Been a busy couple of days with other stuff but I did make some boat progress. :wink-new:
Here's my sandwich!
It was clear that I couldn't get that single piece of wood for the cross brace into place without pulling the cap.
So, after measuring and "balancing" the angles and whatnot, I cut it in half!
Originally, I'd intended to use two pieces of 3" W x 1.5" H 1/8 thick aluminum angle to "sandwich" the wood between. But as I went rolling along, I realized that the aluminum angle was plenty strong and that only one piece was necessary. So I went from two "slices of white bread" to just a single "slice" with an open-faced sandwich configuration! :joyous:
The 1.5" height of the aluminum angle stock was too tall, so I used the already dull plywood blade in my circular saw to cut it to fit. Then the boy used an angle grinder to smooth the edges. He did well!
Once everything is ready, I will temporarily screw the wood cross brace into place, then make some side brackets and locate rivet holes and bracket angles. Then I'll screw the wood into place from above, through the bow cap. From that point, I'll be able to slide the aluminum angle up underneath and into place and rivet everything together.
That should hold it!
Checking the fit of the wood cross brace with the aluminum stock.
Two pieces of aluminum stock being mocked up.
Yep, that would work once the aluminum pieces were correctly sized. But it was way overkill for the application
The solid piece sitting on top of aluminum stock.
And the solid single piece cut in half.
The two pieces mocked up with the aluminum angle stock.
The single piece with the aluminum stock.
The aluminum angle mocked into place with duck tape. It will line up correctly once it's secured.
Concept of rivets which will anchor the aluminum to the 3/4" ply cross brace and the gunnels. Unseen is the aluminum angle brackets I will fabricate to anchor the cross brace to the sides of the hull.
