Initial work on the Zip's port chine

When I finally made it back up to the lumber yard to buy some more mahogany, I was met with an unpleasant surprise. They were out.

That is, except for two pieces that were sitting in the office. 

I agreed to take a look at them, just in case they might be long enough — although I seriously doubted it. I wasn't wrong, either. Each piece was just over four feet long. That's not much help when you need 16 feet to build a chine log.

However, the longer I looked at them (hoping this would mystically turn them into something they weren't), it occurred to me that each board was just over 6 inches wide, and slightly more than 1-3/4 inches thick.

Hmmm. "I could cut each of those into three 2" wide boards, then rip the 2" boards into two or maybe even three 1/2" thick strips. Scarf all that together, and I'd have enough wood to make both chine laminations," I thought to myself.

Long story short, that's exactly what I did.

Here's a photo of the first 1/2" thick strips, scarfed together to form a 16' 9" board.

Here, the board is clamped loosely to the frames as I begin fitting the chine to the boat.

Fitting the chine to the transom and Frame #2 was simply a matter of cleaning the notches up a little bit. Frame #4, where the chine begins to turn and twist, required a little more work. 

First, I measured the angle of the chine relative to the frame on the starboard side. It was exactly 10 degrees from perpendicular.

So, I adjusted my angle finder for the opposite side of the boat, and drew the cut line for the notch.

Initial cut:

Then, I clamped a guide in place and cut it the rest of the way.

The resulting cut wasn't perfect, but it's a good start. I'll adjust the notch at Frame #4 as I make similar cuts and adjustments at Frame #5-1/2.