Cutting continued:... Use the side marked with coordinates as a template for the other and make them identical by clamping them together and fairing a little along the curved edge using a Stanley Surform or a rasp.
Before assembly, I stiffen the frames and transoms so that they can be relied upon to stay straight during building. I do this by gluing and attaching or clamping a 1by1in or similar piece of timber along one of the long edge – the top edge - of each of the frames.
The frames in the Minimouse are rectangular, so either long edge could be used - but whichever is used becomes the top edge, with the stiffening piece facing AWAY from what will be the cockpit. It will be used as part of the support for the fore and aft decks.
Finally, don't throw away the waste material yet – you're going to have a use for some of it in making the skeg.
Assembly and taping
I'm not going to say too much about the stitch and glue process here – folks do it in lots of different ways, and they all seem to work, and all the epoxy suppliers provide excellent manuals on the subject.
I will says that the classic method for assembling the parts of a stitch and glue boat together is to drill pairs of small holes at regular three or four inch intervals and to use cable ties bought from a hardware store to hold the whole thing together, but I've had good results from using duct tape or carpet tape applied to the 'outside' seams of the boat (it's worth dusting off the ply first!), perhaps aided here and there by a cable tie or two where needed.
Where used, each tie requires a pair of holes sited opposite each other. Typically they are drilled about a third of an inch from the edge of the ply on either side. Make sure the clasp of the tie is on the outside of the boat, where you will be able to remove it easily.
Epoxy work is well described in the manuals that the manufacturers supply – and I recommend you read them to make sure you are clear on mixing and applying the epoxy, working with glass tape or cloth, and for the health and safety information. Folks can become allergic to epoxy, and when it happens it's not much fun, so I wear gloves and a face mask.
I should mention that epoxy that hasn't yet set CAN be removed before it destroys a floor or an item of clothing, using either a cleaning fluid available from your epoxy supplier, acetone or, perhaps surpringly, plain old cheap vinegar bought from the corner shop. In truth, vinegar isn't the best of these three, but it is at least cheap and widely available.
Further, if an unsightly blob ends up on your work, it is possible to scrape it off neatly with a hot knife or similar. In the end, however, it's always best to take precautions and work carefully and cleanly, taking time over everything and preventing spills and messes from happening in the first place.
Once the epoxy is set, what's called an inwale needs to be added so that you have a way to attack the decks. This is a piece of timber – say a pine of say ½ in by 1-inch or 1 ¼-inch laid and glued into place along the straight upper edges of the boat's sheerline. This can be made in three sections each side, with further sections at the bows and stern. Once that's done, it should be possible to clamp and glue the decks in place.
The gunwales can then be added – they neatly cover the ply edges of the decks.
A Minimouse needs a skeg to be able to track well - that is, to make sure that when the little boat is paddled it continues go travel in a tolerably straight line between pulls.
It makes sense to fillet the skeg into place stitch and glue style - it takes only a few moments to make a skeg in the same way. The skeg can be made from a singly thickness of ply – and a bit of left-over wastewood from when you cut out the sides will do nicely, as it already follows the shape of the bottom.
The aim is to make a slim fin that fits the bottom and runs along the centre line. Remember it needs to be straight or the final boat could have an annoying tendency to bear off in one particular direction!
Finishing the boat
To finish the boat, you'll need to paint or varnish it – using mainly paint is good as ply is not pretty, at least in my eyes and varnish tends to require more maintenance. Attach the rotating hatches, add a painter to the bows and perhaps the stern (this is an essential feature for both safety and practical reasons), and buy a paddle and a buoyancy aid or lifejacket.
Remember also that water can be dangerous so stay safe: the safest for a Minimouse is still water on a pond or somewhere very sheltered. Avoid currents and waves, and the wakes of speeding motorboats... But that won't prevent you from having a lot of fun, as the photos from the Faversham Minimouse launch clearly show!
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