by ddemasie on Thu May 12, 2016 11:29 am
I am not totally clear what you are asking, but here is what I did in that spot:
I considered that joint (in between each of the floor supports from CB trunk - across the keelson width, to the bottom hull piece) to be a critical seam - I wanted it to be completely water tight and the strongest on the boat. Because that seam will virtually never be observed (it gets painted and the floorboards cover it completely from sight) I was not concerned about how it looked. I did a total of 3 fillets there - 1 that covered the keelson to CB trunk attachment when I was putting the keelson together - another between the keelson and the hull bottom when initially stitching and gluing the hull bottom on.
Then after I began my final filleting on the floorboard supports, I added a third, very wide fillet between each of the floor supports - that covered the entire distance between the Centerboard trunk, across the keelson and overlapping onto the hull bottom. I wanted every inch of that covered with a wide fillet. I tried to be very careful to do a good, smooth fillet (and sanded it thoroughly with a corner sander) because you do lay fiberglass over it when fiber glassing each of the chambers between floor supports that reaches from the CB trunk all the way across the keelson, across the bottom hull, and onto the side hull panel. After it all set, I did have to do some minor drilling to ensure that there is at least a small gap at each of the 'floor support to CB trunk to keelson/hull' so if water did get in one of the chambers - it had a channel to drain to the lowest part of the hull - as designed (I used a Dremel tool with a flexible attachment to get those holes carefully opened).
I wanted that entire seam to be super strong, and I think I met that objective.
Also keep in mind - there is one more chance to strengthen that "CB trunk to keelson to hull bottom" joint when you flip the boat over and fiberglass the entire hull exterior much later in the build. I did something similar there too. Of all of the joints on my pocketship where separate pieces of plywood come together, I can definitely say that one at the bottom of the boat where those 3 pieces meet is the strongest in my entire build - from both the inside and the outside - I believe that mine will not leak, and it will not break there.
Dennis DeMasie,
Aurora, IL