Third and fourth (sheer) strake

The third strake went on without much incident; it's shown in the first two pictures. However, on one side I had to fix the piece because the scarf joint broke; it was weak as well as ugly and it broke into two, forcing me to join it with a strip of plywood, more epoxy and nails. The combination butt and scarf joint is strong and will look none the worse, with the extra strip hidden inside the thwart compartment.

Then I had to do the very same thing with one of the sheer strakes. This butt joint will be more or less hidden under the side deck. Memo to self: next time (if there is one) buy or borrow a belt sander to taper the scarf joints, since a power plane is too imprecise and a hand plane and palm sander too slow.

Finally the sheer strakes went on (third and fourth photo). I also reinforced the sides of the CB trunk below the hull, making sure they are tapered at the leading and trailing edge to reduce drag. The hull of the boat is complete (although not fully filleted at the seams, sanded, epoxied, primed or painted). It's been a few intense weeks and my wife has been patient but not happy about my obsession. Talk to y'all again next year!

Garboard and second strake

The next step was to lay on the garboards (bottom pieces). After cutting off 6mm from the inner edge in the middle to accommodate the extra thickness of the centerboard trunk, and a little trimming, I test fitted them. Considering that my cuts were not particularly precise, the fit was decent. Since I am planning to fillet the seam between garboard and keel, the small gaps will be filled with epoxy compound anyway and the final product will be stronger for it. It's already starting to look like a boat, sort of.

Next came the test fitting of the second strake, and the beveling of the outer edge of the garboard. I ended up using a borrowed power planer. On this beveled edge I nailed and glued the second strake (third photo). The fit at the stem was not great, due to the problems with the height of the stem I mentioned earlier: it seems that the top of the stem moved back up about a centimeter as I was building the skeleton. I think that there is  enough strake overlap to correct the problem as I put the other two strakes on. I will need to plane the upper edges of each strake (they are not perfect) and fill the lap angle with epoxy compound for strength.

Cutting the hull pieces, building the skeleton

One set of four long pieces (garboard, two middle strakes and sheer strake) marked and cut, with an extra 17 mm added to the width for the laspstrake overlap. The scarf joints definitely need smoothing, and some need strengthening too. The second set was easier because the pieces can just be copied, avoiding the arduous process of measuring, marking the reference points given by the software, hammering nails into the points, bending a piece of wood to the nails and marking the cut line, for each of the eight long edges. I helps that the curves are long and smooth, because gross errors in measurement show up easily by spoiling the curve. It only happened twice out of dozens of points I marked.

Then I built the skeleton of the boat. I cut a piece of 4x6 cm board to the right length, which comprises a strongback stretching between the transom and the fore bulkhead. This was secured on top of three sawhorses, flanked by boards on either side. The mid bulkhead and the rowing thwart bulkhead were nailed and glued on either side of the CB trunk. The transom is nailed and glued to the back of the keel/skeg. The aft and mid bulkhead and the frame at the middle of the side benches are supported by the sawhorses. One frame that will support the benches has two halves that are joined with boards. The transom and fore bulkhead are temporarily screwed to the ends of the strongback. One temporary frame attached to the strongback completed the skeleton. All frames are notched for the keel and the garboard cleats. The seat and sheer cleat notches will be cut as the side pieces are put on.

The next step will be to nail and glue the garboard to the skeleton. I tried it on for fit and it seems all right, but I will need to cut 6 mm off the edge where it abuts the CB trunk, which is 12 mm thicker than the keel. I am hoping to have the hull completed but not epoxied, primed or painted before I go away. The rest, including flipping the boat right side up and putting in benches and decking, will have to wait until next year.

Backbone and frames

Well, the backbone is ready and it evokes the boat that will be. A small problem arose while I was joining the CB trunk to the the fore keel/stem: a measuring error meant that the tip of the stem is 20 mm lower than it should be. Given the strength of epoxy, taking the joint apart would destroy a lot of wood, so I could either do  a bodge and adjust things as I put on the sides, or rerun the design. I chose the latter, running the software with a small adjustment and coming up with new measurements for the long side pieces.  Fortunately I hadn't marked the pieces on the plywood, let alone cut them. By now I have transferred the dimensions and drawn the cut lines for two of the four pieces. Once all are cut it will be time to build the skeleton of the boat on a strongback, using the backbone and the frames. 

Speaking of frames, I have finished cutting them out of 12 mm and 8 mm plywood, as seen in the second photo. Only the fore and rear bulkheads and the transom are single pieces. The rest are attached to the CB trunk, or are parts of the seat framing, or in the case of the flimsiest pair, will be a temporary frame.

Nails and glue

Here you can see the forward part of the keel with integral stem and garboard cleats. I cut off part of the forward end of the cleats because the bevel angles get complicated; I will bevel and add this part later. You can see the great outdoors just beyond: the construction is taking place on our terrace under a roof overhang. The remnants of the Mediterranean hurricane have just blown by, with no ill effects on our island or the boat construction, despite several days of strong winds and rain.

The second photo shows the centerboard trunk walls. On the left is the outside, with garboard cleat and cleats for two bulkheads. The bulkheads will be topped with the rowing thwart, and the space filled with expanded polystyrene for buoyancy. On the right is the inside, with spacers. If you look closely you will see a space carved out for the sheave of the centerboard lifting mechanism. Once the two parts have two coats of epoxy on the inside they will be glued and nailed together and then attached the same way to the forward and aft keel pieces.

The last photo has the aft keel/skeg pieces (with garboard cleats) glued and nailed together. Note the part above the cleats in the rear: it will anchor the transom vertically and the aft bench horizontally, but will not be visible inside the buoyancy compartment.
 
If all goes well the entire centerline backbone of the boat will be nailed together tomorrow.