Gap at bow when joining hull sides to bottoms?

[Creekboater]

Hello all,

I am building with a kit if this matters here, but I’m curious is anyone has had the same issue I am…

I’m currently stitching on my hull sides and from about halfway between BH2 and BH1 all the way to the bow, I have about a quarter inch gap between the sides and the bottoms. This gap is nearly identical on both port and starboard sides. Try as I might, I cannot pull the pieces together. I’ve even screwed wooden blocks into the sides and bottoms and used clamps to try and pull them together. No joy. From the stern to where the gap begins, the panels fit together just fine.

I contacted CLC and was told if I just plain can’t get them any closer, just fill the gap with fillet and keep trucking. Which was going to be my plan since there’s really no other option.

I’m going to play around with them a little more this weekend, using some wet towels and such.

Of note, I chose the route of fully completing the bilge area before installing sides, so my bottom structure is completely rigid and solid at this point.

I’m not sure what other tricks anyone might advise me at this point, but I”m simply curious if anyone else experienced a gap between these panels that they just couldn’t close up all the way tight.

?

Hope everyone is well. Glad the site is back up!

martin

[Hooky]

G’day Martin,
I agree that your build choice to complete the lower hull first prior to stitching on the hull sides has contributed to this issue. The whole unit is more flexible when the lower hull and hull sides are stitched prior to filleting and glassing. I agree with filling/filleting and glassing the gap. Trying to pull the hull sides down in an attempt to close the gap may put pressure on the existing hull bottom fillets and glassing which could result in either cracking or weakening of the existing joints.
That’s my two cents worth I hope it helps mate.
Terry from down under.

[Dmitriy]

Hi, Martin!
I do not know how you did it, but try to attach the upper parts sequentially in the direction from bow to stern. Step by step each hole. Thus, you will first strengthen the problem areas, and then go aft, where everything should match well.
This method helped me.
On the other hand, as Terry said, you can create places of too much stress, which can then burst.
There must be a compromise

[dbeck]

Martin,

we had also completed the bilge area between buklheads #4..#8 prior mounting the side panels (see here) and I think it was a good idea.

We had a gap of a few millimeters around the forward end of the keelson but not between bottom and side panels (see photos).

The only issue we had was a gap between bottom and side panels in the area forward of bulkhead #1. At that time I had seen posts of a few other builders with the same issue. One of them used c-clamps to force the panels together; we used that trick too.

When stitching side and bottom panels together, we made sure bottom and side panels aligned well with the cradle by using one c-clamp and on screw per side. Moreover we had used wood piece as a spreader to push the tops of the side panels to the outside at the bow using a c-clamp (see photo). Later, the top edges of the side panels are supposed to meet at an angle of about 90 degree at the bow. Take the lower breast hook contained in your kit as a pattern and also do a trial fit of bulkhead #1 to get an idea how the final shape of the side panels will look like. I could imagine bending the top part of the side panels has an influence on the gap you see at the bottom.

Dietrich

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