Penobscot 14 Transom

[Bob Quick]

Simple transom question for those who have gotten far enough on the Penobscot 14.

When using a solid transom (a la Al Meyers) rather than the 3 layers of plywood as Arch Davis has it,
have you attached the solid transom before planking the hull or after.
Before leaves an raw plywood edge from the hull planking, after leaves a raw transom edge.

I looked at Al's pictures but couldn't tell which way he did it.

I have the stingers on and I'm laminating the outer stem. I'm beveling and preping to start planking after the holiday.

Thanks

Bob

[Billy Bones]

before.

If you really want to make your life difficult you could chop out a rabbet around the edge of the transom for the plank ends to land on and thus avoid seeing the plank ends. But this way would be weaker and much harder. Even if you finish the transom bright you still paint the plank ends. Seal 'em with a lot of epoxy first.

[almeyer]

Bob, I think you could go either way on this.

I attached the transom after I installed the stringers and before the planking. Yes, you'll have a raw edge at the ends of the planks, but these can be sealed with epoxy and paint/varnish, just like you'll do on the bottom edges of the planks. If you use solid stock pay attention to the growth rings when you glue the pieces together to minimize the risk of buckling, and use either biscuits or a spline instead of just a butt joint.

Alternatively, I suppose you could wait until after you plank the hull. If you're making the transom out of solid stock instead of ply, the theoretical advantage would be that the edge of the solid stock should be more resistant to soaking up moisture than a plywood edge (assuming that your epoxy and paint/varnish system fails). If you go this route, you'll need to cut the transom oversize and then plane/sand flush after the planking is complete. You then run the risk of planing or sanding through the face veneer of the plank.

Just my thoughts.

[almeyer]

Just re-read your post and had another thought. When you're beveling the stringers, do them as you plank. For the garboard, bevel only the keelson and the first stringer. Then after the garboard is hung, bevel the width of the plank overlap on the garboard and the next stringer at the same time. The angle of the bevel changes from location to location, so you can't do this ahead of time.

[Bob Quick]

Thanks Guys

This is one of the points that I have been undecided on and now I am at the decision point. I'll need to go get some stock if I do it in something besides fir. Or I could go with the plywood. Wouldn't mind a trip to the lumber yard and get enough of, say mahogany, to do contrasting lay ups for the rudder etc as well as the transom.

Don't have to decide today. Customers in at work so I won't get time till the end of the week.

Bob