Bob Emser Finishes Victoria's Knee, Transom, and Bulkheads

We are back in the shop with Bob Emser from The Art of Boat Building as he continues the 9’ tender build, Victoria, for her mother ship, Arabella.  In today’s video of the week, Bob works on the grown knee for the stern post and gets the transom finished with Lust Varnish and the bulkheads primed and painted!   

Bob is redesigning a William Atkins sailing dinghy in a collaboration with fellow YouTuber, Steve Denette, of channel Acorn to Arabella . As you know, Acorn to Arabella is a 38' wooden sailboat building project taking place in Granby, Massachusetts from the ground up.  Bob is documenting the entire build in the 3rd season of his boat building YouTube channel.  In this week's episode, we get to see the reuse of a 100 year old grown knee for the sternpost, along with the assembly, finishing and installation of the bulkheads and transom.  All of the bulkheads and transom have been faired and the sheer strakes for the port and starboard sides have been offered up to the boat.  

It’s so sentimental to see Bob reuse one of the knees from Steve Denette’s first wooden boat, Victoria, which this dinghy build is named after.  Bob re-saws and glues the knee to get it to the correct size for the stern post.  He then finishes it with Lust Marine Varnish.  Next, he begins to put the finish on the bulkheads and transom.  After filling some holes with thickened epoxy, he rolls on a coat of epoxy to the transom and uses a layer of peel ply before applying the varnish.   After he finishes the transom and bulkhead, Bob mixes up some TotalProtect Epoxy Primer for the daggerboard sides and center seat bulkheads.  He then goes in with some TotalBilge Epoxy Paint to coat the inside of the daggerboard trunk.  Now that all the parts are ready, Bob gets them assembled and put into place.  

Be sure to subscribe to Bob’s channel to follow along with this special build!  Hope you enjoy this video from a true artisan who truly understands the “art” of boat building.  Thanks for watching!