Bilge runners and Skeg

Bilge runners were made from 25x25 Douglas Fir. They were glued to the hull and screwed from the inside. This was fairly hard and the wife was sent under the boat with an electric screwdriver to drive the screws through while I pressed down on the runners from the outside. You can see the amount of curve.

The runners were held down by cargo straps at the aft end of the boat.

For the end towards the bow, the curve is so severe that I had to use more bilge runner than would be left at the end of the process. I used the extra length of runner for leverage to hold down the runner where it was glued. You can see in the photo, I have put packing tape where the runner will eventually end. I screwed through the hull into the extra section of runner and filled the holes when this part of the runner was removed. To keep the correct twist in the runner and keep it flat against the hull I attached a clamp and applied torque by twisting it downwards and attaching it to a heavy floor jack with a cargo strap. 

After it all cured I cut away the excess runner and tidied up the edge. The ends were then tapered down.

The outer stem was made of five strips of 25x5mm Douglas Fir. I soaked and heated it as before and put it on a jig for a few days to get it to keep its shape as much as possible before laminating it and glueing it to the hull in one go. I could have laminated it in advance like the inner stem but I wasn't sure that my outer curve matched that in the plans so I just put thickened epoxy between the layers and started screwing them to the bow starting frmo the top end and working back towards the centreboard slot. Trying to keep it all straight was the hardest part. At one stage I had to hang out of the garage door mechanism with one hand whle standing with one foot on a ladder and another foot on the stem pressing it down into the curve.Then with one hand I drilled a pilot hole for the 50x5mm SS screws, swapped screwdrivers and screwed in the screws whiel trying not to fall off the stem of the boat. It wasn't easy to do this and watch "LA Confidential" on TV at the same time I can tell you!

A bevel was cut into the end of the stem to match up with the stem just forward of the centreboard slot.

The skeg was laminated from 3 peices of 6mm marine ply. The plans called for a 12mm skeg but this looked too thin when I made it so I laminated another layer to bring it to 18 which seemed more solid. 

 

The shaped skeg was glued and screwed through from the inside. Some cargo straps were used to keep it in position while this was going on.

  

The skeg supports were made from 25x25mm Douglas Fir. They were first attached at the forward end of the skeg with epoxy and screwed through from the inside as well. Excess 25x25 was used to allow a heavy weight to be placed on them for leverage to allow them to make the curve on the hull.

At the other end, another weight was placed to help them go around the curve of the hull.

Finished result at the back of the boat. A lot of epoxy to be scraped away and sanded later.

The other end was trimmed away, flush with the skeg.

Some packing tape was used to keep epoxy off the hull.

Centreboard slot runners/reinforcement were joined to the stem........

...and to the skeg reinforcements.

Centreboard and case

The centreboard is made from two peices of 9mm ply sandwiched together and it pivots on a 10mm stainless steel bolt. Here are some photos of the construction of the centreboard case and central frame.

Two halves of the centreboard case with the 25x50 mm frames. The sheets were sandwiched onto 25x50 ends as well.

A 9mm reinforcement section was added where the pivot bolt hole would be drilled.

Inside was coated with 5 coats of neat epoxy.

.....not forgetting the inside of the pivot bolt hole.

Two Halves were then joined together

squeezing out the glue, but not all of it.

Meanwhile the two sheets of 9mm ply for the centreboard were prepared.

Added on a section at the end of the centreboard to bring it up to the correct length.

Tried it out to make sure it all worked.

Then lined up the case on the hull to cut out the hole.

Pre-drilled some holes for 4x25 screws to hold it to the hull.

Put a bed of thickened epoxy around the hole.

I scored the bottom of the case frame and coated with neat epoxy.

Epoxy fillet was rounded off at the bottom of the case. Excess glue scraped away.

Before it cured, I rigged up something to keep it straight and upright.

25x50mm frames were inserted between the hull and case for the thwart and the central frame was put in. I may have made the hole in the frame too big but sure I'm not getting paid to do this!

Rubbing Strips

The rubbing strips were done lat year. I decided to put them on to give the boat a more classic appearance. they are not part of the plans but similar boat have them and they look good. Also I had the wood left over from the outwales. They are the same 15x25 strips used for the outwales. I put them at the bottom of the top plank in the hull. They were glued into place and screwed from inside the hull with 4 x 20 screws every 20cm. Putting them on was one of the hardest jobs on the boat up to that point. my daughter held the rubbing strip while I screwed it to the bow and worked my way aft, all the time it was dripping glue. I had to press it hard against the hull and reach over with my other hand and screw in the stainless steel slotted countersunk screws. I used a lot of bad language that evening. Daughter heard all of it.

To keep the tension on the strip at the aft end of the boat I tied the strip to the opther side of the boat and left it there for a day or two. After the epoxy cured I redid the screws and countersunk them properly. I removed the excess from the aft section.

To make sure that the starboard strip was in the same place as the port strip I cut sections of wood and placed them between the outwale and rubbing strip and various distances. I recorded these distances and marked the corresponding positions on the other side of the hull. I then taped the peices of wood to the hull as shown below.

I trial fitted the starboard rubbing strip to the hull and marked its position with a pencil. The photo above shows the gunwales with the hull sitting above them. This is because I didn't cut that plank along the line deliberately so that I could plane down to the gunwales when they were fitted - much easier to get a good finish if you do it like this - or at least it is for me. The starboard strip was tied to the port side of the boat to maintain the tension on the wood. Most of the tension is at the bow but you can screw it into the inner stem which gives it a good hold to start.

The photo below shows the starboard rubbing strip in position. Bot rubbing strips and gunwales were positioned with a couple of centimeters jutting out beyond the front of the hull. This was to allow them to mate up with the outer stem which has yet to be fitted. (At this point of writing it has actually been fitted. This work was done last year).

The excess wood from the rubbing strip and gunwales was removed carefully so that the outer stem could slot into the space.

Below the finished result. Total time was about six hours. Should see more photos of it later.

Outwales

The outwales were put onto the boat in a similar manner. The wood was primed and then coated in thickened epoxy after a couple of hours. Starting at the bow the gunwale was clamped to the boat and screwed into position using 4x35 stainless steel screws every 20cm.

Clamps were left in position for 36 hours approx and removed so that the epoxy could be cleaned up. All preparations, glueing and scraping took about 8 hours, same as for the inwales. The hull was then shaved down to the level of the gunwale and the sharp corners of the gunwales rounded off slightly.

Inwales

This work was originally done last August. The inwales are 15x35 Douglas Fir. First the hull and inwale were soaked in neat epoxy for a few hours and they were then brought together with clamps working from the bow backwards. The glue is inclined to start dripping on the floor and it is useful is you have someone to hold up the inwale at the other end. I didn't (her mother wouldn't let her go near the epoxy) so I just balanced it on the open door of a cupboard beside the boat. The inwales were held fast to the boat using 4x18 countersunk stainless steel screws. probably they are not needed - the epoxy is good enough to hold the wood - but I left them there after the epoxy cured anyway.

You need a lot of clamps for this job. They can come off after 24 - 36 hours depending on the curing temperature. There is a lot of cleaning up to be done as well as the epoxy drips down while you are clamping. Most of it ends up in the bin. After it has cured and you have removed the clamps you can tidy up the rest with a heat gun or a sharp blade. For the Stornoway 12 the inwales on both sides took me about 8 hours.