7. DuraKore strips aligned to the hull mould

As the Durakore strip planking process progresses and you need to plank around tighter curved areas such as the bilges, then some dress making skills are required.
Due to the limitations of how much the strips could take up the shape of the hull, some strips needed to be cut to suit the line alignment of the next plank.
I did this by laying a second strip over the full length of the hull, butting the ends against the temporary screwed plank, allowing the strip to run where it naturally wanted to bend around the shape of the hull.
I then traced with a pencil where the edge of the second strip wanted to sit over top of the temporary screwed plank.
I wished I had a photo of that part of the operation, as it is really easy but difficult to describe simply. However the photo to the right will show how the strips were cut to run into each other. This may help.
Hopefully I do not make this too confusing. Basically I would lay the new strip on the edge of the strip already fixed to the hull mould. I would then draw a pencil line in behind the new strip following the top fixed strip edge, to produce the tapered edge to enable to new strip to fit into the tapered gap that had to be filled. Confused, well please take a good look at the photos.
The most important thing I realised here is to take care in the alignment of the strips, so that the strips appear to lay flat and fit perfectly over the entire hull, without any humps or hollows, or being twisted like a propeller blade to lay over the hull mould frames.
It is best to just cut them in allowing the strips to flow into the hull, without unduly forcing them.
This part of the project took me approximately 2 months of spare time after work and full weekends around the clock. There were no recreational days. At the end of this stage of my Trimaran project I was rewarded with a very fair looking hull, it looked good but I had so much more to do.

4. Hull mould and datum waterline set up

After couple of days later all 14 temporary hull mould frames were cut out, and were ready to be installed onto the strong back.
The photo to the right shows the temporary frames set up on the strong back inside the shed.
The strong back had to be marked out for the position of each of those mould frame stations.
Then to help accurately align each mould frame, a piano wire was set up set up on the centre line of the strong back, and about 25mm clear of and above the strong back.
I used a piece of angle iron bolted to each end of the strong back so that the piano wire could be pulled very tight and tied off once it was level. The point to note here is that you do not want any sag in the piano wire, or your boat hull will have sag in the middle built into it.
I bought a line level that just hooks over the piano wire. It is a simple tool, and does not cost much.
Then all the datum waterline heights marked on the mould frames were then set up the same distance above the piano wire.
A long accurate builder’s level was also used to check that each mould frame was standing up perpendicularly to the piano wire at 90 degrees, using the vertical centre line marked on each station for the level.
A Builders Square (used horizontally against the hull mould frame) was used to check that each mould frame was horizontally 90 degrees to the piano wire.
All this care in setting up is extremely important if the hull is to be perfectly fair (smooth without humps and hollows). It will certainly pay off with a hull fairness that you can really be proud of.
Then after all those set up operations were completed a laser level was hired to do the final check, and then the temporary frames were finally screwed securely in place so that they would not move under the weight of the hull as it was built over this male mould.