Kit : bottom hull stitch holes not lining up w/cradle arms

[Creekboater]

To kit builders...

On dry fitting my floors and bulkheads to the hull bottoms I noticed that the stitch holes in the bottom panels did not line up very well at all with the cradle arms. I'm wondering if anyone else noticed this?

Here are things I double checked :
1. The stern ends of my panels are flush to the stern end of the keelson.
2. The hole pairs for stitching the panels to the keelson line up perfectly all the way along the keelson.
3. The cradle was built square and the distance between bow and stern arms are correct.

No matter how I shifted the keel fore or aft in the cradle, the stitch holes never did line up so to straddle the cradle arms. There was always several holes right on top of the arms. And they were 'off' fore on one side and aft on another, as if the keel was cockeyed in the cradle slot, or the cradle wasn't square. But neither of those things seem to be the case.

I've drilled holes where I've need them and moved on, but I'm curious if anyone else has seen this. Cause if everyone else's have been dead spot on..............hmmmmm.

Thanks!

[dbeck]

We are building from kit and did not have this problem. I've checked pictures and memory. In our case bulkhead 7 (and its stitch holes) aligned quite nicely with the aft cradle arms.

The cradle arms are quite long and it was easy to push their tops fore and aft 1-2 cm without applying much force. Have you checked, your cradle arms are truly vertical and not bent? Did you use the two bits of timber (1109 mm long, part of the kit) that define the distance between the forward and aft section?

You could also measure the diagonals of the top of the cradle arms (1: right-front to left-back and 2. left-front to right-back) and check for equality. But this only works well if none of the arms is bent.

Just to be very sure you could check that the stern end of the keelson, middle of centerboard case and stitched joint of the floor panels at the bow are on a straight line (a cross line laser is helpful in later stages of the build too) and your centerboard case is truly vertical and and not tilted to one or the other side.

Dietrich

[Creekboater]

You're right Dietrich.

I had not measured distances out at the end of the arms. Yes, they do flex quite a bit and I believe that's exactly what it is!

thanks a bunch.