On the Golant Gaffer, the keel starts with 2 long (5.1m) planks of Iroko, the first of which is to be screwed and glued to the bottom edges of the floors – which, because I am building upside down, are at the top. But I am getting ahead of myself. As is normal, the timber merchant couldn’t supply Iroko in 5m lengths and I have shorter lengths which need cutting to size, finishing and joining.
I cut the planks to width before using my poor little thicknesser to reduce the thickness to 19mm. My thicknesser decided to remind me of Iroko’s capacity for blunting blades by stopping half way through the process. Well, it is a bit small for the job really, but after a good sharpening session on my whetstone sharpener and buying a backup pair of blades, it managed to complete the process.
Joining the planks requires a scarf joint and below you can see the ends being prepared.
Time to fit the plank to the cutouts in the bulkheads and transom.
And here it is all glued and screwed in place.
