After some delay, the extra-long drill bits and silicon bronze screws required for the dinghy’s stem arrived. I drilled the holes for the locking screws and the copper nails, and then shaped the inner face.

With the inner face at its final shape, I needed to make blocks to facilitate clamping the joints tightly closed:

Yesterday, after a dry fit, with the nails up to, but not crossing the joint line, I applied Sikaflex EBT ( a filling/sealant/glue compound) to the joint surfaces, using the toothed side of a hacksaw blade to create a thin even layer on all mating surfaces..

The stem was then put back together, initially secured with the locking screws, and the clamps. The nails were driven home – cut-outs in the clamping blocks allowing for this.

I left it clamped up tight for 24 hours, to allow the Sikaflex to ‘cure.’ Today, I took off the clamps, and roved the nails, with assistance from Craig and Sylvia doing the ‘backing up.’

It was great to be using my homemade roving kit, to get the nails roved, and their ends peined over.

The stem joints were now secure. I checked the template on the stem once more, and cut the outside face of the stem, using the bandsaw and then spokeshave.

I had feared that the apex joint would not be as tight as it was in the dry fit. However, the extra time spent to get the clamping effective, was worthwhile. I am chuffed with the end result.

As I removed the clamps this morning I noticed, for the first time, the manufacturer’s name DAWN on one of the F clamps I have been using – it had been brought over to England from Australia by my Dad in 1962, shortly before I was born. I’d like to think he would approve of its use on this project.

The next job is to dry-fit the keel to the stem, and do the final shaping of the transom end of the keel. The wood for the transom and planking is scheduled to arrive this coming week.

In traditional boatbuilding copper nails and roves (washers) are used to make rivets, in order to fix the overlapping planks in clinker planking, and as fixings for the various parts of the structure of a boat. Before copper, iron nails were used, and the ‘clink, clink’ of iron nails being hammered home is said the to be the origin of the term clinker.

A copper nail is hammered through a pre-drilled hole, and a rove then hammered over it, using a rove punch, which has a hole drilled in its end to accommodate the nail. To prevent the nail being pushed backward, a metal ‘dolly’ is held against the head of the nail – this is generally a two-person job! Once the rove/washer is tight against the inside surface, the excess nail is snipped off just above the top of the rove. The ball end of a ball-pein hammer is then used to mushroom the end of the nail, over the rove/washer, thus forming a rivet. Again, a dolly is used to ensure that the head of the nail stays tight to the outside surface. The dolly has to be of sufficient weight to counteract the force of the hammer during roving (clenching down the washer) and peining over the nail.

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I have made myself a roving kit, using various sized pieces of mild steel. There are two roving punches, the central holes are sized for the two different diameters of nails I will be using. (I plan to ‘countersink the bored punch holes, to match the shape of the washers to be used.).

The dolly has to be of sufficient weight to counteract the force of the hammer during roving and peining over the nail.

Standard size copper nails are still available from a few suppliers. However, one cannot readily obtain the longer thicker nails required for the heavier fixings required to make the stem and fit the transom knee. So, I made a former and, using some 5mm copper rod, produced some home-made copper nails.

There’s a real joy to be found in making your own tools. Even when I have made the tool required to create a nice smooth crown to the rivet, I will have made this set for less than half the £120 retail price of a new set of roving tools.