Help! deck form issues

I am building a shearwater 17 hybrid and the forms in the cockpit area are not lining up with the sheerclamps properly. I have installed the cockpit form in the slots on the cross forms and am not happy with the alignment. Some of the forms won't go high enough, and some seem too narrow for the beam of the boat. Should I have to trim the slots to make things line up?

4 replies:

« Previous Post       List of Posts       Next Post »

RE: Help! deck form issues

What you're seeing is the variation in shape that boats with sheer clamps have.  In the computer, all of those molds fit perfectly, but the wooden sheer clamps sometimes behave differently.  It's harmless, but it means that some trimming and shimming is always necessary with deck molds.  The tolerances are so wide with strip decks that you can get away with murder when it comes to fits.

RE: Help! deck form issues

Thanks John. 

The other issue I forgot to mention is that with the plywood cockpit opening piece laid onto the forms the forward edge seems to have a steep upward curve. It looks like I would need to trim the cockpit form to get a fair curve. Is this common?

RE: Help! deck form issues

That I haven't heard of.  Can you email me a digital snap?

RE: Help! deck form issues

Shims! Ach! the brain is a little slow today. it looks like the forward edge isn't as proud as I thought. I'm going to need to trim the width of form 8 a tad and that should do the trick. 

« Previous Post     List of Posts     Next Post »


Please login or register to post a reply.