Day 34

With this section of radius plate we decided to cut it diagonally so the aft end of the split would be lower that the forward end. We hoped this would facilitate an easier curving of the plate as it does curve in very abruptly at this point. In the picture above it almost looks even, but the actual difference in hieght is 24" at the forward edge, and 15" aft. We did experience some buckeling again, and this time no way of holding it in. Putting in a temporary bar to a support frame worked fine.
		The coning out at butt joins continues, and we have decided to leave them until all of the plating has been done, at which point we'll fair them out. It seems as though working them in requires some surrounding support. Just 1 or 2 inches either side of the join leave fairness. A more localized method of pulling them in will have to be devised.
Making them under sized in the center so as they will pull in as the plate on the opposite end is pulled in toward the hull is not the answer. All that did was pull the tacks apart. The plate buckeling into a bulge could have been prevented if we had added a second stringer in the radius center, as that would have given enough support to stop the outward (or inward ) pressure in the first place.

Gena grinding to fit the upper and lower split radius They should butt in fairly close together 1/16" or less	The top piece on the other hand was quite enjoyable. We cut it down along the diagonal from the other piece, just oversize, and pushed it up into place. Then pulled the whole thing in tight using the come-alongs and some clamps, and marked the edges. We then took it back down and cut it. Once back up in place, everything was pretty close, just some grinding needed to be done. Likely because of the falling in or out of or imitated curve with the straight-edge.
We knew the likely place it would buckle and clamped around the area. Also, we cut a curve along the top instead of staight lines V'd in to follow the radius. It sure looked nicer and didn't bow out at all. Now we are thinking of fairing up the whole top from end to end, so it will flow parallel with the stringers. The reason we were keeping them straight was so the plate on top up to the keel wouldn't have to be curved. But we noticed they curved anyway after being pulled in to the hull!! Also, we tryed something new with the butt join of the upper plate and the one before it. By leaving some space between the two, almost 1/8" we allowed some room for it to fair in. There was almost no coning at the joint. It seemed more flexible too as it had some play. We'll try that again on the other side. All in all I would say the diagonal split worked, as long as it will fair into the last radius section(s). Can't wait! Rain hampered our efforts the latter half of this weekend so we couldn't continue any further as no way of moving around the next sheet without getting everything wet, so we took the rest of the day off!