The Baidarka Building Process Illustrated

Ribs

When the deck is finished and the stem and stern and keelson are in place, we are ready to install the ribs. In this case, we have decided to go with ribs with a rectangular cross section, 1/4" x 3/4". We had already cut the rib mortises when we prepared the gunwales.

A few days before we are ready to rib the boat, we cut our rib stock. After cutting, we soak the stock for two or three days. The soaking can be skipped if you can find a source of green wood.

When we're ready to put ribs in the boat, we put as many clamps as we have on the gunwales to hold the ribs in place.

Our first rib blank in place on the gunwales. We cut this blank about 6 inches longer on each end than the width of the boat at the point where we will insert the rib.

We round the edges of the rib with a spoke shave.

Meanwhile, the steambox is heating up. When steam comes out the end, it's ready to go. Our steambox is plywood, a good insulator. Our heat source is a camping stove.

When we pull the rib out of the steambox, we bend it by hand using our body to flatten out the curve.

Here is the boat with ribs clamped in place on the gunwales. Ribs should be symmetical left to right and their shape should also flow smoothly from rib to rib. Here we have also clamped a long piece of wood to the ribs to make sure there are no gaps between the piece of wood and the ribs. The ribs are over-long so we can adjust the ends up or down to make for a smooth hull.

Once all the ribs are in place, we mark each one with an arrow to indicate which side faces the front.

We also mark the rib at the gunwales. We will be cutting the rib 3/4" longer than this mark.

We are using a piece of wood 3/4" wide to mark the extra 3/4" past our gunwale mark.

And we cut the rib at the mark.

We taper the end of the rib slightly for a loose fit in its mortise.

To insert the rib, we push the ends into the mortise at an angle and then push the rib upright.

The fit is tight and so a little extra pressure from the top may be needed to seat the rib properly.

All the ribs are in place in their mortises. The ropes wrapped around the keelson keep the keelson down because otherwise the pressure of the ribs would push the keelson up farther than we wanted it to be.

And the rib trimmings end up on the floor of the shop.

Hull Stringers