Wind Enjoyer:

Not having built an Eastport Pram myself, and not being able to develop a clear mental picture of your issue based on your description above, I myself can't be of much help.  HOWEVER, I can say that so long as you've put everything together correctly up to this point, my experience with CLC kits is that things should fit.  And even if for some reason they aren't fitting right now - do take a pause and stop where you are until you get some good advice.  The last thing you should be considering as a solution is making a modifiaction that reduces the strength or structural integrity of the boat or spars.  You'd surely regret that later.  There will certainly be a good solution to your problem - one of the benefits of working with wood.

So I recommend that you try to provide some pictures and wait for some good advice to appear here, and while you're waiting, remember that there are some great, helpful, knolwdgable people at CLC who will offer advice and are only a phone call away.

   And a note I forgot to add - it might depend upon your situation and how you expect to use the boat, but adding shrouds to a simple rig like the Pram would be a thing that defeats the simplicity of the rig.

I have a lug-rigged NE Dory and dependent upon use and wind, the sail is often going up and down several times in a single outing.  Sometimes even including unshipping the mast while on the water, either to limit the extra rolling if rowing out in swells, or to miss overhanging branches when getting far enough up river that it becomes more of a creek.

Just another good reason to get back on track with more of an "as designed" solution to correct your problem.

Here's a picture of the trouble spot. It's enlarged from the CLC Eastport pram gallery, hence the less than perfect quality (not that there's anything wrong with the gallery. The image quality is causd by the fact that no one really has a good photo of that area and I had to extract it from the one photo that came close and over-enlarge it to show the problem spot).

We can see the forward seat with the hole for the mast. Directly under the seat  is the mast step. Surrounding the hole on the underside of the seat is the mast step. We can see the edge of the mast step as it passes in front of the white inspection plate. The inspection plate is mounted on the forward bulkhead. The seat rests on top of the bulkhead, forming a watertight box. That introduces the cast of characters.

The problem, if I understand it correctly, is that the forward bulkhead is too far back so that instead of passing in front of the mast hole it passes under it. This is a problem because the mast won't fit. The bulkhead can be forced to bend forward clearing the mast hole, but the mast partner still won't fit. It sticks out the back of the seat.

It sounds indeed as if the boat is not quite put together as designed. The problem is that at this point in the build, the forward bulkhead is immovable, having been glued in place.

So my first question is - have you glued the seat in yet? Second - when you hold the mast partner in place, how much does it stick out towards the back?

As far as fixes go, they depend on the answers to those questions, but here are some possibilities:

1. If the seat is not glued in yet, move it back until the mast partner fits. If the gap is small, say 1/4" or less, fill the gap with extra epoxy/woodflour putty. If it's larger, fill it with thin strips of wood and cover with epoxy/woodflour putty. For extra strength, cover the fillets with fiberglass tape.

2. If the seat is glued in, flex the bulkhead forward until the mast hole is cleared and glue it all together. Then, glue the mast step to the top of the seat. If you row with a passenger sitting there, give them a cushion to cover the bump.

Do not reduce the size of the mast partner and do not add shrouds. A boat has to be specifically designed for shrouds with the hull reinforced to handle the forces transmitted from the mast to the hull. This pram is not.

Anyway, post some pictures showing your exact situation and answer the 2 questions if you want a better answer. The good news is that this is fixable and you're going to have a really fun boat.

Laszlo

   Hello Laszlo,

I am not from the US and therefore bought the kit from a clc licensed reseller, which i have talked to about this matter for tips and fixes. I will move the seat back and consider your helpful recommendation of using thin wood strips to fill any gaps that are too big to fillet. 
 

thanks a lot to everyone who answered :)