Edited By Keith Richardson on 21/03/2009 04:49:32

Dhow-006-chisel-away-excess
With keel held firmly in vice, the excess wood is chiseled away prior to final finish with spokeshave.

Dhow-007-join-stem-keel-wide
A relatively deep stem-post was cut for a diagonal join with the keel, to maximize strength.

Dhow-008-join-stem-keel-close
Stem is shaped roughly with saw following gluing then rounded with plane. This joint will be strengthened by pinning with a dowel glued in.

Dhow-009-pinned-joint
The keel is stepped up at the stern to allow for future installation of propeller and shaft. The step-keel joint is glued then double-pinned with dowels at different angles. The pencil lines show the direction for each dowel-hole. Using hot-glue, that sets rapidly, requires speed and sureness, aided by the work being held firmly in a vice.

Dhow-010-pinned-joint-close
Here the double-pinned joint can be clearly seen.

Dhow016-aft-bulkhead-pile1
To get a feel for how the bulkhead part of the project was progressing, I piled the aft set keeping centerlines aligned, and the deck supports horizontally aligned. Here it is viewed from topside.

Dhow017-aft-bulkhead-pile2
Aft bulkhead pile viewed from starboard.

All bulkheads now complete!

Dhow019
19 completed bulkheads stacked, viewed from below, forward aspect. The broad shape of the hull may be perceived, as can the sweeping curve of the hull shape. Next task will be to attach all bulkheads to the keel-stem-stern skeleton. My challenge is to devise a workable set of guides to ensure accuracy and squareness.
 

Dhow020
The same stack of bulkheads viewed from above-forward. The level deck can be seen, as can the bulwarks, high forward and aft, and low amidships.
 

Dhow021
Bulkhead stack viewed from directly overhead – its symmetric accuracy may be judged here, as can my somewhat crude cutting-out. Most of these surfaces will be covered once construction is complete. I plan to cut away parts of the bulkheads and deck for the fitting of RC gear, electric motor & battery, and drive shaft & propeller. I would like to keep the structure relatively rigid during skeleton assembly and planking, to reduce warping under stress. It will be interesting to see how it progresses.

Attaching Bulkheads to keel-stem-stern-post assembly.

Much deep thought preceded this next critical step in the construction of “Keith’s Dhow I” (Yes, it now has a name! People have been communicating with me about it, requesting plans etc, and I felt that a name was necessary, and this is what I have been calling it in my development folders, to identify it from the many other dhow images I have been collecting. I must give special thanks to Bob Abell, who gave me the confidence to proceed with his images of his “Louis Heloise” during construction. My biggest concern was to avoid twist, keep each bulkhead square to the centerline and vertical to the keel.

Dhow22

Bulkheads A9 and A10 glued into position. The sternpost, visible here and below, provides a centering-guide for the bulkheads.

Dhow23

Here you can see the rear keel step providing clearance for a propeller.

Dhow27

Straightedge aligned to centre mark on stempost.

Dhow28

Ditto on sternpost.

Dhow29

Now oriented vertically, the straightedge has positioned 12 of the 20 bulkheads.

Dhow30

Dhow35

Construction is assisted by this jig – keel supports have been glued vertically to a flat and true baseboard. The ship can be slipped in and out easily, yet is still held quite firmly.

Dhow36

Here the keel has been lifted completely away from its supporting brackets.

Forward Planning.

Prior to planking, I plan to glue a deck into position (permanent or temporary undecided, but I want the bulkheads well supported for planking). At the bow, I will roughly fashion two half-blocks of balsa against which have been glued port and starboard halves of bulkhead F10, standing proud beyond the presumed thickness of the complete planking – the balsa blocks can then be trimmed to run true, at both bow and stern.

Hold Planning.

As may be seen in photo “Dhow31”, an interior space will be lined and capped to make it relatively waterproof. I plan to insert buoyancy foam into many of the bulkhead cavities both aft and forward.

Dhow37

Settee Sail Rigging.

From many photos of dhows under sail, I have come up with this design. The mast is raked forward, the yard articulated loosely with a figure-of-eight around the mast, raised to the mast top by pulley. The foot of the yard can be pulled in to the base of the mast for going about to an opposite tack (through a gybe). Sheet arrangements yet to be determined.

A Unarig, designed by Footy expert, NZ Brett, has inspired me to try his approach as well. More on this with a later post.