The other way round: fitting the stern frames to the bulkhead
The next morning Piet set me back on the right track. The mistake: I had faired the bottom of bulkhead 17 before fitting stern frames 26 and 27. The idea is to fair the stern frames together with the bulkhead, so that they automatically line up. Building up bulkhead 17 afterwards is therefore wrong. By adapting the bulkhead to the stern frames you change the stern assembly a fraction, and then it’s not unthinkable that the hollow counter below the transom won’t come out right later. It has to be exactly the other way round: fit the stern frames to the bulkhead. His advice for the future: if you’re not sure about something, show it dry fitted first, that saves a lot of grief afterwards. And about his different numbering: just stick to the booklet, stern frames 26 and 27 were wrongly numbered in his box.
Fortunately it could be repaired: the extra pieces off again and 26 and 27 faired down to the bulkhead after all, since I hadn’t changed anything on the bulkhead itself. Piet also pointed out that the outside must stay hollow, because that is where the hollow counter is planked against. No great hardship. Last night I enjoyed myself making it all fit, repairing is bound to be just as much fun.
By the evening it was done. The stern frames have been adjusted and now run on in line with the bulkhead. The curve has stayed the same and the other bulkheads look fairly symmetrical too.
What I did find really silly: it’s not clear whether stern frame 24 (the horizontal piece) should be square to the bulkhead. If I followed the stern frames, the horizontal part didn’t line up with the notch in the keel former. So I placed it square after all, so that the surface runs on flush with the keel former. Making the stern frames square also lowered them straight away and they fitted the bulkhead immediately. Hans Groenenberg thought it far better than yesterday’s shimming and felt the squareness should be visible on the section drawing. That drawing just isn’t entirely clear: the stern is drawn a bit in 3D, so you can’t see the angle properly. Otherwise it would end up sloping right upwards, and that seemed illogical to me. In Piet’s photos it ran on straight too. Let’s hope this was the right method, and if not, I’ll sort it out again later.
