Roberts

I decided to post todays blog article because I am running into a few delays getting the keel installed. I had originally hoped to complete that process and cover it all in one article. However, things being what they are, I am still not quite ready to do so.

The delays are due to several life events including getting sick once again, and cold weather on the days when I actually had the time to do work.

The transom was nearly ready to re-install when I last posted. It needed a few more encapsulation coats. I ended up giving it an extra coat because the first three didnt seem sufficient. Even then, I found some edge areas I missed and will have to go back to before too long.



The next step was re-installing the transom to the building form. I had made efforts to try an insure that it went back in exactly the same position as it was when I took it off back in December. I had already gotten it to the point where the keel and battens appeared to be dead flat across the bottom so I wanted to avoid having to re do all that fitting. (More on this in a minute).

The building form had to be modified to clear the extra thick motor board. Basically, I just cut a 1 inch deep notch into the back side of the building form legs. The notch was a bit longer than the height of the motor board. I also had to install a new longer support board because the original supports were in the area of the cut out and no longer matched up to the transom.You can see that here.



Also apparent in the previous photo is how the knee sets in relation to the transom and the future keel installation.

The keel notches needed to have what are called limbers cut into them. These serve to allow a pathway for any water in the bilge to reach the back end of the boat where it can be drained through drain plugs that will be eventually installed in the bottom edge of the transom in the center. Limbers are just an extension of the sides of the keel notches. I rounded over the edges of the limbers just to provide a slightly smoother surface in case there is any junk (grass, leaves, etc) caught up in the bilge at some future point.


Also, since the keel will eventually need to be encapsulated for water protection and because I felt it would be difficult to do this later after the boat hull is flipped, I elected to pre-coat most of the inside surface of the keel. You can see that in the previous photo as well as the next one. The bare wood areas are where the keel notches and the transom knee will be bonded so they will get coated when the keel is installed. The two pictures are bit misleading because the keel is flipped over from its actual installed position. The encapsulated surface will actually be facing downward towards the inside of the boat when finally installed.


The last time I was working on the stem, I had cut the notch for the keel but had made a poor job of cutting it. I knew that eventually I was going to have to do something about this in order to have a flat surface for the keel to bond against. Most of the surface was fine but at the very forward edge and the aft edge, the cut dipped down a small amount. I fill this with thickened epoxy and sanded it smooth.



Although I dont have a picture of this, I also drilled the 3/8" holes through the knee and through the stem for the carriage bolts that are used to secure the keel to these members.

Now, as far as getting the transom back to its original position. Yesterday, I set the keel into position and saw that I needed to do a small amount of fairing on some of the frame notches because the keel to notch junction are not perfectly perpendicular (by design). As the keel transitions back to the transom it lays across each notch at a slight angle, so I had to file the notches a bit to allow the keel to lay flat.

I also tested the flatness of the keel as it rode across the frames and into the transom. When the transom came off in December, this has been addressed by careful placement of the transom. But at that time, the knee had not been installed. I also discovered in January, that the knee was not cut to the correct 14 degree angle. I believe I mentioned this in one of those articles and that I had to sand it to the correct angle.

Well, after testing the keel again, I saw that it once again was not flat across the frames and the transom. The reason this is important is because any dips or bumps in the bottom surface at the aft end of the boat will negatively affect the handling of the boat under speed. So it is vital to get this area flat.

I had to do some readjusting of the height of the transom on the building form and also determined that I will need a small shim in frame 1s keel notch. The transom was adjusted today and the shim will be installed tomorrow.

So thats it for now. By the next time I post, I will have something that is more than a collection of parts . They will all be connected together and I will have the beginnings of a boat hull structure. Very soon, I will be tackling the chine which readers will remember are the longitudinals that connect at the middle corner of the frames.

Until next time.........