![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bohls.org\/boat\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Week-33-02-Keel-before-cutting-slot.jpg\")
<\/a>The jig saw was also able to curve from one side of the slot to the other, to remove most of the waste at the slot end, whereupon I used a 3\/4″ wide chisel to straighten the slot end. I was in a hurry and used the junk chisel, where I really should have gone back into the basement workshop and found a better chisel. But the end slot is eventually getting filled with the skeg and the PL Premium polyurethane adhesive and either caulk sealant or epoxy & filler if I’ve got epoxy left over after glassing the chines. And then it’s going to get 3 coats of paint. A little rough chiseling isn’t going to make a huge difference in performance or appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I also softened the hard edges of the keel and skeg. I would have rounded them over with a router if I’d had a 3\/8″ roundover bit, but, alas, I only had a 1\/4″ bit and couldn’t find a 3\/8″ bit at Home Depot. Instead I just used the rasp and a block with 100 grit sandpaper. I don’t imagine that makes much difference, certainly not in performance, except maybe they’ll be less susceptible to dings after being painted, or appearance, although I think it looks a little nicer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Saturday I worked a little on the interior of the boat, making what I’m calling the knees for the mast partner. I’m deviating a little from designer David Beede’s quite unequivocal advice: “The mast partner should not be removable but fastened securely to cleats as a lot of torque is transmitted to the hull through this piece.” Somewhere in my reading I came across an article about adding a balanced lug rig to Cheasapeake Light Craft’s Northeaster Dory, where there’s a “mast thwart assembly” that I’m trying to copy instead. CLC uses cleats that are 1″ thick, 3″ wide, and 13-1\/2″ long. My plan for a knee, starting with a length of 2×4, was to be 1-1\/2″ thick, 3-1\/2″ wide, and 15″ long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was awfully difficult, though, cutting these pieces to fit, owing to (1) the curvature of the boat from fore to aft and (2) the flare of the hull up and down. And then, just to add to the difficulty, the knees attach fully across the butt blocks on either side, so I needed to either cut a 1\/4″ channel in the middle of the backside of each knee or shim them on either side of the butt blocks. Yikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I started out doing pretty well, using a smaller scrap of 2×4, to test cutting the curve and flare with the jigsaw. It fitted into place on the starboard side just fine, except for the butt block. So then I used that test piece as a template to cut a full-size length of 2×4, this time using the compact circular saw, but that piece didn’t fit nearly as well. It was terrible. And then neither piece fit well at all in place using 1\/4″ ply as shims on either side of the butt blocks. In fact, it just made it worse. This was turning into a disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was able to cut a second length, this time with the jig saw, that fit fairly well onto the port side, after some rasping and sanding. But, again, the ply shims just made it worse. So I resolved to cut channels to fit the butt blocks. I cut 1\/4″ long notches all along the channel areas with the jig saw, using it almost like the dado set on the table saw, until the channels were cut, then I used the good old rasp and sanding block to smooth them out as best I could. Like the chiseled end of the keel slot, these are going to be filled with adhesive and caulk, so they’re not perfectly smooth channels, but they’re close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But since I ended up using my first test piece as the final knee on the starboard side, the knees are not the full 3 \u00bd” wide anymore. They’re more like 2 \u00bd”. But, still, imagine the CLC knees at 1 \u00d7 3 \u00d7 13.5 making a volume of 40 \u00bd in3<\/sup>, where my knees at 1.5 \u00d7 2.5 \u00d7 15 are 56 \u00bc in3<\/sup>. (Then again, CLC uses cedar, where I’m using \u2026 whatever Home Depot was using for dimensional lumber the week I bought it. Who knows?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’m imagining worst case scenario is replacing the bolts and star knobs that I’m planning to use for attaching the mast partner proper to the knees, making it removable for rowing with a passenger, with screws and glue to permanently attach the mast partner and having less room or comfort for said theoretical passenger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Sunday I tackled the supports for the rowing thwart, at least the vertical ones, where there’ll be one on each side some length afore of the frame. I was a little disappointed to discover, all these many weeks and months after having made the frame, where at the time I softened the edges of these vertical supports, that I wished I hadn’t softened the edges before mounting the horizontal brace cleats atop which the thwart will rest. Those soft edges leave less material to attach the horizontal cleats. Oh, well. Live and learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mostly today I just rounded the ends of the vertical supports, to better transfer any load on them to the hull as well as just look similar to the rounded ends at the tops of the frame. Only after rounding both the top and bottom ends, though, did I wish that I hadn’t quite rounded the bottom ends, to better let those rest on the internal chines, transferring more load to the bottom of the boat and not just the hull sides. Oh, well, again. Live and learn. I can still notch off those bottom roundings to rest on the chines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, having some time left on Sunday, I measured to find the tangent point along the outside starboard hull, where the center of the lee board should be. I was expecting to find it at 82″ back from the stem, per Beede’s design instructions, but instead I measured it at 85-5\/8″ back. I thought maybe I’d made a mistake or that the 2×4 I was using was crooked or something. But I re-measured with string and got the same results. I’m using this measurement to site where the upper and lower guards of the lee board are going to be, so I’m not ready to commit yet to these as a final measurement. Plus I imagine I’ll have some room along the guards to move the lee board fore or aft, depending on the center of effort of the sail, eventually. But I’m puzzled. A little disturbed, even. I’m trying to not let this all upset me too much yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Working three days of a four day weekend, I finished making the keel and skeg, the mast partner knees, and the thwart vertical supports. I also measured the boat to determine the placement of the lee board. I had hoped to glass the chines, but, sadly, the epoxy that I’d ordered did not arrive yet. … <\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>