Friday, October 26, 2018

Feels like the first chine...

As you probably guessed from my paraphrasing the well-known Foreigner song, the "very first chine" is attached.

This, of course, is only part of a multi-stage process, since I am laminating the chines. Although it means a little more work, I'm glad that I decided to build up the chines from thinner laminations. It has made bending and twisting the mahogany VERY manageable, with no need for heating, steaming, or soaking the wood.

I'm also very pleased with how well the scarf joint is withstanding the bend.

Okay. On to the pictures:


I trimmed and beveled the front of the chine by clamping it against the side of the stem; using the stem as a guide, I hand-cut the front of the chine repeatedly until it fit the way I wanted it to.

Once that was done, I drilled the holes and screwed the tip of the chine into place. 
Notice the blocking that I screwed to the side of the stem in oder to help with placement. VERY helpful.

I was not happy, however, with the screws being this exposed between the chine and the stem. To remedy this, I initially attempted building a chine block. However, the fitting was very awkward, so I came up with a simpler plan.

Here, the chine is screwed into position at each of the frame joints.
Due to the sharp curve and twist at Frame # 5-1/2, I only used one screw. I didn't want to weaken the wood unnecessarily by drilling more holes than needed. This screw helps maintain the rather severe twist that the wood has to make at this joint.

Another view of the Frame 5-1/2 joint. Here, you can better see the beveled cut that I had to make in the frame in order to accommodate the necessary curve of the chine.

The bend at Frame #4 was easier. The lap joint construction of the frames provides plenty of options for drilling & attachment.

Joint at Frame #2.

Joint at the transom.
Overhang at the transom, before I trimmed it.

Close-up of the trimmed chine. I decided to use the piece I cut off to help with the fitting at the stem.

Back to that stem joint: I clamped the scrap piece against the inner surface of chine at the forward end.

Then, using the existing bevel cut as a guide, I cut the scrap piece to match.
Once that was done, I drilled through the second piece, using the first as a guide. Then, I screwed the whole thing to the stem.

Much better!

Here, you can see the hole in the back of the stem, where I attempted to attach a chine block. 

I sanded through the primer & scuffed the underlying epoxy roughly. This is in preparation for epoxying the chine into position.
The first layer of the starboard chine, permanently attached with thickened epoxy and 1-3/4" #10 bronze screws.


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