This has been a frustrating week of boatbuilding in the Bacon shop.  There have been material issues compounded by the complexity of the design of the bow section.  We have not been able to find good clear Douglas Fir, and as a result we have broken many pieces trying to get them in place.  The pieces we are trying to place are the areas where the sides meet the deck.  We think these are called Darwall stringers, or shear. (  We don't always know the correct names for stuff, but does it really matter?)  We have been trying the steamer, and it does help, but mostly it is a case of " put on; break;take off ;put on, break;take off.  We even checked on the West Coast for 2X6's of clear Douglas Fir, but the prices were out of sight-more than $300.00. Yow!  We are now trying other options-laminating pieces together to avoid the knotty parts on the wood we have.  We are also trying splicing shorter pieces together, and using the steamer.  We will find a viable solution, I am sure, but it is frustrating.  But--whoever said that boatbuilding is easy?  The picture enclosed is of some of the parts we have steamed and are clamping in place.  We attached some of them this morning and added a few more to attach tomorrow.  We are also going to check out another small saw mill nearby to see if they might have some clear wood we could use.