In the preceding articles I – III, the mathematical foundation of hard-chined, small-boat design was shown. Once you digest the simple mathematics, lofting becomes child's play. Little was said about the building process itself.

THE CONVENTIONAL METHOD:

Upside Down
For a “newbie” amateur one of the easiest ways to construct a hull is the upside-down method: The cross frames, bow stem, and transom are placed upside down on a building jig. The planks are hung around the frames. The bottom closes up the hull box.

This method is exactly the same as for building the model except that the jig is a ladder frame instead of a single 2"x3" “spine” as is shown in the first photograph of article I.

THE BODY VIEW DRAWING IS THE MAIN GUIDE FOR THIS METHOD!

After the hull is finished most amateur builders have no further use for the building (ladder) jig. If it is screwed together, it is easily taken apart. Completely eliminating the jig is even more efficient.

THE THREE ALTERNATE METHODS

The strongbox method
In the Body view of figure 4-1, a (red) horizontal line is drawn between the Beam stations representing a deck.

If the full-sized drawing is made on one-inch-grid graph paper, the half-Breadth width of the deck at each station can be read off directly. They are shown in the drawing.
Plot the measurements on a plywood panel. Rip a 1"x2" at flare angle, glue these inwale slats along the plotted points. Cut off the outside excess at flare angle. See the photograph. A Japanese pull saw is ideal for this exercise.

Placed on three sawhorses, the deck panel provides a perfect platform for the rest of the hull construction without the need of a building jig. Attach the carlings. Cut out the cockpit space as shown in the picture. The cross strips are easily removed after the hull is finished.

Place the bulkheads fore of station line #4 and aft of station line #11 on the platform. They are held plumb by a longitudinal bow frame fore of station line #4 and a longitudinal transom frame aft of station #11. Next is the (bottom) half frame at Beam.

My experience is that making notches in the inwales without cutting into the deck and gluing the cross frames in these notches works a lot easier and actually makes the setup stronger than notching the frames over the inwales.

The 1"x1" linings on each side of the longitudinal frames take care of the king planks and the keelson. The cross frames are lined all around in the same way with 1²x1² slats. The model frame in the photographs is mounted on a 1"x2".

IN THIS BUILDING METHOD THE HALF-BREADTH DRAWING OF THE DECK
IS THE PRINCIPAL GUIDELINE!

You can’t go wrong with this method. All the correct bevel angles of the cross frames are directly taken from the deck contour line.

The strongback-sandwich method
Howard I. Chapelle briefly mentions this method in his Old Testament of the boat-builders' Bible "BOATBUILDING" (1941) on page 199, and illustration #52.

A frame is made in the exact shape of the Profile view projection drawing.

THE PROFILE DRAWING IS THE MAIN GUIDE
FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE PROJECT!

The photograph at left shows such a frame for the San-Francisco Pelican. Two panels of 1/8" Lauan separated by 1"x2" stock and lined on the outsides by 1"x1" works fast and easy. Remove the excess plywood after the frame is put together. It makes a lightweight, strong "spine" that stands on its own even before the cross frames are attached.

It is not necessary to build all the full-sized hulls to obtain the insight and the experience. A to (1/6) scale model made from 2-mm cardboard will do. Actually, making a model of this low-cost material is slightly more difficult than the real "McCoy" because of the smaller tolerances and the cheap quality of the material.