It’s pretty dated, but could still apply and seems to fit my sense of assembly. Basically, if the planks are cut to mate all along their curved edges and they all meet at two common places, the Bow and the Transom, then it seems that building from the keel up, ie, stitching the #1 planks together, Tying at the bow and the Transom, then adding each subsequent set of planks, one layer at a time, would naturally allow the planks to lay together without any distortion since the planks HAVE to bend properly to meet at the two ends.. When the planks had to be drilled in-situ, I could understand the published sequence, but now that they’re. predrilled (THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THAT!), then laying them on in sequence might be a workable approach.
Well, I assembled my CY hull as described in the manual, and hand no bigger challenges. But then, the CY manual isn’t CLC’s best work. I see no issue working in the sequence you described, but focus on the bow and leave the stern laying flat for the time being. In general, don’t twist the wire tight - only do that after your alignment is pretty good.
Thank you very much for replying! I was feeling alone in the desert!
After a LOT of fiddling, I realized our biggest mistake was that we twisted the wires tighter and tighter as we added planks - probably wanting to pull it together too soon. We ended up removing everything above plank four and loosening some of the other wires in the lower planks. We then flipped it over onto 2 foot tall saw horses that were standing on top of our table. This provided enough ‘drape’ to add the final panels. We then loosely tie up the bow and things started to come together.
After some experiments with intermediate supports fashioned from the guled up frames and positioned at the junction of planks 4 & 5, we could then envision a ‘shape’ and started pulling a few planks together. Then, adding the transom, again loosely, we are now gaining confidence that it will all fit.
Unfortunately my heatpumps in my workshop quit so we’re on hold until we get some reliable heat in the shop. Still, it looks pretty inviting.
Thanks again. I’ll post pics when I get back into the shop.
Oh! I should add that if you are a beginner, buy an extra set of copper wire!
For anyone who runs out suddenly and it’s a holiday weekend or shipping from Annapolis would take too long, Home Depot sells 18 gauge, 6-conductor thermostat wire cable by the foot. Simply split out one of the conductor wires and strip the insulation off and you’re ready to go. The price is within pennies of CLC’s price (if you remember that each foot of thermostat cable is 6 feet of bare copper wire) and since there’s a Home Depot next to every Starbuck’s there’s probably no shipping cost.
Of course, the best thing to do is to order extra along with the kit from CLC to help support our favorite boat shop, but this will cover an emergency.
Sounds like you figured it out and there’s now little in the way between you and a beautiful CY! The core learning I got from so far three CLC projects is to step back and relax when stress or frustration kicks in. And sometimes one should literally loosen some stitches
