I managed to get a little work done on the Pram this last weekend. I stitched on the bow and stern transoms:


After I began attaching the stern transom, I saw that it was not going to help close up the gaps between the sides and the bottom as I had hoped (I'm not as worried about the gaps between the sides and the transoms).

I broke about half of the wire stitches in the transom trying to close the gaps. I felt I had to do something about the gaps between the sides and the bottom before I continued. It seemed like it was just going to get harder to fix it as I added additional side planks. I added an additional set of stitches between the sides and bottom, close to the stern and bow. These helped, but trying to tighten those stitches enough to close the gap fully resulted in breaking the wire. I now realize that the wire is good for holding the pieces in position, but I can't reliably tighten very much by just twisting the wires more. I had to get the wood close to its proper position before even beginning to twist the wire.

Pulling across the boat with both hands, I could just manage to get a gap to close. But then I had no way of twisting the wire stitch. So I called my son down to help me. With his aid, I reduced the gaps, both at bow and stern. I couldn't close them up all the way however, and I'm still worried about it:


One idea I have is to use a strap clamp around the end of the boat, with the sides held the proper distance apart with a piece of scrap wood cut to fit. Tightening the strap would then push up on the bottom forcing the gaps to close. I don't think it would hurt to try, anyway.