Frame 10 - the home straight

I am calling this the last frame.

There is a support for the transom to screw the two layers of 12mm ply to but because that doesn't go inside the boats interior and forms part of the hull I am rewarding myself already for finishing the frames.

This frame again supports the cockpit floor along with the seat fronts and tops.  It has no plywood web across it so is fairly light compared to the others.

Single layer of 25mm thick wood, seemed to take hardly any time to get them done compared to three layers on the last one.  The scarf joint has a 9mm doubler over it on the forward side, I put a few screws on each piece to hold the lot together until the epoxy glue set.  Below is a close up from underneath while waiting for the glue to go off.

Screwed the solid pieces each side to the hardwood bottom piece using the dimensions marked on the lofting floor, then marked where the 45mm x 30mm cross piece for the cockpit floor support went.  Took it off, marked and cut out the notches for length ways wood later on and glued/screwed it on.

In addition there are 25mm wide packers to go between the cross piece and the forward vertical supports (stick with me, it will make sense!).  The horizontal piece is screwed to the aft face of the solid frames, and the vertical supports to the front.  By putting in a spacer and gluing/screwing it all together it has plenty of support.

Below is a close up of one of the spacers looking from above, the notch is for 30mm x 20mm wood:

Once that was done it was time to cut, drill, countersink, shape and swear at the support pieces.  This took a bit longer and was a bit fiddly, the seat top supports are shaped to match the laminated beam on an earlier frame which is also the same shape as a larger one to come on the transom.

The cockpit floors and seat tops/fronts go full length from the start of the cockpit to the transom forming storage and watertight bulkhead (Fr9).  The horizontal piece is also supported by a 95mm x 20mm piece screwed on the forward face and into the hardwood cross piece at the bottom.

Then more epoxy glue and screws to hold it all together, and fill all the countersunk screw holes with epoxy as well.

Little bit of clean up and finished product from forward:

And from aft:

Onwards to the final transom supports while I get down to some serious strong back planning.  I hope to have the frames standing up (laser level and assistants permitting) in the not to distant future.  But don't quote me....

Frame 9

This frame only has a single doubler on the forward side of the solid frame, seems like a piece of cake after the last two frames.  The frame itself forms a watertight bulkhead across the full beam of the boat in 9mm ply, and forms one of the supports for the cockpit.  In addition, it is the end of the berths each side.

As it was full size 9mm all the way around, I carefully marked out on the ply including the curves of the solid wood and used that to build around.

Then all the screw holes (Lots!!) were marked out, screwed and countersunk.  The holes for the vertical piece on the centreline have to be countersunk on the opposite side, as to the ones into the rear of the solid wood frame.  Don't drill them all at once, do all the forward ones then turn it over.  I almost countersunk the wrong side.

The vertical wood is a mixture and I will describe each, but the whole thing is epoxy glued and screwed on 100mm centres.  It felt like the most solid frame so far, with very little movement/flex due to the screws.

Below is on the laminating bench:

This one shows completed frame from forward.  You can see all the screws which have been countersunk and the holes filled with epoxy.  Doubler is forward as you can see, on the centreline is a 95mm x 20mm support piece.  The angle on the top of the ply comes from the laminated beams for the seat tops (no beam used on this one), the pieces down low are 20mm x 20mm supports for the ply base of the berths.  Base of the 95mm x 20mm is screwed at the bottom only on this side, but through the ply into the hardwood.

This is a close up of the stb side, note the cut outs for various sized solid wood running parallel with the centre line to support the cockpit floor and cockpit sides/seat bottoms.

Then from aft, showing the solid wood to stiffen the ply frame.  Across the top are 45mm x 20mm put on slightly oversize then cut to match the curve of the ply.  The large horizontal one is 45mm x 30mm and the usual hardwood cross piece on the base.  Note the solid 95mm x 20mm is screwed from this side.

Two frames to go, and frame 10 is marked out on the floor and under way.

Frame 8

Fr#8 forms the rear of the engine bay and the rear of the two lockers each side and has the second laminated beam across the top, but this one is thin at 20mm wide.

First thing to do was to make the solid frames, with doublers front and rear.  Made a template again out of some scrap plywood coversheet (like a cross between cardboard and MDF) and marked out the points on the floor to get them right.  A bit of cutting and cursing and they were done.

Then epoxy glue them together leaving the doubler that supports the laminated beam to be made once the final positioning is done.  Looking from above:

From the side:

Below is a close up, 3 x 25mm solid wood:

Once the solid wood was together I could position them on the solid hardwood base piece and mark out/cut the 9mm ply outside curve.  Screwed it in place along the hardwood and started cutting the vertical supports which are 30mm x 45mm.  After measuring up on the centreline and marking the position of the laminated beam I could use cardboard to cut the forward top doubler which supports the beam, same as the last frame although this time the doubler is on the front not the back.

Then a simple job to epoxy glue, screw and clamp it all together:

Of course I am lying, it was not simple and I did it in about three different steps.  Below is the final result looking from the forward side.

Close up showing the rear of the engine bay and lockers each side:

Looking from aft:

Close up showing the notches for solid wood which will support the cockpit floor.

Finally a morale boosting shot of the frames so far, 1 to 8.

Frame 7 complete

Managed to fill and epoxy fillet all the joints I wanted to and cover most of the countersunk screws.  A bit of sanding and I decided to call it done.

Below shows the starboard side 9mm ply web, with 25mm spacer then 30mm x 45mm upright.  You can see on the upright to the right how they finish flush with the front surface of the solid hardwood base.  As shown in an earlier post they fit into an angled cut out piece, that goes from full width at the top face of the hardwood to 5mm back from the forward face on the bottom hardwood face.

Below shows the starboard side again, with the forward doubler then solid frame and aft doubler which is epoxy glued to the laminated beam.

Below shows the width of the berth which is 460mm across the top of the ply web to the frame, 700mm horizontal at the top near the laminated beam and 590mm high in roughly the middle.

Below is completed from forward.

Completed from aft.