Classic Australian Wooden Power Boat Association

Bob Vic wrote:That's a heck of a keel. Sure as poo it will run straight as an arrow in a straight line.

It's my new centre fin design..........................

That's not a keel....THIS is a keel!!!

Well done Craig coming together very nicely

Some more progress today. Finished cutting in all the new frames to the keel board. Pretty tedious and slow going work with trying to keep everything lined up and level. Thinking about replacing the transom sheet now but that will be a lot more work.
Next job will be making up all the ply lamination pieces for the frames. Slowly slowly.

Coming together nicely. It's not a race. As a good friend told me frequently, do it once, do it right. Replace the transom, you'll be glad the you did.

What Bob said,

Well not such a good day today. I've come across a problem with my process whereby my lamination sheets for the frames are showing a different gap to the keel. I cut the laminations using the old frame as a template. My new frames fitted had the keel checked into it them after the frames where put in place. As you can see the new keel board was rigged up to be dead flat from the stem to the transom. This change in gap suggests the the original keel had a curve in it. I spoke to Ken Rowley and he made contact with Jeff Tull and they confirmed that the keel should be dead flat from the 3rd frame back from the stem to the transom. Problem there is the cut in at the stem doesn't conform to any curve in the keel at that end. I need to get this right now as I wont be able to change it later. I think I'll do some more checking tomorrow to see if I've cocked up somewhere.

Hi Craig,
From the pics the hull is mounted on tyres??
If I was doing work on the frames and keel, I would have the entire hull mounted solidly.
Then there will be no distortion, these boats are built in a metal "jig" to keep things "square"
Apologies if you have it in a jig, picture might lie.
Great work though mate!
Cheers
Darren

Well I've found the problem. Seems I've cocked up one frame badly. I think when using an old broken frame pieced back together for a template I have somehow got the curve all wrong when I've reassembled it at one stage. This showed up in the difference between the new frame and the lamination piece. I'm happy to report the keel is dead flat with the original frame in place and another forward panel refitted with good a reference from the original bearer position.

I'm now going to change my direction and get started on the bearers and get them temporarily fitted first, then work the frames to the keel and bearers as references. This job is a bit like putting toothpaste back in the tube or fixing your engine by going up the tail pipe. Fun and games.
The first picture is the forward frame in front of the engine which is all good.
The second is the frame which is way too proud of the keel compared to the original. It does line up at the chine frame ok. The curve is all wrong. Good thing I bought extra timber.

This kind of stuff really messes with your head Craig. I had exactly the same problem with the deck beams on Nirvana. Copied faithfully but then didn't fit. Argh! On rfeflection, I think Darren's suggestion is a good one, that is to get a solid base for the hull. A lot of the strength is gone with the pieces removed, so it could move anywhere IMO.