Stem, Keelson, Clamp, and Stringers

The following may seem a bit of a scramble, since I'm trying to catch up with the work that's been done--so bear with me.  When I'm all caught up I will hopefully sound less frantic. For anyone who is confused about all these boat building terms, you will be happy to hear that I am planning on making some additions to the blog, i.e. an anatomical drawing of a boat with all its parts labeled and defined, as well as some links to resources that might help you make sense of all this jargon. And, if i can find a good one, I hope to include a maritime dictionary. If you have questions, please feel free to post a comment. I'd also love to hear your feedback about the format, for example: should I define terms as I go, or make a list of definitions at the end of each post? I check for comments more than I care to admit (like 6 times a day...).  So, on with it then!

This is the stem and forward portion of the keelson.

To set the scene: We are now ready to start assembling the stem, keelson and the permanent longitudinal members of the boat (that sounds really fancy). In the last post, we had just plumbed the molds and placed them on their centerline. When that was finished, we glued up the stem and keelson (see photo above).  The stem is made of 6 pieces of 3/8" mahogany and the keelson is made of 3 pieces of 3/4". The stem was made of thinner material to accommodate the severe curve. The after portion of the keelson was made of thicker material because it only had a slight curve. (We did not face the boards during milling because they were to be bent around a mold). To get the mold lines for the stem and keelson we transfered the water-line lengths and station heights of the profile line on sheets of MDF, then fared a line between the points. (We didn't do this directly on the loft floor because it was being used for other things).  The photograph below illustrates this process.

This is a bird's eye view of the stem and keelson glue-up (as described in the proceeding paragraph). The dotted line represents the mold deduction line. The solid line is the profile line, taken from the lofting. This is basically a drawing of the first photo. Photo of the clamping blocks can be seen below. (Click on the picture for larger view.)

From this profile line we deducted 4 1/8" and drew a parallel line. This line is the mold line and from it, we put our clamping blocks along the curve. This initial glue-up is only 2 1/4"; the finished thickness will be added later on the boat with strip-planking and 4 layers of diagonal veneer.  From there, we notched the molds and bulkheads in preparation for the stem and keelson, which were then glued to the bulkheads.  

This is the aft portion of the keelson glue-up. 

Notice the clamping blocks to hold the glue-up in place.

After the keelson and stem were in, we located the stringers, notched them out in the molds and bulkheads, and glued them together on the boat.  From this point, all the permanent members were fared with the molds and we were on to the sheer clamp. 

We scarfed up the stock for the sheer clamp and notched out its location on the molds and bulkheads, then glued it together on the boat and glued it to the bulkheads.  The bottom edge of the sheer clamp (because the boat is upside down) is the location of the deck line. At this point, I'm not sure about deck beam layouts, but I do know that the deck will rest on the sheer clamp.  

We're really close to being caught up now. Once all the permanent members are fared we're ready for strip-planking. By the next post, I'll be in real-time again. We hope to have the strip-planking finished by Tuesday or Wedensday, so you can look forward to that.  Cheers.