Keel

This week I have been working on the Keel of the boat. The keel is the backbone of the boat. It is the central lengthwise member along the entire length of the bottm of the boat connecting the stem to the transom. So great care must be used to lay the keel flat and straight.

I spent basically 2 mornings measuring adjusting, measuring, adjusting some more, rinse and repeat. I used the transom as the starting point and measured/adjusted every frame forward off the transom. Then I glued the breasthook to the stem monday morning. Monday night once the breasthook epoxy had cured I glued the stem/breasthook assembly to the slot in frame 5-1/2, the bow frame. For now I just clamped that assembly to the building jig. I'll measure/align that before bolting the front of the keel to it as seen below.

I then layed the keel in place and clamped the knee in position at the transom so I could drill the hot dipped galvenized lag bolt holes. Two lag bolts go in the keel at the bottom of the aft section of the boat and through the knee. Two bolts also go through the transom, through the knee. All these bolts are counter-sunk and will be epoxied over so they cannot be seen in the finished product. The bolts will not be seen from inside the boat either once the motor well and decking are in place. Good thing too because one of them did not come out the knee straight, its a long hole and I must not have had the drill straight. I had to purchase a new set of longer drill bits to drill the holes since regular bits were not long enough. So i got a set of spade type bits at Lowes for 10$, a nice deal. I only have the rear of the keel bolted thus far, I still need to do the front where it will connect with two lag bolts to the stem but thats going to have to wait until the weekend when I'll have time to get it all aligned properly and drill the holes. Getting everything straight has been quite a lot of work, if this stuff is not straight, nothing on the boat will be straight and it will not ride in the water properly or look correct when viewed from the front.

Knee, Keel, Transom joint. Need to trim bolts