKS on this forum: Blog: “Building the Norma T” Blog: “Sailing the Norma T” Blog: “Building Joe” (Introduction) Blog: “Building Joe” (Continuation)

That is a big difference. And even as a tender, the space lost is tolerable.

Sounds like a fun, useful day.

Let’s talk TRASH! I mean the T.R.A.S.H., to use PiedTyper’s acronym. Today, I finally got to do some in-water testing. The results were interesting. First, I capsized her without T.R.A.S.H. She took on a lot of water. But the water level was about 2” below the top of the d/b trunk. That way, you can actually make progress with bailing. But it was a lot of water! Then, I installed the floatation. The first thing I noticed after capsizing her is that she immediately wanted to turn turtle! Good to know. I expected her to float stern-low, but that wasn’t the case. The weight of the sailing rig must create a downward pull on the hull. Whatever the reason, there was very little water in the forward compartment, and much less aft. I like it! I could tinker with adding some floatation in the after compartment, but I don’t think I will. My big butt takes up a lot of space just aft of the split, and my knees like poking aft occasionally. We’ll see about some temporary tanks… maybe. I left them in, when I went sailing afterward.

I took this video today, for the proponents of the precision philosophy. IMG_4217.MOV Also, if you notice that the end of my tiller looks a little rough around the edges, that’s because it is. I’d like to make up something about aerodynamics, but it is really because I shortened the tiller by about 6”. It kept hitting me in the shoulder, so I had to cut it off. It’s rough because we’re camping, and I only brought a hand saw and a knife.

Nice! FTR, those elastic hair stretchy bands they sell for girls to tie their hair up are better than rubber bands and work here. I also have a bunch on my spirits to tuck the reef line coil under.

I’ve been tempted a few times, especially after seeing Chick Ludwig’s and B&B’s paint jobs. But I’m too cheap.

Finally, the transom and motor well are ready for finishing: another coat or two of epoxy, then coats of primer and paint. Then, the boat goes to the marina for the installation of the controls. In May, I half-jokingly indicated that, to cover the back of the transom, I would piecemeal the scraps left from the large fiberglass roll that I got from my dad in 1968. (That roll has covered a couple boats and several canoes before “running out.”) When I started this little project last weekend (just before leaving for yet another vacation) I decided instead to use leftover tape that I had bought from B&B. I came back home this evening and epoxied the strips across the transom. (Note one of the seats in the floor that arrived while I was gone.) Sanding and a fill coat tomorrow… THEN, it’s off to another out of state camping trip with family. Here’s my son and family in a little paddleboat yesterday… he prefers his cedar-strip canoe and she prefers her stand-up paddle board. The little kid in the middle??? He just prefers to be between his mom and dad. And a NEWS FLASH… AND, a reason things aren’t quite exact in this build:

I put one like that on a Clint Chase Caravelle we built with some veterans at our volunteer boatworks. As an extension, it works swell, as they say. But it has a standard tiller clip on top to hold it in park that always snags the mainsheet. Now that I see yours, the clip is coming off and a rubber band is going on.

I’m making some tweaks to Two Bits’ rudder and tiller today, so I thought I’d take a moment and share my tiller/tiller extension connection with you. I got the idea from Geoff Kerr, the owner of Two Daughters Boatworks in Vermont. All he uses is a short piece of knotted cord. I saw this in a video about sailing his Ian Outred Caledonia Yawl. It is cheap and easy. (I’d like to say “like my women”, but I chose “sweet and uncomplicated”.) Somebody once told me “I need more precision than that.” I laugh about that every time I go sailing. If the knots are tight, there is no more slop than a stainless steel fitting, and it is totally silent. Make one using scraps, and I think I’ll win you over. Here it is, with the extension in park. I use a rubber band to stow it. Here it is, deployed.

Thanks for taking me along on your sail! Hope that new magnetic latch doesn’t foul up your compass readings. LOL

Regarding my T.R.A.S.H. system (love it), this is for experimentation only. If I were to build again (likely), and I had a good understanding of it’s effectiveness, I’d build it into the forward portion. I also plan to experiment with additional removable floatation for the stern, if necessary. But I’m limited there by my lazy sailing style.