Glen-L.com

I am almost to where i can lay the keel and start on the chine and sheer installation. I have looked all over and i am having difficulty finding any african mahogany over 12 feet in length.

I need:

Keel (1"X4"X13') NOTE: I can probably find a 13 foot peice for the keel),
Chine Logs(2 1"X2"X17'),
Sheer(4 5/8"X1 1/4"X18'),
battens (2 1"X3"X13')and
spray rails (2 1"X1 1/4"X18'

am i going to have to scarf these? is it safe? Any advise on where to get long lumber or how to scarf these pieces will help a lot. I'VE HIT THE WALL

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Built the 17' Glen-L "Sea Knight"

Sourcing woods while difficult sometimes is not out of the question. Sapele and Khaya is readily avaliable in North Carolina and quite possibly over your way too in longer lengths. Scarfing the keel is a none issue and done all the time. Your bottom frames ties everything together anyway. Do half laps and half thicknesses too for your layers using the thickened epoxy. Afterall 100 foot boats are built using the process and has not failed to date.

For starters place a call to these folks.


Jeffries Fine Lumber
Contact: Cynthia Jeffries
Address: 8807 Valgro Road
Knoxville, TN 37920
Phone: 865-573-5876
Fax: 865-573-6367

I had to scarf my chines and sheers.

There are several ways to do it . Some people can make the joint by hand. Some use a jig for a table saw. I made a jig for my router. Works great but slow!

When done right the wood around the joint will fail before the joint. However, the joint does not tend to bend quite as fair as the rest, so keep the joint in the flattest area of the boat.

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Jeremy

Hope is NOT a plan.

We had to scarf our chine logs and sheer clamps during our Zip build, using a 12" compound miter saw. Just make an auxiliary fence that sits 90 degrees to the saw's existing fence and clamp your stock to this. It works extremely well. Our sheers and chines are laminated from two pieces, making the scarf angle a little less critical. I think our scarf ratio is around 4:1 and this hasn't been a problem.

-Mark Shipley

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A boat is just a wooden box with no right angles.

yeah...i called Jeffries. The longest they have is 12 feet.

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Built the 17' Glen-L "Sea Knight"

Ask them if they can find you some and have it shipped as part of another shipment which is done all the time with several of my sources.. I doubt that in today's climate this would not be possible too. This may also save you some shipping if you would like the longer lengths too. There are also avantages to driving a bit to also hand pick woods. There are some sources in the Atlanta area, from what I hear too. But white oak in your region is abundant and probably without your reach from where you sit too. Just make sure you don't attempt to use too much of it as its heavier too. Hand pick and choose the grains more carefully.

I was able to source 13' material so my keel is 1 piece.

Sheers/Chine/Battens are scarfed.. no biggie really just put the scarfed location along one of the flatter sections and you won't even notice it.

Longer material can save you time, but make sure its the right 'cut' for the bendable parts, and that can be tricky.

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Ian (aka Iggy)
My Malahini Build