Timbers

Just for Phil - here is an attempt at defining one piece of Jargon. Most American and some British boatbuilders would not agree with my definition. Jargon Rule 1. Boatbuilding jargon varies regionally and nationally.

Timber (noun & verb): A transverse wooden frame for a boat that supports the planks. It is created by steaming and then bending a piece of wood to the required shape. In the UK a wooden frame that is not steamed (it might be laminated or sawn from a bent crook) is known as a frame.
The weekend gave us wonderful weather. Lyme filled up with day trippers and the sun shone all day. I worked a fair bit but enjoyed helping Mike to rig his (newly purchased old beaten up) Enterprise. By 4pm on Sunday the weather was so good and I had made so much progress I (also) jumped into the boat and went for an unplanned sail. It’s not often (well never to be precise) that I sail in February - and to sail an Enterprise again after a gap of 30 years was delightful. Sitting in the ‘Royal Standard’ that evening in borrowed shoes and wet trousers - having been shirt-sleeves sailing in February - in the UK - life felt very good.

After a fair bit of preparation over the weekend the steaming and bending of timbers went fairly well. The stock, although well quarter sawn, had some wandering grain that gave us a few breakages. Also, as we were doing this for the first time, we may have been a bit over eager with the twisting bars. Once we were warmed up it was clear that the timbers could just be bent by hand.

The Seapod timbers, American White Oak, are somewhat heavier (20mm x 20mm) than most people would use in a boat of this size - but are spaced wider apart (200mm). This is because I am intending to screw fasten the planking (1″ #8 silicon bronze screws) rather than using copper rivets. The heavier timbers definitely need a bit more steam to bend (we gave them 70 minutes) - but considering that the wood is not green we have done pretty well.

We timbered two batches today. First came even numbered timbers, followed later in the afternoon by the odd numbered timbers.

The logic for timbering in this way was to try and even out the strain placed on the ribbands - a certain amount of force was needed to help the timbers bend.

Once timbered the boat looked pretty fair. A few wooden blocks screwed to the ribbands will help align the timbers perpendicular to the keel. A bit of adjustment will also be needed to a few of the ribband entries to help lay the timbers in line with the rabbet but otherwise a very good day’s work.

Tomorrow we will machine up some more stock and finish the job. Here she is… a little lop sided for now due to breakages - but you can see her lines no problem.