One of the traditional milestones in boat building is having setup complete. That’s when the backbone components can be assembled on the strongback or building jig. It’s the point where basic structural work is done and planking begins.
Almost there … almost because this step needs some epoxy work and the shop is a bit too cool for that now. Maybe there will be a warmer day soon.
A sense of scale can be gained from noticing the try square resting below the first bulkhead. It’s easy to visualize the planking. Note the three flat facets on the bulkheads and the mid frame, and the three lines on the stems.
Those warped bulkheads have now been wrestled into flatness. After the legs were attached and then screwed to the strongback, they were still wapred. Using 4 clamps per station to force the edges into the proper alignment, I pilot drilled and screw attached the bottom. That straightened out the warping. It’s holding now. We’ll see how long that lasts.
Is there going to be a knee at the bottom of the stem? Nice strongback. Chamfered feet and everything
Hi Mitchell,
No knees. The stems and the bottom form the backbone. Knees are needed when the arc of the stem curve is longer than can be gotten from a single piece of wood. That’s not the case with this boat. It’s more like a dory (shallow stem curve, less than 40 degrees, and a flat bottom) than a Whitehall (about 80 degrees of stem arc connected to a thin keel piece).