Our system of supporting the ridge board worked much better than our last attempt. I built two support structures with" two by" stock and some scrap plywood to hold the ridge beam in place while we set in the arches. I notched one of ridge supports so the ridge could sit in the notch and stabilize it, preventing it from falling over as we attached the arches.
I set up my Ipad in time lapse mode to document our progress on Saturday.
My new favorite tool was a palm nailer. This little guy was a big help with the galvanized nails that attached the joist hangers at the ridge. You could certainly hammer them in but this makes the process so much easier. The nail is held in place with a magnet so you can drive them with one hand supporting the work piece and the other hand driving the nail in place. Best of all it was only $30, well worth it in my book.
The arches were then attached to each other with plywood collar ties attached with glue and crown staples. I kept the ties short and high as I need as much head room as possible to fit the boat.
We attached the purlins as we went to stiffen up the structure. It was quite windy and without the purlins the arches were just not stiff enough without the additional support. We used 2x4's a quarter of the way up from the sill and a quarter of the way down from the ridge. The 2x4's slid right through the gaps in the blocking and were then screwed to the arches. The purlins were butted together end to end as we progressed. I used plywood gussets attached with glue and crown staples on each side of the 2x4 to make them act as one continuous beam.
The ridge beam is made up of 10' sections of 2x6's. We attached them end to end with gussets as well. This method seemed to work very well and it is simple to do.
I modified from the plans a bit with the method of attaching the arches to the sill plate. I got the idea from another build I saw on the wooden boat forum. We simply used 2x4 blocking in between each arch. Once the arch was in place, snug to the blocking, we screwed the arch to the blocking. Cutting each block to 34 1/2" insured that each arch remained 36" on center. We then attached hurricane straps in accordance with the building plans. Half of the strap was screwed to each arch and then the other half was attached to the knee wall. She's not going anywhere!
Sunday was another busy day that saw us get the front wall framed up. I'm going to sheath both ends of the structure with T-111. I think this will hold up better against the significant wind I receive on this part of my property. The fact that it will add significant structural strength is a bonus. Prior to framing up the front wall we used a couple of temporary supports to insure that the structure was plum.
We framed the walls up using my framing nailer. In hindsight I should have used screws. I made the door opening 6' wide by 8' tall, but in the event I need a bigger opening in the future it's going to be a pain to take them apart. If I would have used screws it would have made it considerably easier. Live and learn, I plan to use screws on the back wall so if some giant piece of equipment needs to get in, it will just have to go through the back.
In planning for the eventual completion of the boat all the arches were attached with screws except at the ridge joist hangers. When the time comes I will be able to remove the screws from the arches that are attached to the sill and they will be able to be removed as one assembly. This will provide a wide open space for the crane to strap up the boat and lift it.
We hope to have the 20 remaining arches installed next weekend. I'm very pleased with the progress and how things look.
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