The deck arrangement will be as shown in Chapelle’s Lion drawing. Above is my construction plan for the deck beam and hatch locations. Deck beams have a 4 1/2″ crown at widest beam. (That is, looking from the front or back of the boat, they will be 4 1/2 inches higher in the middle.) They will be sided 3 1/4″ (fore’n’aft dimension) and molded 4″ (height). There are 29 deck beams (one at each frame). Most of the beams will be of white ash from trees that came down on my lot during Tropical Storm Irene (2011) and Hurricane Sandy (2012). About 10, including most of the “partner” beams, will be of white oak. Partner beams are those that adjoin the mast supports (mast partners) and also those fore and aft of a deck opening or hatch.
In the fall of 2021, with planking completed about halfway down from the top, planking efforts were put on hold to begin fabrication of the deck structure. The following video shows the first five months of the deck structure work, which started with the fitting and fastening of the full deck beams in the middle two-thirds of the hull.
The deck has two levels. The main deck extends from the stern forward to Frame 8 (the eighth frame from the bow). At Frame 8, the deck steps up about 8 inches from there to the bow (the “foredeck”). All of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023 was spent building the main deck structure. Then the “Great Beam” was erected at Frame 8, providing the 8″ step up to the foredeck. The remainder of 2023 was spent on the foredeck, including the shelf under the foredeck beams. The “shelf”, in boatbuilding parlance, is a structural member which runs under the deck beams at right angle to the “clamp” and edge-bolted to the clamp. The shelf in the foredeck area is dimensioned 1 7/8″ thick, 7″ wide and extends from the stem back almost to the Great Beam.
The foredeck was challenging. It’s difficult to explain, but the presence of the foremast partners, the “breasthook” and the shelf, all in the relatively short length of the foredeck, required that the full deck beams be temporarily fastened in place, the shelf and breasthook installed, then the deck beams removed and permanently fastened only after the mast partners were fastened in place. Hopefully, the photos and captions in the gallery below will make it a little more clear.
The foredeck and shelf were completed in early 2024. Work is now primarily on the “shelf” under the main deck, which is dimensioned 2 1/2″ thick, 6 1/4″ wide and will extend from the Great Beam aft to the sternpost.
Click on any photo to enlarge and scroll through the gallery.
Deck beams are sided 3 1/4″, molded 4″. I was able to get a dozen from the white oak on hand (shown here.) The remaining 20 beams are made from white ash felled on my property by high winds.
Tropical Storm Irene brought this white ash down about 30 feet from my house in 2011.
Using the Alaskan Sawmill on the windfall
This is the pattern for the deck beam crown. The bend in the logs follows the deck crown pretty closely.
Between Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 and Hurricane Sandy in 2012 – enough white ash for 20 deck beams
State of the deck structure as of June ’22. Full deck beams (beams which go port to starboard without breaks for openings) are put in first. No carlins or partial beams are in yet.
Where the main mast goes through the deck, a mast partner will be installed, The deck beams fore and aft of the mast have been doubled. The mast partner will be half-lapped into each beam. Here, the half-lap in the beam is started by drilling multiple holes which will then be chiseled and rabbet planed.
A look at the antiquated depth stop used for drilling out the half-laps. It’s a Stanley tool which was designed for use with a bit brace, and was a bit scary to use with the drill machine.
A close up of the ancient Stanley depth stop.
The half-laps in the two partner beams are complete (one has bedding compound; the other will also). Shown are the two custom made , galvanized bolts which will eventually tie the beams and the mast partner together.
With the mast partner set in the beam half-laps, the partner can now be marked for the half-laps to be cut in it.
Mast partner (upside down) shown with half-laps cut in it.
The mast partner in place, bolts installed.
Starting the half-lap in a deck beam for a carlin. No carlins have been installed yet, but the ones for the forward standing room were cut and fit, then disassembled to make room for installing the Great Beam.
Carlin half-lap completed in a deck beam.
Carlin being marked for the half-laps in each end.
Carlin temporarily in place. They will eventually be installed with three 1/4″ x 5″ lag screws in each end after the Great Beam has been installed.
The “Great Beam” is almost 8″ tall, and 3 3/4″ thick. It forms the start of the fore deck which is raised above the main deck over the forward cuddy cabin. It sits on top of a doubled main deck beam. The main deck will terminate at the Great Beam.
The Great Beam weighed in at 106 lbs.
Inscription carved on the forward side of the Great Beam and will be visible from inside the forward cuddy cabin.
The carlins are all in place for the middle two-thirds of the deck. Installation of the partial beams has begun,
The first step for fitting the partial beams is to place a beam on top of its intended location and mark the length and angles for the end cuts and the location of the half lap in the carlin.
The partial beam has been cut to length, a notch has been cut to fit over the clamp, the half lap cut in both the carlin and beam and the side has been trimmed where it fits against the frame. All mating surfaces have been given a coat of linseed oil and turpentine. It is drilled for fastenings in both ends and will receive a coat of bedding compound before final fastening.
The partial beam is ready to fasten. It receives three 1/4″x4 1/2″ lags through the carlin into the end grain of the beam and one 3/8″ carriage bolt through the frame.
Detail of a deck beam at the outboard end (the beam is upside down). For both partial and full deck beams, there are three mating surfaces: a notch where it fits over the clamp; the end cut where it fits against the planking; and an angle on its side where it fits against the frame. (All frames are plumb. But the deck beams follow the slope of the shear line, and are therefore not necessarily plumb.)
A beam outboard end, drilled for two bolts through the frame, with bedding compound applied, ready for fastening.
Busy photo showing the inboard end of the partial beam at the main mast partners being marked for cutting the half lap. The other partial beam (right) has already been fastened. Tools strewn on the main mast partners and elsewhere.
When drilling beam ends for fastening to the frames, occasionally a planking screw would be hit. The errant bolt hole had to be plugged with black locust dowels and another hole drilled. Many boatbuilding references discourage fastening deck beams to the frames for this reason -too many fastenings in the area. I feel it’s worth the risk.
View of another partial beam fastened in place.
Carlin, partial beams and main mast partners viewed from below.
From a different angle, the deck beams, carlins and partial beams in the middle two-thirds of the boat are all in place. Ready to move on to the stern area.
It’s hard to see, but toward the aft end, one deck beam sits up higher than the rest. This is the first step for fitting – it is placed on top of the sheer planks for marking the end cuts.
To make the cuts for fitting the deck beam. it is clamped to the existing beams. It’s too difficult to move to the bench and back.
As beams are added toward the stern, more of the temporary braces get removed. Only a couple more to be removed on the aft end!
All beams and carlins in the main deck are finally in place. The two smallest openings will be hatches. The two longer openings forward of each hatch will be standing rooms. The aft-most opening will be the cockpit.
Now that the main deck beams are complete, Weston, Linda and Gina are ready to see work begin on the foredeck.
The shelf sits under the deck beams and fits against the inner face of the clamp. The full deck beams are temporarily fastened in place so the shelf may be fit and fastened.
The foredeck shelf is made in two pieces on each side, with a scarf joining the two pieces. This photo shows how the forward shelf piece fits to the stem (only the port side is in place here.)
This is the 2nd (aft) shelf piece with the scarf on the far end. The “S” curve on the near end is for deorative purposes only. The notches on the edge are to make way for the bolt heads in the clamp, where the shelf and the clamp meet.
This photo shows the finished shelf from the underside. It is fastened with carriage bolts through it edgewise into the clamp (one between each frame.) It also has fastenings upwards into each deck beam.
This is Lion’s “breasthook.” Really it is just another deck beam which provides the function of the traditional breasthook. It is through-bolted to the stem and ties the two sides of the bow together with further fastenings into the clamp and planking.
The “breasthook” (really the forward-most deck beam) is fastened with a 1/2″ x 15″ carriage bolt through the stem and a 3/8″ x 7″ lag vertically into the clamp on each side. It will also probably get a 4″ #24 wood screw into each end through the planking from the outside.
This is one of the forward-most deck beams in the foredeck, just aft of the breasthook. If you look closely, you can see the line marking an adjustment to the crown on the top edge of the beam. It will be planed down to that line to increase the crown about a half inch more curvature. This is necessary on blunt-nosed vessels such as Lion.
The partners for the foremast is made up of two layers of 1 7/8 inch oak boards epoxy-glued. The octagonal mast hole and two 1/4″ square channels are cut into it before gluing. The 1/4″ channels are for guiding a 1/2″ drill for edgewise bolts.
The finished partners weighed in at a little over 100 lbs! Here it is shown ready to fit between the partner beams with bolt holes already drilled and bedding compound applied.
Before fitting and fastening the partners, the deck beams which had been temporarily installed had to be removed. The partner beams were then permanently fastened and doubled. The other beams could not be re-installed until the 38″ bolts shown here were driven edgewise through the partners and partner beams.
With foremast partners installed, the rest of the foredeck beams and carlins could be fit and fastened.
Here, the carlins forming the companionway opening into the cuddy cabin are being fit.
Aft starboard corner of the foredeck from below.
Completed foredeck from below. (Not really completed – still a lot of blocking to do!)
All the temporary cross-ties and diagonal braces have now been removed. I used the lower portions of some of the diagonal braces to build temporary supports for “benches” on which to cut and fit the main deck shelf and for other future interior work.
Comments on either the website or the boat will be greatly appreciated. You can contact me (Mike Danesi) at [email protected].
