Deck & Sheer of 26ft Sportfisherman

There is still a lot of work going on under the wet deck of Kevin Agee's 26ft Sportfisherman project, before the deck skin can be glued down. The tanks are being prepared, with spigots and access openings installed in the right places, as well as neoprene pads to prevent chafe of the tanks. The seacocks are being installed, as well as pumps for fresh water, holding tank and bilge water. Also a bilge blower to keep the under-deck areas fresh and free of potentially explosive fumes. Openings through bulkheads for hoses and cables are being fitted with PVC 2-piece liners to eliminate chafe. All compartments that will not be sealed are also being painted with multiple coats of white epoxy paint for easy cleaning and to make it easier to see what is going on in there for maintenance or in an emergency. Trying to find a leaking fuel hose in a dark and dingy dungeon at sea is no time to be wishing that you had painted a bilge compartment.

Deck beams and hatch gutter frames have been glued in. Bilge compartments that won't be sealed have been painted white. The black areas in the compartment closest to the bottom of the photo are the bases of battery boxes.

Compartment with battery boxes. Pumps in easily-accessible places. The seacocks are also being installed in this compartment. The cable openings through the girders have PVC liners to prevent chafe of the cables.

So, what was I doing while Kevin has had his head in the bilges? I have been shaping the sheer. This is a fairly skilled way of converting expensive Douglas fir and cedar solid timber into chippings from a power plane, followed by wood shavings from a hand plane. The sheer clamp was laminated from Douglas fir before the cedar skin was glued onto the framing. The sheer clamp ended up rectangular in cross-section. It remains more-or-less rectangular for most of the hull length, where the hull and deck intersect at close to 90 degrees. As we work toward the bow this angle becomes progressively more acute, requiring trimming off the top surface until, close to the bow, the sheer clamp is nearly triangular in shape.

The rectangular sheer clamps as laminated into the bulkheads. They are square to the hull skin, so they twist a large amount in the flared part of hull.

Sheer clamps planed down to finish flush with the underside of the deck. At the sheer break the hull/deck intersection is close to 90 degrees, so the sheer clamp is nearly rectangular. Forward flare increases rapidly and the sheer clamp twists to follow the angle of the hull skin. The resulting taper on the inner face of the sheer clamp can be seen, becoming more triangular.

Sheer clamps before planing. Top of the forward bulkhead shows the line to which the top of the sheer clamp is to be planed.

Sheer clamp planed flush with top of the bulkhead. The score mark in the surface is a saw cut that was made into the sheer clamp as an extension of the bulkhead edge, to serve as a guide to get the planed surface correct.  Now the rectangular sheer clamp is almost triangular and the rest of the timber flew onto the shop floor.

Finished sheer, ready to receive the deck.

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