First Plank Glued Down!

I glued down the first plank tonight!

There really wasn't a whole lot of work left to do after lining up the molds. You'll see the pics are very similar. I did take the time to cut out a 3" strip of scrap plywood to see how the garboard plank would land on the stem. I planed it down just a little bit more. I also sanded down the transom bevel to get a little bit of curve out of my planing. I also did my best to make sure the stem was in line with the molds. The only problem there was making sure it wasn't twisted in the middle. I think (hope) it's all lined up.

One down. Ten to go!

 

Look, Mom. No Clamps!

“Look, mom. No clamps!”

I took an hour after church tonight to go downstairs and screwed the molds to the strong back. 

But the real reason for posting so quickly… frankly, I’m just about speechless. No, make that ecstatic!

After screwing them all down with 3” #14 screws, I turned the lights out. Why did I do that? I turned my phone light on and propped it up against that 1/4” hole I drilled in the first mold. Guess what? It shined all the way through the 1/4” holes I drilled through the other molds!!!! In other words, those molds are lined up nearly perfectly!!! Now I didn’t say perfectly, but they’re pretty darned tootin’ close! Man, that makes me feel good. Yoo-hoo!

What Job Takes 5 Hours?

It was time: time for the dreaded job, setting up the molds for good.

I've been building things for forty years. In all those years, no matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to get things square, level and plumb. Duh! But I manage to get the job done somehow.

With this boat, having the strongback, square and level is crucial. Setting up the molds square and plumb is crucial. If you don't get it at least close to right, you're going to have a bunch of problems.

I labored the other day to get the strongback right. Today I started with double checking the measurements on the molds. I found a few areas that could be fined tuned and one measurement that was almost 1/2" off! Fortunately, I was able to fix it. 

Next, I measured for the placement of the molds, double checking to see which side of the mold the 2x's went on. Lining them up was the challenge. I cut a 1/4" hole in each of them in the center and 3 & 1/4" up from the bottom. I then ran a string through the hole to see if they were lining up. It was close but I couldn't get it just right. I abandoned that method.

I decided to line things up with the keel plank. I had a line drawn down the middle of the plank and I had a mark in the center of each mold. I tacked the plank to the first mold and transom. Then I carefully adjusted the molds to hit on that center line. I was concerned about the midship frame. It's not made like the rest and I had not marked the center. I got it close and then measured to the "break" where the garboard plank is to go. With some fiddling, I got it to where I was satisfied. I'll probably look at it one more time before gluing anything.

Laterally they look lined up. Vertically, not so sure. When I had the string running through the molds, it seemed #6 was 1/4" too low. I don't see how it could be, so I'm trusting my strongback and dimensions on the mold. I may tack a couple battens on it where a couple planks go to see how it looks.

The keel plank is temporarily in place. I've still got to attached the stem and bevel the landing on the transom before glueup. Here is the set up as of now.

Looks good from this angle. I'm still worried that this boat is not going to be "fair". I did notice that there seems to be a "hard" spot where the scarf it. We'll see how it all turns out. One thing is for sure: I'll be spiling the planks!

 

Cut Out First Plank

Tonight I cut out my first plank, the keel plank. The big thing here is that I wanted to be able to use my Rotozip with the aid of battens. It seemed to work pretty well. 

I may buy some styrofoam insulation to put under the sheets next time. That will give the ply a solid base and yet allow the bit to cut through easily. I'll spend a few dollars but the time saved will be huge. 

I plan to spile the rest of my planks. I don't trust that my set up will be close enough to use Clint's dimensions. 

 

Staves and Stem

I got in a couple hours this evening. I made 2 staves which I plan to use to cut my planks and hopefully also use them to glue-up my planks. We'll see if they work. They are 3/4" x 7/16" x 17'. 

I will cut out the keel plank first so that I can use it to secure my molds. 

I also finally decided to try and do the rough beveling of the inner stem. I tried to use the band saw but, like I feared, it was binding. So I went with the power planer. Got it close. Anyway, we're supposed to do final beveling when the planks are glued up. 

(Next day)

This evening I went down and unwrapped and sanded off the epoxy on my new staves. They are 17' long or so. I'll use them to mark my planks. I'm also hoping to use them as guides for my rotozip. Keeping my fingers crossed. That would work so good. 

I scarfed them with 12:1 joints that I cut freehanded with the bandsaw. They didn't need to be perfect. LOL

I'm wondering if the scarfs will create a slightly "hard" spot. If so, I'll just have to work with it.

 

A Quick Peek

I'm not quite ready to set up the molds, but I'm close. I just had to take a quick peek to see what it's going to look like. After about 4 & 1/2 hours of working on it today, here's where I'm at.

I need to do the preliminary bevel on the stem, cut the notch in that first mold for the stem and do some careful alignment before I fasten the molds down. This is where some precision comes in. I hope I've been careful enough. Honestly, I'm quite nervous about the fit of all the parts.

I do plan to ask Clint a question about the last mold at the stern. I don't see why I can't use the bulkhead. It's position is almost exactly that of the 6th mold. He is on vacation so it will have to wait. I'll find plenty to work on til then. 

 

Time to Plank!

I finished the scarfing today. Six sheets of 4x8 plywood ripped to twelve 2x8's and scarfed end to end.  The scarfs aren't perfect (hmm, hmm, clear throat) but they'll do. I'm painting so they'll work. Once I cut the planks, I may have to do a little filling of the scarfs, but I'll put the better side to the outside of the hull. Here are a couple more scarfs.

I spent a few minutes realigning the strongback. When I first set it up, I failed to center it in my workspace. It's going to be a little tight any way, so I decided to get it in the middle of the 10' space. I'm also double checking to make sure it's level.

Side to side I can use the level. End to end I wanted something a little more reliable so I used the tube "trick" again. Those last 2 pics are of each end of the tube. You'll notice the water level in the tube. It is right at the top of the strongback on both ends. Water seeks its own level. Right on! 

Did you notice the scarfed plywood and molds in the pic? Yep, that's the next step.