Sunday, June 14, 2009

Feckin Notches.....

So, the fabricated batten is done, and planed, and seems to be just fine. Time to start on fitting the battens.

There are 6 battens, and they have to be fitted at 4 frames, and the transom. That's 30 notches.

And the battens all have to be in the same plane. Right, no problem.

I started with by setting a marking gauge to the thickness of a straight beam, plus the batten. Then I placed the beam across the keelson and the chine, and marked the frames with the gauge. So far so good. Then it's a simple matter of running a saw across it a few times, and chipping out the waste with a chisel. Fine, except this is Oak, and Epoxy Soaked Ply, and did I mention there are 30 notches to cut.

I have one batten fitted all the way to the forward frame, at that point I need to taper the thickness so it will bend a little at the bow, but now I am thinking of how to speed up the show a little.

I'm thinking that if I get a Long straight router bit, and make up a guide that won't flex or bend, then if I set the bit depth to the thickness of the guide + my batten, I should be able to cut the notches in a morning. Of course, adding power tools does allow you to mess up faster 8-)

3 comments:

Paul said...

"that won't flex or bend" - there's the rub I think.
How about a sort of sled-type jig clamped to the beam that the router rides on? A board with a slot as wide as the batten plus the bushing, and a cleat underneath for clamping. A bit like a hinge mortise jig I suppose. This is a suggestion made without the benefit of any boatbuiliding experience at all - so it may be as well to ignore me!

All the best
Paul

Rational Root said...

Seems like I'm not the first to try this, Bill Shaw, has a picture of just such a Jig on his website, here http://www.unitybuild.net/0706.html

Paul said...

Or a deluxe version like this -
http://lumberjocks.com/projects/10175