One could argue that it's best for everyone to cut and radius their own frames for their boats in order to get the maxim restoration experience, but let's be honest here. Once you've cut a length of 3/4 x 3/4 oak and slightly radiuses the edges (the minimize splitting later), you don't learn a whole more by making more of them. On the other hand, if you're part of a crew that's plowing through a stack of frames for the whole fleet of boats, you get experience working as a team for the greater good.
You learn how to make and use jigs to speed up the work as well. Here's a setup that allows the students to chamfer 2 corners of the frames in one pass.
You learn to be efficient, and to use carts to move giant piles of frames around.
You learn that working through these huge piles of oak frames does not take forever, although it can seem like it at times. They eventually get done.
You learn that it helps to keep a sense of humor during this relentlessly slow task.
And lastly, when it's frame bending time, you get that warm fuzzy feeling that everyone is able to frame because of your work. That rocks.
While the frame crew is working, other students are engaged in smaller projects. Some are learning how to use a metal lathe to cut the initial threads on their centerboard bolts. Here, Walt Ansel walks a few students through the process.
After the threads are mostly cut, the students do the final threading with a hand tap.
One could argue that if you were doing this on an actual restoration, you would just jump right to the hand tap rather than taking the time to set up the lathe. That's true, but at school, it's a better idea to learn how to use as many tools as possible, and the metal lathe is a great one to be familiar with.
There was a deadline for getting the ribbands on the Beetle cats, and it looks like everyone made it.
Ribbands are sturdy lengths of straight-grained wood, usually pine or fir, that are fastened to the molds over the planks.
They make a solid, cage-like backing on the outside of the planks. Not only that, they make a fair curve as they sweep along the length of the hull.
When the hot frames get bent into the boat, they exert a lot of pressure against the planks. Without the ribbands to add support, the frames would distort the planks outward, and leave you with a lumpy boat.
The ribbands also act like battens, showing high and low points in the fairness of your hull. Here, a student has found that one of the older molds he's using to establish the shape of his boat has a section that's a little undersized. The ribbands ride about an 1/8" above this part of the mold.
If he were to pull the ribband down against the mold, he'd end up with a slight dip in the hull near this section. His solution is to make a thin shim that just rides between the mold and the plank.
This will allow the frames to reference to the fair line created by the ribband.
Some folks are finishing smoothing out the epoxy that holds the lead weight in the centerboard.
Over on the Gar Wood, framing is moving right along. The transom frame is painted and set in place.
Although the old transom frame is no longer needed, we'll keep it around until the boat leaves the shop.
You never know when you may need to reference the original.
With the frames in position, you can start to imagine the sweep of the hull more easily.
You can see the chine log on the floor to the right. It will eventually be fastened into the notches along the frame on the right corner.
(above 5 photos by Jens Lange)
The keel is getting some final shaping and should be ready for installation soon.
On the Chris Craft, the students have been forming and steaming their new chine logs. Here, the port log is just being clamped into place.
This is definitely an All Hands On Deck maneuver. The hot oak has to twist and bend along its length, and they need to get it locked in place before it cools and stops being so compliant.
You can see that they've got their frames and stringers (the unpainted longitudinal members) all installed. They're making excellent progress.
There's a lot of fine tuning going on over at the 12 1/2. Mostly this involves fairing fairing fairing.
The process involves using the stiffest batten that will follow the shape of the boat and stretch it along frames to the edge of the transom.
The goal is for the batten to just touch the frames and transom. When you get it just right, it's time to smile.