Fairing complete

It's been a while since I posted some progress.  We had a spell of nasty and cold weather which slowed things down plus the fact that fairing the hull is a messy and somewhat confusing process.  I tried a variety of tools including a power planer, several hand planes, a draw knife and various rasps and files.  However, the tools that worked the best were a angle grinder with a 5" sanding disk using 40 grit and a belt sander using 36 grit.  Boy, did this make lots of saw dust.  Everything in the garage is coated with oak dust. I had to Swiffer my wife's car before she could drive it to work.

Fairing the area near the stem is the most confusing process.  Glen-L recommends pressing a piece of plywood over the chine and stem to show what needs to be faired.  However, I found this method very imprecise and it seemed like guesswork.  However, there is a method called the Rabl method which helps make it more systematic and precise.  This method is named after Samuel S. Rabl,  who wrote the book on developing hulls using "sheet" material such as metal or plywood. 
The Rabl method is based on the fact that to develop a hull with a sheet of plywood it can only curve to the shape of a cylinder or cone.  I have some reference material and will explain the method in more detail in a later post for those of a mathematical bent.
To use the Rabl method the stem and chine must be divided into an equal number of segments.  By measuring along the stem to a frame and then measuring along the chine to the same frame you will get different lengths which you divide into the same number of segments. The number of segments is arbitrary.   In my case, I divided the stem into 6 segments that were 12" apart.

Along the chine, I needed 12.8" to divide it into 6 segments.  The segments should be labeled A, B, etc. on the stem and chine.

Now, the Rabl method states that a straight line should connect he two points (e.g. A-A).  So you grind or rasp the stem and chine so a straight wood batten lies flat at each point as shown here:

This process is done at each point A-A, B-B etc. to define the needed fairing of the stem and chine.  In the picture above, I labeled the half way mark B' to give me another reference point for the fairing. It mates with another mark halfway between B and C on the chine.  After shaping the various marks you get a serious of cuts like this.

Each of these points has a slightly different angle, so now you have to remove the material between the points and make sure the transition from one to the next is smooth.  This process was also repeated between the chine and sheer. The end result is a faired hull frame that should accept the plywood.  This is because you have made conical sections between the stem and chine and sheer and the plywood will conform to it.  This is a picture of the faired hull.

We are now ready to start working on the plywood for the hull.