Trying to find white oak at the local lumber supplier was a little disappointing. Most of the flat sawn, 4/4 lumber, was either narrow or short, or both. Finally, we were directed to a bulk lumber yard where we were able to pick thru large quantities of rough sawn, true 4/4 lumber, inspecting the boards for grain direction, knots, splits and checking.
First, the lumber is planed to the proper thickness, about 0.825”. The planer snipes on the first and last few inches of the stock, but that is ok because 6” of each end is not used because of minor splitting occurring during the drying process.
No need to disassemble the frame pieces, we trace them directly onto the new frame stock. One side is traced for each frame and the pieces are cut out on the bandsaw. Then the new blank is traced to make the other half of the frame.
The center tie is traced as well, but the bottom of the tie is extended so it will align with the frame, eliminating the original gap from the bottom planking that allows dirt build up. When cutting the pieces on the bandsaw, the keel and chine landings are left oversize leaving excess material so adjustments when fitting the frame.
With all of intermediate frame pieces rough-cut, the next step is fitting them to the boat and bringing them into alignment.
