Alignment, alignment, alignment

 August 1, 2026

Wow, my last post was January 1. I had my second knee replacement at the end of January, so the boat building was put on hold for a bit.

 

In May, we moved the motorhome to our house, giving me a lot more room at the garage. 

 

Last post, I mentioned preparation is key. That strongback/jig we built a few months ago to hold the frames needed a LOT more bracing and stabilizing now that the frames are hung.

 

First I took Alan Stewart’s suggestion in the B&B construction video. I epoxied the side planks together. This made two very long, unwieldy sections of plywood. Alan said the planks have pen lines on them marking the locations of all the frames, and you can use that as an alignment tool. Nothing is ever quite straightforward – I put the planks together on the floor of the garage. 

 

 

 

Only after a first try at fitting the starboard side did I realize I had built them backwards – we had to open the huge garage door that does not like to come back down without persuasion – and then after we turned them around I had them upside down. There was a good reason none of those pen lines lined up!

 

I forgot the TOP is actually at the BOTTOM because the boat is upside down. I labeled it “PORT” but it is actually the starboard side.

 

My beloved was patient and helpful and we got everything oriented properly and started winching them up with straps. Unfortunately, one strap became detached and the plywood landed on his foot. Ouch! He got an evaluation and x-ray the next day. Nothing broken but the doctor warned him it would hurt for at least 2 weeks.

 

Plywood temporarily attached for alignment

After I took the plywood off, it became clear that I might have had things aligned while the plywood was up, but with it off, the alignment was no longer good. Because the stringers get secured before the plywood goes on, and because when the plywood is dry fit you have to be more agile than I am to climb in there and brace everything, the plywood exercise proved not very useful.

I moved on to dry fitting the stringers. When I started with the first pair of stringers, I quickly realized I had more work to do on the strongback bracing.

Frames A and D1 are kept in alignment by the bunk side planking. Frames B and C hang off that bunkside planking, but they have nothing supporting them at their bottoms (which are really their tops; building everything upside down gets confusing at times). Frames D and E have strongback supports but those supports have a lot of give to them at the top. The transom frame also needs extra support.

 

It’s not pretty, but it is solid now.

 

I also had to check that the centerline of each frame was lined up with the others. I had a laser level, but I dropped it and the plastic window cracked, so the light is not reliable. I have another one coming, but in the interim I used a 13 foot long piece of Douglas fir already cut and planed for a future stringer to line things up.

 

 

Aligning the stem has been quite a challenge and I only got it well aligned today. It had to go last, after making sure D and E were in their proper locations.