Old people can answer this question! : )

Old People Can Answer This Question.

Just a quick reply to agree with PAR on almost all things.

Lofting offsets are feet/inches/eigths of an inch/ (+/- in reality means a little bit more or less than the eigth of an inch.) The most important thing when lofting a boat is to end up with lines that are 'fair', NOT lines that slavishly follow the offset table.

I am putting the finishing touches to a 'step by step' lofting book -almost all drawings, very few words - (I've worked as a boatbuilding instructor/lecturer since 2000 and am now going freelance) which will be ready for publication in the next few months. This is not a sales pitch, but please get in touch for more info.

Keel pockets, a sure fire way to end up with rot in the keel structure (any water just runs down the edges of the pocket, and sits in the keel, rotting it from the inside out), better to let the frames span the keel, or cut them off flush with the top of the keel and tie them together with metal strap floors (expensive - especially in bronze, but worth it long-term).

Beefing up some parts of the boat. All that this ends up doing is putting additional strain on the other parts of the boat, which can result in unforseen problems.

 

would love to check out your book when you get it up for sale

Ill definitely take the consensus view on the laminated keel
timber built is cheaper anyway
all the builds Ive done were frame over keel timber built
although I would have thought all that epoxy would negate the possibility of rot on a laminated keel

 

In a perfect world all our joints would have exactly matching faces, fasteners wouldn't split lumber, there would be no epoxy voids within a glue line and our wives would have happily given up their runway modeling jobs, to have our sons. The sad reality is that in spite of our best efforts, joint starvation is a common problem and moisture will find a way to live in these pockets. Yes, a laminated keel is a good option and it will stave off many potential issues, longer then a similar keel of conventional techniques, but the end result will be the same.

 

no way
I let her keep the job
she loves modeling