I was asked a question or two today about frame 6A and after trying to reply to the comment I realized it would be easier to write a new post detailing how I built the frame.
Out of all of the frames in the pathfinder, frame 6a was the hardest for me. The reasons are well documented in my prior posts so I won’t go into that here. I started in the normal way by drawing the frame out onto 9mm ply along with all of the doublers and stringers required. Because the frame takes the stress of the motor there are 9mm doublers on the outboard sides where the stringers attach. I made a template from MDF that looked right on both sides and then cut the plywood and glued them to the frame.
My next step was the vertical stiffeners and the lower horizontal stiffener you can see in the picture above. The only thing fancy here is I used the table saw to cut an angle into the bottom stiffener so frame 6a would sit 8 degrees past vertical as described by the plans. These then were glued and screwed to the frame.
In the center of the motor mount is a 9mm doubler. I measured the outboard that I plan to use and cut this doubler to fit. It was also glued and screwed. After that I laid a coat of 6oz boat cloth over the entire aft side and three layers over the motor mount doubler.
The forward side had stringers added to support the seat top and seat fronts. These were glued on. On the forward face of the motor mount I attached a piece of mahogany to support the motor. I glued and screwed that on.
The plans call for two drain tubes to be installed through frame 6a and into the transom. This makes the area underneath the captains seat one large sealed bay for flotation. This is where I deviated from the plans. I am leaving the area underneath the center of the frame open so I can fit the gas can for the outboard in there. Since I am leaving that bay unsealed I have no need for the tubes so I cut a limber hole to drain the cockpit. So there you go Mr. NO, I hope that answers your question. I am looking forward to seeing your progress. There will be no forward progress on Idle Hands this week because I am going camping. “The mountains are calling, and I must go”. Until next time.
idle hands workshop 