Building Form

Still bringing the blog up to date.  This activity occurred between Christmas and New Years.

The frames and other pieces are complete.  The last step was to cut notches in the frames for the keel, the chine and the sheer.  The chine is the edge of the boat hull where the side meets the bottom. The sheer is the edge where the deck meets the side. Long strips of wood, called the chine log and sheer clamp, are curved around each frame and attached at the transom and stem to create the outline of the hull.

Construction now moves to the garage because I need room to assemble all the pieces.   Glen-L designs are based on an accurate building form that is used to align, position and hold all the pieces until the hull is complete. The form is constructed of 2x6 lumber and is securely bolted into the garage floor so nothing moves. The design is clever in that when the frames are inverted on the level form, the bottom is set the proper curve the designer intended. 

Here you can see the building form with a few frames being positioned.  Nothing is locked down yet, as all the dimensions and positioning must be checked.


Here's a view from the front, showing the stem.  The garage is just big enough to hold the 16' Malahini. When I build my 22' inboard I'll have to take out the laundry room which is on the other side of the far wall in this picture.  (just kidding!)

You can see the notches in the frames for the chine and sheer and the breast hook and chine block attached to the stem.  (The chine block is about midway on the stem.)  The chine log will get curved around the frames and mount to the chine block.  The sheer clamp, which is actually two thinner strips glued together, comes up to the nose of the boat and attaches to the breast hook.


After this picture was taken I aligned the frames so they were centered and spaced correctly and attached them to 2x4s screwed to the form.  To keep the frames plumb, I attached a 1x2 from the front frame all the way to the transom along the lower inside part of each frame.  I made sure the frame was plumb and the correct distance from preceding frame.  I then screwed the 1x2 to the frame and moved to the next one.