Follow me as I build a 12 foot catboat from plywood and pine. The boat was designed by Edson Schock in the 1940's. This is a project born of a desire to have another boat to sail here in Puerto Rico that will stand-up to the Trade winds. The sail plan will be changed to a gaff rigged sail. All the lumber is locally bought and pine will be substituted for oak, which is not readily available here. Marine plywood will be used.
I have completed cutting the last step on all the frames, cutting a slot to accept the keel. This takes time to make sure it is done correctly. I decided a depth of 1/2" would be the best to get the landing area I need for the bottom panel. I wanted about an inch and a half so I would get good adhesion and lots on wood for the screws and nails that will hold the bottom panel in place. But that comes later. I laid out the slot to a depth of 1/2" on the face face. The face is the side that does not have the gussets or floor pieces mounted, just a clean side that is aligned with the position marks laid out on the drawing. The keel will always be 1/2" deep on this side of the frame.
Next, I transfer the lines across the top of the frame to the other side.
Now I measure the depth of the curvature 1-1/2", to allow for the 2 - 3/4" thicknesses of the frame wood and determine how much deeper I need to cut the slot at that point to allow for the curvature. In some places, I needed to add 5/16" to the 1/2" to allow for the curvature.
Now I used a hand saw to cut the depth of the slot to the limit lines on both sides of the frame and then used a chisel to remove the excess. I will fine tune the slot with a wood rasp.
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