Oneida's Deck Construction 1

The Onieda's Deck Construction 1

After beams 4 and 5 which hold the forward mast partners are in pace and beams 8 and 9 which hold the capstan base have been placed in the hull, we will now place beams 6 and 7. First, measuring sticks are used in the location where the beams will fall. When the length of the beams are determined the measurement is transferred to the beams and they are cut to length.

The three lodging knees are temporarily put into place between the beams to check for fit. Rubber bands were used to hold the beams and knees in place.

Taking a close look it is apparent beams 6 and 7 plus the 3 knees are slightly too large to fit the area between beams 5 and 8. Not all of the extra material was taken off one knee, this may result in the carlings not fitting properly. Just a little was taken off each knee until the beams and knees fit in the allotted space.

Each knee was clamped in a vice and the notch for the hanging knee is cut out using a fine tooth razor saw.

When the knee is cleaned of the laser soot and the hanging knee notch is cut, the lodging knee is glued in place.

To clean the soot off the knees they are placed in a vice. Once held in place a file is used to remove the majority of the soot. A little touch up with sand paper and finally a little scraping with a razor blade or exacto knife will finish the knee.

Here is a view of the hanging and lodging knees in place and ready for deck beam 6.

Deck beam number 6 is cleaned up on all four sides and placed in the hull. Small C-clamps are used to hold the beam tight to the side of the hanging knee. Before the final placement of the beam, lay all the carlings in place. This is done to insure the carlings will sit square to the beams. The deck clamps are wide enough to allow a little play in moving the beams from side to side. When trimming the beams to fit the hull allow a little side to side movement for minor adjustments in lining up the carlings.

The knees and beam number 6 are now in place. The knees are set slightly above the deck beam. This is done because the beam has a curve to it and the knees will be sanded to match the curve when the deck is given the final sanding.

The same steps for beam 7 are followed for the fitting of the knees as was done for beam 6. Once again using the carlings to make sure they sit square to the beams. Once all the knees and beam 7 are checked for fit they are glued into place. At this phase of building little globs of epoxy that squeezed out of the joints is of no real concern. Once the entire deck is built it will be given a final sanding and finish. The epoxy is easily sanded away.