American glitz is famous for being hollow on the inside.  What shows on the surface attracts the attention, and sells the product, but if truth were known, may not fully represent what is under the surface.

Image might drive contemporary marketing but it doesn’t work so well when someone asks me, “What would you do if this was your child,” or “Who is going to do the first in-water test of this boat?”  Even if I was only making this boat for an unknown blog reader, I would try to do my best.  It’s just the way the Golden Rule plays out.  There is also the principle of what goes around comes around, so if the future figures in to your thinking at all, now is the time to do it right.

Building the hull framework and starting the floor reminded me of some interesting construction details that will never see the light of day.  That is, of course, unless the boat gets into a serious accident that does damage to the core.  Severe stress has a way of exposing what a thing (and a person) is made of.

Wood fibers have amazing longitudinal strength, but wherever the continuity of the wood fibers is interrupted, as in a glued joint, the strength drops off dramatically.  The essence of traditional joinery is to create some kind of interlocking crossover to help with mechanical strength, besides just the glue.  Here are examples of a mortise and tenon, and a few dovetail test pieces.

Webster defines integrity as the “state of being complete or undivided.”  As I started building the cross frames, it looked like the corners needed some extra help, or a little stress could quickly “divide” them.  In this case, I decided on using dowels because with a holding jig, they can be done relatively quickly and with repeatable quality.  I also added 3/8″ plywood corner braces glued on with epoxy as this also extends continuous wood fibers across the joint.