We've made good progress on the form frame for the port side of the main hull. Today I had to cut the tie beams that I had left to maintain the strength of the frames. Here you can see the assembly after the first nine ties were cut off the top of the frames. The remaining frames in the foreground were trimmed to final configuration next. This was necessary to make room for the rest of the fairing strips along the keel (to the right in the photo). The fairing strips already installed kept the frames in place, so I no longer have to watch my head under the spacers along the top of the frames (the scars run deep!). I think the best way of laying out the fairing strips is to find paths with minimal twist. Unfortunately I didn't always follow my advice.
And here is the form frame assembly a few hours later with the fairing strips all the way to the keel. It isn't pretty, but the form should do the job. The plywood fairing strips are definitely an improvement over solid wood. They are much more uniform, more forgiving of twist, and stronger. I have a little fill in to complete, but then we should be ready for foam planking.
It is hard to tell in these pictures, but I stopped installing fairing strips at the gunwale (bottom of the frame). We will plank and glass the lower hull between gunwale and keel first, and then come back to do the deck. Otherwise, it gets pretty difficult to reach inside the frame. In fact, I think we would have to stand on the fairing strips. In any case, it will still be a stretch to reach all areas for planking and glassing.
