The cockpit coaming will be on the outside of the skin so it gets lots of coats of varnish.
I don't have two long slim boards for the floorboards but I do have four pieces of slim scrap half the length I need left over from making paddles. Some passes through the planer make them a consistent thickness. Then a scarf joint and some epoxy and I have two nice floorboards.
A final pass checking the ends of all the pegs and tenons. If they aren't quite flush and smooth, fix that.
Now it's time to lash it all together! Some quality time with clamps and tape measure gets all the hull stringers in just the right place.
Right now, there is nothing but a bit of friction holding the ribs into the gunwales. With the boat upside down like this, if I grab the keel and lift, the deck drops right off... Eventually the skin will hold the boat together, but I'd like a little more certainty than that.
So the first set of lashings start by going around a deck beam on one side, up the associated rib with a knot every time it crosses a stringer, through the keel, down the other side of the rib, and finishes up around the other end of the deck beam. With all those in place, I can now lift the frame up and the deck stays with the hull!
Now to go lengthwise along each hull stringer. Start at the aft-most rib next to a hull stringer.
Pull off enough synthetic sinew (waxed nylon) to go the length of the stringer (the length of the boat) PLUS enough to tie a knot at every rib on the way by!
Then wrap the whole length of sinew up on a short stick. This both holds the sinew and gives me a nice handle for getting good tension on each knot as I go. The sinew gets nicely tied off when it reaches the bow-most rib. Even with the stick, my hands are pretty sore by the time I've done all 344 knots.
Finally, the single deck stringers on top get lashed on at the bow, stern, and each deck beam. Once they are in place, the frame is done!!!!
Note that the cockpit coaming is just sitting in place to make sure it will fit. It will eventually be lashed directly to the skin.
Two last little details. The sides of the cockpit coaming will need to rest on little supports that are a bit tricky.
The skin will wrap around the outside of the frame and then come up inside of the coaming. So the supports will be lashed to the frame at the bottom and will be lashed through the skin to the coaming as the very last step.
The frame is done so now it's time for the big question: Will the boat fit up the bulkhead?
YES! With room to spare even.
Before skinning, the wood is coated with a penetrating oil that will preserve it when it gets wet.
The smell of the oil is certainly penetrating! The frame gets to stay outside for a few days until the oil has completely dried. Of course, the weather turns rainy and the oil is supposed to dry before it gets water on it, so it's a good thing we have a long roof overhang.
The final step is to put the skin on. I have received all the materials, so now all I need is some nice warm weather.
