March, 2014

The King Plank

The king plank in the Hazardous Zero-9 is made of hardwood stock and measures approximately 25mm x 50mm x 260mm. It is fitted in a cutout over the deck beams and is partially rebated over the breasthook.

I used a router to cut the rabbet in the breasthook. Prior to gluing the king plank to the beams and the breasthook, I fitted the king posts.

The King Posts

The king posts are made of hardwood stock and measure approximately 30mm x 30mm. The edges were rounded off with the same router bit I used to round off the plank edges.


The king posts stand in a clever compartment formed by the sides of the centerboard case at the front, the hog at the bottom and the aft face of the bow tank bulkheads. The king posts are partially rebated under the king plank.

I used a router to cut out two square slots, one for each king post.

View of the king plank from and the king posts from the transom before gluing the king posts.

A side view of the setup after gluing the king posts.

A hardwood wedge tightens up the fit of the king posts in the pocket. I rounded off the top of the wedge a bit to disperse any water.

The Aft Deck Beam

The aft deck beam is made of western red cedar. It runs from the king plank (partially rebated) to each of the top planks, parallel on both sides to the shroud knee and the bulkhead.

The top of the aft deck beam is also arched and aligned to the top curvature of the main and forward foredeck beams. I used a long aluminum ruler to project the top curvature of the foredeck beams back to the aft deck beam.

Starboard side aft beam

Port side aft beam.

The Side Deck Frame

The side decks have pine stringers to reinforce the carlins. There is an upper and lower stringer. The upper stringer runs parallel to the sheerline, from the main foredeck, around the space frames to the transom. The lower stringer runs from the aft deck beam, around the space frames to the transom.

Using my band saw, I re-sawed 8' long pine stock to make 10 pieces approximately 9mm x 18mm.

Then, I re-assembled my scarfing jig and proceeded to scarf the ends of each piece.

I mixed epoxy resin with colloidal silica and glued the scarf joints together. The next day, I had 5 reinforcement stringers approximately 16' long.

Here is a photograph I took while bending the stock to test its flexibility prior to gluing it with epoxy. Notice the stringer is fully rebated to the main fore deck beam and the aft deck beam. The excess forwards of the main fore deck beam is simply removed afterwards with a Japanese saw or similar tool.

Another view of the stringer fully rebated to the main fore deck beam and the aft deck beam.

A view of the upper stringer as it curves towards the transom.

Both stringers clamped tightly as the epoxy glue dries.

The lower stringer runs from the aft deck beam  to about half way between the aft space frame and the transom. Precise measurements are available in the Hazardous Zero-9 Layout and Side deck drawings provided by designer Keith Callaghan. 

I also added a 20mm x 20mm stringer along the top edge of the transom by laminating two 10mm x 20mm pieces cut to the required length.

The Floor Strengtheners

The floor strengtheners are made of 4mm marine plywood finished with rounded edges and corners. I'm fitting 4 (2 on each side of the hog) floor strengtheners between the transom and the aft space frame, 8 (4 on each side of the hull) floor strengtheners between the aft space frame and the main frame, and 8 (4 on each side of the hull) floor strengtheners between the main space frame and the bulkhead. Same configuration as Wicked, MR3708.

The dimensions vary at each plank but are mirror images between port side and starboard floor strengtheners.

In this photograph, I've cut and laid all of the floor strengtheners at their location. I can see already that fitting them onto the hull with epoxy glue is going to be very interesting in some places.

Thank you for visiting. Fair winds and happy sailing!