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Graham's Bootstripe


PeterP

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You will need two long battens struck horizontally across the bow and transom at the height of the water level. They should be long enough so that line pulled across the top of them and parallel to the boat centre line will touch the extreme width of the hull.  Mark the three points: where the string touches the hull and the two points on the battens.  With two people - pull masking tape across the sticks and watch it pull a perfect line on your boat. With one person - I stick the tape at the mid point on the hull an pull one way and then go back and pull the other half. Take note that the upper edge of the tape will be the bottom of your bootstripe. Graham likes his bootstripe to have an upward tick. On the 17' the stripe  goes 2.75" -1.5"- 2" bow mid stern. The 28' goes 6" -3" -4". The smiley effect helps cover up out of trim flotation. Figure out your stripe ratios. For example let's go with 5"- 3" -4". Meaning that the stripe will be 5" wide at the bow, 3" amidship and 4" at the stern. What you need to do now is to rig up two ramps -one in the bow one in the stern. In the bow fasten the inboard end of the ramp 5" up from the horizontal batten at the centerline. The other end will slope down so that at the mark you made earlier it is 3" above horizontal. Do the other ramp going from 4" to 3". Now pull the tape across, - it should touch the hull 3" above your lower tape at midpoint -stick it to the hull  and walk the ends up the ramps. Pay attention and go slow because now you will be pulling a curve so the tape needs to be tweaked up in a gentle arc rather than a straight line. Let your eye be the judge - as always. The actual positioning of the boostripe is an individual choice. Should the waterline go through the middle of the stripe, should it be just above,a bit proud of it in anticipation of heavy crew? So many choices, so many opinions. Good luck with it. PeterP

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  • 2 weeks later...

Great illustrations. I remember Graham saying that the boat doesn't even need to be level. Set the aft straight edge so that it is correct at each transom corner---even with the boat not level. Then set the front straight edge parallel with the aft one. You can get back a little way from straight ahead of the bow strait edge  and "eyeball" it to parallel the aft one.

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