Now that all the stringers and chines have been glued in, we are beveling. This is the process of planing the chines and keel to match the frames, to provide a firm base for the sheeting. Selah is to be sheeted with 9mm marine plywood. This is later covered with fibreglass, coated with Qcell and high-build epoxy undercoat then 2 pack top-coat.

Beveling has taken about four days, with some interruptions. Beveling has the potential to be very technical, as the bevel angle changes. It’s actualy a progressive bevel, quite flat stern to midships, then becoming progressively more acute closer to the bow. Shipwright’s use a ships-saw, basically a huge bandsaw with a tilting table. They measure the angles at regular intervals, then rip the chine, tilting the saw table to match. It’s a two person job, one to tilt, another to guide the timber and call out the angles. Fortunately for us, Selah’s designer has worked out a simpler method. The base plate of an electric plane is removed and replaced with wings, 400mm each side. As the plane is passed over the chine, the correct angle is controlled by the wing, as per the photo below.

Beveling the keel with the winged plane.

A beveled chine. The keel (top) will be beveled to match.