| Scarphs between inner keel and stem & stern posts, frame to keel joints, rang to stem & stern post joints and, finally, centreboard case to keel & frames joint, all are now done. You can see the centreboard case end posts sticking up, as are the Formica linings. These will come thro' the slot in the garboard plank. The posts have their feet, so to speak, locked against the sideways thrust of the board when sailing. The Formica seals the long open edges of the slot in the ply plank. This glue-up of multiple joints is a classic example of the importance of the 'thinking chair'. No,YOU do the thinking, not the chair! Thinking the WHOLE PROCESS through is vital, so you must have somewhere comfortable, notepad and pencil to hand. Pushing on with the job, before you've written down each thing that has to be done and put them in the right order, is likely to lead to a mistake. So having a dedicated place for doing the thinking is a great idea. Many people would naturally glue up the framework first and then put in the centreboard case. If you do that, you find youself wriggling the case between Frames 2 and 3, with the ends of the case and the corresponding faces of the two frames covered in glue. As you struggle to lift it in, the glue gets wiped off the joints and ends up dripping from the frames in great blobs. Hmm... Doesn't make for a great joint... But if you do the thinking first, visualising yourself lifting that case into that tight fitting gap, you realise that the answer is not to glue Frame 3. Wedge or tie the frame back (the spall will twist enough to allow this). Alternatively, undo the bolts holding the frame to the spall, and drop it down on the the set-up. Best to do this before ever you mix the glue, then you won't forget. When you come to glue up the case joint, be generous. You will be relieved you decided to mark pencil glue lines to remind you of all the little notches and corners on which to spread it. You can lift it up and support it on one thigh with your foot on the set-up, squeeze it against the keel and slide it forward a tiny bit against Frame 2, reach over and push one of the screws waiting in the keel into its hole in the case log. Turn it enough to locate the case, then the same for the two others. Then you can go round to the other side and screw them home. Clean up the squeezed out glue into the mixing pot and apply it to the Frame 3 joint and the aft end of the case. Screw home the frame, reinsert the bolts to hold it to the spall. Whoa! ...Clean up the glue. Use it to coat liberally the limber holes (quarter circular cutouts in the frames next to the keel for allowing any water to run aft past the frames). GREAT JOB. Oh, by the way, did you by any chance, while you were dry fitting the case and drilling for the screws, mark on the faces of Frames 2 & 3 the precise location of the slot? And then transfer the marks on to the garboard while you were fitting that? Then cut the slot? It's going to be difficult to fit the garboard if the posts and Formica are sticking up and you have no slot cut. So you've always got a good excuse for getting well dug into that thinking chair, with a mug, and visualising several steps further than you at first reckon. |
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