Station molds for the River Skiff

After calculating the height above the base line for each station, we cut hardwood blocks to the exact height for each one.  The stations are then set with a string on their centerline and clamped down.

This illustrates my connection method for the stations.  I like using steel for the strong back and forms.  You can't beat it for strength, straightness, and ease of clamping.

For the strong back we use a steel angle that is 6 inches wide by 3.5 inches tall by 1/4 inch thick.  This twelve foot section has two brackets that each sit in boat stands, so it can easily be raised or lowered by spinning the boat stand's tongs.

To add the additional length for the boat , we bolted on a 5 foot section of channel.
This is supported by a stiff leg.

Mississippi River Skiff

We are making great progress on the Mississippi River Skiff stations.  It will be our biggest boat to date at over 18 feet.
After our experience using steel stations for the Niangua canoe, we knew the advantages of the steel forms made it worth all the trouble to fabricate them.
For our next boat we were looking for something native to our waters and fell in love with Howard Chappelle's Mississippi River Skiff.   He took lines off a 1889 working wooden boat.  It is on page 97 of his excellent book  American Small Sailing Craft.
Here are the stations during fabrication:

Paper work: we are converting the offsets to inch measurements.  Also we are using some trigonometry to figure the length of the station from the chine to the shear. Click on the image for a closer look.

Here the stations have their centerline and are ready for a coat of acrylic spay to keep them from rusting.

The cherry chine forms are used to narrow the face of the station to accept the bending wood without deflecting it under clamp pressure.

The next posting will show the shape of the hull as the stations are spaced on the strong back.