Now that I had the sides and frame 3D it was time to attach the chines and the gunnels. I cut the pieces that I needed from a 16' 2x6. Installing them was not easy. I attached the chines first as at the time I had the boat upside down. I started at the stern with both sides, screwing the chine piece on with 2" ss screws and Titebond 3 glue. Working my way forward I discovered that I was going to need help so I recruited my beautiful assistant (re. wife) to help hold the chines on while I glued, clamped and screwed them on. This took a little effort as they bend in two directions. I should mention that when I cut these I cut what would be the bottom of the chine at the angle of 15 degrees so that I would not have to plane them down as much when it was time to attach the bottom. I should also mention that one should have many clamps for this. I now have about 30 clamps and I could have used more. I found that putting on the chines lent a surprising amount of rigidity to the structure. My wife ( from now on I will say April) and I then flipped the boat over which included us dropping it on the floor with out damage( my fault). April and I repeated the process with the gunnels. All in all it was not difficult. I scewed in approximately 140 screws spaced more or less at 6" intervals. Those combined with the glue made a very strong structure. We then disassembled the table the I had made with the ply that would become the bottom and inverted the boat putting it back on saw horses. The next day I went to check on the drying process and check for misalignment again. I found that it was out of alignment by 3/4" at the bow. It bothered me but it could have been worse and I have seen worse. I then took the bottom ply and laid it on top. I should reiterate that the bottom ply is not per the plans as it is 1/2". I was a little concerned that it would not take the bottom curvature, I was right. I clamped the ply on at the middle and screwed down the corners at the stern and midships. Then screwed down the forward piece midships. I used hot water to soften the outer plys of the forward piece to persuade it it bend. It worked wonderfully to do that as the ply was much easier to bend and screw down at the bow. Using a pencil I traced the bottom of the boat at the chines to the bottom ply. I then removed it and cut the bottom shape with my Skil saw. I had to make many small cuts to bring the bottom to the traced lines. I then scribed a line along the outer edge of the bottom ply to locate where the screws would go. Removing the boat from the garage, putting it outside so that I would have more room to work, I glued(PL Premium) and screwed( 1 1/4" ss screws) the bottom on. Now some who have built boats of this sort are wondering about the scarf, read on. I know that it was unorthodox but...I did it after the bottom was on by turning the boat upright and using the weight of the boat to keep the joint flat and square I glued and screwed a butt plate over the joint using 1" ss screws and PL Premium again. This worked very well as I ended up with a very smooth bottom and yes I made sure that the ends of the ply were covered with glue to seal the ends. I then sat in the boat to dream and get a feel for the dimensions of the boat...and have a beer.![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaEXrDPDBzVxyqIlgygVajzoAXayxFmk9nE6gBubmHPCqpXGIXY5CTgOYU_AB4q861M6hfgYSzhpyop7_uQgWdW6wmSyTtyP6SMT8Xhyphenhyphen7lmQvKytRfXm8kIOQCQGAf6AiJKAMM-2U-sjs/s320/09-24-11_165.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaEXrDPDBzVxyqIlgygVajzoAXayxFmk9nE6gBubmHPCqpXGIXY5CTgOYU_AB4q861M6hfgYSzhpyop7_uQgWdW6wmSyTtyP6SMT8Xhyphenhyphen7lmQvKytRfXm8kIOQCQGAf6AiJKAMM-2U-sjs/s320/09-24-11_165.jpg)
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