Month: March 2021

Splining completed. Stem and hull faired. Plank hood ends screwed into stem. Stem glassed. Breasthook for forward sampson post bolted through both sides of the hull. Forward floors bolted into keel. All floors mechanically fastened through hull. Mast step in place. Consideration of coamings’ and counter’s symmetry. Inventory of parts.

Splining almost complete, splines taken down to planks’ surface, for hull now to be faired. Paint removal reveals macrocarpa repairs, and graphically demonstrates the wobbly—likely last-minute—line of the original coving. Can’t leave it like that.

After reeving out the cotton and pitch caulking from between each plank, the magnificent splining blade …

… is put to use to create an angled slot between planks …

… into which is fitted long flexible wedged oregon splines …

… then epoxied and stapled into position.

Along the way, Wayne discovered the position of the original chain plates (this, the middle one of three), nearly a metre forward of their bermudan rig position:

Also, the stem has a pronounced shimmy. Unless that’s intentional hydrodynamics, it will get straightened out: