The Shaft Log

Since this boat has a motor it needs a shaft to move the propeller. The shaft in this design goes through the keel. That section of the keel is called the shaft log. I used two 3" by 8" clear Douglas-fir planks which will be hollowed out and put together. Sandwiched between the two, making the shaft alley, will be a Vernatube made of fiberglass which I purchased from Centek Industries. To hollow out the  shaft alley  I ran the each plank through the table saw working from the center, out and lowering the blade with each pass. Its easy  if you do both pieces and both sides before you adjust the blade and move the fence. After the cutting I put a large key hole saw in the drill and ran it back and forth the length of the shaft alley making it smooth. Pictured is both parts of the shaft log coated with epoxy and the Vernatube in place  just before they where clamped together. Note I have already drilled the keel bolts  on both sides of the shaft alley. More on those buggers later.

The Keel the Backbone of the Boat

I decided to laminate my keel out of 2" by 8" Douglas-fir kiln dried wood as opposed to larger sections of wood or timbers. The wood was easily hand picked and I could cut out the bad sections if needed. Each piece was run through the planner to make a nice flat joint when put together. Both faces where covered with resorcinal glue clamped every 8 " or so and left to dry in the shop or basement which were kept at 70 degrees for the drying duration.  This is a photo of the two main sections of the keel. I laminated each section separately but here they were stacked on top of each other for spacial reasons. Later as we will see these two parts will be tared together and bolted down. And by the way still no boat shed!