Hi guys,
Found out something interesting in my struggles so far. The frames on this boat are supposed to be 13/16" thick, and the planks are supposed to be 1/2" thick. Now before I tell you what I am going to tell you, let me say that I believe the frames at the bow of this boat, and the planks are original.
I am now at the point where I am beveling these bow molds, and when I compare the way the my boat hollows to how my battens run across my beveled molds, my molds show a lot less or even no hollow were there should be some. I am not that far off, but it's still not right.
So I go back to the boat and make some measurements, and find that the plank thickness is 3/8" and not 1/2" up near the bow, and the frame thickness is closer to 5/8" or 11/16", and not the 13/16" required. Interesting huh?
As it turns out I think my molds are off by about 1/8 to 1/4" in places, too big, which is better than too small. Fine I can make the necessary adjustments.
Well, I think the shape of my hull in the bow is pretty true so I think I am going to adjust my molds to give me the shape I am seeing here.
So I will have some interesting questions for the guys at Mystic Seaport next week when I go there to take my private lesson on carvel planking. One will be... Did they thin the planks in the bow on purpose to get the planks to twist better? Or should they actually be the 1/2" required thickness. I assume there would be some thinning of the planks when fairing the hull, but not that much.
I am pretty sure the frames should be the full 13/16 thickness because the 1" screws are just starting to pierce through the inside of the original 5/8" thick frames.
Figuring out these little challenges is what is making this a fun and interesting project.
