Dry fitting: aft structure

I took really seriously description in the plan that centerboard-case should be heavily coated with grp-armed epoxy. So seriously that the case became a bit too wide. Upon fitting half-frames 5.5 I saw that guiding holes on bulkhead supports do not match.

One way of fixing it would be to plane down timber on the bottom of the centerboard-case.

After some head-scratching I decided to make a notch instead - to bury frame ends into the timber. This way I will preserve timber thickness, frame will be mounted in the correct position (steered by holes in frame support) and it was the easiest fix.

Even better - this joint will be stronger than just filleted face-joint.

After dry-fitting both frames I masked the vicinity for gluing.

Before I glue anything I wanted to dry-fit the aft structure, just in case. Routed openings have rounded edges at the bottom so some trimming is needed to get a perfect fit.

Once all was trimmed the whole structure locks in place with tight fit. Transom mounted to check the fitting.

All looks good. Some small adjustments to be done tomorrow and I’ll glue the whole structure.