Framing, Faring, and Foul Ups.

              Hi folks, well it has been a long while since my last blog, and to the five of you all that read this I apologize for my lapse in diligence.  Now, apologies aside let me fill you in on all things boat related…

              The framing of the boat has been a bit of a bumpy road.  All of the ribs went on to the strong back jig just fine and at least they all seem to be spaced out within the about a 1/8 inch margin of error.  First mounting the keelson had a few hiccups, not the least of which was breaking a rib after it had been glued and bolted in place!  To make a long story short I ended up re making the rib, sawing out the broken bits and remounting it on the strong back and bolting it in place to the keelson.

Next came the chine log and sheer clamp.  Now, I thought these two elements would be fairly easy to mount, I was wrong.  Getting the grooves cut in the ribs just right turned out to be quite a challenge (and one I am sorry to say I did not conquer to my satisfaction).  I was left with some pretty large gaps between the longitudinal elements and the ribs which I ultimately packed with epoxy putty to provide a better connection.  The sheer clamp (longitudinal on the top rail of the boat when right side up) was easier to put on, but another problem I ran into with all the longitudinal sections surfaced, steaming.  I made a homemade steam tube with ventilation ducting, an old pot and a propane burner.  The problem came in connecting the tube with the pot, I used a steel braided flexi-tube I picked up at Home Depot.  To form the connections I cut a hole in the ventilation tubing and the pot lid and then placed a double ended copper pipe connector.  The whole system was not very efficient  which led me to help it along by pouring boiling water down one end to help increase the internal temp of the tube.  Another issue I had with the chine and the sheer were the scarf joints I used to connect the sections of wood.  Every time I put any pressure on the joints in order to bend the wood to the rib they failed and split.  I finally gave up trying to glue and screw them together and just put them on in separate sections and will use the plywood to bend them into shape and after the ply wood in fastened in place I will glue, screw and clamp them in place.  Ultimately, I got the longitudinal sections on, with quite a bit more to-do than I had anticipated, but I am more or less satisfied with the structural integrity of the frame.

Attaching the chine log

The Pot and Tube I used to get steam into the tube.

The whole steam tube contraption.

Framing completed, with the chine log and sheer clamp in place.

Another angle of the framing.

The sheer clamp, clamped in place.

Me, faring the boat with a door planer.

After framing is completed the instructions call for something called ‘faring’ the boat.  This basically means shaping all of the frame elements into a form that the plywood will lay flat on.  I started out doing this with a hand planner and a rasp, and then promptly ran out to Home Depot and rented a 3” electric door planer.  I would love to lie and say I did it all by hand, but I just can’t do that.  If you ever use a door planer like that there are two things you should keep in mind.  One, they are damned fun power tools, and two, be REALLY careful to not take off too much material.  Unfortunately I did not figure this out until I started faring my second frame.  It ended up being one of those things ‘well I took a bit too much here, so I will just take more off there,’ and so on until you are left with a toothpick sliver of wood.  Luckily I realized that and just let it be, the only problem now is that there are some small gaps between plywood and rib arm which I am fixing with creative use of window shims.  The other tool I rented which has made my life infinitely less stressful is a 4” hand operated belt sander.  This not so little tool has really helped me get a finer shape on the frame elements which will ultimately lead to a better fit of the plywood.  The faring now is more or less complete, aside from some fine finishing when I hang the rest of the plywood on the frame.

A fared and sanded joint.

This all leads me up to what I did today.  I got more sanding done with the belt sander and shaping out the frame elements.  I know it sounds like no big deal but it actually took me most of the day, not to mention I looked like 50 lb sack of flour exploded on my head afterward from all of the sawdust.  On the plus side the belt sander is probably about 12 pounds, so I got some great isometric workout for my arms as I lifted it up and down on the vertical frame elements for about 6 hours straight.  Complaining aside, I got a good bit of shaping done. 

Plywood that is attached to the aft, port side of the boat.

Shaping is one thing, but what I am most stoked about is what I did for the second part of today!  I hung my first plywood sections on the aft end of the boat.  I got two small sections on today before the light gave out on me.  They were only small sections because the bend of the boat is so severe in the back that I decided to cut the plywood in half and add it on in smaller sections in order to make it easier to bend to the frame.  I really feel like I turned a corner with starting to add the plywood, not only did it go on with relatively few snafu’s, but I really feel like I am getting a lot done and things are running more smoothly (knock on wood, pun intended).  My goal is to have the hull skinned in plywood and ready for fiberglass by early next week, and then ready for paint by that weekend.  I have to put myself on a more rigid time table now because I will be leaving in early April for my job as field biologist assistant in southeast Alaska, so I will definitely be doing more, posting more, and generally doing more in the very near future.  Thanks for reading! And as always, try not to cut your thumb off. 

Stern views of the first pieces of plywood to be hung on the boat.

Another view of the stern.