Learning a Lesson...or Two

It has been almost two months since my last Blog update.  I haven't been ignoring it, I just feel like I haven't really accomplished anything substantial.  The first few steps of building my boat have gone very slow even though I work on it three or four nights a week. 

 

The first step is to somehow transfer the shapes for the frame pieces from the drawing to the wood.  At first I thought I could lay some white paper over the plans, and copy the lines.  Clearly that was a terrible idea.  Then I decided to buy some carbon transfer paper and put it under the plans and trace the lines directly on the wood.  I was able to trace out the Breast hook, the Stem, the Transom and the Transom Knee onto a sheet of ¾” exterior grade ply.    Each shape needs two lamination's, so I cut out two shapes of each with a jig-saw and screwed them together. 

Angle in my Oak

The rest of the frame pieces need to be made from something stronger than ¾” ply.  For these pieces I have decided to use White Oak.  It is very strong and relatively rot resistant.   I traced out the pattern for the first of three frames onto my Oak and made my first few cuts with the jig-saw.  Very quickly I realized that I would not be able to complete the frames in this manner.  Because the Oak is much stronger than the ply, it bends the weak blade.   The cuts in the frames need to be square as the Battens and the Keel run perpendicular to the frame.  Even a small angle can produce a large gap at the other end of the boat.  Back to the drawing board.

1/4" Ply Pieces

I still need the flexibility of a jig-saw in order to cut the shapes.   But I can't cut into hardwood.  This is a problem.  However, I came up with a pretty good solution.  I decided to re-trace all of the hardwood pieces onto a sheet of 1/4" ply.  The 1/4" ply  is very easy to cut with very little flex in the jig-saw blade.  I attached the ply pieces to the Oak and put it onto the router table.  I bought a 1" carbide flush-trim bit to act as a cutter that will follow the shape of the ply pattern.  I am very happy with the results, however, I have added a few hours of work per frame.  I have finished the Transom pieces, and part of the first frame.  I need to buy some more wood to finish the rest.  Hopefully I will be able to finish routing out the rest of the frames this week.  Then I can move on to building the form that the boat will rest upon while I assemble it.

Transom - 3/4 ply framed with Oak