23-Foot Cabin Cruiser "Beaver". Part II.
Get the lower end of the stem so that it fits, notching over the end of the keel as shown in the plan, and then lay out the lines marked rabbet line and bearding line. Between these two you are to chisel out the notch termed the rabbet, into which the ends of all the planking are to fit. You will notice that these two lines are narrowed together at the top and spread apart considerably at the bottom. The reason for this is the planking approaches the stem at a much sharper angle near the bottom, the same thickness of plank requires a broader surface fore and aft. The planking in this boat is three-quarters of an inch thick and this rabbet and bearding line has been figured on our plans for this thickness of wood, and you will find, if you take a small piece of 54-inch wood as a template, when you chisel out the rabbet and apply it at the different bevels at which the different waterlines approach the stem, that you will require just the widths shown on the stem for the rabbet. Figs. 3, 4 and 5 illustrate what will happen if you do not get this rabbet cut just right. In Fig. 3 the plank is shown as it properly fits into the rabbet. The outside of the plank finishes flush with A, which is the rabbet line, the inside finishing flush at the spot B, representing the bearding line. If you do not hold the little template of the planning at the I right angle, Figs. 4 and 5 show what will happen. In Fig. 4 the template has not been applied at enough of an angle, and in Fig. 5 the angle is too acute, and you will notice the edge of the plank does not fit in flush with the surface of the wood. This same principle applies aft, of course, as well as I forward, where you get the rabbet line across the dead-wood shaft log and stern timber. Be sure that the after side of the stem is cut perfectly square with the working face, and then get out a stem knee, as shown in the drawing, and see also that the edges of this are perfectly square. If they are not, when you come to rivet the stem and keel together to this knee, they will not be in a perfect line, but will stand decidedly crooked and twisted. Owing to the different lengths of bolts needed in the keel and deadwoods, carriage bolts are very seldom used. When you come to bolt the clamps and frames together, you can very often make use of carriage bolts, but here you need galvanized rod iron. Any firm that sells boat hardware carries this in stock in all sizes from 1/4-inch up to I inch or more in diameter. For this boat you will require two rods of about 3/8-inch iron and about two dozen clinch rings for the same. Bore your holes as shown in the plan where the bolts are to go, measure the ex-act length with a little thin piece of wood, and get the bolts just the right length to reach from one edge of wood to the other, allowing the heads on the outside to countersink to a depth of about 3/4 to 1 inch, and this countersink should be bored with about 3/4-inch bitt. These holes, we might here say, are afterward to be filled with wooden plugs which you can also buy at a boat hardware store. Hold the bolts in a vise and rivet up one end so you form quite a good-sized head on it, and while doing this you will notice the quality of the iron you are using, and it should be such that as you form the head it will not flake off and fly in pieces, but will stand turning over and forming a good, strong ridge.
Paint the adjoining faces of the stem and knee with a good, thick mixture of white lead paint just before you bolt them together. Then drive the bolts in from the outside, put a clinch ring over the inner end, and rivet them up firmly, having some one hold on against the outer end with a good heavy weight, such as the penne end of a top maul. In regular boat shops they have a five or ten-pound block of iron with a hole drilled in it, into which a stub end of an iron bolt is put, which they hold against the bolts, but this, of course, amateurs would hardly have at hand. There is one bolt, the forward one in the keel, that does not go all the way through. This is called a driftbolt. Bore for this the same as you did the other, but be careful the bitt you use does not bore a hole so large that the bolt will slip in too loosely. If anything, it should be 1/16-inch smaller than the drift bolt, so that, as you drive it in it will hold and draw the wood tightly together.
Figures 3,4,5 of 23-Foot Cabin Cruiser "Beaver".
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