Ken_StJohn Posted July 6, 2006 Posted July 6, 2006 Faced with having to attach the transom to the bottom panel on my Weekender, I came up with this simple scheme. I am sure this isn't the first idea for doing this job and, probably not the last! The Horizontal clamps are pulling the transom corners into the bottom stringer. The Vertical clamps are bending the bottom panel up to meet the transom. With this scheme I was able to micro adjust the joint until it was where I wanted it. Then the screws were driven without effort. A 4x4 block is placed lengthwise on the centerline butting up against the bottom stringer. Two 2x4s supply the lever arms - one across the top and one against the far end. I used a solid 1x material for the bottom stringer which needed to be kerfed on its top side in order to allow it to bend enough. I would dry test the rig first to make sure your transom and bottom have enough give to meet where they're supposed to. Other than that, this assembly step proved to be simple and effortless! Quote
Brian Walters Posted July 6, 2006 Posted July 6, 2006 Thats a great idea Ken I'm just about to that point on my vacationer that looks to be simple but effective. Thanks for the idea. Brian. Quote
Ken_StJohn Posted July 6, 2006 Author Posted July 6, 2006 The biggest requirement for max clamping force came from pulling the bottom up because of the stringer attached to meet the transom. As I said in the post, I had to execute plan-B and kerf it after I found the dry run proved that it was too stiff. On my Weekender pulling the transom in didn't require much force at all. An alternative yielding more force would be to use C-Clamps on the vertical pull for the bottom and maybe even switching out the 2x4 for a 4x4. This would require a large C-Clamp to make the span from the bottom to the top of the 4x4 but, with your larger dimensions, it may be the way to go. I'd try the 2x4 first. Also, I am leaving the clamps in place for a few days while the glue sets just to keep things stable. Quote
Brian Walters Posted July 6, 2006 Posted July 6, 2006 Yeah I would leave them there for a while as well, probubly another good idea, I like the idea of using c-clamps I have a couple 10" clamps and one even bigger at work I think I'm going to go that route thank you very much you just saved me a bunch of thinking which gives me more working time. Well I'm off to get a couple sacraficial 2x4" Brian. Quote
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