28-Foot Cabin Cruiser "Mollyhawk". Part II.
When the heels of the frames are all secured by the 2-inch oak floors to the keel and deadwood, get out the fore and aft clamps from 2 by 4 inch yellow pine stock. There are eight of these in all, the upper two being short ones. Be very particular in putting in the main deck clamp, as the deck line will show unfair if this is not done, and no one wants a boat with a wavy, snake-like sheer. No matter how carefully a man may design the boat or how accurately measurements may be taken, it is always up to the man who builds the boat to see that the lines run fair and true, and this can only be done by sighting along the side of the boat standing at one end; while another man, with a hammer, taps the clamp up or down to take the kinks out of it. It is all a question of accuracy of a man's eye in being able to spot these unevenness’s.
The two lower clamps are the same size as the upper ones, if you want to you can reduce them in width and thickness toward each end. This is generally done by the careful professional builder, but nine out of ten amateurs, not having machinery at hand, seldom go to the trouble of planning down these two-by-fours.
Diagonals Numbers 1 and 2 in the body plan of Mollyhawk show about the position for these two lower clamps. If run in about this line they will practically lie flat on the face of the timber or will be so nearly so that they can easily be, screwed down with screw-clamps, and will not require previous shaping. All these clamps are to be bolted to their frames with 4-inch by 5-16 inch carriage bolts. The head of the bolt should be let in flush with the face of the frame and a washer put under the nut on the inside. This washer will permit your turning the nut up good and hard, drawing frame and clamp tightly together. Do not put all the bolts along in the centre of the clamp but stagger them so that one will be near one edge, the next near the other and so on, alternating them. In the end you may have to favour one side more than the other to pull the twist out of the clamp.
Before these clamps can be put in it will be necessary to remove the molds, but be sure and tie the boat up from side to side with some good stout stay laths before you do so. Otherwise the hull may sprawl, as boatbuilders term spreading.
At this stage of the game most amateurs are in a great haste to start the planking of their boat. They want to see it grow, but they will get ahead far faster if they will leave the planking alone until they have the entire deck frame complete. They will find it much easier to do this part of the work. Everything is so much more accessible and there is a better "light to work by than will be the case when the hull is all shut in.
As we have designed this boat there are no very long deck beams, the longest being the three across the stern. All the others are short on account of the midship skylight, but it would be well to get out three or four long ones, long enough to go across the entire boat, to hold the superstructure in shape while you are fitting the shorter beams, and then saw them off later. As all these deck beams are exposed when the boat is completed, see that they are nicely smoothed up and, if you want a still fancier job, champher the lower edges before you put them in. Fit the deck beams in alongside of the head of the frames and fasten their outer ends to the clamp on which they rest with 3 1/2-inch heavy galvanized iron nails, with the heads sunk in so that when you come to plane and dress off their tops so the deck lies perfectly true on them you will not be striking the plane on a nail-head. All these main deck beams should be marked out from a pine templet made with a crown or curve of 3 1/2 inches in 8 feet. Do not, above all things, try to lay a flat deck as many amateurs attempt to do. There is nothing shipshape or "boaty" in a flat deck and there is a very good reason why it should be crowned. That reason is, to make it shed water. There are about four corners that should he reinforced by fitting and bolting in oak or hackmatack hanging knees about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches thick. This means eight knees. They should be located on each side where the forward beam of the after deck comes, one each side of the after end of the main cabin, one each side of the after raised deck and one fastened at each end of the deck beam that goes clear across alongside the forward end of the cabin. Rivet these to the beams with at least two 1/4-inch bolts to each arm of the knee. These may save a whole lot of straining when your boat takes a side bump against a dock and they are well worth the time it takes to put them in. For the same reason large knees are fitted in the corners where the transom joins the side planking and a breast hook is put up in the bow.
As you cannot lay any more beams until you have laid the two little pieces of side deck and put up the cabin sides which carry those beams, they can be left and the more interesting work of planking up the hull taken up.
Planking up a boat may seem simple and to some it turns out to be such a job, but if one has never considered this subject carefully and examined other boats so that he has a fair idea of the way in which it is done, he will find himself working into all kinds of difficulties. Old subscribers to MOTOR BOAT will have some understanding of this subject from the practical articles printed. Those who have not read these articles will be able to secure them all in compact form in the MOTORBOAT HANDBOOK. Not only is the subject of planking explained therein. but the bending of frames, deck construction and many other valuable articles both on boat construction and the use and the care of the boat after she is built.
Arrangement Plans of 28-Foot Cabin Cruiser "Mollyhawk"
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