Today we fastened on the bottom of the boat. We spent quite a lot of time getting everything lined up the way we wanted it. In spite of what we thought were careful measurements and leveling and squaring, we still had some things that just were not right. I guess that was where we had to start flying by the seat of our pants.
We began with the bow and midships frame. We clamped the pointie part of the bow where we wanted it and then fit the bottom onto the #3 mould and the midships frame by lining up our center line with each of the frames and clamping it to the midships frame. We reinforced the bow clamp by clamping onto an oak board placed across the bottom piece just aft of the #3 mould and the building jig. This held everything securely enough so that we could drill the holes in the fore keel and the midships frame for the screws.
After drilling the holes, we took the bottom off and cleaned everything up ready for the epoxy. I spread epoxy on both mating surfaces of the bottom and the frame and fore keel. We placed the bottom back on our carefully marked way points and used a small nail to find the screw holes.
The silicon bronze screws are soft and you have to be careful when you screw them in. We buggered some of them trying to use the power drill so most of the screw driving had to be done by hand.
After we had driven all the screws in the fore keel and midships frame, we moved to the stern transom. We brought our two bar clamps and oak board from the bow and placed it across the stern. We clamped the two bar clamps onto the board and the 2 x 4 on the building jig and were able to get the stern of the bottom snug against the stern transom so we could drill the screw holes and countersink them. Then we loosened the clamps so we could epoxy the two mating surfaces. We then tightened the clamps again and tightened the screws. This fastened all the pieces up tight as a teddy bear.
The silicon bronze screws are soft and you have to be careful when you screw them in. We buggered some of them trying to use the power drill so most of the screw driving had to be done by hand.
After we had driven all the screws in the fore keel and midships frame, we moved to the stern transom. We brought our two bar clamps and oak board from the bow and placed it across the stern. We clamped the two bar clamps onto the board and the 2 x 4 on the building jig and were able to get the stern of the bottom snug against the stern transom so we could drill the screw holes and countersink them. Then we loosened the clamps so we could epoxy the two mating surfaces. We then tightened the clamps again and tightened the screws. This fastened all the pieces up tight as a teddy bear.
We were both anxious to see how the garboard planks would fit onto the bottom, but we had too many clamps fixed onto the bottom and thought we had better wait until the epoxy set before we removed them and began to fit the garboards.
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