The next lot of stringers ready to be placed

The 50mm stringers were scarfed and glued today and are ready to be placed, this operation was done inside the house as the workshop was being used to place the 30mm stringers. Also they were able to glue, without being disturbed, it is warmer and the cat could check them for quality.

The build continues. Preparing for stringers

Today all dimensions and levels were finally checked, and the hull was stabilized and the dimensions between frames checked to be equal, tomorrow the first of the stringers will be placed.

 The stem is placed

I had some things that needed to be clarified before building could carry on. Today the stem was placed, It sometimes is needed to do some traditional methods to build something

because the laser level was so close to the stem and at the KWL it did not project down far enough to check plumb. Plumb bob to the rescue

 Putting in the sloping frame

today was spent putting in the sloping frame at a 60 degree angle, checking dimensions and stations and bracing the frames

 We have a sort of boat shaped object

 Today we placed all but one of the frames/bulkheads and it looks like a boat-ish thing, if you can imagine it covered in a skin of ply. It all went quite well using the laser level, much much easier than strings,and levels -  the only thing is figuring which frames will blank out the lasers lines as you place them.

 Now the fun stuff begins

Today the strongback was completed and setting the frames and stringers and creating a boat shaped object can begin. I also had to test the laser level, this is a new thing for me, never had one before , no more strings, plumb bobs, line levels, levels and dumpy levels/ tube levels.  - we will see how it goes

 Strongback in progress

the strongback assembly is moving along

where the stem will fit

getting an idea of how access for plywood storage and hull plating/planking will work 

the keel plate and drilled bulb haves stored for later 

- NOTE to self,
it works much better if you don´t get your fingers between 50 kg of lead and the floor

 busy preparing the strongback , no pictures 

check back soon though ,as it will get very interesting from here onwards

for the time being here is an interesting video link to watch, it has english subtitles

 bulbs drilled and both flattened

Today the second bulb was planed flat and then I placed yesterdays drilled bulb on top of todays bulb - they match really well, and I used it as a guide to drill the holes, it worked well as the bulb fits perfectly and the holes line up, so it should all be quite fair on the keelplate

 Finished welding, grinding keel, and bulb fitted

Today the keel plate was finished welded and ground to shape and the one side of the bulb was flattened fitted and drilled, BTW keel plate weight 70kg bulb weight each half 50kg+ total bulb 100kg+ so i try to move them as little as possible

 I used a hand plane to flatten the bulb, (I do not own a power plane), which took some time but was not as hard as I thought, what was more of a problem was the bulb sliding in the wooden cradle, lead is slippery!

 then I used the cradles on a suitably thick spacer to raise the bulb into position with wedges under the keel plate and located it in position 

and with my shop made vertical drill guide I drilled through the plate into the lead, I used dowels to keep everything aligned as other holes were drilled,  then I put on nuts and threaded rod to hold it in position, hanging under the plate, the other bulb is now on the plate ready for flattening in the morning

keel cut complete, drilled for bulb and some welding 

Today the rounded part of the keel was cut , 12.5mm holes drilled for the bolts holding on the lead bulb

 and a small triangle of steel was welded to the leading edge of the keel,

this saves having to cut out a big chunk of steel on the front of the keel to achieve the correct shape.and of course the welder ran out of wire in the middle of the first weld, so I had to replace the 5kg spool

old wire packaging, so I have a record of it

new pack of wire installed

weld with new wire, it has slightly different characteristics
so I changed travel speed mid weld

finished up at 23h00, so I cannot grind and wire brush or it will disturb the neighbour so more to happen in the am

 keel drawing and cutting

Today the keel was drawn out onto the 12mm plate and cutting started.

 It was suprising that the Makita grinder cut it much easier than the Bosch grinder, both are 720w both run at 11000 rpm but it somehow felt and sounded like the Makita was running at slower rpm and it seemed to cut much easier, with less grabbing and less chattering. ???

So far 5 discs used

tomorrow the rest of the cuts will be made if there is time, socialising time tomorrow

 Scarfs cut,and planning for keel cutting

Yesterday the scarfs were cut in preparation for glue up, and today some final shaping was done on the directional fins and rudder. and the workshop was prepped for the cutting of the steel plate, all this has to be done before the strongback is set up and the hull build begins as there will not be space to manhandle and cutand shape the 12mm steel keel plate.