All,
After stitching together the hull, the bottom portions of bulkhead 1 & 2, and of floor 3, were significantly higher than the bilge panel despite properly aligning the hull, making sure the sides of the bulkheads were touching the middle panels, and tightening the stitches as much as possible. Picture: floor 3 and floor 4
While this is not evident in the official plans, the problem seemed to arise before, namely in Dave's So True (taken from his blog):
(http://pocketshipadventure.blogspot.com ... treet.html)
Dave's floor and bulkhead alignment was significantly worse than my own. Thankfully he had the solution, but since it's mentioned just as a side-note, I thought I'd post it here for future builders.
What you need to do is get a long piece of 2x4 or similar (I used 1x6 about a foot long) and use a car jack to push up on the bilge panel under floor 3. The panel is flat enough there so the jack won't slip sideways, and if you're careful you can push up the bilge panel (Actually, the whole boat lifts slightly). The panel and floor/bulkheads will now touch and tight stitches will hold them together.
An amazing difference after:
I was 99% sure I'd have to cut out new floor 3. Thanks Dave!
This doesn't work completely for bulkhead 1. There is still a 0.5in gap between bilge panel and the bulkhead. I've jacked directly under that spot, and frankly believe the wood under too much compression to bend any more. Epoxy to the rescue!