Daggerboard!

Because I want to sail this bad boy to Port Lincoln eventually it has to be able to, well, sail. That means it needs some lateral resistance. Thats what lets the boat move in a direction other than whee the wind is blowing. This can be a keel or a centreboard or, in this case, a dagger board. (A centreboard swings up into the hull whereas a daggerboard plunges straight down.

The daggerboard case has to come up it the hull a fair way so that it can be open at the top and not flood the boat. It also has to resist quite a bit of lateral force so needs to be reinforced quiet well. The photo above shows the inside of the case. It has to be epoxied on the inside before closing so it is all waterproof. The angled bit at the back allows the case to double as a support for the middle thwart (seat). The photo below shows the case in place and the thwart reinforcing it.

Gunwales

Gunwale is probably the classic example of marine terminology being just bloody odd. Its pronounced Gunnel, like tunnel.

I wanted a classic look to this little boat so I went with a spaced gunwale. This means an inwale (innel) spaced from the gunwale. It really stiffened the top of the hull when finished. I think its actually a bit stiffer than just a gunwale because of the width of the laminate. Its a bit of a work boat thing.

The spacers are cut either end using a large spade bit drill to make scalloped ends. Its notched intot he breasthook in the front and the quarter knees at the back. Its a bit unclear in this photo but you can see the completed gunwales and floors.

You can see in this photo I've also added the thwart and a cross member for the rear sear. There's probably a name for that too but I haven't got the

plans with me now.

By this time I had filleted all the lands inside and out. Thats the joins between the planks. I mixed up filler thickness epoxy and used a big syringe top squirt it into the joins. Then its just a matter of sort of squeegeeing it to a neat profile. Its a bloody lot of bending over.

Because the width of the join between the two bits of timber is increased it adds to the strength a lot. you can sort of see the finished join below.

You can also see some bubbles in the epoxy painted on the ply. Thats actually good. It means the epoxy displaced gas in the timber and soaked it. I'll sand it all with fine paper (800 grit) and give it another coat.

Half way there!

You might reasonably think once the thing looks like a boat you are almost done. How naive! When the hull is finished and you turn it over you are anywhere between 10% and 50% through the project. I'm only putting in some seats (thwarts) so I'm about halfway there. If it was a bigger boat with a cabin I would have really only just started the hard work. Oh I also have to make a mast, a boom, a yard and a couple of oars, oh also a rudder and a centreboard. But thats it. Bugger!

This picture shows the hull the right way up with some battens across it to check the sheer (top of hull) is level before starting work on the inside.

The first piece of work is the breasthook (great word!) This reinforces the bow and, as it turns out, is an incredibly fiddly piece of work. Every angle is unusual and the whole thing takes a lot of fitting, checking, adjusting and refitting. It should be a bit rounded on top. I made it out of a piece of Australian Oak wardrobe. The timber is nice so I will probably bright finish it (clear varnish).

Next piece of reinforcement is the floors. Not what you'd think. If you want to talk about the floor of a boat you say the sole. The floors are the structures running across the bottom of the boat which stiffen the hull and on which the sole sits. Again (like most pieces of the boat) these are a complete bugger to get fitting correctly. Interestingly the hull without reinforcement was very floppy and bendable but after the floors the bottom bit of the hull became totally stiff.