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9
COMPLETING THE BASIC HULL
1. Installing the Stem
Precut the stem and glue it to the bow.
The stem should have a very slight
taper to it. Make sure the grain of the
wood is in line with the piece.
2. Installing the
Rubbing Strakes
Using a 1/16" strip, pre-shape the rub-
bing strakes. The straight sticks can be ap-
plied from the stem back to about the
front of the deck grating (the lower strake
feathers out at the waterline). Mark the
location of the rubbing strakes on the hull
with a pencil. For the stern you can cut
the strakes out of a 1/6" sheet. Make it a
little wider than necessary. After it is in-
stalled, sand it down to match the other
section of strake (see Figure 5).
As an option for the stern, you could
steam-bend or ammonia soak a strip to
soften it for bending around the stern.
Also, you may want to try laminating
several thin strips to obtain the shape.
3. Planking the Deck
For this model, you can lay individual
planks as an option, or use the scored
decking included in the kit. For the
scored sheets, first make a paper tem-
plate to fit snugly against the bulwarks.
Place the template on the scored sheet
and cut the sheet with a hobby knife.
Glue the deck sheets down with model
airplane type cement or contact cement.
White or Carpenters wood glue tends to
warp the wood. Make sure you have
the scored lines lined up with the cen-
terline of the boat.
The waterway along the bulwarks were
generally planks flush with the deck.
For the model they can be faked by
adding a 1/8" wide paper strip, glued
grating step aft. Square these areas and
sand the deck smooth (see Figure 4).
At this stage, the hull is fully shaped. Go
over the entire hull with sandpaper,
using #220 grit for the final smoothing.
Be careful not to round the upper edges
of the rail, the hull angle aft, and the bot
-
tom (waterline). These should be sharp
corners.
Before proceeding to the next stage, it
would be a good idea to drill a couple of
pilot holes in the bottom of the hull if
you intend to have the boat mounted on
a baseboard.
STAGE B
FIG. 6 – Planking the Deck
FIG. 7 – Installing the Rails
FIG. 8 – Installing the Rub Rail and Spray Rail
on top of the scored decking (see Figure
6). If you prefer a wood waterway, you
can trim 1/8" off the edge of the scored
decking and glue on a waterway piece.
After the waterway is in place, cut the
scupper slots through the bulwarks (also
shown in Figure 6). Use a small drill and
needle file to shape up the slots. The
plan also shows a larger hole aft which is
a freeing port. This is optional. The verti-
cal lines are bars, added in the hole to
prevent loosing a tow line through them.
4. Installing the Bulwark
Stanchions and Rails
If you are going to add them, the bul-
wark stanchions should be about 1/32"
square. Starting at the bow, space them
about 1/4" apart. At the scuppers, the
stanchions should be at the end of the
slot, not in way of the slot. Cut each bul-
wark stanchion to length and glue in
place. Cutting and mounting the stan
-
chions is tedious work, so exercise great
care in the installation.
Glue the main rail atop the bulwark and
stanchions, making sure it extends
slightly beyond the bulwark outboard
and stanchions inboard. The rail portion
around the stern can be made the same
way as discussed for the rubbing strakes
(see Figure 7 ). Finally, add the rub rail
at the stern and spray rail forward (see
Figure 8 ).
Decking
Waterway strip
Scupper slot
Rough
File to shape
Rubrail
Spray rail