> Nigel Dennis makes his three piece Romanys similarly. They build a
> standard Romany and install doubled bulkheads, with a saw-kerf-width
> spacer in between. They drill holes, install bolts, and then have at the
> boat with a saw. The trad secret seems to be how to guide the saw
> accurately. You'd have to be brave to do the first one.

Here is a thought on that

If you use a thicker spacer you can be a bit wild in your cutting and still have a good joint. Imagine a `sandwich' of bulkhead - spacer - bulkhead set into the boat at the front end of the cockpit, and a similar sandwich set in behind the cockpit. If the spacer is made of a few blocks of 1 x2 or 1x3 scrap that do not come to the edged of the bulkheads, then you can cut the boat into pieces with a sabresaw, and the blade will be in the void between those two bulkheads. Try to keep the cut close to either of the bulkheads.

When you are done you should have a part that has a bulkhead nearly flush with the cut, and the other piece should have the bulkhead a bit less than 3/4 inch inset from the ends of the cut hull.

Now, when you make the bulkheads, cut them from three pieces of plywood that are stacked. Make the middle piece from 3/4 inch plywood. The others can be 3/4 or thinner if you like. Leave them stacked and use rasps, sanders or planes to make this thing into a plug that fits securely. Then, disassemble it and replace the center with those spacer blocks of scrap.

Glue in the bulkheads `sandwich` After you cut the boat, remove the scrap wood, and set in the 3/4 inch middle piece that you had previously removed. It should fit perfectly, and can be glued to the bulkhead that is close to the cut edge. Now, when you reassemble the boat, there will be a lip that overlaps that center spacer panel and aids in aligning the parts.

When you first assemble the boat, you cna use some heavily thickened epoxy, or epoxy putty, to fill the gap left by the saw kerp. Mask the cut end of the boat with tape or plastic food wrap so you can remove it, set the thing together and let the epoxy harden. Pull off the masking material and sand and finish the boat. The crack should be difficult to see.

Hope this helps

Paul G. Jacobson