Keel progress

I made a start on the keel last weekend. I used Iroko to make the core. I decided to follow the method on the Gougeon articles, the reason being that it provided instructions to the level of precision required by a novice boat builder like me. I first ripped the planks as seen on this pic:

I did not rip them all according to the maximum thickness of the keel for two reasons. First, I wanted to save some wood as I didn't have enough. Second, I thought it would save time planing it into shape. The problem is that these differences in thickness make it even more difficult to align the rips properly when gluing them together:

The leading and trailing edges are missing. The article suggests splitting them and gluing them back together with glass tape in between so as to have a guide as to where the centreline lies. This sounded very handy at first, but now I know that due the fact that the wood skews as soon as it is ripped and that I am unable to rip it perfectly straight or glue the rips in absolute alignment, this tip will probably mislead rather than help.

So when I move on to the rudder (or if I redo the keel), I will rip all pieces to same size and may also rip each one in two and glue them back to back. Also, in order to align them better, I will not glue them all in one go.

By the way, the company I work for has some very useful materials. For gluing I have used EPOXY RESIN-21-T. This is thickened epoxy resin, good also for filleting I suppose. It is 100% solids, so no sagging!