The missing wood stretcher

Today was a fiddly day, working on shaping the apron, refining of the shape of the transom, positioning the transom on the transom braces, beginning the process of establishing a fair line for the sheer-strake, and working the keelson into correct position.

This later activity required adjusting the depth of the station mold notches. The keelson is laminated from two pieces, previously milled and dimensioned.  The pieces were a a couple feet longer than need be, so i clamped them in place and rough cut them to a more suitable length, estimating the position that the transom would be in.  Except that I missed.  By about an inch.  Short.

I looked everywhere for the wood stretcher, but my brother hid it.  There was no alternative to milling another full piece, and scarfing the two too-short pieces into one long one, and sorting that bit out tomorrow.

I scarfed the two pieces (8:1 ratio), and glued them up, leaving them to cure, and went on with the shaping of the apron with a spokeshave and my last sharp chisel (a lovely 1 1/5 inch Japanese chisel I acquired on my last visit to Japan).

Finally, I started attaching battens to the station molds to help find the landing angle of the apron and assist in the positioning of the transom, and to fair the station molds themselves. This is the first foray into revealing the lines of the hull as defined by the station molds, and it is critical for the success of the planking.  There is a discrepancy somewhere, as the position of the sheer-strake battens and the transom position (taken from the plans) do not align in a fair manner. 

There is a wonderful book published by the Taunton Press, The Workshop Book, that has a quote in it that goes something like:
Carpenters build to the nearest 1/8 inch; cabinet makers build to the nearest 1/64 inch; boat builders build to the nearest boat.
The coming hours of this project will be all about finding that nearest boat, even if it means stepping away from the plans.  A daunting prospect.

About 6 hours

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