I have learned a lot though this process, the one thing that I have learned the most is that when you complete one task and right before you are ready to do another main task you have completely forgotten a step and you have to delay. In my case I needed to add a nose block or a nose block support. Technically the nose block can go on after the decks are applied but before you do that you can add a 7th frame to the bow. The reason you do this is so that (1) you don’t add 6″ of solid nose block to the boat and (2) you create a way for the nose block to anchor to the boat. To add this I had to make the frame thicker than the others so the 7th frame is 1/2″ its a little bit smaller than the front frame and is glued as a butt joint to the keel.

 

The glue has long cured by now, and I can finally add the sides. To add the sides you have to dry fit them first meaning you need to ratchet strap them to the frames as evenly as possible. Then you have to march where the frames meet and draw a line connecting those frames so that you get the outline of the side. The sides can be taken off and then for extra caution a second line about 1/4″ offset from the first outline can be drawn. Then you cut the outline of the side using a jigsaw. Glueing can occur now, using the same method as the dry fit, with ratchet straps. There is only so much you can do to keep them even but since I cut an outline 1/4″ offset even if its not completely lined up the excess material can be planed off.

Image of a side cut out.

*This last image shows the sides glued to the frames but if you notice I have an extra thickness of wood attached to the keel. Why is this so? Truthfully I made a mistake, I cut the notches for the keel in the frame at the exact thickness when the notches were supposed to be 1/4″ shorter. In the next step in order to prepare for the bottom deck the keel needs to be planed into an angle and if it is flush with the frames there is no way you can plane that angle. In other words an extra piece needed to be added in thickness.

Pro Tip: Always plan each step to reach a major milestones and don’t jump into building something right away.