Day 33 - Breasthook, Quarter Knees, Thwart Cleats, Aft Bouyancy Compartment

This post covers about 4 days work spent cutting various weird shaped pieces of timber. Individually they weren't very photogenic so the blog hasn't been updated. The breasthook was made of 2 pieces of 1" thick oregon, glued and screwed together with 2 lengths of threaded brass rod. The quarter knees were laminated some time ago and have been cleaned up and shaped to fit the transom and gunwales. There are 6 thwart cleats which are glued to side of the hull to support the thwarts. Each one had to be shaped individually and there is hardly a straight side on them!

The boat will have two bouyancy compartments (bow and stern) to help with flotation in the event of a capsize. The framework for the aft compartment has been made and glued in place. Here are a couple of photos of the framework. The gaffer tape (grey) is holding the two lower strips in place until the epoxy sets.

The two lighter strips in front of the compartment are a pair of the thwart cleats. Not glued yet, they are help in place by gravity and gaffer tape, magic stuff.

The last photo shows one of the quarter knees held in place temporarily by a clamp. These knees and the breasthook will be glued in place after most of the other work is done inside the hull and before the inner gunwale is fitted.