Imagine my Surprise (pun intended) when I realized I still had not installed the keel nor the stern post nor the bow stem. I'm beating my self up over it but found a solution that is so far working. All of the above mentioned parts are laser cut from walnut. The bulkheads extend, in some cases, well down into the keel proper which for me suggested the rabbit should be cut into the walnut keel rather than the central structure that holds each bulkhead like normal. ?Design flaw? To be clear nothing in the directions mention anything about a rabbit or installation of the keel, stern post, and bow stem, all of that is left up to the builder.
I dry fitted each piece of keel/post/stem and traced out where each bulkhead ended. Then I just cut the rabbit into the keel according to the marked lines. Glued in with carpenter's glue and clamped. Then I drilled holes and sunk nails through the keel and into that central piece. I'm pretty confident it is one of the most solid keels I've ever made. I've been setting a first-layer plank up against my rabbit at various locations and so far what I cut out is working pretty well. Tomorrow is the last keel section and stern post.
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