Frames glued and other progress

Never was so little work drug out so long. -Stephen Dyer, c.2009

Seriously, when I look at how long it takes to get even small tasks done on this boat it is really frustrating. But the key to finishing any project is perseverance, so I keep on pushing ahead. I finally finished (for real this time) gluing all the frame pieces. Frame 5 is at the front of the boat and attaches to the stem. If you look close you can see the shim I used to jam the stem to one side of the slot in the frame. The frames were glued to the backing first so a tight fit was not achieved. Hopefully what I have read about epoxy's gap filling ability is true.

Here is the deck beam that connects the upper edges of frame 5. This supports the deck in the forward area of the boat. It goes together with screws and a 1/4" carriage bolt, so it should be good forever.

I also fitted the frame 3 pieces to the sides of the centerboard trunk. These went on too easy, so I am sure there must be something wrong with them. They even came out square the first time. Something seems fishy...

Once I got frame 5 and the frame 3 pieces together it really is starting to look like it's going somewhere. The pieces aren't lined up yet but they do look like they are mostly symmetrical, a decent accomplishment.

It's time to start prepping for the keel, chines and sheer. My wife will be out of town for the next ten days so I need something to fill nap times while I watch the kids. Maybe I'll just put them to work too. I tried to match the bevel cut in the transom in my notch for the keel. I used a chisel for this job and I have to say that chisels are tough to use well. I really just freehanded this one and the results weren't the prettiest. The angle is a little excessive compared to the transome bevel. The notch is however the correct depth and I'll just fill in the rest with epoxy to make the keel fit right.

I figured there must be a better way to chisel out these notches, so I devised a little angle jig to help me out. I traced the angle from the tramsom to a piece of scrap 2x4 using a straight-edge. hten I cut the angle with my compound miter saw. Then I clamp the jig to the transom frame and square it up. Then I just let the back face of the chisel ride the face of the jig as I take off the material. I started out trying to set it up so I would nibble off small pieces at a time. The easiest way ended up being to freehand the begining, being careful not to gouge too deep or at too extreme an angle. Then finish up with the jig as your guide.
This one is a compound bevel at the corner where the chine will end. This illustrates how close to exact I can get with this jig. In reality I think that a person with better chiseling skills and more time/patience could get it really exact. The change in grain direction made it extremely difficult to cut this angle. One side went easy and the other was like trying to split rock. I am glad that there isn't much chiseling in my future.

Next up is to actually buy the wood for the keel. I have been lazy about this. I haven't cut into any of the other frames for keel, battens or chines yet because I want to have the actual pieces first. I think this will save me some rework if I cut the hole the right size the first time.