Malahini Design

Malahini Design

Friday, September 9, 2011

Supporting the floor

My current project is getting the floor battens fit and attached.  The floor will be 3/8" mahogany plywood, so some additional support is needed.  The plans call for two battens that run from frame 4 (the bow) to frame 1.  They are notched into the frames and supported vertically by 1/4" plywood attached vertically between the floor batten and one of the bottom battens.  Since there are about 32" between the chosen battens, I was concerned there was not enough support for the plywood so I decided to add another support and batten above the keel. 
You can see one of floor batten at the top and the vertical bracing for the center floor batten partially installed.  I glued and screwed a blocking strip to the keel to hold this plywood bracing.    The bracing is actually nailed to the blocking and the batten (still to be attached in the center) with silicon bronze nails every 3" or so.  It is also epoxied which is what will give it strength.  You can see that the plywood lines up with the side of the notch so it can attach to the side of the batten.
Here is wider view of the hull with the two side batten complete and the center floor batten partially complete.   When the batten is attached I will screw the batten into each frame and then nail the plywood into the side of the batten.  I must pre-drill each nail hole, since nailing into oak is not an easy task, particularly when working at awkward positions within the hull.
When the battens are in, I can then start fitting the floorboard, figuring out the seating and building the arm rests and most important: cup-holders!

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