Dec 15. Seat Risers and Rear Seat Frame

Every time I complete something I say "That was not easy."  In almost al cases it's due to the weird angles and curves. Nothing is even close to straight on this boat. Here's another example. The seat risers are screwed to the ribs to provide a place for the seats to be solidly mounted. But the flare of the sides is 25 degrees and there is about 1/2" of curve of the side over the 3-rib length of each riser. The easiest way to build the risers is to cut all four of them out of a single block that is something like 1 1/2" x 2" x 34". Rip that piece on a 25 degree bevel that yields equal trapezoids, cut them to length, then nibble about a quarter inch of the ends at the mounting locations on the ribs. These are at various angles depending on fore or aft. 

Oh yeah. I forgot to describe how to find the mounting locations of the seat risers. The plans only show where the front of the front riser should be. You have to set up the boat on its intended water line so that a level can be used to determine the rearward locations of the risers. That way the seats will be level when the boat is level in the water. As I said before. It's not easy. 

Here's the front right seat riser, mounted solidly with #10 screws. 

The plans say to cut the back of the riser to a curve that is 1/4" per rib. I chose to just notch the ends a quarter inch with the table saw. Play it by ear. Small adjusting cuts, followed by small saw adjustments and then fit it again until you get it right. 

The risers went surprisingly well so I moved on to the rear seat frame. The frame I ended up with is exactly the size described in the plans, but I chose to make it out of 3/4" oak glued up with alternating tab lengths over each other, instead of the solid 1 1/2" stock specified in the plans, which obviates the need for drilled dowel joints. Theirs is probably stronger due to the solid 1 1/2" inch pieces running the full width of the beam, but mine required no dowel joints and used common stock thickness. We shall see. 

Side note:  you may have noticed that I used oak for the seats instead of ash. I did this for s few reasons: 1) they were running out of good-grained 4/4 ash in the building supply I go to and I didn't want to wait for the next shipment. My fault. 2) ash is fucking hard. And 3) oak is half as much money. 

It makes the boat look a bit mottled because varnished oak is golden orange while varnished ash is, well, ashen, but such as it is . . .