The planks have been cut and assembled and now I will wait for the glue to set up.

Here is the pattern material on the molds.

This is my scarfing bench.

Here I am making oversize planks. Once they are scarfed and glued I can put them on the boat and remark them.

cutting center board hole

Today I cut out the hole for the center board in the keelson. Still needs some work. I remanufactured a floor for station 2.
Things will be on hold for a week as I am going fishing. After that full steam ahead on scarfing the plywood and trying to get some planks on.

Planing the keelson and stems

The good news is that the epoxy worked and bonded the stem and keelson. It was a lot of work with the power planer and manual planes to get it to this stage.
It would have been easier to cut the hole for the center board before we put this bevel in it.

These are the floors in the making. Because I don't have any 1 inch stock. I am laminating 2 pieces of 3/4 inch then I will plane them down and fix the sloppy shape. They go on against the molds and keelson before starting to put on the planks.

Attaching Inner Stems and Keelson

I put everything together prior to glueing the stem / keelson joint. The stern looks great. everything fits perfectly.

The bow was another matter. Things had to be reinforced a little and it took a little effort to suck the joint together. I just got back from doing the final epoxy glue job. Hopefully the glue bonds well. It has cooled off so will try to be patient before taking off the clamps.

Both the outer stems are fabricated. Next I have to start thinking about scarfing plywood and marking the planks and slapping them on.
It would be great if I could get a couple of planks on before I head off fishing.

Friggin with the Stems II

I have been calling these stems but they are actually aprons. Here is the apron going through station one.

Here is the apron notched into the strongback at the stern. Notice the construction of the strongback is slightly different from the bow.

A look at station seven. The next job which I am not rushing into is scarphing the stem on to the keelson. Still not sure about that operation.

Here is the bow stem just out the vices. Still needs thickness planing and cleaning up. It will fit over the apron once the strakes are on.

Frigging with the Stems

Here is Dave Storey's portable thickness planer. Not sure what I would do without it.

Here are the two laminated stems after they went through the planer. Underneath are the keelson and keel boards. They were ripped out of one board and put through the planer.

Spent a lot time making marks on the stem and then erasing them. The dimensions for the bearers of the strongback on the plans is a little different from the lumber I am using so I have to make modifications to the plans. It is all important to get it right. Then the plans allow you to make the proper cut in this crossbeam below.

Here I am laminating the aprons/stems. I pretty much borrowed every clamp in the Pilot Mt Subdivision. The back stem is pretty sloppy. I was working with twisted wood and the epoxy was too thick. I think it should be the consistency of mayonnaise instead of peanut butter. Anyways I hope it works out. Can't complain about the weather. Should dry quick.

I gave up on the ideas of the sticks sticking up from the middle of the molds. Instead I erected these 2x6's found the center mark and ran a string along the tops of the frames. Then I had to shim the ones that were off center. This worked real well.

I leveled and secured the molds at station 1 and 7 then put 2x6 spacers between the molds. Believe it or not everything came out plumb.
Now the whole structure is secure and I shouldn't be making any more adjustments.

Here are the molds temporarily set up. Doug Lemonde is going to help me line them up and secure them.

Then on to making the keelson and inner stems. Once they are installed and secured then on to the planking. Oh yeah I screwed up mold #7 and had to remanufacture it. The sticks on top of the mold are to assist in lining them up to the centerline and ensuring they are level.
I won't really know much until I put a line on them. My initial impression is that for a mickey mouse operation like this one, they are lined up pretty good.

cutting the molds

Here are all the molds cut out and ready for the spreaders to be screwed on. Then the less than perfect molds will be attached to the less than perfect strong back. There seems to be a theme here.

Four sheets of 1/2 plywood wasn't enough. I had to butt two pieces together for one mold.

The plywood I have is pretty shitty with lots of knots and imperfections. A little too late, I learned to put on a jigsaw blade with lots of teeth. A better quality jigsaw would probably be a good investment.

Here is a picture of the plans with the little windows cut out to line up to lines on the plywood.

Building a Caledonia Yawl in the great outdoors.

Here is the extended Canadian Tire tent/garage. Have left the back open for now as it is so hot and dry.
It has been a real challenge to square and level the strong back on uneven ground. I hope the stakes hold everything together.
Plywood arrived from Edmonton. I have the wood for keelson, keel and molds and epoxy.
So full steam ahead

Thought I better throw in a picture of what it might look like.