Repair to forward Deadwood and Keel Section.
When a replacement of a deadwood is required, you can reduce the fitting time and make the fit more precise by biting the bullet and removing planking on the keel strake and no. 2 plank. I remove about 4 feet of the 2nd strake then about 5 feet of the keel strake, with the no 2 plank removed, the access to the nails and fixings in the keel strake is greatly improved.
Once both planks are off we get a true picture as to the condition of the deadwood. Things are not looking good the forward section is rotten and the “Golden rule in boat restoration – if rots about get it out” this can only cause problems in the future, the big decision how far, Mick decides take out the full stem and apron.
With a new coble the stem and apron are in one section of timber but with a repair its easier to fit these in 2 sections and bolt through a much stronger job as you can avoid short grains on timber ends.
Page 7.
Making the Templates.
When making up templates its worth spending the time to get a good fit, as trimming off 1/2 inch softwood is much easier than taking down 3 inch oak.
Make up your template, keeping in mind the position of the scarf joints and position of bolts, a quick tip is to mark out in chalk first until you’re happy with position, then make up in timber. Try to make up as many of the templates as you can. With all the templates made you can place them on the log and judge the cutting out. The advantage of this is, the saving of timber and avoiding short grains. These templates are not the ultimate size if you need to move the scarf a few inches to get it out, do so, it can be allowed on the next template.
When you cut out the sections sometimes it’s not possible to get the saw to exit the timber. A good tip is to bore a 1 inch hole in the waste wood this allows you to turn the log on the table and change the direction of the blade safely. The more holes the better but remember you could use some of the offcuts.
During the cutting out, keep as close as you can to the fit line but leave some on the waste side as during the cutting out the log can de-stress and change shape slightly so you might need to make a second cut on the fit line.
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