Build a Dinghy:Part 12

Well, spring is here, and with it, yard work and two fishing boats to get into the water. Slowed my progress a bit for awhile. Got back to building and dry fit the chines.Had a problem in that I overcut the notch in the frame. You can see it in the photo. I made the depth OK, but was too wide. I used a short piece of chine as a marker to make the cut, but unfortunately, that little cut-off was thicker than teh rest of the chine. Sloppy dressing on my part. Oh, well. I'll fill it with thickened epoxy adn move on. You can also see here where the chines butt against the transom an stem. Those fits came out great. I used the technique of clamping the pieces in position and then running a saw through the joint several times to make a perfect fit. The idea comes from Greg Rossel's book, "Building Small Boats."

When I had the chines clamped in position, I drilled and countersunk for the 1/2" silicon bronze screws. The chines are glued with epoxy and screwed. (The designer calls for nails, but I chose screws for the additional control in such long skinny pieces. I countersunk them just a hair, as the plywood is only 6MM, or 1/4". Though I have drills and power drivers, I drove the screws with a manual screwdriver, loaded with the appropriate size squre drive tip--better control. Also, note how I taped the handle so as not to befoul it with epoxy.

After screwing and gluing, I cut the excess chine nearly flush to the sides with a pull saw, then a cheese grater( surform tool). Final dressing to flat was done with a low angle block plane, using a level to make sure I was flat to provide maximum gluing surface for the bottom, which goes on next.