Greetings everyone, I hope to find all of you in a good health and great spirit! As always, first, I'd like to express my gratitude to all readers, those who comment and express their emotions thru 'likes'
Assembly slowly moving and today we will talk about Limber strake and Mainmast step. But before we will dive into details we have to prepare the berth by adding support for Thickstuff over the first futtock heads, the Thickstuff over the second futtock heads, and Deck clamp & beam shelf.
The support parts are made from MDF and labeled CL19 thru CL45 in our kit. I hope you have labeled them before cut from the boards, while they technically look the same, they are not. They have to be installed according to diagram 6.2 from our instruction manual on page 25.
The kitt supplies the basswood dowels of 3mm (wood bar on the diagram), this must be cut in pieces of 6mm long. I use my miniature miter saw and prepared as noted.
The installation is rather cumbersome and required some patience and creativity. There is not much space for your fingers\hands to move especially at the bottom of the hull. DO NOT glue either part. I recommend removing laser char just a bit, so the dowels inserted with pressure. First, install all the dowels into the parts themselves (like on the image above), and then in corresponding stations. Pay close attention to what side of the CL23, CL21, and CL19 the parts are installed. You may well call to mind all your 'cursing' vocabulary,
but in the end, you will be rewarded with great jigs helping to position the Thickstuff and Deck clamp strips evenly.
Alright, let's move on. Very good reference material to get familiar with all the parts we will deal with is the AOTS book. Check the image below 'Hull construction', it depicts all the structured parts internal as well as external. Take a look at part 19, this is the Limber strake.
Limber strake (nautical) - The first course of inside planking next to the keelson. Gutters or conduits on each side of the keelson to afford a passage for water to the pump well.
In our kit, the Limber strakes represented by parts DL01 and DL02. This part has a groove for Limber boards (not included in the kit), the grove must be position towards the keelson. It is also suggested to install the Mainmast step.
Check number 5 on the reference image above. Yes, you are correct, it is the Limber strake, and the number 2 is the mainmast step. In the kit, the mast step represents by three parts gluing together (2 x BL35 and BL36). Pay attention when gluing together BL36 going inside surrounded by BL35.
Here is the ready part
in order to accept the Libmer strakes tight and nice, you must carefully clean the edges with a sharp knife. You can achieve this by trim & trial process. The Limber stake must snug into the grove like so (below). Also, you may represent the correct 'mast foot' it should be cut with a slight angle (#3 in the reference image)
You may notice the holes predrilled to accept the bolts. I will be using the same method of bolt imitation as I use to fastened keelson to the keel. Actually, the supervisor (still on probation) carefully checks bolts in order to approve.
Using the stem\stern keelson's knee notches, and the mast step as the reference we position and glue the first limber strake to the hull. Use only drops of glue to each frame. You don't want excessive glue spread to the outside of the frame. It will be hard to clean. Also, do not glue the mast step. After the glue completely dried, we predrill the holes for 0.6mm brass wire so we can imitate bolts. Before bolts are inserted flash with keelson, I use round 'cup bur' to make the head round.
The same procedure used to glue the Limber strake on the opposite side. The length of the limber strake determined based on your own fit and the excess may be cut off.
To be continued...thickstuff are next!
To make those panels 'fancy,' I made a simple jig.
Of cause I better check with my layout first before drilling, but I have not... Moving the mast step forward would result in a wrong mast placement. Also, there is a notch in the keelson and protrusion in the mast step so it is installed only one way.