Last week we fastened the starboard side engine bed, now this week we'll do the same with the port side. Here Jonas is drilling for the bolts that will fasten the engine bed to the auxiliary floor timbers.
And here we see the engine beds installed.
They turned out really nice. And everything looks like it lines up.
Fairing continues over on the port side.
Tim is finishing up the aft end.
And putting the finishing touches on the transom.
While Jonas works up forward.
In addition to finishing the forefoot fairing (say that three times fast), Jonas is also transferring the plank lines to the port side of the stem. Doing this is a lot more straight forward that you might think. Simply hold a pencil on the existing plank line on the starboard side, then using another pencil, line it up on the port side and make your mark.
It seems too easy to actually work, but it really does. And it's surprisingly accurate. This is a great example of when trusting your eye can yield amazing results.
And then there's that garboard plank we steamed at the end of last week. We left it clamped in position over the weekend so that it would hold it's shape. You can see in the following picture that when the clamps came off on Monday it sprung back a little, but kept the shape pretty well.
With the plank steamed into shape, we can start doing the final fitting. It can be hard to see how the plank is fitting down at the bottom of the rabbet, so it helps if you have a flashlight handy.
After a bit of fitting and a bit of checking, and a bit more fitting, it's starting to look good. Just like when we were making the pattern, the trickiest section to fit is at the forefoot. Even though we steamed the plank into shape, you still need a lot of clamps to hold the plank in position when you're checking the fit.
As the plank runs aft it lays into position a lot easier and the fitting goes quicker.
Once we're satisfied with the fit we're getting, it's time to put on the caulking bevel. The caulking bevel is put onto the edge of the plank to allow room for the caulking (cotton in traditional boatbuilding like this) and seam compound. Typically the depth of the caulking bevel is 2/3 the thickness of the planking.
The width of the bevel has to be great enough to allow the caulking iron to drive in the cotton. If it's too tight caulking the seams will be difficult without damaging the plank. For our caulking bevel we settled on 3/32". 1/16" seemed too small and 1/8" too big. In the next picture you can see the caulking bevel drawn on the edge of the garboard. The caulking bevel is only put on one edge of each plank while the other edge is left square. This makes fitting the next plank easier.
With the caulking bevel drawn, we remove the material between the lines with a block plane, and we've got our finished caulking bevel.
The caulking bevel also allows you to see how the plank is fitting at the base of the rabbet. Since 2/3 of the planks edge is removed for the bevel, it's important that the remaining 1/3 makes good contact with the rabbet.
After a bit more fitting, our plank is almost ready to be installed.
Our caulking bevel is nice and consistent the whole length of the rabbet. This will make caulking the seam easier.
Now all that's missing are a few dozen fasteners to hold it in place.
First though there are a few things we need to finish up. Our plank is ready to go, but the rest of the boat still has a few loose ends.
The bolt holes on those floor timbers need to be plugged.
And while we're doing that, we're also taking the opportunity of rounding over the bottom edges of all the floor timbers. Once the planking goes on, this job gets a whole lot harder, so why not do it now while everything is accessible?
With all the details taken care off, we're ready to hang our first plank.
It all goes great as we start clamping the plank into position, but...
Alas our red cedar cries mercy. As disappointing as this is, it's a reality of wooden boatbuiding. When you bend wood, sometimes it breaks. And when you're in boatbuilding school even a disappointment is an opportunity for learning.
Our plank may have cracked, but all is not lost. On the advice of our instructors, we've decided to try to salvage this plank by repairing the crack. Since the crack doesn't extend very far, a little epoxy and a bit of carbon fiber backing may be all that it needs to be as good as new. And even if the fix proves ineffective, and we have to cut out a new garboard, we'll still be able to salvage most of this red cedar for a later plank.
I'll end this week with our garboard wrapped and bandaged. We'll have to wait and see next week if our patient pulls through.
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