Building a 10 ft Dinghy (#127; Gartside)

[Helder0906]

Pictures continued

making of the stem parts; using moulds and router. finish off planing and sanding it after gluing the three parts together.

fitting the stem parts. They will be glued with epoxy and rivetted with copper nails and washers.

the stem is looking nice

Stem, glued and planed; rabbet line still to come; excuse me for the damp picture. Camera lens dirty...

Joining the stem, apron and keel

The apron and keel, The hole for the centerboard is in place

[Helder0906]

Pictures continued

the glued stern knee, half jointed

the glued stern knee, half jointed

detail of the stern knee; jointed by hand. No router used. Just old fashioned chisel work. Planing with a low angle jag plane; very handy for this purpose

[dsimonson]

Beautiful work, Christiaan! She's going to be a very nice little boat to sail with your daughters!

All the best,
Dale

[Helder0906]

Thanks, Dale. It will be a nice boat. Patience and to persevere, that will be the motto next week(s) I am working now on the rabbet of apron, keel and stem. What a job...Nice to do; though the constant feeling of having a tricky job at hand and possible flaws are close there al to end up with a nice rabbet for the garboard to attach. Like a reef with close encounter you have to sail into. just before entering the safe harbor.

[Helder0906]

Today we continued the lofting and drew in the lines for the stem and transom. Coming to the actual width and height of the transom was quit something. We transferred the measures as good as we could. Hopefully we managed. Is there anyone out there able to advise me on a thread that explanes this? Or someone who can explain on a step by step basis how to loft the transom from the molds in a straight position to the actual transom measures (slightly angled, it will have a larger shape)

The explanation from Greg Rossel's book, Small Boat Building, was very useful. I followed the step by stem approach and succeeded, I think.

[Helder0906]

Today we continued the lofting of the transom. I did some thing wrong in the first attempt. Luckily we discovered it, just before we would start sawing the shape of the transom. The key was to use the actual side lofted lines in the side, or profile view and the horizontal waterlines view. To get a good result, we drew in a extra waterline to have more detail in the curve in the upper half and a extra buttock line to have more detail in the bottom part of the transom. Do not use the widths or heights from the body plan. I can explain more inf someone has a question on this.

[DoctorB]

I have a question about that lofting. I'm not sure I follow you. Perhaps a picture of the lofting board.
I'm really looking forward to watching this build! Keep it up!

[Falcon1]

Definitely watching with interest!

Mike

[Helder0906]

DocterB, I will be in the shop on Monday and take a picture of the lofting of the stem.

Mike, Nice that you like to follow the progress.

[Helder0906]

The transom and sheer stroke will be produced out of oak too. This week the oak planks arrived. I bought a nice lot. I will make a nice cupboard out of of it too, later this year or next year. First finish the boat.



white oak I will use for the transom and sheer strake

[Helder0906]

Establishing the actual size of the transom - Expanding the transom - when you have a raked transom. The actual size will be bigger than whit a straight up transom, perpendicular to the keel/baseline.

What to do:
Draw a parallel line to the transom Z-Z , the reference line, or use the transom line to expand the transom.

Establish a grid, like the grid you drew for the rest of the lofting with waterlines and buttock lines, but this time from the reference line Z-Z; Consider the possibility to draw an extra waterline in the middle between the sheer and highest waterline, if there is hart shaped transom (less wide on the sheer line than slightly lower downwards. Water lines are quit exact in the upper half. Extra buttock lines in the lower half of the transom are to be considered with a complex and elegant hart shaped transom. Buttock lines are more exact than waterlines in the lower half of the transom.

Given you have already drawn the waterline view (top view) and buttock line view (side view); Take the widths from the top view, preferably with a wooden strip, to prevent you from measuring errors. And copy the widths to the grid. Do the same with the heights and copy them to the corresponding buttock lines in the grid. The points can be faired with a stick.

This way you have drawn the outside of the transom. Repeat the procedure to find the inner shape. This time using the parallel taking the thickness of the actual transom in mind. Draw the new grid. Take new measures using the widths and heights at the inner side of the transom in the top view and side view. Mind you, The shape and size will alter, if you decide later to change the thickness of the transom in practice.

Make a mould of the transom half and copy the shape to both sides on the wood, using an reference line for the middle and the water lines. Take care to transfer the waterlines to the other side of the wood, using the rake of the transom on the sides!

Tomorrow, I will add the picture of the lofting results. Hopefully this will give you the understanding you need to do the job yourself. Don’t hesitate to come up with questions you have.

[Helder0906]

lofted transom final result; to get a clear view after the first mistakes, I mounted a new piece of paper on top, copied the grid and went along.

lofted transom with the flaws from the first time
The waterlines (half breath view) and buttock lines (side view) are clear. I chose to draw only the last part, necessary for expanding the transom

major tools to shape the transom
Mind to keep your tools sharp.

End result of a few hours work

This picture shows the difference in size of the inner and outer side of the transom. The last mm. of wood I kept on for final tuning after mounting the transom and checking with fairing battens.

Am I clear, for those that are interested? I hope to help others by demystifying expanding the transom. I can imagine that this job, that needs to be done on a raked transom is quit a nasty one. It took me quit some trial and studying. Luckily this is my hobby.... And again, with compliments to Greg Rossel. He explains the lofting quit well, compared to other books. Most books I have seen, although not many, Do not give such practical knowledge as Greg does. Good luck yourself.

[Mike J]

Thank you Christiaan for the transom lofting explanation. I will be lofting my next boat even though I have patterns for the experience, that and it looks enjoyable for it's own sake.

Your work looks top notch, and thanks for sharing your build.

Mike

[Helder0906]

Much appreciated Mike. Lofting is fun and helps you understand the design of your boat.

Christiaan

[Helder0906]

Yesterday, I had an off day, discovering that I made quit a mistake in the lofting of the transom. Most of the explained method was alright fortunate. What went wrong was that I forget to take the width of the keel/deadwood in to account. The expanded view is like the body plan or frame view...The rabbet line should be drawn to a point 3/4 inch out the center. The bottom part of the transom became to little. After discovery of the flaw, we lofted the correct size. A new plank of oak was planed to the correct thickness and glued to the the section of the transom that was okay. So for we are ready to spokeshave the transom rake again.

[Helder0906]

The transom was corrected and resurrected at the base; Here with some temporary stuff to simulate were the apron would go, to fit the deadwood.

[Helder0906]

Next job is cutting the rabbet in the stem. The bearding line and rabbet line are the most important thing here. I transfered the rabbet and bearding linen form the lofted boat tot the stem. And the started cutting. Quit something... THis is a mile stone event, I felt.

Some pictures from the process.

cutting the rabbet in the stem; the fid hold on the bearding line can tell you whether the angle of the cut is correct. Above the rabbet like on this picture, means more angle needed

spot on angle

In action. The real thing

First I cut the angle on different spots

connecting the spots in the stem to get a nice rabbet all along the stem
I don't have a picture from the end result right know. I will make it the next time I am in the shop.

[Peerie Maa]

You should always leave a little on for final adjustment as you hang the plank. Do not go all the way to the bearding line.

[kakistoc]

This is a gorgeous build Helder. Thank you for sharing it.

[Helder0906]

I promised the end result of sunday afternoon: the stem rabbet



from the right side



from the left side

It feels like a milestone is reached.

[Helder0906]

Today I did the lining off. I started dividing the transom in 10 equal parts, taking in to account that the rub rail will be an inch. The top plank will therefor be an inch wider than the other planks. Next I divided the mold at station 4, the widest of the 6 stations, although the widest point is between station 3 and 4. I made the bottom two planks a quarter of an inch wider than the other planks here. As a result, planks 3-10 will be some what smaller and have less difference in width compared with the transom. At the stem, I fitted the first plank in such a way that it would keep some widths at the stem. The other planks are equally divided over the stem. After the first lining off, I tuned the hole package. Looking for the lines not to stop curving. And harmonious spacing. It helped me to have my father in law in the shop. A second pair of eyes is very good in this type of work. And he is good company too.

The result:




The picture was taken with the keel off. It was in clamps with the deadwood glued on. quit happy with the result :-)

[Helder0906]

Today I installed some dovels to connect the apron, stem and keel. This way I will be able to have the keel of and put it on again on the same location, when preparing the garboard plank.

[Helder0906]

On to preparing the garboard plank!
Nice milestone

[Helder0906]

Last weeks I prepared the gar board planks on both sides. It was nice to have the apron and keel still in two peaces. This way, I could alter the rabbet more easily to its final shape. To make sure that I mounted the keel / apron and stem in the same position every time, I installed some dowels (festool domino) It was quit something to install them. But afterwards I had lots of fun from them. The fitting of the gar board planks was quit a job. Measuring/adjusting, measuring/adjusting etc. Every time the bringing the curve in and setting the board with some clamps; shifting the board to its correct position (The plank could only join the keel after curve was given in the bow section, other wise the plank would hit the keel above the rabbet and not enter the rabbet. Patience was rewarded though, After some two days of working on it, I had both sides fitting nice.

gar board plank ready rear view

garboard plank ready, front view

Before mounting them; the gluing of the keel was on. I used thickened epoxy. This was fairly a straight forward job. Of course I clamped it a last time to check whether all the connections were sound and apron and keel would connect well. quit a lot of clamps were needed for that last issue. The transom knee I have mounted afterwards with simson asr bc kit. This way it has more possibility to deal with the adjustments in size of the transom. For safety and looks I will mount some rivets with rovers through the stem/keel joint and keel/deadwood/transom knee joint.

gluing the keel, apron and stem togethebr />
After some truing up, I am ready to mount the gar board planks. As of the twist, quit a lot of tention will be put on the rivets. The rivets in the stem will be used as nails. Can anybody advise me whether it is necessary to wetten the garboard and clamp it in place for some time? Or will it be necessary to have it clamped for some time after the nails are put in? I worry that the plank will get of after unclamping without further measures.

[Helder0906]

On second thoughts, instead of starting the planking, I choose to detail the keel and stem first. It starts looking as the bone structure of a boat :-)

Some pictures of the results.

[Helder0906]

And a pictures of the transom knee in place.



I used a half to half joint for the knee. And glued the knee in with Simson Bedding Compound. Should stay flexible for at least 50 years... I doubt my dughter realize they have to take care of my legacy :-)

[Helder0906]

I am ready to mount the gar board planks. As of the twist, quit a lot of tention will be put on the rivets. The rivets in the stem will be used as nails. Can anybody advise me whether it is necessary to wetten the garboard and clamp it in place for some time? Or will it be necessary to have it clamped for some time after the nails are put in? I worry that the plank will get of after unclamping without further measures.

I asked in a reply some days ago. Can anybody please help!?

Another question I need help with:
What is the way to go to apply the end of the planks both front and back, to have a carvel landing (don't know whether this is correct English) on the stem and transom. I hope a classic builder reads this post and can help me out.

Regards, Christiaan

[Matti]

You have to make rabbet on planks end, like he;
7.00- , 7:30-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yCU9fp9kj0
rabbet can be flat or bevelled= corner to zero

Maybe its better to use screws than nails on stem, coppernails are slippery, or maybe you can find ring nails.

Matti

[Matti]

So obvious that i didn't mentioned; you must steam front part of plank to bend and twist it, when steamed, oak is flexible.

[whatshisname]

Here's a video about steaming in place using a plastic bag:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--iPQIwSEJM

And steaming a garboard plank:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ufstskSxLU

[Helder0906]

Thanks Matti and James. This helps a great deal. The practical small steam box to steam the planks direct in place is handy! Yesterday I visited a boat building school. They were very polite to advise me on short notice how to make the rabbet. I will explane there method later. I think the owner learned the craft at IBTC and now after 20 years of commercial boat building, he practices a school in the Netherlands.

[Helder0906]

Last Friday I steamed and clamped the planks in place. Great how easy. I used a wooden box from one meter and steamed the two gar boards simultaneously and clamped them simultaneously. The result on Sunday shows a good bend. Most of the curve and twist is now in the plank. The rest will be easy to nail/rivet in place.

[Helder0906]

Some pictures of the steaming and the results.

steaming the planks in a simple plywood box, using some old towel to keep the steam in the box

the steam engine; a simple steam machine to get the wall paper off

the steamed planks clamped in place

[Helder0906]

detail of the steamed planks with clamps on

detail of the plywooden clamp tool we used to be able to work fast

the result of the steaming of the garboard
With just two fingers, The planks come to the right position

nice twist

detail of the steamed plank

When I wood have known how relative easy the steaming was, I would have done it earlier in the process.
The shaping/fitting of the garboard planks would have been a lot easier.

[andrewpatrol]

you're doing a fine job Helder. I recently had my first experience with steaming too but in a plastic sleeve on the timber, in place. Like you say its easy once you get over the thinking stage!
Thanks for all the pictures, can't wait to see the hull when you turn it.