Michael's Boatbuilding Blog: Keel, End-to-End

There are two main reasons why I chose to build a laminated keel.

The primary reason has to do with the upward bend that the keel makes at the forward end. A 1-inch thick mahogany board does not bend as easily as a board half that thickness. Not only that, but only the front part of the keel must bend... the rest of it has to remain perfectly flat.

Several Glen L. Witt designs use this technique. A common problem encountered by builders of Glen-L boats such as the Squirt and the Zip is that bending the forward end of the keel produces a bow in the aft section, where it is supposed to be flat.

My thinking was that, by having the aft section laminated to its full thickness of 1 inch, and leaving the forward section un-laminated at 5/8", the forward end would bend easily without disrupting the flatness of the aft end.

Simply put, it worked, and I'm glad I did it this way.

The other reason is that, by laminating, I could make a 14-foot keel out of shorter boards. While my execution of all this wasn't perfect, it does work.

So, on to the photos:

3-1/2" carriage bolts through 5/8" section of keel and the stem.

Holes drilled, test-fitting the transom knee.

I drilled the holes through the keel and transom by first clamping the transom knee into position firmly, then using the pre-drilled holes in the knee to drill from the inside of the knee outward. To do this, I used a 12" long, 1/4" diameter drill bit.

Transom knee temporarily bolted into position with 5" bronze carriage bolts.

Adding the final lamination to the keel. Note the forward holes to accommodate the carriage bolt heads that were already in place. The lamination was done with thickened epoxy and clamps only. No screws.