9-14-3

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Today I fitted the cabin sides. I started by taking a scrap piece of plywood and bending it to the shape of the cabin. The 3/8" specified in the plans bent easily to the curve.

 

I remembered that there was no support on the deck so I put some supports in and sprung a batten on the top. I adjusted these until the deck just touched the batten. Thus I had a fair curve.

Using a trick I learned a long time ago from a favorite PBS TV show, I marked off the curve of the deck on the plywood. I then cut to this line, then put the plywood back against the cabin side to trace out the top and ends.

 

Here I've cut the side to size and epoxied and screwed it in. I have left the bottom of the cabin side unglued from the deck for the time being as it is too ambitious to try to do it all at once and expect it to turn out ok.

Here in the back of the boat, as I laid out the cockpit coaming I discovered that I had cut the deck too narrow. So I traced out a piece to the right shape and glued it in. Next, I plan to cut a fair curve. The plans indicate an absolutely straight coaming but the measurements don't come out completely consistently. I find that I must compromise somewhere. I decided that it would look best if I have a slight curve, e.g. 3/8" over the 4 feet of chord for the arc that describes the shape of the coaming viewed from above.

 

Here is the site of the future hatch. Please note that the arch that bridges the companionway is due to be cut soon. I kept it in place so I could be sure that the bulkhead would stay in the required shape as I build the boat. I am working on deciding how to build the hatch. On various pictures of the Elver around the web I've seen variations in the hatch designs.