Sorting the strips
Establishing a pattern, and planking
the bow and stern (page 1 of 3 pages)
Sorting the strips. Well, I received my pre-milled strips from
Noah's, and have pre-sorted them by first considering a matching pattern
for each side of the hull, and the first strips from the shear up and onto the deck.
For my boat, I decided on using some of the darkest full-length strips that seem
to have more of a distinct grain pattern than the others. I chose one to do the partial
overlap on the shear, then selected two of the brightest light colored strips to
rip-down with my band saw for use as a pinstripe hi-lite when sandwiched back into
the center of a nice dark strip, followed by consecutively light strips down and
onto the bottom of the boat. This results in roughly 12 strips per hull side. The
remainder were sorted by color and set aside for the deck. It works well to lay them
out on the floor and "book-match" the sets outward from the shears.
Securing the internal shear strip to the station molds. Before the striping began, a 1/4-inch
thick x 7/8-inch wide keel strip was glued to the bow
and stern spars. These will help keep everything in place until the outside of the
hull has been planed, sanded and glassed. This internal shear strip will taper into
the bow and stern forms so that the outside shear strips that will join to it on
either side of the hull also will flow onto the bow and stern forms (see also next
photo).
The bow fillet. Epoxy resin mixed
into a gob of fiberglass house insulation, this makes a nice moldable glass putty
that really locks things in place after it sets up. Use sparingly, since it does
add (a minimal amount of) weight.
Bow and stern "pins." These
little bolts and washers helped to hold the angles of the internal shears until the
fiberglass hardened. The silver dot to the right of my hand on the strip is the washer
(where the bolt was attached). This was popped off the strip after the photo was
taken.... also, it just happens to be the 4th of July!
Please continue to the next page...
Next (more stripping,
more clamp set-ups!)
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