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I'm building a 16LT from plans, and I'm as far as having the hull assembled with the copper stitching, but no epoxy yet. Before making everything permanent, I'm carefully aligning the plywood panels and snugging the copper. Mostly so far so good.
In sighting down the keel line with e hull upside down, however, there is a sizeable and noticeable "hump" toward the stern, with amidships and bow much flatter. I've tried squeezing, pushing, & clamping various parts to try and adjust the shape; but I've come to the conclusion that the shape of the bottom panels need to be adjusted.
So what to do? I could live with it as is. (No, it's too severe for that.)
I could completely disassemble the boat and recut the bottom panels, then reassemble & hope for better.
What I'm thinking, though, is that I can unwire just the hump area and make the adjustments in place by cutting along the keel joint with a jigsaw, slowly removing incremental passes strategically and gradually until the hump decreases.
Any thoughts?
4 replies:
RE: Bump in keel line
I like that idea. I'll end up unwiring the bulkhead and more keel seam than I would have, but not that much more. And yeah, that will give me a lot more control over material removal. (And as an added bonus, I get to go buy a new tool!)
Thanks.
RE: Bump in keel line
If you are going to go and get new tools for this check out an edge plane instead of a block plane. (Go ahead and get the block plane as well just 'cause they are great to have for all sorts of trimming). The edge plane will allow you to get into the area without unwiring so much of the seam. Lie-Nielsen makes a beauty but it is expensive. Lee Valley also makes a nice one but expensive as well. They make them right and left handed for fine wood working (grain direction issues) but with the plywood you are trimming it doesn't really matter. Good luck wit the CH 16.
RE: Bump in keel line - Follow up
The block plane solution worked great. I unwired about a foot to either end of the problem area, and that gave me ample flexibility of the panels to allow access for the block plane. A few swipes here and there (as many as a couple dozen passes in some places) and I now have a pretty straight keel. 'Tain't perfect, but it's about as close as I can get. It worked so well, I fixed a smaller bump I was going to live with. Tx.
RE: Bump in keel line
» Submitted by Dusty Yevsky - Mon, 5/12/08 » 1:02 PM
Unwire the area with the hump. DON'T use a jig saw! Get a low angle block plane and SLOWLY remove material. You will be amazed at how only a little material removal will result in a large change in keel profile. Make a pass or two and "sneak" up on the finished shape.