Justine‘s foredeck extends back to the cockpit. Its construction is made a bit complicated by the way the foredeck wraps around her cuddy (enclosed forward compartment, between stations 8 and 12). To gain additional headroom in the cuddy, the cuddy top is elevated about 6″ above the foredeck. From stations 9–11 the foredeck beams are not continuous across the hull, but consist of partial deck beams, one to port and one to starboard. The inboard ends of the partial deck beams are supported by structural members called carlins.
One more bulkhead…
The third (and final) bulkhead to install is at station 12, and the foredeck extends aft somewhat beyond that. So it needs to go in before the foredeck can be completed.
This bulkhead has the opening for access to the cuddy. Because the cuddy doors will extend most of the way from the cockpit sole to the cuddy top, the bulkhead can be made from two pieces of plywood, one to port and one to starboard.
Laying the foredeck up to station 9
I decided to make the foredeck out of 5 pieces in order to use the expensive marine plywood in the most economical fashion. Three pieces would be used forward of station 9, each running between the sheerstrakes. One piece would be used along the port side of the cuddy, and one along the starboard side.
The foredeck is made from 9 mm marine plywood. I arranged for seams between the pieces fall on deck beams so there is no need for additional support at the seams.
The third piece of the foredeck spans stations 5–9. This includes the deck beam at station 8, into which the watertight bulkhead is fastened. I wanted to seal that joint with 3M 5200, so I left an unpainted strip on the underside of the decking so the adhesive bedding compound would make a good bond.
Before fastening the third piece of decking, I cut the hole for the pump-out port just ahead of station 8. After the panel was fastened I carefully cut the hole for the mast, immediately above the mast partner.
There’s an additional “filler piece” that lies under the aft panels of the foredeck, so it needs to go in at this stage of construction.
Carlins
Herreshoff’s Fish Class design has a tall coaming that helps keep the cockpit dry and serves as a backrest for the crew, and which extends forward to form the sides of the cuddy’s projection above the foredeck. The port and starboard coamings meet up along the hull’s centerline, just aft of the mast. The plywood foredeck continues aft slightly shy of station 14, athwartships from the coamings to the sheerstrakes. The cuddy top and adjacent foredeck pieces need structural support in the form of curved pieces called carlins, as do the partial deck beams that will lie between the carlins and sheer clamps forward of the cuddy bulkhead.
I sprung a thin batten from the edge of the “filler piece” forward to a point on the hull’s centerline just forward of station 9. The batten contacts the cuddy bulkhead where it projects above the foredeck. Then I used a spiling board (actually my deck beam mold) to take off measurements for the curved shape of the batten.
To get the high curvature required of the carlin shape in Douglas fir (specified in the Flatfish plans), I decided to make the carlin from laminated fir strips. So I transferred the carlin’s spiled shape to a piece of 3/4″ plywood and affixed cleats so I could use it as a form for laminating the fir strips into the required shape.
I milled the fir strips, coated them with epoxy, and clamped them onto the form’s cleats. Wax paper helped prevent gluing the carlin blank onto the plywood bending form.
I’d made the fir strips a bit wider than the carlin’s 5/8″ height so that I could clean up the surfaces using my thickness planer.
Once laid in position on the hull, it was easy to scribe lines to trim it to fit at both ends.
Three partial deck beams provide additional support to the foredeck. The carlins and partial deck beams follow the curve of the deck beam mold when it is positioned across the sheerstrakes.
More filler pieces are fitted above the “squiggle” in the sheer clamps between stations 10 and 14. This provides firm support for pieces of sail track that will be mounted on the foredeck for Justine‘s running backstays.
After filling over all the fastener heads and plywood seams and sanding everything smooth, I applied canvas to the foredeck, using the same process as I described for the afterdeck.
The photo above was taken in September 2015.