Hull panels adjustments and stringers

Spent most of my Sunday reworking the stiches on the side panels at almost all frames. When at looked at thme carefully, I noticed that they were all too tight. So as other builders suggested, I took my time to avoid any hollow on the hull at frame level.

First I cut off all ties that were visibly overtight. Then, I place new ones, tighten them carefully, one by one, using a straight stick against the outside of the hull to make sure no hollow was left.

I used that stick horizontally and vertically on side hull surface to check for concave areas (which is what you want to avoid). The objective was to tighten in order to have the closest to a flat surface but still leaving a slight overall outward buldge. Worked out great. Hull sides look fine from outside

The issue doing this meticulous job, is if you go a notch too tight on the zip, you create a hollow AND since you can't release the zip tie....your only alternative is to cut it off , replace it with a new one, tighten slowly, check for hollows with the stick, and on and on ....

Took me about an hour to redo the whole thing

As a result, I ended up loosening a lot of previously overtight stitches. I was left with some minor gaps (f 124) for which the colloidal silica fillet will be enough, but also some much larger gaps such as at f53.5 (as everybody else) for wich I might sister, brother (Ben's trade name) or even 'twin' (my registered trade name) a piece of ply. "Twining" would mean add a strip of plywood on both sides of the frame....We will see

I also had time to make some nice looking stringers. I really think that what Chad (http://i550knotracing.blogspot.com/) has achieved on his boat is state of the art. I mean his boat frame looks so cool. So just for the fun of it and because I really think they look awesome, I did some similar stringers for the last compartment between f214 and f169.5.

Not exactly as Chads, but good looking enough for me. No real functionality but pleasant to the eye and since I am really enjoying the building process , I treated myself with a little eye catcher that will soon disapear underneath the cockpit sole... The fwd stringers between 169.5 and 124 are more conservative with plenty of round cutouts. I used the rule of thumb that was given by another builder : 1 diameter space between holes and at least 1/2 diameter between holes and edges. It is simple to apply and gives a good balance to the final piece.