Better late than never

I'm so far behind here!

For the sake of brevity I'm going to break up this update into two parts.  I'm also going to try to be a bit more concise.  There is of course a more in depth explanation of all these phases on our YouTube channel.  So......

Before we could get in to setting frames at full steam, I really needed to set a string line down the center of the boat.  This string would allow us to hang a plumb bob off of to help ensure the keel was straight and when the time came, the frames were centered.  However in order to set the string, the bow stem had to be in place.

Setting the bow stem was another job I had been dreading.  Like many of the other times I felt the same way, this apprehension was un-warranted. 

First up was installing the stem knee.  We laminated these pieces up from dimensional Douglas Fir months ago.  Installation involved securing them with epoxy.  Once that cured 3, 5/8" galvanized bolts were installed.  We used our drill guide again to keep the holes straight.

I estimated the bow stem weighed a couple hundred pounds.  Unfortunately it's placement location put it out of reach of the gantry crane.  The solution was to hang an eye bolt from the ridge beam and attach the chain fall to that.  I built a temporary support table and attached it to the keel to help support the bow stem as the epoxy set.

With the help of my father we used the chain fall to hoist the stem into the air and maneuver it into position.  We carefully centered it on the stem knee and then used our 6' level to ensure she was plumb.  Things could not have gone better.  We used Totalboat high performance epoxy and clamped the assembly in place.  Once that was cured we went back and installed 3, 5/8" galvanized bolts just like the transom knee.

A little work with the chainsaw along with a sanding disk and turbo plane attached to our angle grinder made quick work of shaping the bow stem assembly into a fair curve.

I was really pleased to see how well the rabbet line aligned with between the keel and the stem.  You make up all these pieces separately and hope they come together in the end.  Luckily they did!\

We then moved on to frame setting, but we'll get into that in our next post.  Like everything, there is a learning curve, but after setting a few, it's easy to get into a groove.

We had our boat name medallion made up.  Penfield trophies did a great job with their laser engraver.

We also came into some beautiful salvaged lumber from our neighbors remodel of their 1800's farm house.  I believe it's Hemlock, not a great boat wood, but it's old growth with beautiful tight growth rings.  Great for rustic furniture.

I need to make more of an effort to update this site regularly!  Stay tuned for how we installed our frames.