First veneers going on.

Hello guy's happy new year.
The work shown in these photo's was done during April and May 2007. The remaining ribands had been fitted to the mold by the middle of April and it was now time to check the mold was fair. I did this starting at the keel by running my steel rule held flush to the keel along the length of the keel.

I was checking for any high and low spots in the first three ribands. High spots were planed down low spots were dealt with using filler strips which were then planed down. This done the process was again repeated for the next set of ribands using the steel rule. Where the surface was curved the gap between straight edge and riband was checked by eye with the other side of the boat. This was a time consuming process involving lots of walking round the boat.



Fairing of the mold was completed by the beginning of May, now it was time to start fitting the veneer. I'm using 1/8" thick African mahogany veneer called Khaya it's a bit lighter than the Utili I used for the keel but it matches the surface veneer colour of the transom. I estimated that I would need 31 square meters of it which was of course not enough so I had to order another seven. Forgot to add in the overlap.



The veneers came in 10' by 18" lengths that were tapered, well trees are tapered aren't they, so I ripped them down length ways marked them out and trued them up with a no6 plane as I needed them. Bit time consuming but I quite like doing them that way.



First job was to fit the master veneer at a rough 45 degree angle to the keel at the half way point and bend it round the mold ensuring that the veneers lays flat to the surface of the mold. I say roughly 45 degrees and flat because the mold isn't flat and it takes a bit of joggling to get a good fit. This done its position was marked and the veneer was marked where it crossed the keel. I masked the veneer at this point with tape to stop the glue marking the wood as it runs out of the joint. Both areas of the joint were then given two coats of epoxy and the veneer was stapled in place.



With both master veneers fitted the spiling process of the next veneers can begin. I made the spiling jig you see in the photo it's cut to the master veneer angle and has a notch cut in it to hold you pencil. The veneer to be spiled is fitted to the mold with temporary staples ensuring a flat fit with the gaps between it and the master veneer at the top and bottom being the same. Placing the jig against the master veneer with the pencil in the notch, I run the jig and pencil from top to bottom of the master veneers so the shape is marked onto the other veneer. This done the point where the line is closest to the edge is marked and the veneer is planed down to this line. The veneer is then tried against the master at the marked point and its overlap marked. The veneers is again planed to this point and the veneer tried again. This continues until the veneer is fitted.

Once the veneer is planed to the right shape its position on the mold and keel overlap is again marked. The keel crossing point and the edges to the veneer are masked with tape. This done two coats of epoxy applied to the bonding area for the keel and the edges of both veneers and it is stapled in place.