Basic Hull Shape

Cradle is reassembled and aligned, down goes the floor. Funny thing but it doesn't sit straight at F89, off to the right. I pulled the floor out and measured for square. Turns out the sheets are out of alignment so the floor curves like a banana. Obviously this was the root of our earlier problems with one side apparently being longer than the other. Now that it's sorted things are progressing smoothly (relatively).
The sides went on fairly easily and I left the bow section unstitched until everything was where it should be. I decided that the floor sections from F89 forward were sitting too flat so I made a brace from 4x2 shaped to the bottom of F53.5 and screwed this to the underside of the hull, a pile of bricks took care of F89.

I now have the stem screwed into place and the transom stitched. The floor sections have now been filled and I will probably tape everything tomorrow.

Lessons learned: I guess having crashed and burned like the Hindenburg the first time around I was aware of most of the issues and worked to minimise them. Shaping the floor and sides now so that they match the shapes of the frames will ensure easier frame fitting later. I measured the hell out of everything so I am confident that the boat is square and symmetrical.

 When we [Leigh (#343) and I] first planned the cutting we decided that due to the amount of problems builders were having with the shape of the bow we would experiment and place the short section to the stern. So far so good although I think F169.5 may sit right on the joint. Not sure whether this may present a problem. Stay tuned.