I've never built a Shearwater, but I have done 4 boats in the Wood Duck class, and I would say it's a very bad idea to take out the forms before stabilizing the joints with epoxy. It may seem all rigid with the forms in, but take those forms out and you will find that the hull will gain a huge amount of flexibility. Even after "tack-welding" you will need to exercise considerable care after you remove the forms, because until you really lock it all in with filletted joints the hull shape is somewhat fragile. Just my experienced-based opinion, of course.

Jim

Thanks, Jim, for the good advice.  I will modify the forms and keep them in.

Best!

Alec,

Before you do all that you might want to account for why the deck panels do not fit the forms. It could be that the forms are fine and that the panels need adjustment. Don't be in a hurry to glue your boat into the wrong shape.

Laszlo

Thanks, Laszlo.  It is not a matter of the angles, but pure ruler measurements.  The length of the top (shorter side) of the deck forms is longer than the width of the top deck panel at the point where the top panel and shear panels are pre-double drilled for the form.  There's no way to make that fit. 

As far as I can tell, I either have to cut the form to the right length (about 3/16 inch), or move it a half inch or more to a place where the top panel width matches the length of the form.  I am leaning toward the latter, but then the angle of the ends of the form might be just a bit off from what the angle should be between the top panel and the shear panel, at the new point.

I know it seems like a small matter, but all the rest of the boat is fitting to less than a millimeter tolerance, and I'd like to get this right as well.  

Thanks!

I guess I should add that the one deck form that does fit is the large curved form at the place where the front bulkhead is, that holds the main curve in the deck.  The problem is with the three smaller, flat forms, which seem much less important than the curved form.

Best

Ha!  I  just figured it out.  I tried to show a friend the problem by placing the removed deck form against the exterior side of the deck panel, and it fit perfectly.

The bevel devil strikes again!!  The length of the deck forms are exactly the width of the deck panel where the double holes are drilled - until the 30 degree beveling reduces the width of the deck panel on the interior side by a couple of mm.

:-)