Cutting gains

Builder's Forum
1

I'm working on a Skerry, and just finished assembling the panels, (thanks for all the help on my epoxy troubles!).

I'm reading the next section, "Preparing to Assemble the Hull". A couple of questions:

1) p. 49 says "Measure along a diagonal from the bow and make a mark ...". Should I use a tape measure to measure along the curve? Or measure a straight line between the bow and one other point?

2) p. 51 talks about cutting gains in panels 1 and 2. How do I ensure that the gain tapers smoothly (1/8" at one end down to 0 at the other)?

2

For cutting the gains, I used a rabbit plane and just went by eye and by feel.  Take your time, but I don't recall this being too tricky.

3

If you are building from a kit your planks may have notches cut on the bottom edges fore and aft. Mine did. It happens they are there to allow assembly without cutting the gains. I cut the gains with a grabber plane but during fi al stitch and tacking I realized I had some differences between the kit and the manual. You might call CLC or email to check if you can ignore the gain cutting step.