Twists in Chester Yawl bow advice

Not sure why but a couple of planks where they join at the bow twist to the side a bit.  Wires are tight and I can straighten the twist with  my hand, but when I let go it assumes the twist again.  Clamps slide off when I try to use them.

Need to figure out how to eliminate the twist before I apply the bow fillet.

Any ideas or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

RichMPL


5 replies:

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RE: Twists in Chester Yawl bow advice

Hi RichMPL,

I'm not familiar with the Chester Yawl, but on a kayak I would try loosening the wires a bit along the seams near the bow, adjusting how the opposing planks meet at the bow, and then re-tightening the wires gradually while repeatedly checking for twist. The way I would check for twist would be to use a bubble level across the gunwales near the point of maximum beam to level the hull side-to-side. Then I would hang a plumb bob near the stem, to make sure it stays vertical while I'm re-tightening the wires. If you're using copper wire, some of them will probably break from repeated loosening and tightening, so you'll probably need to re-stitch some. Hope this is relevant to your Chester Yawl. Good luck!

Old Yeller  

RE: Twists in Chester Yawl bow advice

I think Nick has a trick that might help.  You can hot glue a small block to the board to keep the clamp from sliding. Once the glue has dried use a block plane to slice it off.  (If you pull it off you risk pulling fibers out of the board.

 

 

RE: Twists in Chester Yawl bow advice

Hmm. It's very possible that I misunderstood. I was thinking the twist was in the hull near the bow, not in the individual plank ends. I used spring clamps with sticky tip covers to hold the plank ends tightly together at the ends, and they held without sliding off. It probably depends to some extent on how fine the ends are. But the hot glue thing, or even tape, would work. If you are going to paint the hull, small nails could also be used to temporarily attach tiny pieces of wood that the clamps can hold onto.

Old Yeller 

RE: Twists in Chester Yawl bow advice

Thanks for the creative potential solutions. I will start experimenting tomorrow!

RichMPL

RE: Twists in Chester Yawl bow advice

Yes - hot glue is your friend.  I use Milady's hot glue gun to tack all sorts of temporary supports in place. When  I  glued 3" x 20" x 4mm boards with kayak rudder pedal mounting studs in I spread the goo and left a couple bare spots, then squirted a dab of hot glue on bare spots and stuck them in - instant clamp!

 

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