Bit in the keelson

[Desert Jay]

Hi Gang,
I ran into another problem that I thought I might mention to those of you who have not yet attached the keelson to the keel. The keelson has a rectangular cutout to slide over the trunk. The cutout is longer than the trunk. When in place the keelson should be slid forward to make contact with the aft end of the trunk. This will leave a gap of about 6 mm on the fore end of the trunk. This gap is a slot for the tab on Floor 4. The tab should slide into that gap and on top fit under the chin of wood at the top of the trunk.
My problem was that the manual didn't discuss the importance of keelson alignment with respect to the trunk. I remember thinking that there was a lot of clearance fore and aft as I slid the keelson into place but I just figured John was being nice and making it easier to fit. By luck I had positioned it mostly forward but not completely- maybe 4 mm. It took me a while to figure out that the tab was supposed to go in that slot but it was not obvious because it didn't fit. To remedy the problem I notched the tab on Floor 4 and it now fits nicely in its place, top and bottom.
John, if you're reading this, in the manual there is a mention of the slot when installing Floor 4 but no mention of the importance of positioning that keelson forward. It might be worth adding in the next "edition".
But that said, the project is moving nicely along. The plans and manual are excellent and any problems I encounter are more related to skill and haste rather than poor instruction.

Jay

[chaertl]

Hi Jay,

Keep up the updates, haven't ordered the kit yet but just put that note in my manual.


Chris

[Shudoman]

Hi Jay,

I ran into exactly the same thing. I thought it was left that way so that you could line up the keelson with the trailing edge of the keel. Luckily that worked out perfectly. However, I chose to fill in the "notch" with epoxy filler! It was easily cut out when I discovered my mistake with my Fein machine clone. It could have been a disaster. The manual should definitely tell you about it.

Bill

[Donm1753]

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I had figured out that the keelson should be aligned with the aft end of the keel, but I completely missed the tab in floor 4 fitting into the notch. I would have filled it in. Fortunately I am putting off assembling the hull until warmer weather. I have my other sailboat parked in my building space and it is a real pain to roll it out in the snow every time on want to work on Pocketship. This Spring the other boat goes into off-site storage thanks to our homeowners association not allowing trailers to be parked outside. Rusty cars? yes, but not boat trailers. I suppose you have to expect that living so close to Indianapolis.

[ahamm]

The reference for the little slot for floor 4 is on page 62 , I agree a little late since by the time the build gets to page 62 it may be a little late. But I had read the manual from front to back about 6 times before my kit arrived so it was intuitive to me where the slot went [ lucky me ].
Now all I need is to remember is how the rest of it goes together.