All frames are made of douglas fir planked with okoume plywood. It was a long way finishing the frames. I decided against buying a CNC kit and made all the frames by hand from scratch. Before I was able to build the frames many jobs has to be done. Workshop organization, finding and buying the right materials / tools. Learning carpentry and epoxy-glueing skills etc. You can find many articles for this preparation in my blog.
It started with drawing the plans (see my Blog here: https://minisailer.ch/?p=70).
Finding douglas fir of good quality, sorting and cutting it to size took patience (see my blog: https://minisailer.ch/?p=87).
I got very good Okoume plywood from a dealer in Italy (see my blog: https://minisailer.ch/?p=92).
Next step was to create a suitable workshop with a large workbench (https://minisailer.ch/?p=175) and having the right tools (https://minisailer.ch/?p=83).
Some information about cutting the douglas fir boards for the frames build is here: https://minisailer.ch/?p=183
More details about preparing the plywood gusstes to glue the joints of the frames you`ll find here https://minisailer.ch/?p=189
The construction of the frames is very simple, so that you can build them with little effort. All frame parts can be assembled from straight slats. Only the deck beams are curved and therefore have to be joined using a special technique. I glued the curved upper beams of the frames S, C, D and D’ together from fine 10 mm slats on a template according to the deck curve. Thanks to my colleagues Etienne (CG #88) and Christian (CG #103) i was able to copy the curves of the deck beams while visting their workshops.
Deck beam template.
Douglas fir strips fixed on the template before epoxy glueing.
All corners of the frames where filled with Styrodur. I made filets with a epoxy-putty-micro ballons mixture. Finally, I covered all parts that are inside the hull with 2 layers of epoxy and sanded them again to prepare the paint job later. This helps reducing the demanding sanding work later inside the boat hull.
Frame E astern.
Frame E bow side.
You can find more information about building this frame E here: https://minisailer.ch/?p=203
Frame D astern.
Frame D bow side.
Frame D` astern.
Frame D` bow side.
Frame C astern.
Frame C bow side.
Frame B astern.
Frame B bow side.
Frame A astern.
Frame A bow side.
You can find more information about building this frame A here: https://minisailer.ch/?p=213
I have already coated the outside of Frame S, which faces to the cockpit, with a glass fiber layer of 600g / m2. This work is much easier when the frame is lying down than when it is mounted in the hull. Also the cutouts for the storage compartment underneath the cockpit bunks are done.
Frame S astern.
Frame S bow side.
One note for builders working with the CNC kit. You may do the lower spar of Frame S a little longer so that the glued joint to the hull floor is more precise. As you can see in the picture below (picture was taken at Christians CG #103 workshop) this part in the CNC kit is too short and there will be a gap to the bottom planking of the hull. Maybe because of the 22 degree angulation of Frame S and not having included the bevel the CNC data set is here a bit incorrect?
This is my Frame S. I made the lower bar a few centimeters longer so the bottom of this Frame S fits better to the bottom of my hull.
The transom is a highly stressed part and has to carry a lot of equipment / fittings for example pushpit, solarpanels, outboard motor bracket, boarding ladder, windvane, series drogue attachments etc. I installed reinforcements where the backstay and daggerboard plates are mounted. I go for the optional design to put the liferaft on the inside of transom. I didn’t coat the outside of the transom and the inside to the cockpit with epoxy as it will be later coated with fiberglass anyway. I have already drilled the holes for the daggerboard plates and filled them with epoxy again to protect the mounting holes wooden construction from moisture.
Transom astern.
Transom bow side.
Transom with daggerboard plates.
Building the frames was a blood-sweat-tear job. But also fun making the frames in my basement workshop during winter time. With a lot of tips from my classmate Christian CG #103, they ended up with a nice finish. See Christians blog for further excellent information about epoxy gleuing and frames build (https://www.argoworldwide.com/ClassGlobe5-80/Builders-Blog-Argo-103/index.php/;focus=STRATP_com_cm4all_wdn_Flatpress_35081877&path=?x=entry:entry230325-192653#C_STRATP_com_cm4all_wdn_Flatpress_35081877__-anchor).
In the end it feels great to finally start building the hull.