Tuesday, 13 September 2011

Transom Dry fit up

Well after being a bit concerned about the complexity of the transom frame floor timber, it actually turned out to be quite easy to make.  The part is formed from a 2 x 4 x 26 piece of mahogany, but has several angels, a notch for an uprights and one face is rounded off to match the curvature of the transom.

That done I set about dry fitting all the other pieces of the transom.  This is the first time my entire clamp collection has been put to use in one go.  I am going to have to get some more.  Dry fitting was well worth it as there a subtleties (and minor errors) in the plans that don't become clear until you dry fit....and it doesn't fit.  In my case most of the "doesn't fit" turned out to be because I had pieces not quite correctly positioned.  I will have to square up the tops of my side pieces to get the deck frame sitting correctly, but other wise it looks pretty good.  The other thing I noticed is the curve on my lower frame pieces doesn't quite match the curve on the Floor timber.  Once they are glued together I'll marry them up with the belt sander.

I'll post a photo when I get home.  But from here I have a 3 stage glue / screw plan.  Stage 1 is the lower laminations and centre upright get secured to the floor timers.  Stage 2 is the side pieces and deck beam.  Stage 3 is the remaining uprights.  After that I will encapsulate it in penetrating epoxy and be able to call the first frame done.  Hopefully by about this coming weekend.

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