Transom and Stem

Milestone... outer hull construction is complete!

Except for a very minor bit of construction along the sheer (more nautical boat parts named which, by the way, is the top edge of the hull) marks the last of the "parts" that we installed before the laborious task of sanding... sanding... and more sanding.

The Stem...

Lamination before planing.
Notice the black plastic in the
background for glue up.

Trimmed up you can see
the lamination layers

The stem of which we refer is actually the outer stem.  You could call the inner stem the "Apron" if you wish, and would be technically correct.  Loosely put, the outer stem is the wedge shaped piece that forms the front edge of the hull.  In this version we are laminating this using 4 layers of 1" thick yellow pine (yes, old friend the pine) and a center lamination of AB Marine Ply.



We generously slathered all layers of lamination with the same epoxy glue mix we have used all along as they sat on a piece of black poly sheet, and wrapped this up before clamping.  The piece just falls away from the sheet when cured and is ready to be squared up and thickness planed.

Note the Stem on this pretty little sailboat.
See how it turns square at the top....
very pretty

Now comes the tricky part, and we did take a shortcut or two, but can live with ourselves... unless you have read this blog, you'll never know in the end.  We show the little sailboat "Ashley Grey"so you get an idea of the stem treatment planned.  See how it is angled up to the sheerstrake (a strake is a board and the sheerstrake is the uppermost board along the sheer or upper edge of the hull).  We have "short-cutted" this carving and elected to rip the angle that forms the wedge shaped stem in one pass.  We couldn't figure out how to do it any other way on the tablesaw.

Let me digress a minute and I will speak for myself (no we or us) just "I"...

I appreciate a hand tool.  If I have an (that means one or two) edge to round over, or a very small piece of wood to part, I will use a block plane or Japanese saw to plane or cut and they are a pleasure and faster. However, I do not waste (and yes it seems a waste with so little free time available for this pursuit) a lot of time adhering to a purist notion of always having to hand plane this or hand cut that OR that it is somehow better.  If there is a power tool that will answer, I reach for it.  I have more silly, specialized versions of power tools than hand tools and I do use them, although it can be months or even years between.  I do believe that a deft hand with a power tool takes some skill and can be used with artistry.  I also believe that some of the adherence to doing it all with a hand tool is founded in trying to do it like my Great Granddaddy did, or trying to emulate those fantastic craftsmen of yesteryear.  That's fine, but I am willing to bet "dollars to doughnuts" that if they had access to a decent saw, jointer or power sander back then, they wouldn't have reached for that hand tool to start with.  They were professionals that wanted to do their job to the level expected of them and get home in time enough to see their family or go fishing every once in a while.

Stem shown with the proper angle.
Notice the off-cut on the floor.  It will
be saved for later and glued back and shaped
to form the square top.

Stem fit and rounded over where it
meets the keel... heavy sucker!

Okay. Whew... enough of that.  Now, we (yes back to "we", the "team", and it takes a team) ripped the stem as shown here and checked the fit against the apron or inner stem. Guess what, my apron isn't exactly square to the center-line.  Here is another admission of failure on my part. I (taking full blame) missed square by a quarter inch and if the inner stem was planed off to square it up, it would bee too wide for the outer stem to fit.  Well, I got ahead of myself here and had actually figured this out before beveling so I was able to mark the amount to be removed and ran it through the planer with a wedge matching the angle.

Countersunk hole in stem with
1/2" threaded rod showing.

We attached the stem with three 10" lengths of 316 stainless threaded rod, flat and lock washers that went clear through the inner and outer stem.  Also, while the countersink and 12" drill bit were chucked in, we drilled and attached 5 - 8" lengths of the same rod through the keel and hull bottom as a little extra insurance if we ended up on a lee shore, no power and a reef trying to grind our bottom out (Patrick O'Brian fan). Also used an 8" lag at the keel joint to firmly attach the  stem to keel.
I stated this under the picture description above but I'll say it again. We will glue back the off-cut from the tablesaw and shape the pretty little transition curve after the hull is flipped to resemble the sailboat's stem shown above.

Transom "Veneer"...

Milled Mahogany ready to be glued and installed.

Bar clamps holding the board together while the screws
are driven home.

There is a lot of brightwork (clear finished wood... in this case mahogany) on this version of the Redwing.  the intention is to look reminiscent of those gentlemen's yachts from the Gilded Era.  You know, something that may have ferried Clark Gable or Charles Lindbergh around on their honeymoon.  At the same time we are making some serious "faux pas" in this stylization by adding such comforts and modern propulsion accessories as a rooftop AC unit or even more hideous, a transom bracket and outboard (yes, there have been some shifts since this design was introduced as concessions to practicality and usefulness). We do plan to make these seem more "yachtish", if that is a word, by decking the bracket's swim platform with teak veneer or choosing a low profile version of the AC.  One important piece of brightwork is a mahogany transom which is currently two layers of 1/2" Marine Fir ply. We elected to mill enough lumber to add a 1" layer, epoxy glued and screwed from the inside.  By the way, the transom was already notched for the intended outboard motor well.  That will be filled and glassed from the inside after the "flip" and another layer of ply added to reinforce this area.  You can see from the pictures that we glued these up one at a time, by first laying them into place and marking the shape to be sanded flush later.
1-1/2" stainless screws clamped the boards in place (probably useless once the epoxy cures).

Mahogany sanded and shaped so it looks fairly light.
Note the uneven wood tone. Pretty common and why I like to dye
the wood to get an even tone.

All that's left is to cut the arched top (bottom in the picture), sand and dye to even the wood tones between boards before coating with epoxy and final finishing.
That does it for the construction itself, by that, we mean adding components before the hull is flipped.  Once flipped it gets really busy.  The next post will talk about the preparation of the hull for cloth and that is where we are now in the process.  We hope to have that finished by this weekend ( around the first of October) and begin glassing the hull next week.  After that, another round of sanding and fairing (nautical for smoothing and evening surfaces), then final paint. Thanks for looking!