Deck Framing

After the primer and undercoats went on the inside of the hull I started on the framework rhat supports the fore and aft decks. The framework is has a camber across the boat (6mm in 300mm) and follows the sheerline in the fore and aft direction.  Here is a photo of the aft deck.

In the above the top of the framework is all straight: The part with the curve rises in the centre to the high point of the camber, the rest of the pieces are higher than the curved line of the camber and sheer. In the following photos the curved part has been built up by glueing scrap ply on top of it. All of the framework was then faired with a hand plane to provide the camber.

The square hole in the middle of the deck will be a round hole providing access to the steering quadrant. There isn't much room under the deck so the hole needs to be big enough to insert and remove the quadrant from above. The circular coaming is laminated from 2 layers of 5mm thick bending ply.

Bending ply has 2 thick outer veneers and a very thing inner veneer. I don't think the glue is completely waterproof so I will coat the coaming in epoxy.

There will have to be a removable hatch cover and I am still wondering how to make this!

This last photo shows the 6mm ply sub-deck roughly cut to shape and pinned in place temporarily. I took the photo and then took the panels off again! Suddenly the boat looks almost complete but there is a long way to go yet.

I will finish the woodwork under the edges of the opening and then complete the painting of the inside of the boat (including the underside of the ply sub-deck) before I glue the sub-deck in place. Much easier than crawling into the small spaces at the ends of the boat.