Pram build - Step 4 - Installing chines and keelson

Installation of the chines and keelson is a little bit finicky but isn't too difficult.

I used spruce 1x6x10 as stock and ripped them into 1x1x10 strips.

These are the steps:

• Trace notches onto bulkheads in each position shown on the plans. I fully notched the bow and transom pieces as well since those notches would be covered with fiberglass tape (and paint) later. This would make life easier now without affecting the finished look. If you are doing clear finish you will probably want to only notch halfway into the bow and stern pieces so that the ends aren't sticking out.

• Next I used a jigsaw to notch out each piece. 

• I dry fit each spruce strip to make sure that it was fitting well and adjusted as required.

• Finally I epoxy glued each strip into place.

• When the glue had dried I planed each of the strips so that they were flush with the adjacent form piece. At the bow the amount of planing required was more significant. 

• Finally I adjusted each of the forms slightly to bring everything into proper alignment so that it looked reasonably fair along each line. In retrospect this would probably be easier to do before gluing the pieces on but there was enough play in the strips to achieve fairness.

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