April 2020

April 17,

Still working on laminating beams for the deck house roof.  I've made 5 so far which is about half of what I need for the aft section.  A little more for the forward section, but those will be shorter but using the same form so the curve is identical.  I'm out of 10 ft lumber so I'll have to start on the shorter ones.  Definitely will need some more white oak very soon.

Here are the five deck house beams stacked on top of each other.  They are identical and match the pattern exactly even though I put a little more bend in them than necessary.  There is always a little spring back that you have to take into consideration.

This is the pattern for a laminated knee to hold up the carlings for the deck adjacent to the deck house.  I decided to steam bend and laminate white oak instead of a plain plywood knuckle.  You can see the outline of the piece I wish to make in pencil.  

This is the first attempt at bending the knee.  I had to add some modifications to suit the task.   They were suitable but the second attempt went much smoother.  Notice that I added two more blocks for clamps at the end.  I also drove a few drywall screws through the plywood and into the table so I could better man-handle the strips.  I've broken one piece each time I try to bend a group.  From what I gather this is fairly normal.  Expect some broken pieces unless you want to go very thin on the strips.  You can see one of the broken pieces in the image just to the left of the red squeeze clamp.  It is still clamped to the work with the "C" clamp in the upper left of the figure.

April 28,

This is the partially made piece.  I still need to make it a hair thicker and add some material on the outside of the bend .  It did not turn out too bad.  

This laminated beam supports the deck where the deck house terminates in the bow.  There is a strongback that will be notched into the center of the beam and the bulkhead near the bottom of the image. The strongback will continue until it attaches to the tip of the stem.  The laminated beam will be notched so the top of the beam will be flush with the bottom of the deck.  Once the deck is installed, the bowsprit will lay on top of the deck and strongback held in place by two vertical members forward of the last bulkhead (bottom of the image).  This will make a strong triangle: Stem, bowsprit and strongback, and vertical members mounted forward the bulkhead.  

Just cut the joinery for that forward laminated deck beam. The next one is behind it upside down.

A close up of the fit for this deck beam.  It is a little high in the rear to account for the slope of the deck.  I'll sand it smooth with the deck structure when I install it.  I still have to notch out for the strongback going down the center.

Here is that laminated beam that was upside down in the previous photo.  This is the type of joinery that is needed on the ends.  It required a little adjustment before it fit snug.

The laminated beam that is not adjacent to a bulkhead took a little extra work.  I've been measuring along the curved top for reference lines to cut the ends of the beams.  What I did here was install a fake bulkhead (well just the top part) with the correct curvature and used that to work out the reference lines.   When I install the deck house beams I'll have to do something similar.  I'll make my fake bulkhead for the longest one and trim it as I move toward the shorter ones.

Here they both are.  They are just clamped in place right now.  Actually that one in front just fits tight enough that it wont move.  A mallet blow to each end sets it pretty good.  Again, I'll have to notch out for the strongback and a few other members that support the deck later.

I hope all of you out there are staying safe.  We're screwing this thing up in the old USA.