THREE MEASUREMENTS FOR FITTING FLOORS, SCARF CUT LOCATION FOR FRAMES

[bob mitchell]

In replacing the floors while the boat was in the cradle I found that once the 1/2 x 12" bolts were saw sawed between the frame and the apron there was a slight separation distance. I am assuming thjat if I put the new floor back exactly as the old ones were they will fit as good as the old ones when the cradle stress is relieved. I fitted the old ones and took 3 measurements - the level, the height ablove the apron, and the distance overlap with the bottom frame.

        The distance overlap is the small pencil mark in the photo on the old frame at the right end of the new floor. When the old floor was in I measured that distance and transfered it to the new floor so I could line up the marks. This assumes the old and the new floors are roughly identical.

         To get the height of the old floor above the deadwood I stacked wood to apron height (on top of the deadwood to see if any discrepancy was there) and then I slid a wedge in and marked the "height", which could easily be reproduced for the new floor as well.

         Between these thre measurements I am pretty confident I will acceptably install the new floor.

In making scarph cuts it ocurred to me that if you made them at the locatiion where the sole support intersected the frame you would have a bolt through the scarph and additional support. However, there is a good chance you will have a harder time removing the old piece of frame to be scarphed because you are probably

getting into solid boat at that height above the bilge. I plan to sister these all the way to the chine.

Also, if you read my last post you know my direction was off in my first scarph, I assume because I could not quite free hand it well enough with a skill saw. For this one I will take the old piece and use it to set my table saw blade, which will take all the guess work out of it. That is also the way I do the floors. I WILL SAY THIS......... AS I JUST WENT THROUGH MY WOOD SUPPLY - FINDING A 30 -40" PIECE FOR A FRAME SCARPH IS A LOT HARDER THAN FINDING A 15- 30" PIECE. SO I PROBABLY WON'T TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT CROSS PIECE/BOLT STRENGTH TO MANY TIMES. Also, the frames are generally 2 1/4" x 1 3/4", but have angle on them so yu have to start out with a larger blank.

[bob mitchell]

After working through the various saws for making the scarf cut on the New piece I found my big band saw with its tilt top table by far the easiest and best. Just take the old piece cut out of the frame in the boat with a skill saw, and use it to set up the band saw blade.
Also, it took me a couple of scarfs to "standardize" the length of the scarf cut. The real advantage of this is that one cut with the band saw will give a pair of scarfs twins. The real advantage is that when you are calulating the length of lumber needed for the replacement piece, if you can get two scarf pieces out of one blank, you get to subtract the scarf length, i.e. say your scarf length is 8" - since one cut does two scarfs you get to subtract at least 7" from total length of blank that you will get two out of. If premo white oak is scarce that is a good thing. Most of my scarfs are from 15" tp 24", which means I could get that particular pair (a 15" and a 24") out of a 32" blank. Frame dimensions are generally 1 3/4" by 2 1/2", but many are beveled (away from midship, so dimension must be slightly larger), and Clyde mentions that some have a slight curve.
Also, if you are going to remove and replace the planking in the scarf area be sure to use wax paper or duck tape so that in the process of gluing the scarf you won't epoxy the old planking to the new frame, creating a lot of work and testimony as to how good epoxy is.