Chines and Sheers

It has been a while since my last post and I have been slowly working on the chines and sheers.
The chines were completed and epoxied in place.

I used:

-  2 screws in the chine-stem junction

-  1 screw in the transom

-  1 screw in the first frame

-  0 screws in the second frame.

Completed chines epoxyed and screwed in place

In order to overcome the problem I experienced with inadequate twist on the chine, I got a tapered piece of wood (shim) cut and epoxied it onto the chine between the stem and frame two. Quite a bit of fairing will be required here.

Chine shim

The difference that the shim made can be seen in the photos below.

Before and After adding the shim on the chine

Using the router, limbers were cut in the battens so that water will be able to run towards the centre of the boat where the bung will be located. I am thinking that they should be made a bit larger than they currently are however.

Limbers

The sheers proved to be quite troublesome when I tried to install them. I left the sheers soaking in water for over a week and by the time I got around to try and install them they were soaked right through and quite supple. The sheers were 16mm x 30mm and even after soaking them it was fairly clear that they were not going to bend into place easily. I decided to wrap the sheers in towels and pour boiling water on them to make them even more supple.
On the first attempt, the sheer simply pulled apart making a large split in the timber. I wasn't surprised at the lack of success here because all the references I read said that hoop pine does not respond to steam bending.

First sheer attempt

On the second attempt, the sheer bent in on itself squashing the fibers. I decided to give up on the sheers and go for three laminations. There was no point wasting good wood which I am sure I will find a use for at some stage on the boat.

Second sheer attempt

Crushed fibers

New wood was ordered for the sheers -  6 pieces of 10mmx30mm. This wood bent easily in place without any soaking. I have hence determined that it is a waste of time trying to steam bend wood when it is so easy to just bend thinner pieces and build up laminations.

10mmx30mm sheer bent easily into place

The sheers were laminated together without being epoxied to the boat. I used duct tape and plastic paper protectors to stop the sheers gluing to the boat. When the epoxy had cured, the laminated sheers basically held their curved shape with only a small amount of spring-back.

The method I used for laminating the sheers was as follows:
- Sanded the surfaces to be laminated
- Removed all the dust from the laminations
- Gave both pieces a coat of clear epoxy
- Let the epoxy cure for about 2-3 hours
- Applied more epoxy to both pieces
- Fastened together with lots of clamps so the epoxy oozed out a little.

Laminating sheers

 The notches in the frames and transom were adjusted to fit the sheers correctly and then the sheers were screwed and epoxied to the boat. I used 3 screws in the breasthook and one screw in the transom. I assume the epoxy will be strong enough for the frame joints. Care was taken to ensure that lots of epoxy was added to the end grain on the frames so as not to get dry joints.

Sheers in place

I am now adding the third lamination to the sheers and after that I can start the fairing process!

3rd sheer lamination

I might have to work out a way of controlling the dust in the garage when it comes to the fairing process.

Keel, Batten, Chine

Hooray! I am now on holidays and have lots of time to work on my boat!

I have glued on the keel and the two inside battens.
The taper on the keel was achieved by routing slots at the appropriate depths. The resulting 'staircase' was then smoothed to a taper with a hand plane.

Keel and batten epoxied in place.

The chines are the next challenge to work on. It turns out that they are not quite as simple as I first imagined. (like a lot of things in life I suppose).
I started off by bending the chine in the approximate position and cutting/filing the notch on frame 2 to suit the curve of the chine. A small block was epoxyed in place to fill a gap. Sharp chisels are really useful for this kind of work I have found.

Notches before and after. (Photos show opposite sides of the boat)

The tricky part of the chine is determining the correct amount of twist between frame 2 and the stem. If there is to little twist, there will not be a sufficient angle on the chine to point towards the sheer. As shown in the picture below, if the chine is rotated anticlockwise, the side planking will no longer fit. If the chine is rotated clockwise, there will be a point at which the bottom planking will not fit. It is a very fine balance especially near the stem. When you have it right in one place, it is wrong in another etc......

Correct alignment of the chine. It looks simple in 2D. Much more complex in curving 3D!

Another point that I had to consider is that the extension of the line of the chine should end at the middle of the stem.
THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS TO CONSIDER!!
I spent so long pondering them and trying to get it right that I am now convinced that it is nearly impossible on the Squirt to twist the chine enough to have it meet the sheer.

I have decided to just do what everyone else does and add a tapered piece of wood to the chine after it is glued in place.

Chines held in place with rope and clamps

  Laminating the chine before making the final adjustments to the chine-stem junction seemed to be a good idea so that is what I did.  It was relatively easy to do. I put a layer of epoxy on each lamination before applying thickened epoxy as the glue.
Put the chines together, clamp them up, clean up the epoxy and its done.
Plastic was used at the frames and stem to stop the chine gluing to them.
 As I am sure every boat builder has exclaimed a multitude of times, 'YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MANY CLAMPS!' I have spent $225 on clamps so far!

Chines being laminated

 There should be time to get started on the sheers in my 2 weeks of holidays. For this reason, I have set up a soaking pipe to soak the sheers in. I am really not sure how well the sheers will bend because they are a lot fatter than the chines and don't look to keen on bending! Hoop Pine apparently doesn't respond to steaming either. If I break a sheer, I think I will just get more wood and go for 3 laminations.

Water pipe for soaking sheers