I’m back at work on the Palm Beach 22 mahogany runabout and glad to be making progress again. Today I want to talk a little about using the boat itself (or what we have of it at this point) as a form to make more parts for the boat. We’ve got all the frames in place, so now we can use that to make some of the parts for the boat.
The chine is a continuous piece that runs the length of the boat. It has curve and twist to it, so it used to be made to fit in a wooden boat by steam bending. But we’re laminating pieces together to make that curved chine log. The forward section presents a particular problem in that it has considerable curve and twist.
I decided to bundle together 25 pieces (5 rows of 5 pieces each) of 3/8 x 3/8 square strands to allow me to achieve this. You can see these pieces in the picture above.
The after section of the chine has very little twist, so the curve is easily achieved with several layers laminated together. Eventually, these two laminates will be scarfed together to form one long piece. That’s a story for another day!
It’s great to see you working on this lovely boat again Tim!
I have question about how to deal with the chine/frame joints. In the forward section where the curve is very pronounced, the chine seems to only touch the forward edge of each frame, assuming the notches in the frame are cut square and not tapered front to back, which doesn’t seem ideal for maximum strength. Do you just rely on gobs of epoxy or do you recommend cutting shaped pieces to fill the gaps?
Steve,
You raise an excellent point. If you look closely at the first frame in the title picture above, you’ll see that I’ve bevelled the forward thickness of the batten notch nearest the stem. I’ve also bevelled the notch for the chine, but you can’t see it because the chine is in the way. It’s standard practice to bevel the frames so you have good wood on wood contact all along the frame where it contacts and supports the hull. I’m bevelling the notches first, and then I’ll use those to guide my bevelling of the whole frame.
This is such a good topic that I’ve decided to post a full explanation of the process soon. Thanks for your question!
Tim
Hi Tim,
I’m looking forward to learning how you shaped the chine to the frames. And then there’s the sheer clamp, which I guess is a similar process.
Steve
Hi Steve,
I realize I’ve kinda dropped out for a bit. But I’m back now. I hope to post more about shaping the chine and the sheer clamp soon. You were right, the sheer clamp turned out to be more difficult that I had hoped. But I’m finally gluing on the last one (port side) today. Then on to the auxiliary frames.
Looking forward to your post Tim. I’ve just finished gluing the chine log and sheer clamps on my 1:5 scale model. I followed your approach for the chine log and it was chine and it was relatively easy using a 5-layer lamination. However, the sheer clamp was trickier. I ended up laminating 2×2 strips of pine, but even then it was difficult to edge bend the sheer over frames 1 and 2! I’m looking forward to seeing how you fair the chine and sheer clamp….
Hi Stephen.
I’m still working away, though not being very diligent about posting. I will say that knowing guys like you out there that are building along with me helps keep me going. I’d love to see some pictures of your work!
Hi Tim, I’m always keen to see your blogs, they’re very helpful to me. I can send you pictures of my work if you let me know your email address, I don’t think I can attach pics to messages from this page.
Hi Steve,
You can email pics to me at timtaylor.ga@gmail.com
I’d love to see some.