The term “floor” when used in describing a wooden boat does not refer to what you might walk on—that would be the cockpit sole or cabin sole (or in Justine’s case, the cuddy sole). Rather, a floor is a key component of the boat’s backbone that serves to tie the boat’s frames into the keel.
Justine has a floor and two frames at each station where there’s a construction mold. Except amidships, in the way of the centerboard trunk, each floor spans the frames where they are almost touching at their connection to the keel (which is high up on the construction molds while the boat is being built).
The floors are all triangular but their sizes vary considerably from station to station. Far forward, the hull has a steep “V” shape, while amidships the angle is much shallower. In addition, the depths of the floors vary considerably. Many of the floors support the cuddy sole or the cockpit sole, and three of them support bulkheads. All of these details are given on the plans.
Justine’s floors are all made from live oak planks. They vary in thickness from 7/8″ to 1 3/8″.
Fitting a floor
The next series of photos shows how I made a fitted the floor at station 3.
Riveting
Quite a few of the fastenings in Justine are rivets made from copper nails. The plans indicate where rivets should be used, and what size nail to use. Rivets are used in locations that are not likely to ever need tightening or replacement. The tools I used for riveting are shown below.
The part of the nail that protrudes beyond the burr is struck repeatedly with a ball-peen hammer and this flattens and rounds over the end of the nail, forming the rivet head.
Limbers
My father-in-law Sandy once questioned my desire to build wooden boats by telling me: “Wooden boats leak.” That didn’t deter me. Rain water also can get into a boat (even one made of fiberglass!). To deal with the inevitable accumulation of water, the hull must allow for draining any water that accumulates to the lowest point of the hull, where it can be pumped out as necessary.
Because of their placement in contact with the keel plank, floors are barriers to fore-and-aft flow of water in the hull. “Limbers” are passageways that allow water to move past each floor and thereby collect at the lowest point in the hull, in Justine’s case between stations 12 and 13, beneath the forward end of the cockpit sole.
Midship floors
The centerboard trunk intersects the floors from station 13 to station 17, so the floors are altered to accommodate it. Keel bolts will pass through the keel plank, bedlogs, and floors at these stations, and limbers are placed outboard of the bedlogs.
I made and installed Justine’s floors between August and November 2009.
With the frames and floors in place we’re ready to make Justine’s stem and transom and add them to the backbone structure.