Loads happening, but  a lot needs to be done before she goes in!
So no Blogg entries until we have her sailing, then I'll fill in the blanks.... Just hard to motivate myself after 16 hrs in the workshop everyday!

PhilMac

Yes! It's straight!

So, the hull sits on the keel. Now it is time to tie the frames and ribs together with the keel, before we fit the floors around the keel bolts. To do this I needed to cut sockets into the rabatt to allow for a flush finish so the garboard can sit properly... Only about 40 to cut... A nice afternoons work after the stress of lowering the boat!

And a little more fairing of the stem... But I will complete that when the planking is finished next week.

The knee is connected to the.... Backbone?!

Well sort of! We finally got the hull to a position I felt it was safe to lift it from the hog and keel. This was a very nervous moment ( ok, half a day!) and we don't have pictures of the process. We lifted her with two points fixed to the beams in the workshop, then supported her all round. This allowed us to remove the knee, hog and parts of the stem and sternpost for renewal.
The knee was in dreadful shape.....

 And literally fell apart in my hands!

 Even the bit that held together did not hold up for a more rigorous inspection...

But we already had a bit of grown oak for the job. Out with the chainsaw and time for some carving...
The first is it roughed to shape with the chainsaw...

 This is it sort of ready for final finishing...

 

Before I could proceed with it's shaping I needed to make the hog and the bit of the stern-post that needs replacing.

This is the old hog sat on the oak that will make the new.

And rough hewn to shape. All the final shaping will be done in situ, to fair it into the keel. the rabatt must be cut after the hog is correctly dimensioned.

You can see the new "backbone" of the boat now all ready to meet up with the rest of the boat hanging over it. This was a really scary process! Lots of running around, different sight-lines and measurements: jacking the keel here, sliding it there... Unti at last it slotted together!

Is it straight?

Progress

Well the title is progress... And yes we are progressing! Always too slowly, but hej-ho! Just keep going...
We got a nice picture...

But only because we pulled the transom... Not a pretty sight behind that, rotten and messy. We needed to replace a bit of the "keel" running to the transom and a knee. But thankfully the hood-ends were all in good shape.

The tarnsom was built with an inner and outer - the inner you can see what is left of it! The outer looks ok - but we will be making new.

The plan is to laminate up from 7mm ply, then a veneer...
The knee was fun to play with, got to use the chain-saw again ;-)

As you can see, my "helper" strolled back after I was finished with the noisy tools. Then some finer shaping...

And eventually it fitted back in place.

Then it wa stime to scarf in some new wood under it, while Oscar welded up a ring frame to support the new transom... Pictures to come when all is fitted.

The planking work has been progressing. We are working toward the turn of the bilge, replacing all the bad wood - either by scarphing in pieces, or by complete plank replacement. Complete planks have needed to be scarphed because of the stock - only 4 meters in length. But the scarphing tool and epoxy has made this task easier.
When the boat is finished to this point, we will lift her off the keel for the hog and stem work.
The wood is local Gotland's pine - very dense and resinous. A few too many knots to be ideal, but we work around them... And the wood doesn't seem to split at them, probably due to the resin and density.
Just alittle finishing of the scarph on this plank before fitting the last on the this side

Finally the port side completed... Time to look at the starboard side!

The first scarph cut for planking replacement, only LOADS more to do! Need to work out some fastenings...

Then out with the plank... How do I turn that flat plank beside into the banana that came out?

After a little work with saw, plane, angle grinder etc. it seems too fit well!

While I continue with the planking on the starboard side Oscar is stripping the old paint from the port side. This was only sitting there by habit, but we left it there to help keep the moisture content of the wood stable. Now it needs to go, before we spline the hull and paint the primer/barrier coat.

Only a week or two until we are painting her... Hopefully!

Planking!
Well the planking work has started.
As mentioned earlier we will be replacing the butt-joints in the planks with scarphed "hide-a-butts" glued with epoxy. This is to create a stiffer hull, and remove/replace the damaged end-grain in the planks. While there are a number of butt-joints per side we are minimising the number of "hide-a-butts" by incorporating them into plank repairs when we can - again with glued scarphs ( 8:1).
To ease this I built a little jig to help control the router as I cut into the hull.

This speeded up the process - 13 scarphs cut in the hull in a day! Most of what is needed on the port side. Then the tool was mounted on a bench for cutting the wood.

Neat repeatable 8:1 scarfs... Makes the job so much easier.

Here you can see two of the completed hide-a-butts and the first plank repair - being held in place while I drill for the ribs and frames.

Then it was time to put in one of the most difficult planks - constantly changing dimension, curve, and twist!

This is being held in place for a few days - I have to travel anyway. So that it can get "happy" with its new place in life, before I remove it for final finishing and fitting.

Well it's a bit quiet on our front... Just working away.
Most of the steel is now in, just the extra strengthening pieces to do.... Finally starting on the woodwork! Got some nice oak... A good bit for knee:

And the wood for the planking has started arriving!