After many years of struggling with pins, clamps, bits of wood, lead weights etc, I decided it was time to improve things. I've made up a framing jig system which holds everything in place, upside down and right way up. This was one of my 'plan as you go' projects, so it had a few mods along the way.

I started with the base board, which was cut wide enough and long enough to handle most boats up to 40" (probably up to 50") then made a centerline. On the outside edges I measured a 0 point, and screwed on a 1m length of 25x12x2 aluminium angle to each side. I made up cross bars from the same material, which have a bent down tab to hook over the outside rails. These can be clamped on at any point, and lined up with a measurement on the cheap 4 fold 1m rules glued and screwed to the outside of the rails,- (Graham suggested some nice scales for drafting tables, which read R-L and L-R, for each side, which would be a better look)

At the bow end, I have added bolt on extension legs from angle, to clear the keel rise when the frame is right side up. These can be turned out of the way for normal height if necessary, for upside down use. The keel when right side up, is centered and held with nylon furniture corner brackets I spotted at the hardware store. I milled out the slots on one side of the brackets for adjustment, (found later they were soft enough to cut with a Stanley knife)** and lined them up using a piece of ply the same as the keel, and screwed them down with domed head furniture screws. The keel then just pushes into the brackets to hold it straight.

Upside down, the bulkheads sit on the base -and are blocked appropriately (as this modified Stiletto frame requires, due to the deck sheer). The cross bars are placed with each bulkhead, and the bulkhead squared all round and simply clamped to the cross bars (which have been clamped to the rails) Using this method, all the bulkheads and chine and bottom stringers (and some side stringers) can be glued up, (using a length of baking paper to catch any glue, and stop anything being glued to the base.)

Once dry, you can turn the frame over, and do the same to the top side, (gunwale stringers, deck frames etc) Only takes a few minutes to set up for each side, and using the modified stringer clamps I made, (pic 6) virtually no pins are required.
This jig would be useful for most planing boats, - PTs, Fireboats, crash boats etc, and could probably be useful for displacement boats as well, with a few mods here and there to suit.

I'll be using this to build the next project, which is a modified Stiletto, stretched to Rapier size, with a few changes. It will be a good test for the jig, and I can post any problems I come across, (and mods) while using it .

The best tools I've found for clamping the cross bars to the side frames are the mini long nosed vice grips, but the cheap 1" G clamps I used for a start can have the side webs ground off to be able to get under the cross bars and clamp the tabs. There are better ways to attach the cross bars, but I've tried to do this as cheaply as possible. Once made it should last a lifetime. One good thing is, if you make the base board from say 18-20mm custom board, you can pick the whole thing up with a frame on it, and stand it in a corner if necessary. I've used 12mm which does flex slightly, but it will be used on a flat table so it doesn't matter. With strong clamps, this thing holds rock solid.

JB