Well, after much anticipation, I am finally starting to build the main hull. Progress has been slow as of late, due to a combination of untimely cold weather, other hobbies, and an easily distracted shipwright. But with daylight savings time just around the corner and temperatures generally on the rise, I am focussing on getting this hull looking like a boat. My goal is to have the hull together before next winter. Here is the first step on that path.
As you can see I planked about eight feet of the lower port hull. Actually, the planks have only been formed to the frame. I still have to glue them together. I also cut the planks for about 2/3 of the hull. I am using the same basic technique we used for the floats. The curves on the main hull are generally gentler than on the floats, so it is actually easier to form the planks to the frame. Some light heating with the heat gun takes care of most of the curves. The fold near the gunwale (bottom in the picture) and curve near the keel (top of picture) require a little more heating to form the foam to fit.
The wood plates are holding the planks in place until I finish gluing them together and hold the planking with screws from the underside. Next I will go back and remove each plank, glue the edges, and clamp them to the frame with the wood plates again. As we did with the floats, I will add a strip of packing tape on the frame under each seam to prevent the glue from adhering to the wood frame. Initially I am only planking the lower section of the hull below the gunwale because it would be too difficult to reach everywhere. Once the lower section is glassed, we will go back and plank the deck (to the left in the photo).
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