Fairing continues - Week 6

Fairing continues on the frames, cheeks, and transom as week six picks up right where we left off at the end of week five. The process of fairing has proven to be a great deal more time consuming than I think any one of us anticipated. This is perhaps not surprising since we're all fledgling boatbuilders, and therefore apprehensive about going too fast and making unnecessary mistakes. Part of learning a craft is finding that delicate balance between caution and speed. Right now, we tend towards caution, but speed (at least efficiency) is always at the back of our minds.

We pick up this week with Tim fairing the starboard side cheek pieces at the stem.



When we made these cheek pieces we left them quite proud, so here at the stem where the planks are coming in at a much greater angle there's a lot of material to remove. By using a batten the same thickness as the final planking (in our case 3/4") you're able to gauge the angle of the cheek piece more accurately than with a thinner, more flexible batten. In the picture below you can see that there is still more than a 1/4" to remove at the outside edge of the cheek.



Here Tim uses a rabbet plane to shape the cheek. As the name suggests, a rabbet plane is designed to carve a rabbet, so the iron (or blade) extends the full width of the plane. This means that the plane is perfect for creating the 90 degree corner we want where our planks intersect with the stem and keel.



When the batten sticks in the rabbet, you know you're getting close.



Fairing continues on the frames as well. We've got the starboard side pretty well faired, so we've moved on to the port side.



Just like we did on the other side, we're stringing battens between the frames every few inches and beveling those spots. Once we've gone over the whole frame, we'll fair between these spots.



To hold the battens in place, we're using a simple but effective method. Since we're checking the angles on the frames frequently, these plywood pieces are great. They hold the batten securely and they're so much quicker than clamping the batten in place each time.



Just like we did on the stem, we use a batten the same thickness as our planking for the final fairing. In the photo below, you can see the thicker batten on the right being use to fair the stem, while on the left a thinner batten is used for the initial fairing of the frames and stem.



Moving aft, we finish by fairing in the transom.



The angle looks pretty good. Just a little more material to remove to get to the final line we picked up off the lofting floor.



With the frames mostly complete over on the starboard side, we're fairing in the cheek pieces over the length of the keel.



Here Jonas demonstrates how the planks will lie against the frame and cheek.



Using the planking sample (or fid) we bevel the cheek at each of the frames, then fair between them.



Looks pretty fair from here. You can almost see that garboard plank already.



In between fairing, we also started making up our transom logs. A transom log is fastened along the inside edge of the transom to give the planks something to fastened into.



Looking from the outside, you get a better idea of why the logs are necessary. At the turn of the bilge (where the clamp is in the picture) any fastening into the transom would go directly into the end grain of the wood. End grain doesn't hold fasteners well, so we use a transom log. Along the rest of the transom the fasteners can go directly into the transom itself, since it is plenty thick and end grain isn't an issue.



It was a long week of fairing but I think the end is finally in sight. It's a good thing too, since we just passed the halfway mark in the quarter.