Construction Redux Anew

Construction Redux Anew

Way back here and here we talked about the construction plan and I suggested that you build a few boats to find out how they go together. When you are considering a design you should have some idea of the construction method you intend.

Let's look briefly at RMS, which is, as designed, a hard chine boat which lends itself to plywood and carvel construction.

 
You could do the sides in clinker (lapstrake) but that's a complicated joint at the chine. However there is a little twist. If we look at the lines plan,

You'll notice that the bottom of the boat is not altogether flat, and there is a little triangular section in way of the keel. 

There are several ways ways to do that and at least one of them should be shown in your construction plan. I'll show you one,

This diagram shows ply planking 1/4” for the sides and 3/8ths for the bottom, the chine and keel joint should be epoxied with fiberglas tape.

But should this boat be round bottom? Would that change the design significantly?

Here's the redesign,

It looks much the same as the picture at the top of the article but it is a very different boat. And we'll explore those differences anon.