Hi Roy, not teaching me to suck eggs as this is my first boat build ever, so any guidance is welcomed.
My keel slots are 6mm, I was going to cut the keel 'stringer' out of 6mm ply, same as the frames - What about if I glued strips each side of the keel 'stringer', between each frame? What is the keel fin? by this do you mean the actual bit that comes out below the boat? If so I still need to deepen this as per my drawing earlier (see the pink and yellow parts increasing the size of this) - I forgot to draw them on when I cut the frames. I am going to cut off the three parts on the frames and make up a new separate keel 'fin' which I will slot into and bolt onto the hull - My plan was to get the basic shape of the keel 'fin' using frames and then fill inbetween them with lead sheet epoxied together. I would then shape the lead to the frames, epoxy and paint. This should give a nice lot of weight low down.
When I drew up the frames I drew up the stringer positions, I noticed the deck edge stringers needed a fair bit of shaping on their bottom edges as they came away from the hull quite a distance (on some frames not all, mostly around the bow). The top of the stringer, ie the bit under the deck is fully within the frame except for one or two near the middle where the hull curves back intowards the centre. I ordered some 5x5mm balsa stringers which should arrive next week, so I can play around then.
Yes must not forget shroud points, thanks
As for access you can see the main hull access in the photo. At the stern the yacht has a drop in cockpit which I can remove to access the rudder. I was toying with the idea of connecting wires to the rudder that will turn the wheel as the rudder moves, but this will get in the way when trying to remove the cockpit.
Thanks for your help
Wayne