The turn over.

With the aid of my neighbor and his mates I have turned the boat over with no apparent ill effects. This will make it much easier to cut and install the planking.

Another milestone passed.

Plotting the first plank using the method from Rick Corless' blog.

First plank fixed on both sides.

There was no way that I could leave the screws in the plank while chamfering to take the next plank, contrary to the designers instruction.

Detail of the plotting on the template for the next plank.

April 22, 2011 and I have completed the planking, a good point to reach and worth celebrating. I have leant quite a lot in the process and will put together a page, "Tips of the day", not all my own ideas but a collection from various sources which may be helpful for any future Pathfinder builders.

The gains have made the bow quite streamlined and were very easy to do. The angle grinder is definately the boat builders best friend.

The plank overlaps at the transom look neat.

The bottom plank requires more hole filling then I will glass it and make the skeg.

I decided to install the skeg prior to glassing the bottom, it seemed to make more sense to me. I used Tasmanian Myrtle and blackwood laminated from 50mm wide by 35mm deep strips.

I am please with results. Next step is to glass the bottom and then paint before turning over.

I have had my mate Peter over to help me install the stringers over the last couple of days and today we finished the last stringer. Very satisfying.

I installed a 19mm * 19mm Pine backing piece on the inside of the frames to support the ply to be installed later. Looks pretty neat.

As I soaked each stringer in water for an hour before fitting they went on like a dream, no cracking or stressing. Here I have installed a temporary wooden brace to hold the Port side bottom stringer while the glue sets.

With Frames 4 and 6 I found that it was necessary to install a small 9mm doubler to boost the strength of the 9mm frames. Without this the frames were just too thin to get the screws to hold.