Outer stem and keel

The keel serves a number of purposes. Obviously it has a limited structural value because I've finished the planking and it still hasn't been attached. The keel keeps the boat tracking true, a bit like being on rails. It also acts as a big rubbing strip for when the boat is dragged across surfaces. For that reason it should be made out of a carefully chosen hard wood that will wear well. I made mine out of the door of a cupboard I just demolished. It looked like handy timber at the time so I kept the useful bits. I think its Australian Oak. Its basically just stuck on top of the keelson. Sometimes screws are put through from the top of the keelson but decided to put my faith in the epoxy (plus a dirty big epoxy fillet down each side that you will see later.

The keel doesn't run the length of the boat uninterrupted because the centreboard needs to drop down through the middle of the boat when sailing to further maintain direction when the wind wants to push the boat sideways. So a gap (centreboard slot) needs to be incorporated. I cut the slot in the keelson a while ago. Basically I just cut bits of the Australian Oak to go around the slot and shaped them so it will look smooth.

At the front the keel becomes the outer stem as it turns up. This is a second piece of laminated timber (I used the inner stem as the pattern). The join between the outer stem and keel is stepped to increase surface area glued. Wow its all getting a bit dry. Just look at the pics and it will make sense. Once it was all glued it was planed/sanded until it was all rounded and smooth.

This picture shows that stepped join. The Aus. Oak keel is on the left and the laminated outer stem on the right.