Gluing the Scarf Joint

Today I glued the scarf joints. I used MAS epoxy with Cab-O-Sil thickener as a glue. After 24 hours of curing I will know if these scarf joints are a success.

I have to admit I'm a little nervous. I'm hoping that the properties of thickened epoxy will compensate for my novice wood working skills. I really have no idea how perfect the scarf cuts need to be. Many worries. Is the epoxy mixed enough? Too little or too much Cab-O-Sil? Did the panels slide accidentally while weighting them? Did I glue everything to the floor? I'll find out tomorrow.

The first cut: a scarf.

I want to build a sailboat. I have almost no woodworking experience, no workshop, and no expert knowledge of sailing. This will be a challenge. After weeks of self debate and research, I settled on a design from CLC boats. Lets see how this goes...

The goal: The Jimmy Skiff

First step:

The plans call for two sheets each of 9mm and 6mm Okoume marine plywood. I could not find these locally so I ordered them online and it arrived today.  I need to join two 4'x8'  sheets to create one 4'x16' sheet. This is done by a scarf joint. Seemed easy enough. I was wrong. Creating my first scarf took me almost 4 hours because I had no idea how to make this cut. I tried everything. In the end I used a cheap power planer from HD to get the basic shape, then I used a low angle block plane to get closer,  finally an orbital sander to get it smooth. Home depot is going to make a lot of money off me.  At least now I have some tools. The second scarf cut took me only about 1/2 hour.