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Chester Yawl chine scarfs don't meet properly....
Just started a Chester Yawl. Laying out chines in order starting with 'one' and aligning to a snapped chalk line on the construction table, the scarfs on neither plank aliigned properly. The bottom edge is together and the upper scarf edge is over a sixteenth (.063") off (gapped) as if the angle of the scarf to the 'chine' or plank is off. Went ahead and epoxied 'one' chines. Then in lining up 'two', they are off even more. The bottom edge - the 2 1/2" from the base line is closer than the top edge by about 3/32 (.093") this time. I went ahead and epoxied these 'two's' as well but if this is the way this is going to fit, it is going to look pretty bad where the scarfs are exposed on the inner hull when complete. I have checked my work against the plans and directions for assembly and I do not see a reason for this poor fit. This looks as if the scarfs were not aligned to the plank properly and if so, need to be fitted again making the chine too short by at least 3/16" (.188"). Too much of an error... The secondary reason for a scarf in plywood IMHO is a neat joint. This is far from neat! There will be a narrowing dark inner ply exposed on these planks.
What is the tolerance on these scarf angles? Looks like with proper set-up on the CNC machine, they would be very precise.... Maybe we are trying to output these kits in too much of a hurry?
Being very honist, we are not impressed with this kit at this point. This one will not look anything like the display model in the CLC showroom.
Bill C.
6 replies:
RE: Chester Yawl chine scarfs don't meet properly....
Bill,
You need to give CLC folks more than an hour and 47 minutes on a Sunday to get to your question. Also, the guidelines say "While the CLC staff monitors the forum, please contact us directly if you need assistance---the forum is not a good way to contact CLC for customer service! Click “Contact Us” or “Customer Service” on our web page or call us at 410 267 0137."
So before you give up, try calling them directly.
Laszlo
RE: Chester Yawl chine scarfs don't meet properly....
Oh, we don't give up so easily....We built an Ian Oughtred Acorn a few years ago and hand fit the the plank scarfs. A CNC cut kit is very appealing - needed to know more about them and CLC appears to be serious business so we bought one of their kits. Accuracy should not even be second guessed with this kit - if, the parts are set-up on the machine correctly.
The thought occured that someone with some experience with the way these kits fit (tolerance wise) may be aboard the forum to answer a question or two. I've given this kit much more than the hour and forty seven minutes that is mentioned - but I appreciate the timely advice.
Anyhow;
Chines 'three' and 'four' fit as advertised - very nicely. I'm not too worried about 'one' and 'two' since they are in the bilge and covered most of the time by floor-boards, and if that thought had come forth a bit earlier the initial post would probably not have been.
Again, sorry for the disruption. Offering help isn't a clanish thing.
RE: Chester Yawl chine scarfs don't meet properly....
Bill,
Again, don't give up on the forum so easily. There's nothing clannish about helping people here. You just need to wait a bit for the right person to show up. Your question is very specific to the assembly of the Chester Yawl, which seems to be built in fewer numbers than the kayaks. So what are the odds of someone who's built one recently coming across your post on a Spring Sunday afternoon when a lot of people have other things to do? It's like fishing. You're not being ignored, it's just that the right person hasn't read your post yet.
You and your questions are quite welcome here, so don't go away, just give the community a chance to get back to you.
Laszlo
RE: Chester Yawl chine scarfs don't meet properly....
I am currently working on an Annapolis Wherry kit. With this kit the strakes are CNC cut with a puzzle joint that fits like a glove, as opposed to a scarf that you have. The rub-rails on the other hand are cut with a scarf. The scarfs were not cut completely 90 degrees so that when assembled there would be a significant twist imparted from bow to stern (three pieces assembled by two scarfs about 20 degrees total twist end to end). Since the major work of "basic" scarffing was already done, it was no problem to gang two opposing pieces, put them on the end of the bench and hand-plane this joint into perfect alignment. Not perfect "out of the box" but possibly within tolerances for "less than perfectionist" people. I don't happen to be one of those so I just took a couple of minutes to clean them up. Maybe there was a slight CNC error on scarfs when our parts were done. Since the joints you have are already glued up it is a little late to say to trim them up with a plane or sanding block at this point. As far as everything else in the kit? I couldn't be more pleased. I just stiched the boat up this weekend and it looks beautiful. This boat has about ten times the stiches that a kayak has and if you are like me, you get a lot of scrapes from those copper wire sharp ends. So I look like a suicide attempt case today. But it's all good.
RE: Chester Yawl chine scarfs don't meet properly....
I built the Annapolis Wherry last year and it went together with scarf joints. Some fit better than others but I decided that sticking to the prescribed plan profiles re: the measurments from the chalk line, overrode the slight gap in joint. I did tune up a couple of them with a blockplane but it was minor. Bottom line is that the boat stitched together just fine, it's finished bright inside, and yes, you can see one or two of those joints if you look for them, but it's a very minor glitch. Keep a big stick handy and no one will point out your "mistakes".
Ricks, I know what you mean about all those nicks from the wire. It's a small price to pay. You'll love the boat.
RE: Chester Yawl chine scarfs don't meet properly....
» Submitted by Bill C. - Sun, 5/4/08 » 2:53 PM
Plastic wood anyone?
This forum is apparently not for an honest, straightforward question....with a bit of dissapointment showing.
Sorry for the disruption......