Joe's Boat

The Frame

The Lysander is built of plywood bent onto a frame. The frame can be seen in the pictures below. In each case clicking on a picture will bring up a larger version.

The bow of the boat is the front.
 View of the hull skeleton from the bow (front) end. The hull of the boat is made upside down. The four frames and the stem (the frontmost piece of the structure, at the bow of the boat) are fixed to the workshop floor so they remain steady while the lengthwise pieces are bent around them.
This picture is taken from the right hand side of the boat, looking aft (towards the back). This is the same as the left side looking forward, which is the Port side, but since the boat is being built upside down at this stage the photo was actually taken from the Starboard side, which is right looking forward, or left looking aft. If I sound confused now how will I cope when I actually come to sail the thing!
 View of the frame from the side.
The stern of the boat is the back (aft)
 View of the frame from the stern (back). The large piece of plywood at the rear-most is called a transom.
The stem is the strong central part of the boats bow, on the Lysander it comes up from the keel in a graceful curve.
 The stem, or forward-most frame part. The dark wood of the stem is a mahogany-like wood called utile, it is cheaper than genuine mahogany but is classed as moderately durable and I have been quite pleased with the way it works and bends ( although the stem is not bent into this shape but cut from a wide board). The two pieces of lighter coloured wood close together, that come forward and fix to the stem, are the chines. I used Douglas fir for these rather than the spruce recommended in the plans (the spruce was very expensive) but found that although it is quite good wood to work with it doesn't bend easily.
Having cut a piece of plywood, it is tried for size and fit using clamps
 Trying on the first piece of plywood for the skin.
The finished frame looks impressive.
 View from inside the frame. You can see the underneath of the piece of plywood that is being tried.