Bow Gussets

A Visual History
The Building of Aslan

Cutting, Fitting and Attaching
the Bow Gussets

This "worthless" 2x10 is a legacy from the prior owner of my house, who didn't realize how to prevent a fine board like this from splitting. I hate to see anything go to waste, and there was enough room to rip the two bow gusset pieces out of this board.

I did the starboard side first. I had cut the gussets on the prescribed 30 degree angle, shown above. Then I places it into position as shown. The arrow in the picture points to a vertical line drawn on the gusset that is a little to faint to see in this resolution. The line was drawn by using a steel rule, aligned with the vertical edge of the stringer along the bottom. After this cut was made, it was easy to angle the gusset in such a way that I could mark a line across the bottom, so the vertical line here would fit against the stringer on the bottom, with the gusset resting on the 1/2" ply bottom. Then I cut the top, although I had to trim it several times to make it fit right. I realized that trimming the top first might make it easier, and that's what I did on the port side.

The red material you see isn't blood . . . its that same waterproof marine structural filler, but with a red creme hardener instead of the white that comes with it. I filled the excess space in the stem cut that recieves the bottom by packing this material in the starboard side (shown) until it oozed out the port side.

On the port side, I marked the top of the bow gusset first. This made it easier to get the right angle. You can see two lines drawn on the gusset that are parallel with the stringer on the deck. The top line was drawn by placing a steel ruler against the bottom of the stringer. Because it didn't cut through the corner, I simply positioned the steel ruler along this line and marked another line. When trimmed off the angle fit perfectly. It was much easier to position the bow gusset against the bottom stringer and make the two cuts then.

The black line you see running across the lower left corner of the picture is not a crack in the stem, but a line drawn earlier.

The finished bow gusset on the starboard side of the boat. Now to attach the mast box, put stringers on the bulkheads, fair the sides and attach the side panels!

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