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.

Early Stages

When I started this project, we were finishing the molds. Right away, I discovered an amazing way to lift body sections off of the loft floor.  Instead of using pick up sticks and bundle batons, rip a 3/4 x 3/4 inch piece of plastic and screw the baton onto the body plan at your particular station.  Then, place your mold stock on top and cut it with a router using a flush cutting bit.  This eliminates any distortion that may occur when moving pick up sticks from the loft floor to the stock--and its a hell of a lot faster. The only disadvantage of doing it this way is that all of your molds and bulkheads will be cut square. To deal with square corners, we fare them with 36 grit sand paper on a long board.  The two ends of the longboard will bear on the leading edge of the molds and the sandpaper will cut the bevel into the molds.  This boat is strip-planked with four layers of cedar veneer so we only needed to shape the transom, bulkheads, and stem. 

The boat with stringers, stem, keelson and clamp.

For this project, we have MDF molds (which are really nice because they don't warp), 1/2" plywood bulkheads (well, 2 are 3/4") and 1 1/2" plywood transom.  For heavy faring, we use a 4 1/2" grinder with 80 grit sandpaper. This method seems to be the ultimate time saver, as it can take days to complete when your block plane becomes dull every 20 minutes. 

A sidenote on scarfing plywood:

Two words: Power planer and 9" angle grinder. Don't waste your block plane iron on hellacious plywood. Finish the scarf off with the grinder. 

About this blog

My name is Joe Green and this is a blog about boatbuilding. 

Me.

Specifically, this blog is about my current projects; but I also hope to illustrate the difference between what is taught in school and what is practiced in the shop. The title of the blog was inspired by the "get it done" attitude of shop work, which seems, at times, to require "running with a router." The pace of a large, professional boat shop is distinctly different than that of the quaint operations in which I've been working. 

de Uitgeest

I was educated at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding in Port Hadlock, WA and apprenticed for 6 months in The Netherlands building 17th Century Dutch fishing boats (above photo). When I moved to Portland, OR, I worked  briefly as a carpenter before continuing my work as a boat builder.