Preparing the keel before planking ….

A number of processes have been going on near the keel to ready this area for the garboard plank.

Graving pieces have been inserted in the keel side at several locations, mostly replacing old repair areas. Multiple small holes from previous application of copper sheathing along the keel have been plugged with epoxied dowels. On top of the keel(light grey area) a new flat has been planed to mate with the lower edge of the garboard plank. The dark area where the paint is missing has been faired to allow the plank to sit against it. The extra thickness of the new planking means that many areas near the keel and stem have to be adjusted to ensure a tight fit and seal of the new planking.

The port bow shows another small graving piece in the keel. Frames are being faired before being permanently attached. Keel timber has yet to be prepared for mating with the garboard plank.

The steel keel shoe (white painted area) has been ground back to bare metal and painted with a Hempel supplied product for metal protection underwater.

Two more  keel graving pieces with the second showing how the bolts are sealed from the water with dowel plugs. The plugs are always hardwood and epoxied in position ready to be primed and painted.

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Fairing the frames ….

The shipwrights continue to fair the frames forward of number 26 and complete a range of smaller tasks which ensure the hull is ready for planking. Fairing the port side frames has been the priority task, adding frame material to low spots, and refairing.

Port side, looking aft. Frames in the foreground are the ones surrounding the bow thruster and are being faired to match adjacent frames.

On the starboard side, temporary battens have been placed to mark out the planking lines and spacing. Frames are then marked along these lines and the shipwrights return to these marks to take off pattern shapes for each plank. Planking will begin at the garboard plank, which abuts the keel and proceed upwards.

Stern layout ….

While work is continuing at the bow and work at the stern has all but stopped, great development has been achieved with the layout of the stern. The batten curved around the outside of the staunchions  has laid out the shape of the counter.

New timber bolted to keelson ….

A new section of hardwood timber has been bolted to the keelson at the centreboard casing. This timber will be dovetailed with the new frames. the shipwrights will make a tight dovetail joint between the end of the new frame and the new timber in the photo. The sawn off ends of the frames can be seen at the left of the photo.

The new timber bolted to the keelson is on the left and the frame ends are on the right of the photo. The plywood spanning the gap is providing a safe floor in the cabin space above.

Frame sections removed ….

A section from several frame has been removed to allow timber attached to the keelson to be inspected. The frames adjacent – port and starboard – to the forward centre board casing  have been detached and shortened from the dove tail joint. The large timber attached to the keelson needed to be exposed and removed to assess whether it was sound or needed repairing or replacing. This link is to a short you tube video showing the gap after the frame sections were removed.

Frames painted ….

Volunteers have primed the bare timber on the weekend. This protects the timber from the weather minimising the expansion or shrinkage of the timbers.

Shaping the frames ….

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The shipwrights have shaped the frames ready to start planking. Many hours of planing and measuring have occurred to get this result. There are 50 frames on each side of the hull. The photos show frames 1 to 23 with number 1 frame being at the bow. The starboard frames are shown but the port frames will be shaped soon and planking will begin in a symmetrical manner. This means that if two planks on the port side are attached near the keel then there will be 2 planks attached on the starboard.  Every plank will be attached not alternate planks as was done with the attached upper planks. Alternate planking was used as the planks would have shrunk too much before caulking occurred.