fair curves

Posted by LeeG on Feb 10, 2007

the only place where fair curves are critical and require scarf joints is in the bent one piece fordec deck panels, everywhere else it's moot as the panels don't bend enough to matter.

Scarf joints have a slight thickness variation that becomes evident when sanding before and after glassing. Puzzle joints have a more stiffness in the area of the joint that doesn't matter over a 17' arc. Six of one, half dozen of the other.

It's nice to maintain the illusion of solid wood with continuous grain but there's no way around the fact that it's plywood made from 4'x 8' sheets. If every kit was matched to have near perfect grain match up there would be a huge pile of unmatched panels.

In Response to: Shearwater hull panels by Ingrid H on Feb 10, 2007

Replies:

• Re: fair curves by Brad Shook on Feb 15, 2007