Gap in Garboard to Stem Seam - Epoxy?

[DanO]

I guess I was a bit too hasty in my lofting and a little to ambitious with my rabbet plane and I've got an area where the garboard I'll be installing won't seat right as it approaches the stem on my BB14. I've mistakenly planed an area about 6" long, and about 3/8" at the deepest point where the wood keel meets the stem/forekeel which is unfairt and needs to be addressed. I realize it's a sin to use epoxy in carvel construction, but I'm thinking the best way to address this gap along the rabbet line might be to use epoxy/filler to sort of fair out the "shoulder" of the rabbet. Later, after the epoxy is cured and the rabbet is faired properly, the cedar garboard would fit more snugly. Anyone foresee any problem with this idea? I realize that white oak swells and epoxy doesn't, but I'm not going to glue the garboard to the keel. The epoxy would only be used to extend the shoulder of the wood keel to where it should have been in the first place.

I'd appreciate any suggestions, except those that say I should never have tried building this boat. I've heard enough of those from SWMBO today!

Dan

[JimM]

DanO
Can you glue in a dutchman and rebevel the spot were you have a gap?

Jim M

[ 12-29-2004, 11:02 PM: Message edited by: JimM ]

[Nick C]

I don't know what's kosher, but it seems like you should be able to use a glue that is of the era and laminate a piece in the low spot, then fair it to size. You could even use a few nails or screws or whatever is of the period to hold it with the glue.

[Jay Greer]

Rest easy. You are not the first guy to have this problem. Indeed, that is why the dutchman was invented!

[Ian McColgin]

Solid epoxy would be a big mistake.

If you can't or won't make a new plank and/or if the rabbet is what's wrong, not the plank, then indeed put in some oak with a very clean fine glue line. It will act like the rest of the keel.

G'luck

[DanO]

I'm guessing that a "Dutchman" is a type of wood patch used to correct some shipbuilding error. I wonder where that term came from...probably not the Dutch! It's the same with "Irish Pennants," which is a derogatory term for loosely hanging lines or ropes on board ship..certainly that didn't come from the Irish!

In any case, I think the dutchman technique is the way to go. I'll try to fit an oak piece into the rabbet and stem joint and glue it in. I might also use a couple of small bronze fasteners for sleep insurance. Makes sense that oak on oak with a minimum of epoxy would pose less trouble than a big blob of the goo sitting in the rabbet line.

I'll post some photos if my patch job doesn't look too nightmarish.

Dan

[Ian McColgin]

Use temporary fasteners till the glue sets and remove them. Then you're finish planing will be easier on the blade.

Some people have had trouble getting oak to epoxy well. Give the mating surfaces a swipe with an acetone soaked something first and it will go fine.

Or use another good glue like SikaFlex.

G'luck.