Mounting Ama Stringers

Leading up to mounting the ama stringers on the hull panels, there were several tasks.

Scarfing the fir stringers.  Two scarfs per side.  25 feet each.

Rounding over the bottom edge to fit the CNCed bulkheads.

The stringer is 38mm vertically.  This was just enough heft to require some serious clamping to pull the curve to match the rocker of the shear.  I had to make up 25 of these reusable blocks to support horizontal clamping.

Stringers glued up with the horizontal clamps removed.   There was enough bend that the panel had to be set back away from the edge of the table.  This meant using screws to clamp vertically as most of my clamps don't have a deep enough throat to reach.  The holes will be filled with a syringe later.

Task time: 28 hours

Total project time: 625 hours

Bulkhead Reinforcement Templates

The bulkheads at both ends of the main cabin get reinforced with 19mm timber.  The bolts that hold the akas to the vaka go through these points.  I will be using yellow cedar for these.  I made some templates out of MDF today to insure a good fit before cutting expensive wood.  These will get screwed to the cedar and will guide a flush trim bit on the router table. I should get exact copies in cedar if all goes well.

These bulkheads get assembled and finished before inserting them into the hull.

Here is the interior of Jzerro again.  You can see similar bulkheads at the end of the cabin.

Task time: 3 hours

Total project time: 197 hours

Timber

I started collecting timber this week.  Dimensional lumber is required for stringers, sheer clamps, laminated beams and bulkhead reinforcement.

Russell sold me some gorgeous Douglas Fir that will cover the stringers and at least part of the sheer clamps.  The wood is old growth that was reclaimed from an old building.  It is truly incredible what was used for general construction at the beginning of the last century.

This is tight, fine, vertical grain.

We planed the twenty foot boards several times and then Russell trued up an edge with a power planer and jig so that I can start ripping these down in to eight pieces.

I was looking around town for some more stock.  It was quite depressing to see what is on offer these days even at premium suppliers.

The bits for lamination are not too critical. They will be ripped, glued and covered in carbon.

There are some very visible cabin bulkhead pieces that need to be furniture quality.  One of the attractions of Jzerro has always been the interior.  I can only hope to approach this work.