bevel the edges of the
frames to the curve of
the planks, or even the
edges of the planks (the ‘lands’)
to the angle of the neighbouring
plank. Instead, the designers turned the
CNC cutter’s limitations into a virtue by
leaving the edges square and fi lling the
gap with epoxy. This not only simplifi es
the building process but also creates
extremely strong joints (arguably stronger
than conventionally bevelled joints).
The drawback is there’s a danger that,
when screwing the planks to the frames,
you tighten the screws too much and
introduce unseemly ‘fl at spots’ in the
planking. The trick, then, is to tighten the
screws just enough to bend the planks
round to a smooth curve without pulling
them out of line.
“I tend to go too tight to start with, then
check the line and back off with a manual
screwdriver,” says Jeremy. “There’s
always a bit of jiggery pokery. It’s a trade
off between making sure it’s tight enough,
but not allowing any unfairness to creep
in. The top planks are more tricky
because they are big and fl apping all over
place. I used clips rather than clamps
because they hold the plank in place but
still allow some wriggle room.”
Whereas the original instructions
suggest using cable ties to join the planks
together before fi lleting, Jeremy opted for
screws instead, as he felt they were more
easily adjusted and allowed you to hold a
gap where necessary, eg between planks
while fi lleting. By contrast, cable ties can
only be tightened (not loosened) and
allow too much ‘play’ between the planks
when not completely tight.
With the planks in position, the endless
job of fi lleting began. First, Jeremy ran a
putty knife (or a pencil) along the seam
and marked the limit of the intended fi llet
on the lower plank. He then applied a strip
of masking tape ‘just proud’ of the line
and another strip on the other side of the
seam. He didn’t bother priming the seams
on the basis that the area of adhesion was
so great compared to the stresses on the
hull that the joint was highly unlikely to fail.
“If I was going across the Atlantic,” hesaid, “I might think about it.”
With the seams taped up, he fi lled them
with epoxy, thickened to a creamy paste
with colloidal silica and microballoons.
“It’s really important to pack it fi rst to the
right level. Then you want a nice smooth
run, with the fl at edge of the knife scraping
the masking tape and dragging the epoxy
back into the joint, and the point giving a
nice sharp edge to the fi llet.”
With the fi lleting complete, Jeremy
removed all the plank-to-plank fastenings
and fi lled the holes with epoxy. As to the
vexed question of whether to leave in the
plank-to-frame fastenings or remove them
to save weight, the jury was still out when I
visited him – although he seemed inclined
to leave them in on the basis that they
might add a bit of longevity for a negligible
increase in weight.Sheer planks
With the penultimate planks in place,
Jeremy hung the sheer plank on one side
of the boat and made sure it had a nice
shape. He measured the distance
between the top of the plank and the top
of the (slightly projecting) frames and
transferred the dimensions to the other
side of the boat. He then hung the other
sheer strake in exactly the same position,
to ensure the boat was symmetrical.
At last the big day came: it was time to
turn the boat over. Although Jeremy had
done this many times before, building
boats on a piecemeal basis for Barrow
Boats back in the 1990s, he was
nevertheless delighted with the outcome.
“It’s amazing how stiff the boat is already- an equivalent GRP boat would wobble
like crazy,” he says. “And it looked much
bigger than I expected it. Emma [Jeremy’s
wife] said, ‘Wow, it looks like a real boat!’”
COST SO FAR
TIME SO FAR (hours)
Last month £1,282.98
This month £0
Total so far £1,282.98Last month 36¼
This month 20
Total so far 56¼Step by step
(^1)
The bottom of the skiff looks
resplendent in its shimmering silver
gown. Jeremy left the glass mat to settle
into shape for 24 hours before applying
the epoxy.
4
While the epoxy was still ‘green’ the
excess mat was trimmed off with a
sharp knife. Note frames wrapped with
silver foil to protect them from spillage.
7
Jeremy marked off the inside line of
the overlapping planks and masked
off both sides of the seams with tape
before fi lling them with epoxy.
(^10)
Jeremy
used the
same marking
then masking
technique to fi llet
the inside of the
seams, fi rst
working the
epoxy into the
seam...
MORE CONTENT ONLINE
We've added more free material
on http://www.pbo.co.uk/western_skiff
Amateur builders can now also
download a plan of the original
rig dimensions as well as the
illustrated feature we published
in 2018 on how to make an
outboard engine well between
the aft frame and the transom.
Plus there is a big set of
images taken by Nic Compton in
1998 to aid home boatbuilders.
B
U
IL
D
IN
G^
A
TU
R
N
IN
G^
AN
D
SH
EA
TH
IN
G^
TH
E^
H
U
LL
W
ES
TE
R
N
S
KI
FF
:^ P
A
R
T^
2